*We have decided to postpone the online version of this retreat in hopes of rescheduling in person later in 2022. If you would like to be notified of the new date, share your contact info by clicking the REGISTER button on the left.*

What does it take to create social equity? This online retreat supports you to become a more fully engaged ally and empowered partner in bringing more justice to this world.

Over the course of this online weekend retreat, you will be invited to grapple with power, privilege and difference, develop a social equity practice you can integrate into your Good Work, and emerge with a clear framework to facilitate individual and organizational awareness of changes needed, ways to work toward them, and next steps to take. The retreat draws on a framework that was offered to two cohorts of GWI Fellows and thousands of others over the past 20 years and honed by a dedicated team of facilitators, including the two who will guide the weekend. The experiences each of us brings to this workshop will be honored as we are invited to share our wisdom and gain from the wisdom of others – wherever we are on our lifelong learning journey towards achieving social equity.

Through readings before the retreat, and presentations, story sharing, discussions, exercises, and videos during it, you will:

• Develop a deeper understanding of social equity through a personal identity lens
• Integrate a framework and common language for addressing issues of power, privilege, and difference
• Examine how institutional and individual practices maintain inequities among people and prevent us from achieving our full potential
• Build a community of learners committed to identifying and implementing practical strategies for creating collective change

More than ever, the world needs your aliveness. Spend 7 weeks learning how to relate with skill, compassion and effectiveness.

*Details on fees, sliding scale, and scholarship options can be found below.*

We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. When we pour ourselves into the things we care about, we want to know it matters. Especially in times such as these, how exhausting to see our hard work melt away as conflict slows down, stalls out, or, worse yet, dissolves our collaborations.

The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, to name a few) have left us without the skills we need to lean into interdependence. This makes it incredibly hard to collaborate effectively. It makes it harder still to find generativity in conflict.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Nonviolent or “Compassionate” Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection, build our capacity to reach out for support, and relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully to our work in the world. And as we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another.

During this 7-week, online course, we will explore practical strategies for undoing domination in ourselves, our communication, our relationships, and our collaborations. Each two-hour session will include interactive content and practices to engage with real-time examples from your life. You will have the opportunity to be paired up with another participant for practice in between sessions. This course will support you to:

• Identify patterns of domination culture and develop a needs-based orientation that can enable you to undo domination
• Explore NVC as an embodied mindfulness practice and grow your capacity to tune into body sensations as valuable feedback from your nervous system pointing you towards what matters to you
• Grow your awareness of and vocabulary for resonant language – including “feelings” and “needs” – and your understanding of the brain science behind why this kind of language works
• Develop an empathetic listening practice with a buddy between sessions as a foundational tool for resourcing yourself to show up better in conflict and collaboration

“We say we want peace in the world, yet we’re not peaceful ourselves.” Shri Shiva Rudra Balayogi.

About this Event

In order to dismantle the systems of oppression that exist in the world we must face the systems of oppression that live within us. This requires heartfulness, mindfulness, and the cultivation of internal peace. Practicing mindfulness supports us in our commitment to drive racial justice and social equity, which is in turn central to Just Transition. 

This workshop starts with your interest in the practice of mindfulness as a path to social change and willingness to take a look at your own capacity for change and peace. Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, without judgement. Woven in with opportunities to practice, we will invite you to explore the meaning of “radical” and “mindfulness” and how they offer a means of recognizing the oppression that lives within, and to see how mindfulness serves as a foundation for those who are working  to change the world. 

Note: Those who attend this workshop will be invited to participate in Radical Mindfulness 2: From Recognition to Repair that will be scheduled later in the year.

Let’s come together online to align understanding and action in support of effective, collective responses to the moment we are living in.

Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. No longer in the eye of the pandemic storm, we continue to navigate the uncertainty of a landscape in which soaring housing prices have displaced community members and extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm. How do we make sense of these realities? Where can we glimpse the kind of possibility worth coming together to work for? This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being? 

Learning in community, you will deepen your understanding of the Just Transition framework, principles and practices. Through video, reflection, story sharing, and small group discussion, you will:

• See people from across the country describing aspects of Just Transition
• Hear how other participants respond to the framework
• Connect your own experience to extractive and regenerative economic paradigms
• Gain a sense of the framework, principles and practices, and where they come from
• Discuss ways you are drawn toward weaving one or more Just Transition principles and practices into your Good Work

Let’s come together online to align understanding and action in support of effective, collective responses to the moment we are living in.

We’ve been navigating the strain and uncertainty of a global pandemic for close to two years. Soaring housing prices and extreme flooding have displaced community members. Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. How do we make sense of these realities? Where can we glimpse the kind of possibility worth coming together to work for? This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being? Join us online, in community, to deepen your understanding of the Just Transition framework, principles and practices. Through video, reflection, story sharing, and small group discussion, you will:

• See people from across the country describing aspects of Just Transition
• Hear how other participants respond to the framework
• Connect your own experience to extractive and regenerative economic paradigms
• Gain a sense of the framework, principles and practices, and where they come from
• Discuss ways you are drawn toward weaving one or more Just Transition principles and practices into your Good Work