"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.
Want to get a taste for this work and Nicole and Kara as facilitators?
Join us Friday, December 13th at 9:30am PT to learn more. Freely offered for everyone, registration is required.
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
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’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:
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.