ABOUT
The Dream:
(vision)
Praxis:
(mission)
The Living Systems Consulting dream, which is an ancient dream, is to remember ourselves, in times of crisis, as part of the ecology of living systems, members of a relational reality, in which it is in our best interest to care for everyone and everything else. We are confident that the rediscovery of our inherent belonging - and the ways we design our organizations, business, and relationships in accordance with that inherent belonging - will reestablish life on earth as something to be nurtured and revered, as opposed to something to be controlled and exploited. Consequently, the systems that comprise our lives become more attuned, effective, and sustainable. You’re invited to dream with us, how can you bring relational care, and a living systems approach to your personal and professional worlds?
Living Systems Consulting designs and facilitates processes that engage you, your work and/or your community in remembering your value, role, and potential as a member of a living ecology. Through a decolonial and emergent theory based praxis and relationship building, we lift the veil on what is possible for your site-specific goals and dreams, in an effort to create more just and abundant lifeways and work practices. We work with:
Nonprofits and Foundations
Justice Movement Organizations and Coalitions
Schools and Universities
Government Entities
Businesses and Corporations of all levels
Therapists and Healthcare Professionals
“Nobody’s going to save you. No one’s going to cut you down, cut the thorns thick around you. No one’s going to storm the castle walls nor kiss awake your birth, climb down your hair, nor mount you onto the white steed. There is no one who will feed the yearning. Face it. You will have to do, do it yourself.”
- Gloria Anzaldúa
Why?
We are at a turning point. No matter how we orient or identify, no matter where we are sitting, we are going to be affected by governmental and environmental collapse - as are our businesses and organizations. We will be required to face things we have never faced before - and are thus being called to recalibrate and renegotiate our systems and values. In Living Systems’ seven years of development - through collaboration, extensive study, and on the ground experience - we have identified and weaved together the stories, frameworks, strategies, and tools most effective for the sustainability of life: this is the essence of the Living Systems approach. As our worlds change, so must our practices for survival, relationship, business, and movement.
Who Are We?
Leah Garza
(she/her)
Leah Garza (she/her) is a Los Angeles–based scholar, mystic, and facilitator whose work explores the intersections of decoloniality, ontology, posthumanism, and ecological futures. As the founder of Crystals of Altamira and creator of the year-long Living Systems curriculum, she has guided nearly 300 students across three cohorts to collectively wonder: if extinction is inevitable, what else is possible?
Her teaching and research ask how decolonial pedagogies can cultivate public spaces of intellectual intimacy and nurture relational ways of being, particularly for those living “above the Abyssal line.” Drawing on more than a decade of experience as an educator, curriculum designer, and community researcher, Leah brings both rigor and whimsy to her practice.
She is a PhD candidate at Pacifica Graduate Institute in the Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco Psychologies program, with prior degrees including an M.A. in Depth Psychology (CLIE), an M.Ed from UCLA, and a B.A. in Linguistics from Northeastern University. Across all her work, Leah’s approach is guided by curiosity, resonance, and the conviction that transformation can be not only possible but joyful.
Katie Robinson
(any pronouns)
Katie Robinson (any pronouns) is a writer, facilitator, educator, scholar, and interdisciplinary artist devoted to exploring what becomes possible beyond the white supremacist colonial imagination. For over a decade, they have worked at the intersections of art, relational skills, and the psychologies of trauma, harm, and healing. Their experience spans literary, visual, and theater art; sex education for people of all ages; tailored trainings and workshops; trans-ontological scholarship; facilitation of groups pursuing racial justice and abolition; and direct work within both juvenile and adult corrections.
Their essay “Here’s How I Let Them Come Close”—a meditation on encounters, extraterrestrials, and the creative process—appears in A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed, 2023). Katie is currently a PhD candidate at Pacifica Graduate Institute, writing a dissertation at the intersections of depth psychology, decolonial thought, and police and prison abolition.
Across their artistic, professional, and scholarly work, Katie is committed to cultivating relational possibility and exploratory intimacy: recovering practices of compassion, belonging, and world-making that challenge shame-based narratives and foster futures hospitable to life in its unending heterogeneity.
GET IN TOUCH
Get in touch with us to explore how our innovative consulting services can drive positive change in your business.
Email
info@livingsystemsconsulting.com