Ann Alex Gierlińska

Alex Ann Gierlinska (he/him, it/him, she/her) - Doctor of Philosophy, facilitator of the Practice of Reconnection (PPP) by Joanna Macy (Work That Reconnects), trainer of group psychological training, publicist. She is involved in ecopsychology. As a PPP facilitator, she helps activist individuals to better understand themselves and build sustainable relationships with the world. By conducting workshops and trainings, she supports the well-being of those who work for change. She conducts individual and group dream work, mindfulness practice in nature, and works with and for queer people.

1. How do you cultivate a relationship with nature on a daily basis?

Nature is wildlife - the distant and majestic ones like the Rainforest or the Arctic, the closer (in terms of distance) Bialowieza Forest or the Bieszczady Mountains, but also suburban forests, swamps, meadows and lakes. Therefore, a relationship with nature for me is not only sleeping in the open air in wilderness preserves, but daily appreciation of the creatures living around me: birds in parks, insects, trees and shrubs . Noticing the variability of the seasons of the day and year and tuning my rhythm to these natural rhythms. Finally, it's also taking care of my body and emotions, myself and my relationships with other human beings around me - seeing in people, as in other animals, living, feeling beings.

In practice, this means that I try to regularly indulge in forest walks as close to my home as possible to observe the variability of the places close to me, and take care to eat vegan meals prepared with care.

2 - What inspires you?

I find inspiration in a wide variety of spaces and places. The most important of these is wild nature: sitting alone on the banks of a river or the sea, mindfulness walks through forests and meadows, also walks in the dark. I am inspired by the people I meet in my life: my relatives, friends, my partner, mentors and mentees. I also find inspiration in scientific literature, popular science or listening to podcasts on topics that happen to interest me. Sources of creative inspiration for me are dreams and daily improvised singing.

3. How do you understand mind-body balance?

For me, the body and the emotions that are experienced through the body are an inseparable unity with the mind. My thoughts and beliefs influence the emotions manifested in the body and vice versa. I view wildlife and culture in an analogous way: in human actions, we draw from nature: and metaphorically and quite literally, without nature we cannot survive. And at the same time, human actions, our culture and civilization interact with nature. The body is the closest piece of wild nature to me and thoughts and beliefs are a piece of culture manifested in me. This is why it seems so important to me to think critically about the relationship of the body and emotions to the mind and thoughts, to nature and culture. It is important in this context to carefully observe oneself and one's environment, a necessary reflection on how we as bodily-emotional-intellectual beings create culture and how we are in nature. This is also what I want to invite people who read my texts to do.