Individual and collective action for the rebalancing,
protection and celebration of a healthy, living world.
As the lords of materialism wreak havoc on our natural world, destroying rich ecosystems and threatening our very existence, Touching the Earth warriors come together with the aspiration to live within our planetary boundaries, retake our seat as good neighbours in the community of life on Earth, and to grieve for what we have already lost.
activities and engagements that bring to light the need for down‑to‑earth sanity
Join our Google Group
You are invited to join our Google Group if you share our Mission, Vision and Values. The Group is a lively virtual community gathering place for sharing upcoming events and actions, pertinent news stories, and is a valued forum for conversation and debate. You can select a digest option once signed up if you prefer. Just click here to create an email that will get you started.
Sign up for
our newsletter
We promise to only send interesting things. Just click here to get on the list.
Sustaining membership
Joining Touching the Earth as a Sustaining Member allows us to deliver a growing range of events and resources as we work to embed Ecodharma in the heart of Shambhala. Much of our work is delivered by the kindness of volunteers, but we cannot sustain ourselves without the generosity of our Sustaining Members and major donors. Each new Sustaining Member receives the Touching the Earth pin, which embodies our aspiration of elemental harmony.
Sign up now
Become a Sustaining Member with a monthly donation of $9/9 Euros per month or $108/108 Euros annually. (Link to donation page)
Write to TouchingtheEarthSteering[email protected] for more information.
Previous links
Words of members and friends
A Dedication to Nature
We are all part of nature.
All living things are connected.
May all peoples learn from indigenous wisdom to respect the earth and give thanks for nature’s gifts.
May we take only what we need from the earth to sustain us and leave enough for future generations.
May we share earth’s lands and resources without exploitation of one another or nature.
May we restore, heal, and rebuild where we have stolen, broken or destroyed.
Sustain all who sustain us and the earth will last forever.
Roger Peters
When human beings live in harmony with the principles of heaven and earth, then the four seasons and the elements of the world will also work together harmoniously.
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche,
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior
Why are we doing this work?
Land Acknowledgement
The Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective acknowledges that many of its members live and work on the homelands of Indigenous Peoples across the world that were unceded and subject to colonialization. We honor these original peoples who have long stewarded these lands, and we celebrate their resilience and richness of their languages, traditions and cultures. We recognize their enduring and continuing relationships to the land: past, present and future. We appreciate that the origins of our own Buddhist and Shambhala traditions arose from indigenous Tibetan culture, and we are grateful that these traditions have been able to grow and be nurtured on so many continents. We seek to respect and support Indigenous Peoples sovereignty.
Earth Salon
The Earth Salon is intended to bring us together to explore the greater implications of our bodhisattva vow. We hope to include guided practices, as well as guest speakers to focus on how our daily activities bind us or alienate us from the earth we share with all creatures.
How do we rouse our intention? How do we move from intention to action? How do we build resilience and appreciation? How do we create a pathway for caring activity on this earth?
Together we will investigate these questions and more while looking at food & gardening, housing & construction, travel, clothing, energy, consumption, and many other areas that will undoubtedly arise during our conversations.
Global Equinox Lhasangs
One of the most significant practices passed on to us by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche is lhasang – the ceremony of burning juniper to purify space and invoke the dralas, the enlightened energies of the natural world. Simply offering a stick of incense can be a lhasang.
Many of us in Shambhala are familiar with the drala principle. We understand that by connecting with the dralas we can help restore the health and vitality of the natural world. The purifying smoke of the lhasang carries our aspirations upwards and, at the same time, provides for the blessings of the dralas to flow downwards. Meeting the dralas in this way also creates an opportunity to deepen our personal connection to the earth and all living things. Now, with the earth in extreme peril, what better time to practice a collective, global calling on the dralas.
With this view, we hold a global lhasang ceremony with Shambhala Centers, formal and informal Groups, and individuals, performing lhasang in their respective time zones each Spring and Autumn Equinox. This creates a continuous smoke offering that circles the earth for 24 hours.
Book Reviews
Touching the Earth Collective publishes regular book reviews on the Shambhala Times website exploring different facets of our uncertain ecological times.
Check out our review archive here.
Planet A Book & Movie Club
Share a good read… or movie…
and discussion (or not).
We decide together what to read and come together on Zoom to discuss our reading…. slowly making our way through relevant, exciting, informative books.
And then we watch a movie together before beginning another book.
If you would like to join us, please contact Deborah, [email protected].
Planet A
is the only one we’ve got!
Sign up for the Newsletter
We acknowledge the generous support of:
