1. THE ECOLOGY OF
TRANSFORMATION
A Relational Study of the
Ecology of Leadership Program
at the Regenerative Design
Institute
Katia Sol Madjidi
PhD Candidate
Leadership, Higher and Adult Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto
Final Oral Examination
November 5, 2013

3. Outline
1. Big Picture
1. Research Intentions, Design and Methodology
1. Major Findings
2. Key Implications & Future Directions

4. THE BIG PICTURE
Humanity is passing through a time of great
transition, an unprecedented convergence of
immense global crisis and opportunity
“The Great Turning” (Macy and Brown, 1998; Korten,
2006), “The Shift”, “The Fulfillment of Prophecy”
(Leading Earth Woman/Longboat, 2009), “Catagenesis”
(Homer-Dixon, 2006), “The sunset of an ecologically
illiterate civilization” (Ausubel, 2010)

5. External Crises
• EXTERNALLY: Unprecedented levels of crisis currently facing our globalized
community, placing us at a threatening tipping point for economic,
environmental, social, political, psychological, and spiritual collapse
• (e.g. Earth Charter, 2000; Hawken, 2006; Homer-Dixon, 2006; Diamond, 2005; IPCC, 2007; Peterson,
2009; Gore, 2006; McKibben, 1999; Heinberg, 2007; NASA, 2010; Miller, 2001; Lerner, 2000)
• Environmental impact and climate change
• Diminishing availability of and increasing demand for energy resources,
food and clean water
• Population growth/migration
• Widening gaps in income distribution
• Violence, war, civil unrest, domestic abuse, gender violence
• An unjust justice system
• Clashes of ideology and faith
• 1/3rd of US public on anti-depressants/anti-anxiety meds, increasing
numbers of children on medication for ADD, ADHD, increasing prevalence
of autism
• Addictions – unhealthy use of food, materialism, drugs, alcohol, work, sex,
television, video games, internet, gambling, etc

6. A Global Disconnect Disorder
• INTERNALLY:
People feel fundamentally disconnected from
•
•
•
•
SELF
NATURE
ONE ANOTHER
MEANING/PURPOSEFUL ENGAGEMENT IN THE WORLD
• “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers;
wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but
enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences but less
time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more
expenses but more problems; more medicine but less wellness. We have multiplied our
possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom. and hate too
often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life; we've added years to life, not life
to years. We've been all way to the moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to
meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space but not inner space... (student
survivor of Columbine shootings, quoted in Miller 2001: 2)

7. An Opportunity for Transformative Learning
•
•
•
•
•
Challenge or “disorienting dilemma” occurs
Self-examination, critical questioning of assumptions
Opening for new perspectives & understanding
Acquiring of new knowledge
Application/integration of new ways of thinking & being
• (e.g. Mezirow,1975, 1978, 1991, 2000; O’Sullivan, 1999; 2002; Freire, 1970; Metzger,
2006; Hedva, 2001; Daloz, 2003; Ferrer, 2002; Schugurensky, 2003)
• Transformative learning involves experiencing a deep,
structural shift in the basic premises of thought, feeling, and
actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and
permanently alters our way of being…Such a shift involves our
understanding of ourselves and our self-locations; our
relationships with other humans and with the natural
world…and our sense of the possibilities for social justice,
peace and personal joy. (O’Sullivan 2003: 11)

8. A Global Tranformative Moment
The possibility that the scope and impact of our growing global
ecological, economic, political, social, psychological and spiritual crises
could, rather than resulting in collapse, instead invite humanity into a
great global process of transformative learning that catalyzes us to
move from a destructive “industrial growth society” to a “life
sustaining society” (Macy and Brown, 1998) –into an ecologically
regenerative, socially just and spiritually connected world.

9. Core of my Dissertation Research
• Foundational to this shift and critical to our survival and
prosperity as a global community will be the speed and
depth with which humanity is able to transform our ways of
relating with our selves, one another and the earth.
• My research intention was to examine the practices and
pathways that support people to make this great individual
and collective transformation

10. Questions…
• What is the relationship between inner and outer
(and personal and collective) transformation?
• What are the practices/pathways that best cultivate
that transformation?
• What is the relationship between individual and
collective transformative learning, and what practices
observed in the Ecology of Leadership program best
support this transformation?

11. The Ecology of Leadership

12. Research Design & Methodology

14. Defining a Research Methodology
• According to Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Lather’s chart of Postpositivist Inquiry
(1991) sets out various critiques of positivist science (e.g. post-modern,
emanicpatory, etc.), but “significantly absent are the organic and
indigenous approaches to research” (Smith, p. 167).
• Smith purports that most post-positivist approaches are regarded as
deriving from a Freirian pedagogy, and are therefore framed as relatively
recent; however, this denies the possibility that alternative research
frameworks could pre-date positivism and therefore also precede “postmodern” approaches such as “participatory-action” research.
• The choice to frame my methodology from a relational standpoint is
therefore an explicit choice to centralize worldviews and methods that
come not from a Western paradigm, but rather from ancient, earthbased ways of knowing and that arise from organic, indigenous, natural,
ecological, and intuitive standpoints.

15. • Lakota - Mitakuye Oyasin, or “All My Relations”, speaks to the
understanding that relationship is not defined as only our human
or blood relations but as our living relationships with all beings in
Creation, including mineral, plant and animal life.
• Maori- whanaungatanga, “the process of establishing meaningful,
reciprocal and familial relationships through culturally appropriate
ways, establishing connectedness and engagement and therefore a
deeper commitment to other people.” (Bishop, 1999).
• Requires that the researcher place the “interests, knowledge, and
experience” of the community as central to the research (Rigney
1999: 19).
• This means that the research aims to establish meaningful
connections and relationships with the community, organization,
and ecosystem being studied, which may carry beyond the scope of
the research into potentially “life-long” relationships and
commitments (Smith, 1992).

16. Core Principles of Relational Methodology
• Knowledge is grounded in a particular location, community and
natural ecosystem
• Learning happens through observation, participation, intuition, and
mentoring
• Centralizes the importance of relationships and connections
• Allows for organic, natural unfoldment & discovery
• Emphasizes the role of recovery, healing and regeneration in
natural and human systems
• Honors diversity and the individual stories of the diverse members
of an eco-system, as well as the collective story
• Respect for all members of the community and ecosystem
• Responsibility to care for the land, for the community of which we
are a part, and for the knowledge and traditions that are entrusted to us
• Reciprocity (law of return) – giving back to the community and the
ecosystem

17. Regenerative Research
• Regenerative research implies that the research itself contribute to
the healing, wholeness and integrity of the system
• To give new life or energy to; revitalize"; "Restored to a better
state; refreshed or renewed.”
• How could the process of researching and the writing of the
dissertation not only contribute to the regeneration of the
community and ecosystem that I am researching, but also be
regenerative for me as the researcher - so that upon completion I
might feel refreshed, renewed, and revitalized?

18. Major Findings

19. TREE MODEL/ INNER
PERMACULTURE
• Model for
transformation from
the inside out
• What is in our roots
and soil is reflected in
our canopy
• Transformation on an
outer level begins by
transforming our root
systems and soil

20. Application &
Engagement in World
Self Connection
Village Connection
Nature
Connection

21. Connection with Self

22. Practices for Connection with Self
• Gratitude practice
• Intention setting
• Stepping into Rumi’s Field
• Landscape Assessment
• Life Story
• Patterns Journaling
• Personal Healing Work
• Tree Model
• Inner Tracking & Ownership Process
• Creative Scenes
• Setting your North Star

23. • I think the most powerful experience I had was really feeling the
analogy that within an acorn seed it holds all the intelligence and
potential of the tree…that within me that I have everything right
now to fully grow into a powerful, healthy being. And that I don’t
need to go outside of myself for that energy and inspiration and
integrity.

24. Connection with the Natural World

25. Connection with Natural World
• We are Nature
• Being Held by Nature
• Nature as Mirror
• Nature Connection and Mindfulness
• Nature Connection and Opening the Heart
• Nature as Mentor/Teacher
• Nature as Metaphor
• Natural Healing/Cyclical Healing
• Regenerating with Nature

26. Being Held by the Land
• “Yeah it’s feeling like I’m being very literally held by the land. Like having
that experience of being one part of a whole. And not in the way that you
can go inside to meditation, to stillness. There’s a clarity that comes
through that but its literally like laying down on this amazing bed of
comforting, um, like, mommy (Laughing). That’s what it feels like, it feels
like hanging out with Mom.
• “And around that time, as things were moving and maybe coming back to
part of my processes around self-love, I would go and I’d sit in this tree.
The tree was almost like a giraffe. It was a huge Cypress. I would straddle
one of the branches – a huge branch that went out like a dinosaur neck. I
would sit there and watch the valley, and the sun would be setting. I felt
loved by the landscape. I felt loved by that tree. I felt held… I felt like it
was an important part of that healing process to really feel learning how
to be loved by nature …allowing myself to connect with it…it felt like for
me, it was just getting to that place where I was able to feel loved by the
landscape and that for me, strengthened my ability to love myself. “

28. We are Nature
• “I was at a sit spot…and it just hit me. It was like this wave of
relaxation. It was like, you already... you’ve got it all right now. Stop
trying. Stop trying to outthink it and make it…you are it. It’s
present, it’s alive, it’s living. It allowed me to soften into myself and
tap into my own intelligence. And it just, it began this journey and
this wave of bliss that I’m still riding today. And it’s beautiful –my
universe is myself. The universe is within you. That divine baseline
presence in within all things. And you can touch it and feel it… And
that can be your guide, that connection …maybe there’s something
beyond that, but all these ancient teachings saying the same thing
is like, to me that’s it. It’s like letting nature do what it wants and
being conscious awareness of that. The power of nature that’s in
you.”

29. Interpersonal Connection/Village

30. Aspects of Interpersonal/Village Connection
• Collective Healing
• Being Witnessed
• Deep listening
• Vulnerability
• Authenticity
• Accountability
• Intimacy
• Healing the masculine/feminine
• Intergenerational healing
• Healing ancestral wounds & trauma
• Collective visioning and manifesting of possibilities

31. Vulnerability
• “I felt so safe and so held that I was able to really just allow all that
to come up. I mean you have 20 people holding empathetic space
for you. It’s really different energetically and much more powerful
than just one really amazing person holding a space for you. So all
that reflection, surrounded by all that love, and…letting myself be
vulnerable to just express all that was off the charts.”
• “it’s only possible through being in a safe environment where you
feel really secure and helped and loved and once those ingredients
get mixed together then it’s alright for everyone to be vulnerable.
Then you see the person next to you being vulnerable and its like
“wow, it is okay”

32. Authenticity
• “It was sort of like this community or circle where I was bringing
this new identity and I wasn’t trying to hide who I was. And in fact I
was encouraged to just show up as you are and bring your whole
authentic self – whatever state you’re in – into the circle. So it was
really supportive and healing for me to be in the circle and be
witnessed by a group. And feel loved and supported for who I
was/am.”
• “What I found more and more was the more authentic I am, the
more people are drawn to that…when I have the courage to allow
myself to be vulnerable and authentic, it gives other people
permission and it connects people, because what you’re doing is
tapping into something that is essentially human, that we all
share.”

33. Collective Support & Visioning
• “I remember writing to people just about what I was going through
and saying I was in a circle of support I didn’t dream was possible,
and then saying maybe I did dream it and that’s why it’s here and
I’m in it too, because it’s something we long for but didn’t know it
existed in that way. And now I have the capacity to create it so it’s
not that it only exists here, which is the beautiful thing about EOL.
Is that you’re gifted the tools to just build that everywhere you go,
just by being connected.”

34. Healing the Masculine & Feminine
• “one of the bigger things that impacted me…was separating into
men’s and women’s circles.... I remember standing in a small circle
with the women and the men surrounding us and singing an African
honouring song. It was so beautiful. I remember being on the inside
of the circle and just having an incredible healing moment and
crying and feeling like that was one of the moments that struck me
of intimacy, healing so part of me that was so deep and hidden and
so related to the masculine and the feminine, but now I see that it
was just this archetype of the masculine and the feminine being
healed, and it didn’t have to be in an intimate relationship to get to
that place. To actually be held by all the men in this community and
all the women standing together in this community, and all of us
feeling that. It was an Earth shattering, shaking moment for all of
us. One woman hit the ground, I remember; just fell to her knees
crying. That kind of healing happens there. So that’s magic. And
that started a journey. Wow, we can heal this kind of wound that
happens between masculine and feminine energy in relationships. It
doesn’t have to be man and woman. Just that intimacy in a
relationship.”

35. Additional elements of village life
• Magic
• Song
• Ceremony
• Creativity
• Synchronicity
• Physical contact/touch
• Sound healing
• Collective grieving
• Ritual
• Dance
• Celebration
• Play
• Improvisation

36. Engaging in the World

37. • “For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be
truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful
inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with
each other.” ― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
• Integration of the tools and teachings in one’s daily life is key to
lasting transformation
• These are not practices that can only be done in a yurt in Bolinas, or
in the middle of the woods – they by natural MUST be integrated
and practiced in our daily lives, wherever we are and wherever we
go
• Iterative process of praxis – planning, action, reflection and learning
• Regenerative Living and Leadership Pattern

38. What becomes possible?
• “My project was around making Berkley a fair trade town. So I put
those wheels in motion in August of 2009, when I got back from
EOL. And we became a fair trade town in September of 2010.”
• “Well certainly it suddenly became possible that I could be a musical
person. That was big.”
• “A lot of fears are subsiding.…I just see tons of possibilities. I have
fifty people Monday night coming to hear me speak about a
community learning garden that we’re starting up next month”
• “I’m a much more empathetic and compassionate person…In the
sense that I can walk through life now and judge a lot less…the
magic is walking through the mall and seeing this person that you
don’t know and seeing them as a divine human being.”
• “This whole integration piece has been amazing and continues and
it’s like a spiral, it just keeps getting deeper and deeper.”

40. • “I made the decision to leave my corporate career of 18 years and
with absolutely no idea of what I was going to do, but just trusting
that this was – that there was something more meaningful out
there for me…now I’m on staff at Transition U.S. and we support
hundreds of local community groups and grassroots organizers and
leaders in the initiation of their transition town groups and
initiatives....For the last few years in one weekend they were able to
get over 1,200 1,500 particular actions in one county on one
particular weekend around this idea of growing food, conserving
water, saving energy and growing community.”

41. • “It’s almost the reverse for me to say what hasn’t changed for you.
I can’t think of any part that hasn’t shifted. When you’re doing all
that root work, all that soil work, how does it not shift the entire
canopy, no matter where you are? Just having more consciousness
about how I intend to show up. If I’m headed toward a meeting, if
I’m with my mother-in-law, wherever I’m at….I get to choose how
I’m going to show up. It’s changed everything. I don’t know that I
can tell you all the ways, but I mean, when you start showing up
authentically in every part of your life, every relationship has to
shift, because you have shifted. Everything’s different. It’s shinier;
it’s brighter. It’s a lot more fun.”

42. The Ecology of Transformation
• It is the unique integration of these four aspects of transformation
– of cultivating connection with self, with the natural world, and
with one another – and then of integrating our learnings into our
engagement in the world – that has the power to cultivate lasting
inner and outer transformation
• “At its core, this dissertation is about the deepest possible
transformation of all – the journey from feelings of disconnection,
isolation, fear, inadequacy and shame to a state of connection,
remembrance, trust, wholeness and love.”
• Ultimately this is a process for reconnecting, reweaving,
remembering, regenerating, and recreating ourselves, in
RELATIONSHIP with one another and all creation – for a new day
and time

44. Major Implications
• Relational Research Methodology
• Regenerative Research
• Integration of Transformation in the Inner & Outer Realms through
Simultaneous Connection with Self-Nature-Village-& World
• Centrality of Cultivating a Safe Space for Vulnerability &
Authenticity
• Reciprocity – Contributions to EOL

45. Future Directions
• Role of healing the root system in addressing collective trauma &
moving toward collective vision – intergenerational healing
• Masculine & Feminine dynamics
• Application of mixed methodologies to document benefits of
gratitude, nature connection, etc.
• More direct link to the Great Turning – other aspects of the
movement
• Increasing EOL’s reach, scale, locations, formats, and
diversity/accessibility
• Further research and scholarship on relational and regenerative
research

46. “The EOL program may only be catalyzing change for a few
individuals at a time, but as Paul Hawken describes in Blessed
Unrest, each of these changemakers that enter the system
forms a node that, like mushroom mycelium, together create
an underground web that is transforming the whole planet. As
each individual changes, so does their own personal ecology of
relationships- and so does the world. It is an ecological model
for transformation. This is the new model of revolution – an
ecological revolution – a mycelial revolution – that is not about
overthrowing power or fighting against it– but rather a
transformation from the inside out. As the roots and soil of the
human collective transform, so will our canopy. And therefore
the Great Turning may in fact be a Great Transformation – a
Great Regeneration, that happens through a natural process of
bioremediation, infused with nutrients of love and curiosity and
supported by deep connections with ourselves, with the
natural world, and with the village.”