Adrián Villaseñor Galarza, PhD
I’m passionate about human transformation in service of the living Earth and the the unfolding of our deep, regenerative 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, and founder of the Bioalchemy Institute and The Work That Reconnects Latin America. A recognized voice in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world in the fields of Ecopsychology and Earth-based Spirituality, I work as a transpersonal ecopsychologist, contemplative teacher, author, ritualist, and international facilitator.
For over two decades, my work has explored the confluence of Eastern and Western teachings of liberation, transpersonal and depth psychologies, Earth-based wisdom, and contemplative and ancestral traditions, and has been made available to both academic and lay audiences. At its heart, this work has been informed by an inquiry into how we might more fully inhabit our human potential while restoring our participation in the living Earth.
Alongside my academic teaching and educational work, I offer individual sessions through a contemplative, eco-systemic, animistic, and transpersonal perspective. I have authored and co-authored several books and articles and translated into Spanish Joanna Macy’s Coming Back to Life, a foundational work in the fields of ecopsychology, eco-spirituality, group work, and engaged Buddhism.
Roots & Inspiration
I was born and raised in México, though I’ve travelled and lived in different places. Moving between cultures, landscapes, and traditions 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 flourishing. These include Mexican animistic traditions, Tibetan Buddhism & Yoga, Native American teachings, Taoism, and Central and South American plant shamanisms and ritual. I’m also a Reiki master and longtime practitioner of contemplative disciplines, with studies and formative experiences in México, USA, Perú, India, Spain, Colombia, and China.
My blood ancestors come primarily from the Iberian Peninsula and from the Nahua, Purépecha, and Nahua-Otomí peoples of pre-colonial México. This heritage has continually invited a deepening and integration of both old and new, above and below, North and South.
Research Interests & Approach
My academic and professional work has developed at the confluence of ecopsychology, transpersonal and depth psychologies, contemplative studies, and Earth-based and ancestral traditions. Rather than treating these as separate domains, I understand them as mutually illuminating pathways toward self-discovery, healing, expanded awareness, and regenerative participation in the living world. My doctoral research explored the foundations of an Integral Ecopsychology, seeking a more comprehensive understanding of the human psyche in relation to nature, culture, and the sacred. Over the years, this inquiry has evolved through teaching, research, contemplative practice, ritual, and direct engagement with the living Earth.
My current research interests center on transpersonal ecopsychology, including the development of an expanded understanding of psyche through the interrelated dimensions of Spirit, Nature, Body, and Culture. Closely connected with this inquiry is my exploration of an “Earth’s Dharma,” particularly the ways contemplative practice and spiritual traditions can bring us closer to the living Earth and our true nature, as well as ritual and ancestral traditions, with a focus on to belonging, healing, transition, and direct connection with the spiritual dimensions of human and more-than-human worlds.
Transpersonal Ecopsychology
Informed by Ecopsychology, Deep Ecology and the Work That Reconnects, Depth 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 & Ritual
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.
Underlying these different strands is a simple yet enduring inquiries: How do we call forth and live into the wakeful dimensions of who we are? How might we develop a kinder and more wholesome relationship with ourselves and one another, reconnect with the wisdom of the living Earth, and learn to let go into the healing Mystery at the heart of things?
I approach this question through an understanding of the human being as inseparable from the larger web of relations in which life unfolds. Like a seed containing the potential of the tree, our unfolding asks for both roots and branches: a deepening into body, ancestry, Earth, and the particularities of our lives, alongside an opening toward consciousness, spirit, and the Great Mystery.
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.