Coming Back to Life: Inner Work, Intentional Containers and Feminine Leadership for Social Change — A Phenomenological Case Study of a Social Change-Oriented Organization and the Self

<p>This qualitative study explores the phenomenon of inner work within social change organizations through an in-depth case study of a nonprofit organization dedicated to women’s empowerment and transformation. Using a phenomenological approach and ethnographic methods, the research combines intensive 7-month fieldwork in 2016 with reflective analysis years later, shaped by my own evolving relationship with inner work practices, providing a unique perspective on how inner work lived experience shapes individuals, organizational culture, and social change efforts.</p> <p>The findings reveal that the social change organization (SCO) operated through three distinct yet interconnected levels of inner work practice: tending to the personal container through embodiment, presence, self-reflection, shadow work and intention; crafting intentional collective containers that balance structure and flow; and tending to universal containers through earth-based, energetic and spiritual practices.</p> <p>The organization’s culture reflected core beliefs and assumptions that transformation is cyclical and a way of life, that inner work is both source of healing and leadership, involves reclaiming the feminine, and thrives within community. Underlying these assumptions, the research uncovered an organization that embraced tensions, as expressions of both the purpose and result of inner work. Most profoundly, the SCO approached inner work and social change as inseparable—a unified field of experience and practice. This research revealed how inner work at the organization transcended conventional understanding—evolving from merely acknowledging the inner realm to fundamentally reorienting to it as the primary source of guidance, authority, and alignment with Life itself.<strong></strong></p> <p>This research contributes to organizational theory by extending Laloux’s (2014) Teal framework, articulating how inner work supports self-organization, how intentional containers contribute to organizational wholeness, and how explicitly feminine approaches enhance evolutionary purpose. An emergent Whole Living Being conceptual map offers a new framework for understanding inner work practices across individual and collective dimensions.</p> <p>This study reveals the transformative potential and significant challenges of integrating inner work into organizational life, providing insights for individuals and organizations seeking more authentic, sustainable approaches to social change that reorient to the inner realm as a source of authority for work that is meaningful, vibrant, and truly in service of the whole.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Leadership Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Leadership Studies

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Trias Arraut, Maria

• Inner Work
• Inner Work Practice
• Social Change
• Organizational Culture
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Intentional Containers
• Feminine Leadership
• Developmental Psychology
• Development Studies
• Educational Leadership
• Leadership Studies
• Nonprofit Studies
• Organization Development
• Social and Cultural Anthropology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1063

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-2076