Hey hey -

I’ve been thinking a lot about isolation and loneliness. Have you been feeling it too?

The truth is, we’ve been stuck in a culture of social distancing long before COVID 19. The erosion of accessible community structures over the last few decades have left us isolated and striving for self preservation above collective care. Individuals and communities have become more isolated and fragmented, breaking away from the social bonds of many aspects of life —  familial, neighborly, religious, social and civic.

In the absence of community structures that anchor people in mutual interest and cooperation, you have a culture that becomes vulnerable to the traps of self-reliance, self-interest and even self-care. Reclaiming our individual and collective selves can’t be found in self-help books and personal seeking, it can only be achieved through relationship and community. As bell hooks reminds us “Whether we learn how to love ourselves and others will depend on the presence of a loving environment. Self-love cannot flourish in isolation.” 

The irony of our American life is that our obsession with self and individual liberty has made us less supported and more vulnerable. All of the political freedoms we are supposedly entitled to as American citizens are useless in the face of the many interdependent crises we are facing — whether it be economic collapse, a deadly pandemic or environmental devastation. The only way to get free is through each other. 

*RETREAT ALERT*

The Detox Retreat is a radical and embodied inquiry into what’s holding us back and what’s needed for us to step into our greatest potential. Through movement, meditation, radical reflection, rest and recreation, we will unwind and release all that we are carrying so that we can open up to all that we are becoming. It will be a generous balance of practice and play as we reflect on where we are coming from and imagine into where we are going.

EMBODYING SOCIAL JUSTICE…TOGETHER

This is a one-of-a-kind, once per year, 3-month certificate program committed to collective liberation by increasing awareness, unlearning oppressive social patterns, repairing relationships and building trust & belonging. This is NOT a summit. Go beyond conventional DEI to where bias and breakdown lives: in the body. Begins April 3.

Unlearning Whiteness: March 23 - 26

The call for white people to “do the work” is a serious one. Not just because of the historical and present, pervasive and persistent, embodied and systemic impact of white supremacy on Black and Brown people, but because it threatens our democracy, our planet and our humanity as a whole. White supremacy is bad for all of us. This training is designed for well-meaning white people who are ready to reckon with how we’re implicated in the system of white supremacy and what it's going to take to detox our body/mind and heal our humanity.

(UN) LEARNING COHORT

Last chance to sign up for our “Year of Unlearning” cohort. This community of practice will move us through the inquiry of detox and recovery in mutual support and creativity.

Using the American Detox book as a guide, we will explore how we’ve been shaped by toxic ideologies (ie: perfectionism, whiteness, scarcity) and what it’s going to take to heal our cultural wounds and transform into new ways of being and possibility. Registration ends March 21st.

[email protected]