A year-long program in 19 sessions: taking capitalism through the spiral of the Work That Reconnects.

Wednesdays at 6pm-8pm Cairo time. ONLINE. Starting January 13th, 2027.

Join us on a year-long exploration of loosening the grip capitalism has on our lives.
The slow defrost is a journey of three revolutions around the expanded, decolonizing spiral of the Work That Reconnects.

Taking Capitalism Through The Spiral
Round 1: Economic Systems

In the first revolution around the WTR spiral, we face capitalism and how it shapes and upholds the oppressive and extractive systems of modernity as it is also being upheld and shaped by them.

We explore questions like:
What are economic systems, really?
What are the origins of economics?
How different is an economy centered around care from capitalism and colonialism?

Never ending growth is a disease, and as we have seen, it has a destructive effect, this drive and desire for growth that is never really fulfilled.
We will be contemplating models of post growth and degrowth – post capitalism and post activism are also themes that may arise during our time together.

Round 2: The Cracks

In the second revolution around the WTR spiral, we will dive into inner work: facing all the ways in which we have been socialized into capitalism, and the ways our identities have been shaped by it. We will also explore the places we have been complicit and have benefited from the system, because as modern humans, we all have.

Here, we address our addiction to consumption, what we bet on through our investment and cultivate hope in the growth economy, composting our need for securities and entitlements. Together, we will grieve what we are (or will be) giving up as we disentangle our lives from the capitalistic narrative. We will be working to redefine success outside of capitalistic imperatives, opening up new possibilities and fresh imagination.

Round 3: Building from the Crumbling Cliff of Modernity

In the third revolution around the spiral, we shift to outer work through re-imagination and action. At this stage, we’re ready to envision and move towards building alternative structures for the future (in the cracks where capitalism is falling apart, at the crumbling cliff of modernity, yes!).

Here, we imagine communities of care, finalize a Jariyah home budget and envision reorienting our financial savings and other forms of capital which include time, skills, knowledge, community and land and so much more.

Celebration

We will get together one final time to see what we’ve done, report back to the group and celebrate together.

Structure and dates:

First spiral: Understanding the Freeze: Intro to Economics and Capitalism
6 live sessions along the spiral
January 13: Coming from Gratitude and Arriving Together,
January 27: Self-Awareness and Social Location,
February 10: Systems of Oppression,
February 24: Honoring our Pain for the World,
March 10: Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes,
March 24: Liberation and Going Forth

6 weeks: work in small groups with guided practices.

Second spiral: The Inner Work of Thawing the Freeze: Composting and Radical Re-imagination
6 live sessions along the spiral
May 5: Coming from Gratitude,
May 19: Self-Awareness and Social Location,
June 2: Systems of Oppression,
June 16: Honoring our Pain for the World,
June 30: Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes,
July 14: Liberation and Going Forth

7 weeks: work in small groups with guided practices.

Third spiral: The Outer Work of Thawing the Freeze: Visioning and Action
6 live sessions along the spiral
August 25: Coming from Gratitude and Self-Awareness
September 8: Social Location and Systems of Oppression
September 22: Honoring our Pain for the World,
October 6: Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes,
October 20: Liberation,
November 3: Going Forth

6 weeks: work in small groups moving into action, going forth.

Final session: Celebrating the Thawing!
December 15: report back to the group and celebrate together.

Register here
Cost:

Cost of program: $3,750.
We offer two sliding scales, please read carefully:

Tier 1: $500-$1,500 USD— for those of you living in low-income countries/economically unstable regions and are facing systemic barriers related to caste, race, displacement, disability, or colonial legacies (e.g. exchange rate and US dollar hegemony).

Tier 2: $1,750-$5,500 USD— for those of you living in high-income countries/economically stable regions; please pay on the higher end if you experience economic privilege relative to others globally.

Scholarship Tier: some scholarships will be available (you can apply through the registration form)

Make your payment here
Sara El-Sayeh, SJ FDP co-facilitator

Sara El-Sayeh (she/her), M.A. is an Egyptian writer, (single) mother and facilitator roaming the fault lines of Cairo. Sara has an MA in economics in international development and spends a lot of time contemplating life post growth. She’s a Spiral Journey facilitator, a Post Growth Institute fellow (2025), an Ecoversities facilitator and works with the imagination as an important tool to carry us forward on the path of degrowth.

Post-revolution and mid-collapse, her work explores what it means to belong, and at times completely refusing to, in a place that demands that she becomes convenient.

Sara maps the geographies of single motherhood: the labyrinth of repair and care as resistance. Her work helps (her) navigate the freeze of capitalism while slowly weaving communities of care to nourish us through times of collapse.

Yulia Smagorinsky (they/them), M.Sc. in agricultural economics, Spiral Journey director of operations and Spiral Journey facilitator.
Yulia is an organic farmer, weaver of social change and healing, permaculture designer and a graduate of the Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program and registered facilitator of the Work That Reconnects Network.

As a horticultural educator and restorative justice practitioner in the Healing Garden at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Service Center, they created beauty and healing spaces and hands-on experiential opportunities for youths.

Yulia is a co-founder of Emergent Abundance Farming Collective, building life sustaining systems in the cracks of capitalism, while sharing food, knowledge, skills, information, access to land and sources of healing with the local community. They are actively creating platforms and pathways to hold space for others to heal, to listen deeply and transform. wideningcircle.com