The Inner Ecology of Leadership
An Earth Shadow Online Journey
Awaken the invisible dynamics shaping how you lead, collaborate, and create change
A live online course for environmental leaders ready to transform hidden shadows into connection, creativity, and power
— The next Earth Shadow course is currently being reconfigured. Join our email list to be the first to know when enrollment opens! —
A world in crisis needs leaders who can face the darkness and stay connected to love.
Even the most visionary organizations and movements can lose energy when the drive to do good outpaces our capacity to stay present with complexity. We push harder, listen less, and start to mirror the very systems we long to transform. The same patterns we’re trying to change in the world – domination, avoidance, scarcity, othering – reappear inside our teams and ourselves.
Shadow work offers a way through. It invites us to meet what we’ve pushed away, to see the unseen forces shaping how we lead and relate. When we do, something remarkable happens: energy that was trapped in struggle becomes available for creativity, connection, and new pathways forward.
“Integrating shadow into the ways we lead could change everything. It could end cancel culture and infighting...If our movements were not afraid of shadow we could stop resisting destruction and organize more creatively.”
The Three Layers of Shadow
Shadow shows up in many layers. We may be most accustomed to seeing it at the systemic level – it’s easy to look out there and see the shadowy, unhealed, problematic systems driving the world’s polycrisis. But shadows show up in here too – whether that’s inside our own selves as leaders, or inside our organizations and communities. But there is good news: It is often much easier to work with and transform the shadows in here than the ones out there…and once we do the inner work, amazing new possibilities emerge for how to do the outer work more effectively.
In this course, we will explore shadow in 3 key layers:
Personal Shadow
You might recognize the ways internal patterns get in your way – second-guessing yourself, avoiding hard conversations, overworking to the point of burnout, or shrinking back when you want to speak up. These patterns directly shape how you lead and how others experience you.
Group Shadow
You might have seen group organizing efforts get weighed down by miscommunication, defensiveness, or people feeling alienated or made wrong. Even small tensions can snowball into mistrust, stalled projects, or unnecessary conflict. These dynamics have an impact on how far our collective organizing efforts are able to reach, and how much we’re able to accomplish.
Systemic Shadow
At the systemic level, it’s easy to see the extraction, inequity, fragmentation, and unsustainable practices built into the structures we’re working to change. But there are deeper nuances in how and why these systems operate the way they do, and a shadow lens reveals layers that other modes of analysis often miss.
Together, we'll explore how shadows show up at each of these levels. But we'll also dig beneath the surface, to understand why such shadows form in the first place, what drives them, and, most importantly, what to do about them.
“Because of this work I’m much less afraid of my own shadow and the shadow in the people and world around me, which gives me exactly what I’ve been looking for: more capacity to love my world in this time of great need.”
Course Details
Dates
TBD
Schedule
TBD
Duration
TBD
Tuition
TBD: Sliding scale · Scholarships available
Format
Live Sessions
Weekly 2-hour Zoom gatherings with guided practices, embodied exploration, reflection, and facilitated dialogue
Between Sessions
Explore readings, guided meditations, and practices to deepen your understanding and weave the work into daily life
Praxis Pods
Small peer groups that meet periodically to apply concepts, practice new skills, and support each other’s leadership
Community
A committed cohort of environmental leaders, organizers, and changemakers building trust, learning together, and navigating the three layers of shadow in real time
What We Will Explore
This course will help you uncover the deeper patterns shaping how you lead, communicate, and collaborate – and practice new ways of meeting challenge, difference, and uncertainty with steadiness and care.
You’ll learn how to:
• Recognize the core shadow patterns operating within you, within the environmental space, and in the wider world
• Understand why these patterns arise in the first place – and what to do about them
• Work with shadow in ways that bring curiosity, play, and levity – loosening rigidity and creating more room to breathe
• Discover the unexpected gifts and intelligence held within the things we push away
• Engage systemic shadow without burning out or reproducing the very patterns you’re working to change
• Experience greater freedom, flow, and a sense of possibility in organizational and work dynamics
• Lead and respond from presence, connection, and creativity – even when stakes are high
• Cultivate deeper and more accessible ways to love for yourself and your world
Who Is This For?
This course is for anyone working in service of environmental and justice-centered change, who feels both deeply committed and yet also frustrated by the dynamics that stymie effective organizing.
It’s a strong fit if you:
• Feel disheartened by cycles of conflict and polarization in organizations and movements you care about
• Sense that familiar right / wrong narratives and blame-based dynamics often limit what’s possible
• Want to respond to tension and harm with greater skill, steadiness, and relational intelligence
• Are curious about what becomes possible when we look beneath behavior to the deeper human patterns driving it
• Are willing to question your own strategies and assumptions in service of more effective, life-giving change
• Know that your work is ultimately about love — and want to bring that back into the everyday reality of organizing and changemaking
You do not need prior experience with shadow work. The course meets you where you are and supports you in deepening your capacity to lead from wholeness.
“This work offers profound gifts to the environmental space. It helps us connect more intimately with each other, navigate power and privilege with more skill, and rethink strategies through a deeper, more embodied lens.”
Facilitators
Tani Thole and Leslie Rogers, founders of the Light Dark Institute, bring decades of experience guiding changemakers through the depths of shadow work. Rooted in psychology, spirituality, and embodied practices, their work empowers leaders to meet the complexities of their missions with resilience, clarity, and an unshakable commitment to love.
Lindley Mease brings decades of experience working in the environmental sector. Drawing from years of collaboration with grassroots movements, philanthropic organizations, and global networks, they bring a deep commitment to truth-telling, learning, and love as foundations for transformation.
As white facilitators, the leadership of Earth Shadow recognizes the inherent privileges and limitations of their perspectives. They are committed to creating an inclusive, adaptive space for grappling with identity-based shadows—both personal and systemic—in service of collective liberation.
“The Earth Shadow facilitators are extremely skillful, humble, respectful and brilliant. I am so grateful for the gifts of these tools and teachings. I return to my work in the world with more range, capacity, and grounded love for life in all of its forms.”
The Lineage: Power, Consent, and Play
This work draws from a wide range of embodied and relational traditions – including practices rooted in the study of power, consent, and trust within BDSM and kink lineages.
For over a decade, Leslie and Tani have guided individuals and groups in transforming fear, shame, and polarization into awareness and connection. These practices illuminate how to stay present in intensity, honor boundaries, and engage difference with care – skills essential for navigating today’s political and ecological challenges.
Just as movements strive to transform power systems externally, this work helps leaders embody those transformations internally, cultivating the capacity to meet complexity with integrity, imagination, and love.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is shadow work?
Shadow work is the practice of bringing awareness and compassion to the parts of ourselves and our world that we’ve pushed away. When we integrate these parts, we unlock the energy and creativity they hold, and can create change from a more compassionate and dynamic place.
Do I need prior experience?
No. The course is accessible for leaders and changemakers at all levels of experience with personal growth or relational practice.
Is this like therapy?
This work is designed to build self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-love (along with greater love and understanding for others and the world). However, it is not a therapeutic program, and is not intended as a replacement for mental health care.
Will sessions be recorded?
Yes, recordings will be available for participants who need them. But live attendance is strongly encouraged wherever possible, as the course is designed to be experiential and relational.
What is the time commitment?
Beyond the 2-hour weekly live session, you may spend up to a few additional hours each week engaging with videos, readings, and simple practices. These are not required but will greatly enhance what you get from the course.
Is this a safe space?
We are committed to a respectful, consent-based, well-held learning environment and do not tolerate harassment or dehumanizing behavior. At the same time, we recognize that no space can guarantee complete safety for everyone, particularly across differences of power and identity. Shadow work can bring up strong emotions; rather than avoiding this, the course supports participants in meeting intensity with care, curiosity, and choice. This course is likely not a fit for those in acute crisis, or for those unwilling to reflect on and question their own perspectives as part of the learning.
How does the sliding scale work, and are there scholarships available?
We offer multiple pricing tiers ranging from $495-795 (more details about each tier are explained on the registration page). In addition, we also offer scholarships for those who can’t meet the lowest end of the sliding scale, so cost is not a barrier to participation. You can apply for a scholarship here.
Lead from wholeness. Act from love.
The world needs leaders who can hold complexity without collapsing – leaders who can face the dark without losing heart.
The Inner Ecology of Leadership is an invitation to become that kind of leader: connected, empowered, creative, and fully alive.