Sunday 10th May 2026
(and other dates through summer 2026)
Kinship with Rivers
A floating workshop exploring rivers as living, intelligent beings
Launch point: Broxbourne
on the River Lea
Join us on a boat called Mr Badger for the first floating kincentric workshop about relating to rivers as living, intelligent beings. We'll cruise up the Lee Valley waterways alongside nature reserves and wetlands for a day of learning, sharing, reflection, rivering practice and practical action. (And we'll be offering this workshop regularly through the summer).
We'll explore rivers through the lens of the Kincentric Leadership toolkit and ask quetsions such as:
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Are rivers alive?
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What do we know about the intelligence and sentience of rivers, river beings and of water?
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How are rivers and water central to all the cycles of life?
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What if rivers had legal rights and personhood?
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How our rivers are unravelling, and what can we do to help.
The day also includes:
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An hour of practical action to restore habitat (either removing plastic and litter from river banks and bordering woodlands, or removing invasive species such as Himalayan Balsam or Floating Pennywort)
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Mapping our river networks to transform our sense of identity and belonging
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Experimenting with co-creating song or haiku with River Lea
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A demonstration of testing for sewage pollution
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How to becoming a River Guardian.
And along the way we'll be sharing peer wisdom, rivering our spirituality, building community, and enjoying a riverside lunch.
"Know your watershed. Map your rivers. What are their names, their origin, where do they journey to? Stories flow from there - human and more than human. Hold a map of your waterways in your heart and mind. This is a powerful thing. It orients you towards more than just the geographical."
(Robert Macfarlane, Springett Lecture, 2025)
Practicals
Date & time:
Sunday 10th May, 9am - 5.30pm
Meet at:
Lee Valley Boat Centre,
Broxbourne EN10 6LX
(8 mins walk from Broxbourne Station)
From London, Broxbourne is 30 mins from Liverpool Street Station on the overground train, or 15 mins by overground from Tottenham Hale Station which is on the Victoria Line.
Cost: £80
Bring a packed lunch, something to sit on, journal and pen, rubber gloves or gardening gloves, clothes and shoes suitable for outdoors.
Book other dates in the summer series:
If you can't make this date but are interested to book for others in the Summer 2026 series, complete this form and we'll contact you when new workshops go live.
Justine Huxley
Facilitator
Justine is a spiritual ecologist, author and facilitator and Co-Founder of Kincentric Leadership. She has a PhD in psychology and belongs to a Sufi community which over the last decades has deeply integrated its tradition and practices together with Earth as a living, divine being. She has facilitated retreats, meditation and dreamwork groups in this tradition for over 25 years. She is the author of Generation Y, Spirituality and Social Change. Justine was raised by a zoologist (who had a passion for arachnids) and a teacher (who had a passion for astronomy), so her childhood was full of spiders and stars. She also lives by the River Lea, a half-days paddle North of Sol, and is in love with all things river.
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Sol Akinsowon
Supporting Facilitator
Sol is an interdisciplinary artist, whose creative journey gracefully dances through the realms of photography, film, poetry, and sound. Their practice centres the power of intimacy and connection with and between all beings, weaving the visual language of intuition with poetry and prose. Drawing inspiration from their surroundings, heritage and community they explore the richness of the traditions, as well as documenting the changes and effects on community. Through their work they seek to capture the essence of connectivity, creating a world of meaningful narratives that resonate with deep emotion and authenticity. They live in London, close to the River Lea, a half-days paddle south of Justine.
"There is a level of love for rivers you can only access through practical care and sacrifice"
(Paul Powseland, Lawyers for Nature & River Rhoding Governance Group)