Being Restorative

A series of essays that reflects on a world view and embodied practice that restores the possibility of a world where right relationship can flourish.

While restorative justice refers to a set of principled responses to harm centered on healing, often in a legal context, and restorative practice extends those responses to other contexts such as schools and the workplace, restorative being embeds connection, compassion, belonging , and accountability into everyday life. "This book reflects not just on how restorative practices can re-shape our world but also on how each of us can be more restorative in our world. Weaving the doing with the being, the lessons learned with the frameworks, the poetry with the memoir, is both helpful and hopeful. On top of that, Leaf’s work on co-creating a restorative pedagogy is enlivening and expanding young people’s sense of safety, imagination, and community in these uncertain times. By connecting the practices of restoration with the challenging contexts of our world, Leaf is showing how possible it is to shift from an all-or-nothing, fear-based, punitive approach, to one that encompasses the both/and, the wholeness of life, and love for all." —Shilpa Jain