The Spiral of Resilience:
A Journey into The Work That Reconnects
“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.” -Ruth Wilson Gilmore
“If we are able to transform our old system and create a culture of caring and healing in its place, we may have an actual shot at creating real democracy for the first time.” -Zach Norris
Join us for “The Spiral of Resilience: From Police & Fear to Safety & Care for Everyone.” Originally developed by Joanna Macy, we bring an evolving edge and trauma-informed equity lens to this transformative body of work that supports us to be more aware, resourced and present to the beauty, grief and regeneration of our world. In the context of national calls from Black-led movements to Defund the Police, we will explore what it means to create true community safety and care.
Participants will engage in a spiral design of experiential processes and practices that will connect us to our Gratitude and a felt sense of safety in the body; encourage us to Honor our Pain for the World by exploring our complex feelings and relationships with policing; envision a world without police and prisons by Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes, and identify actions for Going Forth to build true and deeply grounded safety that includes everyone.
This offering is part of MEDICINE FOR THESE TIMES, an online series by Thrive East Bay to nourish our bodies, hearts, minds and spirits as we navigate this time of crisis and opportunity.
This is an experiential workshop, so please be prepared to interact with others in pairs and small groups.
We look forward to spiraling together!
Thrive East Bay (Founding Member, 2015-2020)
Thrive East Bay is a purpose-driven community offering a relevant space for diverse people seeking meaning and connection in our rapidly changing world. Informed by modern science and ancient wisdom, our culture is both secular and spiritual, infused with a deep sense of purpose and interconnectedness, inspired by the arts, and focused on social change. Thrive hosts regular Sunday events, small group circles, workshops, and training courses in the Bay Area.
See Thrive East Bay for upcoming virtual events and workshops: http://www.thriveeastbay.org/events
Restorative Justice Citizen Circle (Volunteer, 2018-2020)
The Citizen Circle meets weekly with formerly incarcerated people who are re-entering society and community members. We share circle leadership while covering a broad range of topics aimed at self-awareness, resilience, healing and community building.
University of California, Irvine:
Community Resilience Projects (Lead Trainer, 2018-2020)
Student Leadership for Community Resilience: Facing COVID-19
April 5th – June 5th, 2020
University of California, Berkeley
Division of Student Affairs:
Virtual Professional Development Series
Leading with Resilience in the time of COVID for Managers
Bridging Differences and Cultivating Belonging
Mitigating Implicit Bias in Management
Confronting Microaggressions and Cultivating Allyship
Confronting Anti-Black Racism
Photo Credits: Thrive East Bay, Jo Bauen
Addressing Anti-Black Racism
This is an invitation for white-identified people to gather, connect, grieve, rage, move ourselves out of a freeze response and into individual and collective action.
We are making a space to gather and connect online to process what has come up around the lynchings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, the police murders of Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade and the ongoing anti-Black racism and terrorism that regularly results in the state-sanctioned murder of Black people.
Wherever we are in our journey of uprooting white supremacy within ourselves and in society, we are clear that being connected with one another and building a strong community of white people that are committed to racial justice is essential for us to maintain our humanity and hold ourselves and each other accountable.
We call this gathering from a place of love, tenderness, and broken-heartedness.
This is our second zoom series offering to create some connection and collective accountability around the murders of George, Tony, Ahmaud and Breonna and anti-Black racism in general. This is not a training. This is a space to feel, to process and to move to action. Resources for training will be offered.
COST: These gatherings are free but we will provide different recommendations where you can contribute money to the families or Black-led organizations.