Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine is a program within the non-profit Commonweal, at the Commonweal Garden. With its roots in the well-tended soil of the Regenerative Design Institute, Natura is dedicated to reconnecting people to the living systems that restore us to health and wholeness. “Natura,” the Latin root of the word nature, invites us to consider the essential qualities, those innate attributes, which we are born into as human beings. We are invited to consider what Medicine is, and how Ecology inspires a deeper attunement to wholeness.
Founded and directed by Anna O’Malley, an Integrative Family and Community Medicine physician bearing witness to the limiting challenges of the medical or “disease manage-ment” system, Natura is embodying a new model of care that does not deplete the precious resource that is the healer, that empowers the precious being that is seeking well being, and that “does no harm” on an interpersonal, ecological, and planetary level.
We are weaving a new model of Medicine that
allows the space for transformative insights to arise, leverages the
power of love
and connection,
empowers with
healing technologies
ancient and cutting edge, and that is aligned with nature.
In this time of turning away from systems and ways of being which are depleting and limiting, we are nurturing an affirming vision of well being and healing that is regenerative, restorative and whole.
We are increasingly awakening to the truth that living out of synch with Nature, with what a human being needs to be well, and what the living Earth needs to be well, will continue to yield epidemic dis-ease within our human bodies and the body of the Earth. Collapsing systems, be they cardiovascular or agricultural, cannot be restored without a consideration of the bigger picture, the ecological milieu in which the imbalance has occurred. We cannot regain health while in the throes of addiction and consumption. Isolation and fear will not lead us to wholeness. Cultivating radical self-awareness, courageous transformative action and deep love for our selves, our neighbors, and the Earth are at the heart of our healing.