To The Wild

A practice from the Work That Reconnects · developed by Joanna Macy & John Seed · ch. 8 of Coming Back to Life

A communal ritual in which people step aside from their human identity and speak on behalf of another life-form. Sometimes solemn, often surprisingly lusty. It grows the ecological self by giving the more-than-human world a voice in the room, and by letting us hear, from the outside, what one upstart species has done.

Macy and Seed developed it for rainforest activists. Every Council is different, because it is made entirely of whoever is present. Some release torrents of feeling; others stay light. Don’t read the room by appearances — people who seem awkward or silent are often the most affected.

Being chosen

People take time alone to let themselves be chosen by a life-form — fifteen to twenty minutes outdoors, three to five indoors. The instruction matters: don’t pick a species you know about. Relax, open wide, and stay with the first thing that arrives. Plant, animal, or a feature of the land — a swamp, a mountain, a river. Then visualise it fully, ask its permission to enter it, and ask how it wishes to be represented.

Preparing

Half an hour of mask-making in silence, from card, markers, fabric, or whatever the land offers. Cut holes to see and speak through — a mask across the mouth makes it hard to be heard. Then, if there’s time, people move as their being with eyes closed, and practise speaking as it in small groups. Both loosen the self-consciousness that otherwise blocks the Council itself.

The Council

Summoned by drum or animal call, the masked beings gather. The guide — also in character — asks: what is befalling our Earth and our lives? Each being introduces itself before anyone speaks at length: I am Wolf, and I speak for the wolf people.

Then it moves in three stages:

• Beings speak their concerns, at random. The circle answers each one: we hear you, Mountain.
• After a dozen or so testimonies, the guide invites five or six to set down their masks and sit back-to-back in the centre as humans. They listen only, and are addressed directly. Rotate, so everyone takes a turn in the middle.
• When the humans have been called to account, the turn comes. The guide names that the humans are frightened and overwhelmed — and that panic serves nothing. Each being then offers a gift: the mountain’s deep peace, the condor’s far-seeing eye, the wildflower calling you back to beauty.

Ending

However it ends — in silence, in embrace, or in drumming and wild calls — there must be a formal releasing. Each person thanks the life-form they spoke for, then lets that identity go. Hands and foreheads to the ground, returning the energy to the earth. Seed and Macy sometimes close by inviting people to keep the being as their true identity, and put the human face back on as the mask.

Only run this with a group that has already touched its pain for the world — this belongs after grief work, not before it. Take part yourself. The gifts offered at the end are the heart of it: don’t rush them, and note that they were already in the room, or they could not have been imagined. If you’re short of time, the one-hour version below drops the masks entirely and loses less than you’d think.

Full facilitator guide — the one-hour version, invocation, variations, and what to watch for:

↓ Download as PDF   ·   ↓ Download as Word

From ch. 8 of Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy & Molly Brown (New Society Publishers, 2014). Shared open-source; please credit the source. workthatreconnects.org

A Nature Connection practice · Wilderness Awareness School / Jon Young tradition

To the Wild goes out to meet the more-than-human world. These two practices shift the body into the mode of attention that meeting it actually requires — you have to be able to perceive it before you can meet it.

Owl Eyes

Ask participants to choose a point to look at — a leaf, a stone, something in the middle distance. Invite them to let their gaze soften rather than focus: not staring at the point, but letting it blur slightly as their attention widens.

Hold your arms out with your hands together, the point of focus between them, then gradually move your hands and arms through 90 degrees, wiggling your fingers as they move into your peripheral vision. Keep looking ahead but bring your attention to the wiggling fingers, without moving your eyes. Repeat moving your hands up and down to gradually establish the limits of your peripheral vision in all directions around you. The field of view can extend to 180 degrees or more.

Invite them to stay in this soft, wide vision for 2–5 minutes, noticing what moves, what flickers, what was always there and is only now visible. They can walk for a while like this and notice how widely they see and feel the space around them.

Fox Walk

Invite participants to walk around, then ask: how are your feet landing on the ground? Which part of the foot hits first? If it's safe and appropriate, shoes off.

Think of each step as a question rather than an assumption — probing the ground to be certain it is safe to land, only following with your weight when it is.

The movements: knees softly bent, body upright but not rigid, arms loose. Step with the outer edge and toes of the leading foot first, feeling the ground before committing weight. Then roll inward — the ball of the foot, then the heel. Shift weight onto it entirely, then lift the trailing foot and repeat. Only shift weight when the leading foot has fully landed.

The pace is the practice. Move with the rhythm of the place rather than your own internal tempo. Pause often — standing still is part of fox walking. When still, notice: what can you hear? Keep your owl eyes on. What moves at the edge of sight?

Facilitation note: works best outdoors, in a natural setting, 10–20 minutes. Owl Eyes and Fox Walk combine — hold the soft wide gaze while walking. Slow the pace right down; the value is in the noticing, not the distance covered.