The Inner Ecology of Leadership
An Earth Shadow Online Journey
Awaken the invisible dynamics shaping how you lead, collaborate, and create change.
A 3-month live online course for environmental leaders ready to transform hidden shadows into connection, creativity, and grounded power.
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.
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.
Collective Shadow
You might have seen group 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.
Course Details
Dates
February 25 to May 13, 2026
Schedule
Wednesdays
4–6 pm PT / 7–9 pm ET
Live attendance is encouraged for the interactive elements, though recordings will be available.
Duration
3 months
Tuition
$495-795 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 your personal shadow patterns and shift them with compassion
• Stay grounded in intensity and navigate conflict without collapsing or controlling
• Identify and interrupt collective shadow dynamics that erode trust
• Build resilient groups that can hold difference, creativity, and friction
• Engage systemic shadow without burning out or reproducing harmful patterns
• Lead from connection and presence rather than urgency or perfectionism
Who Is This For?
This course is designed for people working at the front lines of environmental and justice-centered change who want to lead with greater integrity, clarity, and relational skill.
It’s a strong fit for:
• Environmental leaders and organizers navigating complexity and burnout
• Directors and program leads managing teams or coalitions
• Activists, advocates, and community-based leaders
• Climate justice practitioners working across sectors and identities
• Educators, facilitators, and bridge-builders
• Anyone committed to transforming the inner and collective patterns that shape movements
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.
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 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 kink lineages.
For over fifteen years, 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 systems that we’ve pushed away. When we integrate these parts, we unlock the energy and creativity they hold.
Do I need prior experience?
No. The course is accessible for leaders at all levels of experience with personal growth or relational practice.
Will sessions be recorded?
Yes. Recordings will be available for participants who need them. Live participation, however, is central to the relational and experiential nature of the course.
How much time should I plan for outside class?
Approximately 1–2 hours weekly for reflection, praxis pods, and short readings.
How does the sliding scale work?
We offer multiple pricing tiers and scholarships so cost is not a barrier to participation.
Is this therapy?
No. While the work can be personally transformative, it is not a therapeutic program. It is a facilitated learning environment rooted in group process, relational practice, and embodied exploration.
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.