What’s the latest from Loka?

We completed filming the Sacred Wisdom Sacred Earth documentary this summer and fall 2024! 20+ elders, knowledge holders, and youth were interviewed. Since then, we have been immersed in the editing process. As part of our commitment to community engagement, the Loka team will screen the rough assembly of film footage with Native elders, knowledge holders, and youth who participated in this project in the coming months.

The film is set to premiere in early Summer of 2025 - if you have not seen it already, check out the latest trailer!

Launch of “Psychology of Deep Resilience”
A 4-Course Online Program on edX, Summer 2024

Artwork by Tenzoni for Loka

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a brand new online 4-course program, “Psychology of Deep Resilience; Addressing Ecoanxiety and Climate Distress for Individual, Social and Ecological Well-being” on edX, an online learning platform available in 70+ countries! The course program is designed to help participants meet the environmental and climate crises we are in with courage, determination, and a fierce reclamation of communal joy. We built it for everyone who is at the forefront of environmental and climate impacts, including youth, environmental professionals, and people from marginalized communities, but it is accessible to all. The courses bring together root cause analysis, systems-thinking, intersectional and justice-based solutions, community-building and contemplative practice skills to help participants face eco-anxiety and climate distress and move towards building resilience for themselves, their communities, and the planet.

There are four courses that make up the Psychology of Deep Resilience certificate program:

To access the FREE version of these classes, please select each separate course and register individually!

The idea for the course directly emerged from the RITA Summit that Loka organized in August 2023. We were deeply influenced by the knowledge, the wisdom, and wonderful community that came together for the summit. In the making of the course, we have also drawn from and learned from Loka’s other convenings, project partnerships, and ongoing dialogue with community, faith and Indigenous leaders. Instructors include Dekila Chungyalpa, resilience expert and Founder and Director of the Loka Initiative, Richard J. Davidson, world-renowned neuroscientist and the Founder and Director of Center for Healthy Minds, and Paul Robbins, award-winning author and Dean of UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; and over 35 other instructors and speakers, including contemplative practice leaders representing several wisdom traditions!

Many of you have accompanied us on our five year journey, working with Evangelical church leaders on creation care and climate change, as part of the Creation at the Crossroads project, which is facilitated by Reverend Ed Brown and Dekila, Loka’s director. We successfully completed our fifth(!) convening in September 2024, bringing together a diverse group of leaders from all around the United States to examine creation care through theological and scientific lenses and to learn about and rigorously debate current environmental and climate policies and strategies. The 2024 cohort will continue to meet as part of our partner, A Rocha’s pilot program - Churches of Restoration - in the next couple months. Our teams look forward to evaluating the impact of this program going forward in 2025.