Listening to the Land, Oxford 2026
- Feb 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 12
Listening to the Land, held on 7th January 2026 in Oxford, UK, is a one-day gathering exploring what it means to have a reciprocal relationship with the natural world, and how this relationship can support a transformation of our food and farming system. An organic off-shoot of the Oxford Real Farming Conference, Be The Earth is proud to be a founding supporter.
Highlights and Reflections
We opened the day together in ceremony and song, the music carrying us into a shared field of listening and attunement. Songs flowed through the day as a form of storytelling and collective healing, with moving offerings from Charlotte Church, Carolyn Hillyer and Dr Lyla June Johnston, whose song reminded us that we are all indigenous to this Earth.
The powerful music of the Shumei International Taiko Drummers Ensemble, which is used in traditional Japanese farming culture to call the spirits of nature, reflected the heartbeat of the Earth and opened a deep remembering of our connection to the living world.
Throughout the day, speakers invited us into deeper listening. Monica Gagliano offered the image of the human body as an instrument - one that can fall out of tune, but can always be re-tuned. “If it is correctly tuned,” she shared, “it can listen to the land and its inhabitants.”
Jon Young reminded us that the Earth is constantly receiving the signals we broadcast — fear, urgency, collapse, separation — and that every thought we think shapes the ecosystems we belong to.
We cannot avoid manifesting our agency: the land is always listening, and nature is inviting us to collaborate for the benefit of all life.
Alongside this listening came an honest acknowledgement of grief — the trauma of severance from land, and the deep longing to repair what has been broken. Dive deeper in the session Rise Rooted: Indigenous Wisdom and the Call to Belong.
Other highlights include the session on Pilgrimage as Listening, where Satish Kumar invited us to consider whether we wish to be tourists on this Earth, or pilgrims? Or Love, Service and Flow: The New Rivers Guardians, illuminating pathways to reawaken our physical and spiritual connection with lands and waters — from a ceremonial marriage to the River Avon, to legal defence of the rivers’ rights.
Conversations turned to Reclaiming our Intuitive Knowing: inviting us to consider how our world, and even our systems of business and leadership, might look different if decisions were guided by intuitive knowing, as well as rational thought.
Workshops throughout the day deepened these themes, with sessions including Honouring Sacred Waters, Landsongs and Ritual, Changing our Inner Climate, and Subtle Energies of the Land. Each reminded us that everyone has a unique way of connecting with their place, and that earth wisdom is always ready to arise — if we are willing to listen.
The day closed with a beautiful ceremony and song from Ted Waters, in dedication to our dear friend Manchán Magan, who passed in October 2025. This was followed by a spellbinding performance of No Separation by Martha Tilston.
If you were with us, we hope you are still feeling the glow of this gathering. We extend deep gratitude to all who contributed, shared, held space and offered their presence for this gathering.
📸 Thank you to Hugh Warwick for capturing the spirit of the day on film.
