Connecting all life.
Through an ecology of practice and action.
The Living Bridge exists because the systems that guide modern humanity are broken. Dominated by extraction, excess, and isolation, these systems have driven ecological devastation, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection. The result is a cascade of crises—climatic, ecological, psychological, and political—that threaten the future of life on Earth.
We believe another way is possible.
There is a thread that binds all life—a great web of reciprocity that connects the human heart to the soil, the rivers, forests, mountains and the stars. But in forgetting this truth, we have wandered into a wilderness of separation, leaving the earth and our own spirits wounded. At The Living Bridge, we are here to help remember the ancient pathways of connection and belonging.
Through the wisdom of the land, the strength of true community, the stillness of mindfulness, and the reverence of animistic traditions, we seek to restore balance and wholeness. To walk this bridge is to step into a deeper story—one where humanity is not a scourge but a humble steward, where gratitude and care flow freely, and where all beings can thrive in harmony.
We turn to the land, to one another, to the stillness within, and to the sacred rhythms that bind us to all living things. Ours is a labor of repair — of relearning how to belong, how to live gently and gratefully, and how to walk alongside the earth instead of across it.
The bridge is there, rising out of the mist. Will you walk it with us?
An ecology of practice is a series of practices which are interconnected and interdependent. They are not isolated, but rather form a network of practices which support and sustain each other. An ecology of practice is a way of thinking about how different tools can work together to create a more sustainable and resilient system.
The many crises which currently face humanity are interconnected and require a holistic approach seeking to work with these issues as a system instead of as independent fragments; complex problems require complex solutions. Just as life asks us to eat, drink, sleep, and connect in order to thrive, so too does our work in the world require a diversity of practices which support and sustain each other. Focusing on only one aspect of health would be to neglect the whole and would not lead to health, but rather to imbalance and eventually, illness.
Our current ecology of practice is rooted in three general spheres of interconnected and increasing relationality: self, community and nature. Community Building Community is the bedrock of ecology. And ecology is essentially about relationship. And relationship is the heart of everything we experience. How well we build community - with ourselves, each other and the world around us - ultimately dictates how well life is able to flourish. Animism The oldest human wisdom tradition, animism sees the Earth as alive and sensuous, shimmering with spirit. It says the world is moved by unseen forces, energies, forgotten gods, and a whole host of human and non-human persons. The forests are alive. The rivers, are alive. The air and wind whisper secrets as they dash madly through the canopies of tall trees. A morning mist wraps itself with agency against stoic mountainsides cut ragged by the icy teeth of ancient glaciers. Animism gets us back in diagloue and relation with these beings. Permaculture A design philosophy which sees the earth as sacred instead of as servant. It doesn't concern itself with sustainability based on human needs, but on the needs of the entire ecosystem. Through regeneration, reciprocity, restoration and honorable harvests, humans can re-build healthy community with nature. Insight Practices By fusing mindfulness practices like Buddhist insight meditation and psychotherapeutic modalities like IFS, we can get to know the parts that make us who we are. By knowing our parts we can better build community with them and, in turn, with those around us. Learn more about our ecology * This list is not fixed and is subject to evolve and change. For example, we believe there is an imaginal, creative, expressive category that we don't yet have words to give shape to. It is an emergent practice waiting to be born and, simultaneously, right in front of us in every piece of art, poem, song, dance, or sculpted marble the world has ever known. It sings out as an earth intelligence every morning when the birds recreate the day with the coming dawn.
"The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing." - Arundhati Roy
We want to note that we struggled on whether to share the wider context of the quote, taken from Arundhati Roy's collection of essays, War Talk, because the language could be interpreted as othering. While we seek to create a culture where we embrace the 'monstrous' and integrate our collective shadow, we also cannot deny that empire IS. Structures of coloniality and exploitative capitalism are invested in keeping things as they are. It is important to call out reality as it exists and not deny systems of oppression and violence which cause real harm to human & non-human persons and the planet.
A word of caution:
It is important to note that we do not have the answers. We do not even claim to possess all of the necessary skills or abilities needed to find them. We’re not here to suggest what's best for the planet or its people (human or non-human), offer quick fixes, or share silver-bullet solutions. In fact, we would be wary of - and encourage others to be wary of - those who claim they do.
We are fellow travelers passing through. We are searching, too.
We seek to hold space and build containers in which our collective capacity to reflect, to deepen relational awareness, and to sit with difficult emotions is expanded so that together we may better metabolize trauma. If you join us on this journey, you must realize it is to venture into the very heart of the unknown.