The Work That Reconnects
with Lydia Violet Harutoonian and Te Martin
Tuesdays, October 21, 28, November 4, 11, 2025
5-7pm Ireland**
12-2pm Eastern
9-11am Pacific
**Due to Daylight Savings Time, the gathering on October 28th is 4-6pm Ireland/UK time. (It remains 12-2pm Eastern and 9-11am Pacific.)
Come learn and experience tools for transforming our grief, anger, paralysis, and fear into compassionate connections with our world and communities, understanding our place in the web of life, and gaining the motivation to act on behalf of life on earth.
Program Description
In this four-part series, seasoned facilitator Lydia Violet Harutoonian, accompanied by community song leader Te Martin, will lead an in-depth immersion in the “Work that Reconnects” (WTR). WTR is Joanna Macy’s experiential group work that has helped thousands find clarity of vision and emotional sanctuary while living through this precious and precarious moment on our planet. For the last five decades, Joanna’s work has offered inspiration and guidance for living courageously in uncertainty. It maps ways into our innate vitality and determination to take part in the self-healing of our world.
Each day we face the news of climate chaos, political warfare, species extinction, and ecological and social suffering, and we are asked to reconcile these collective traumas with all that is breaking in our hearts. It is natural in our time to feel despair, overwhelm, and grief. Come learn and experience tools for transforming our grief, anger, paralysis, and fear into compassionate connections with our world and communities, understanding our place in the web of life, and gaining the motivation to act on behalf of life on earth. Climate anxiety and ecological despair are real. They are on behalf of a world desperate for our collaboration in remembering our dignity and grace. It is here that we can nourish our compass for the times ahead.
Te Martin will weave songs throughout the workshop. For many millennia, music, and specifically music made in community, has been a powerful way of bolstering ourselves in hard times. Music can help us integrate our experiences, transform our exhaustion, and feel held as a part of the choir. Just as it feels good to act in the companionship of others on behalf of life, so too does the homecoming of singing together.
Sessions will include live facilitation, small group practices, and somatic practices, and teachings drawn directly from Joanna Macy’s framework. Guided exercises and spacious discussion will support participants in moving through the spiral of the Work That Reconnects—from Gratitude to Honoring Our Pain, Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes, and Going Forth. Participants will leave with practices they can return to in times of overwhelm, a deeper sense of purpose and interconnection, and the support of a community that shares their care for life on Earth.
We will turn on closed captioning during the live Zoom session (which you are able to turn off in your settings if you find distracting) as well as provide a video recording with closed captioning available and a text transcript of the session within 24 hours. You will be sent a notification when this is ready to view.
You have lifetime access to all online programs.
Your Guides for the Journey
Lydia Violet Harutoonian
Lydia Violet Harutoonian is an Iranian-Armenian-American facilitator, scholar, and musician dedicated to cultural healing and ecological renewal. A longtime student of Joanna Macy, Lydia has spent over 16 years immersed in The Work That Reconnects, bringing its deep ecological and systems-based teachings to diverse communities around the world. Her facilitation blends Macy’s visionary work with accessible tools for emotional resilience, ancestral reconnection, and community empowerment. Alongside her facilitation, Lydia is an accomplished folk musician and songleader, and founder of the School for The Great Turning, where she integrates music, activism, and spiritual practice. Through her workshops, trainings, and musical offerings, she invites others into courageous presence, ancestral wisdom, and soulful contribution to the healing of our world. LydiaFiddle.com
Te Martin
Te Martin is a song-keeper and ritual artist. They were born on Ramaytush Ohlone land in san francisco and have been shaped by Ocean, Redwoods, circus arts, and theater games. They facilitate oral tradition singing classes and workshops that focus on song as a tool for collective liberation, somatic regulation, and ancestral connection. Te served as co-organizer of Thrive Street Choir in the san francisco bay area for six years, is a student of the Irish bodhrán drum, released their first professional music video and EP of original songs, “Water & Bones“, in 2021, and launched “Murmuration: A Sebastopol Community Choir” in the spring of 2024. Website and Patreon
Registration
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$80
reduced fee
- Includes partial scholarship
- Select this only if you require financial assistance
If you are in need of additional financial assistance please fill out our Scholarship Request form.
Terms and Conditions
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