About Richard Donohue

Richard Donohue hiking in the mountains Richard Donohue practicing yoga Buddha and dinosaur

Practicing with the Conditions We've Got

Richard Donohue hiking in the mountains

I'm a geographer and former professor. I spent years teaching and working with students to make maps of climate change, environmental justice issues, and systemic inequity. I continue that work through my consulting practice at smallbatchmaps.com. The more I worked with that data, the more I needed practices to stay present without burning out.

Buddhist practice and Ashtanga yoga aren't an escape from the difficulty—they're what help me stay with it. I'm a 500-hour certified yoga teacher. I teach Ashtanga not for flexibility or stress relief, but as a way to work with the body and mind we actually have.

Richard Donohue practicing yoga

Situated Laboratories grows out of this. Every mind is a situated laboratory—shaped by our bodies, histories, social positions, the places we live. We don't practice in a vacuum. We practice with the nervous systems we have, in the conditions we're in.

Buddha and dinosaur

This isn't about achieving enlightenment or perfecting poses. It's about building practices that help us stay grounded, see clearly, and keep showing up. It's about integrating dharma teachings with social justice awareness, bringing contemplative practice into relationship with collective liberation.

What Makes This Different

  • No gurus or spiritual hierarchy. This is peer-to-peer practice, not guru-disciple transmission.
  • No spiritual bypassing. Practice doesn't transcend systemic harm—it helps us respond to it.
  • Justice-oriented. Contemplative practice and collective liberation are deeply connected.
  • Experimental. Every practice is an experiment. We're testing what works in our actual conditions.

How to Engage

Field Notes are reflections and essays connecting practice to lived experience, climate grief, and dharma teachings.

Practice Lab offers guided practices (some with audio, some text-only) for grounding, somatic awareness, and nervous system regulation.

Study provides plain-language introductions to Buddhist concepts, framed for contemporary conditions.

This is a practice for uncertain times. Welcome to the laboratory.