Adrián Villaseñor Galarza, PhD
I’m passionate about human transformation in service of the living Earth in order to uncover the regenerative expression of our deep potentials.
I’m an Associate Professor in the East West Psychology Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Adjunct Professor at Naropa University and Antioch University. Integral ecopsychologist, contemplative teacher, author, ritualist–these are some of the tags that help give voice to my vocation. My work is often considered a Latin American referent when it comes to Deep Ecology, Ecopsychology, and Earth-based spirituality.
At the heart of what I offer there’s a confluence of Eastern and Western liberation teachings, Earth-based traditions, and Ecopsychologies, resulting in an elemental framework for self-discovery, healing, and regenerative action. I’ve been engaged in transformative education for around 20 years, actively offering workshops and talks to academic audiences and the general public. I’ve worked with individuals for the past 10 years through a contemplative, eco-systemic, animistic, and transpersonal lens. I’m the author of a handful of books and translator of one of Joanna Macy’s seminal book on eco-spirituality, group work, and resilience.
Roots & Inspiration
I was born and raised in México, though I’ve travelled and lived in different places for roughly half my life. This experience has nurtured an integrative approach to the complex cultural, spiritual, and ecological issues of our time.
Above all, the lineages of beauty, wisdom, and compassion I’ve honored since my teens serve as the guiding force behind my yearning for personal transformation and socio-ecological viability. These lineages and schools include: Mexican Animism, Tibetan Buddhism & Yoga, Native American teachings, Taoism, and Central and South American Plant Shamanisms and Ritual. I’m a Reiki master and a practitioner of contemplative disciplines, with studies in México, USA, Perú, India, Spain, Colombia, and China.
My blood ancestors come primarily from the Iberian Peninsula in Europe and the Nahua, Purépecha, and Nahua-Otomí peoples of pre-colonial México. This heritage has called for a deepening and integration of both old and new, up and down, North and South.
Academic Studies
My academic studies have supported my passion throughout the seasons. In my PhD research I advanced an Integral Ecopsychology, fruit of the confluence of transpersonal and spiritual teachings from East and West, Earth-honoring traditions, and the study of the human-nature connection. Overall, my work is informed by three interconnected areas:
Earth Reconnection & (Eco)systemic Psychologies
Informed by Ecopsychology, Deep Ecology and the Work That Reconnects, Depth Psychology and Myth, and Transpersonal Psychology.
Contemplative & Spiritual Traditions
Including Eastern liberation teachings (Yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism), Contemplative Psychoterapy, and Western Wisdom Traditons that center on the import of direct experience.
Ancestral Healing & Shamanisms
Particularly the animistic traditions of the Americas, the use of ritual for transformation and healing, Family Constellations, and the therapeutic value of non-ordinary states of consciousness.
Bioalchemy & the WTR
I’m the founder and director of the Bioalchemy Institute, mostly active in Latin America, a pioneering project dedicated to healing the relation between humans and the rest of nature through a transformative education for body, mind, and spirit.
I’m the seed originator of the Work That Reconnects Latin America, initiative that assists Spanish speaking people from the Americas and beyond in reclaiming their true, wild place in the Earthly web of life.