HAPPY NEW YEAR

2020 was a doozy for so many reasons and I am truly happy to see a new year. I’m staying cognizant of the fact that a new year doesn’t mean everything is new. We are still wrangling with a virus that has killed so many people and a president who continues to challenge the integrity of our democracy. Black lives continue to be extinguished as people rise up demanding for white supremacy to be dismantled. We have work to do. This is not the time to become complacent. Continue to ask yourself what you will do to show and rise up, work for justice and create conditions for us all to be free. 

 

I have some upcoming opportunities that will support you in staying vigilant and clarifying your right role at this time. 

 

Take care, friends.

In solidarity and mutuality,

Michelle

 
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Race and Resilience, led by me and Kerri Kelly, is offering an exciting workshop at Kripalu. EMBODYING EQUITY IN YOGA AND BEYOND is a three day online retreat focused on dismantling racism and connecting with our individual and collective resilience within the Yoga community. As a community, we can't afford to evade our responsibility for creating a just world by believing that our personal transformation is disconnected from collective liberation. To create a racially equitable space we need a shared understanding and definition of racism and whiteness.

 

Through conversation, guided questions, and group work you

  • Define racism and white supremacy and share an analysis that explains personal, institutional, and cultural racism
  • Discuss the history of the race construct, how racism impacts spiritual spaces, and offer tools for application of the analysis
  • Define your role and responsibility in the movement based on our social location and purpose
  • Explore ways to work across lines of difference in your communities and social change work
  • Offer embodied practices to integrate your work, center social justice in spiritual practice and build community resilience.

The unpacking of race and resiliency is a cultural shift. It questions what it looks like to be and work together in solidarity towards collective liberation and wellbeing. It is an important shift that cultivates a capacity to show up with courage and compassion for the long haul.

 

 
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Race and Resilience is also offering a six month community cohort focused on learning how to be in relationship as we work across lines of difference. The cohort is designed for leaders who are working across lines of difference towards collective liberation. We will meet once a month as a full group from January-June and between our monthly sessions cohort participants will meet in small groups to build deeper connections. If our January cohort is of interest but does not fit your schedule we will offer another community cohort from July-December.

 

 
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I am excited for this offering and opportunity to teach for Unfold! Join me on January 17th from 1-3pm EST. Many of us have been searching for ways to find refuge during the onslaught of trauma connected with Covid-19 and the heightened awareness of how white supremacy and systems of oppression harm us all but disparately. These collective experiences of trauma mean that many of us are holding onto deep grief. We live in a culture that in large part doesn’t make space for us to process our grief and if we do have space to do so often we process privately not in community. This workshop is designed for us to turn toward our grief individually and collectively. It will be an opportunity for us to reflect on how our hearts are doing at this time and to begin to understand more about how to allow grief to move through us. It will include meditation, journaling, ritual, gentle movement and small group discussions.

 

 
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In other news, the Finding Refuge Podcast has a new look for 2021. As many of you know, my next book, Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief is available for presale now and coming out on July 13th. The cover of the book is absolutely beautiful and we decided to use a similar design for the podcast. If you missed the four episodes of Finding Refuge that dropped in December, go back and listen. They are very special. The last one was with my friend, Ana, and is not to be missed. The next podcast episode drops on January 15th and it is a beautiful interview with Tracee Stanley. 

 

Many more interviews to come. Stay tuned! 

 

 
 
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