Anti-Racism & The Work That Reconnects

Unraveling Whiteness: Introduction to Embodied Anti-Racist Practices

Begins: Feb 10th, 2025 "I teach suffering and the end of suffering." - the Buddha The path of peace is calling. Disentangling from the myriad forms of greed, ill-will, and delusion, both internally and externally, requires ongoing committed engagement to understanding suffering and its end. Join us for a transformative, courageous, and nourishing place for meeting Anti-Racism with The Work That Reconnects.

Are you longing to explore and deepen into racial justice learning in community with other white folks? Are you curious about how your whiteness impacts you and those around you? Are you seeking to explore how you can bring embodiment and mindfulness to your work for racial justice? Unraveling Whiteness is a course that invites you into conversation and learning through the body with other white folks living into racial justice commitments. 5 Mondays Feb. 10th to March 10th 4pm - 6pm PST Find your Time Zone Online via Zoom

Live sessions allow for juicy intellectual, emotional, somatic and spiritual engagement with how white supremacy cultural habits show up in our lives despite our best efforts. Invitations to begin unraveling the legacies of whiteness in our family lines and considering clear, concrete actions upon leaving the course will also be woven in. ​ In addition to live sessions, each class comes with a series of short, pre-recorded content, curated reading, and additional resources to deepen your learning and preparation for each session. Unraveling Whiteness invites you to explore the wisdom of your body and emotions as well as the scope of your imagination as equally important learning tools for addressing systemic racism alongside understanding terminology and an analysis of power.​ The Work that Reconnects (WTR) Spiral forms the container in which the overall series is held and individual sessions are designed. WTR is a group of teachings, meditations, community exercises, and grounding practices, largely informed by Buddhist practice. It has been developed by Joanna Macy and others over many decades, who built it around the belief that we are all interconnected beings in the web of life.

Is this Course right for me? Unraveling Whiteness is open to anyone who identifies as white as well as anyone who identifies as multi-racial and/or as a white-passing person of color who is interested in exploring ways you've been socialized as white. ​We will be talking explicitly about the ideology of white supremacy This course focuses on United States history, context, and current reality. People from outside the US are encouraged and welcome to join us, understanding we are using a US-based frame. ​ This series is five Monday's for two hours each time. Participants must attend Session 1 in order to participate in future sessions. Attendance of every live session is strongly recommended. A Note about Recording Unraveling Whiteness is experiential in nature and therefore all sessions are live. We will NOT record any of the live sessions, as they will consist of live practice and exercises that happen in pairs and groups. We will have 20 to 30 minutes of pre-recorded videos and/or readings that accompany every session and ask participants to watch these before each session, as they set up the theme and offer teaching on each topic that will then be discussed in the live sessions. Fees As one way to live into our commitment to economic justice and pay everyone a livable wage we are using a sliding scale. We invite you to investigate your current access to financial wealth and income by checking out this guide. $395 - Supporter & Organizational Rate $345 - Base Rate $295 - Reduced Rate What's Included 10 hours of live sessions as well as up to 2.5 hrs of pre-recorded videos, reflection prompts, and in-between live sessions. Compensation for facilitators and guest teachers. If the rates above still create a barrier to accessing this course, please apply for a full or partial scholarship through the Robin Radford Cross-Class Solidarity Scholarship Fund or the Pacific Mindfulness Community Scholarship Fund. Cancelation Fees & Refunds Before January 27th, more than two weeks in advance - 5% of total fee, 95% of fee refunded From January 27th to February 3rd, 7-14 days in advance - 30% of total fee, remainder of fee refunded From February 3 - 9, final week in advance of the class - 75% of total fee, remainder of fee refunded From February 10th, once the course begins - No refunds A Note About Zoom Unraveling Whiteness will be held online over Zoom. If you don't already have a Zoom account, please set up an account for free before the gathering. This can be done both on your phone and your computer. Close to the start of the first session, we will send out a Zoom link to all registered participants.

The Teaching Team Lead Facilitators Kara Bender (she/her) is a systems thinker, participant-centered educator, and a skillful and playful facilitator. Through her consulting organization, Seed & Spiral, she encourages growing our collective imaginations for liberation through body-based, earth-centered, equity offerings. Deeply committed to naming her stake and responsibility as a white woman in ending oppressive systems, she has almost 20 years of experience learning with and from anti-racist communities of color and anti-racist white folks. Her biggest influences have come from serving as an affordable housing organizer, co-directing a legislative advocacy program, being a racial equity facilitator and educator, and participating in creative projects like the Carnival de Resistance, that bridged art, activism, and faith to engage communities in conversations about environmental justice. Kara is actively curating curriculum in online and retreat settings for white folks going deeper on their anti-racism journeys as well supporting multi-racial organizations in innovative and equity focused systems re-design. She is deeply influenced by the Buddhist teaching of the interconnectedness of all beings and facilitates Work that Reconnects events as one way to listen to her body and the Earth. With roots on the east coast, she now lives at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, on unceded Osage land that is colonially known as St Louis MO. Nicole Bauman (they/them) is a midwest-based queer parent steeped in the sacred work of facilitation, transformative justice, somatics and Nonviolent Communication. They see building conflict resiliency as an essential part of living into the world to come, and are passionate about creating space where personal and collective liberation feel possible. As the descendant of white Western European peasant farmers who carried their trauma with them to the Americas, Nicole is committed to centering racial justice and ancestral healing in their work. Nicole’s background in farming, intentional community, yoga, doula work and natural building grounds their work in connection to the earth and the body. Nicole is a Certified Professional Healing-Centered Coach and a student of Somatics with the Strozzi Institute and in the lineage of generative somatics. Nicole finds rootedness in growing food, daily walks to the river, weaving willow baskets, and tending and being tended by community in the Rust Belt city of Elkhart, Indiana (occupied Potawatomi territory). Guest Teacher: Ashley Wilson earned her PhD in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2019. Her anthropological training, a practice in clear seeing in and of itself, ultimately led her to the spiritual path. She is now an active practitioner in the Plum Village tradition. She is currently employed as the Associate Editor at The Arrow Journal, where she finds pure joy in working at the intersection of the academic and dharma worlds. She also works in educational publishing and shares the practice of mindfulness and meditation through personal coaching sessions. She delights daily in the practice of solo motherhood and seeing the world anew through the eyes of her young son and littlest teacher, Sage.       Background Support: Heidi Bourne is a meditation teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition and is the founder and guiding teacher of Pacific Mindfulness. She has been teaching since 2005 offering classes, series courses, nature retreats, trauma-informed and resiliency-focused professional programs, and teaches regularly for Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Heidi is especially interested in the integration of the common sense, accessible and timeless teachings of awareness, ethics, and compassion into the complexity of our everyday lives. She is known for her grounded, down-to-earth humor and presence. Heidi holds certification in mindfulness facilitation from UCLA, trauma resiliency from the Trauma Resource Institute, and is a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She has a background in nursing and over 35 years in small business leadership.