"I'd be hard pressed to think of another workshop, seminar or forum that provides such a strong platform for true transformational change. This isn't some idyllic retreat or quick two-day affair - it's a marathon of opportunity after opportunity to takes risks, to access blocked feelings and to change the way you relate to the world. Ann's training program is for the individual that is truly ready to dig deep and get to know him or herself in a whole new way."
- J. Stein
"This work has transformed my life by giving me a place to feel and explore all the parts of myself. I've discovered gifts I didn't know I had. I let go of my shame and self-judgement. I learned to trust the wisdom of my deepest impulses. I came out of hiding and feel ready to give all of who I am to this world. I've never felt more free."
- David Sutcliffe
"The Leadership Training Program at the Radical Aliveness/Core Energetics Institute of Southern California finally moved me out of my head and into my body. I realized that my sometimes crippling hip pain of more than a year's duration represented more than degenerative osteoarthritis, but rather was an expression of embodied attachments to both an individual and to an entire program that I was finally able to release after much process work, thereby saving myself from the dreaded travail of revision hip replacement surgery. For this miracle I am deeply grateful."
- Paul M. Allen, M.D.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Our First Training Program Graduation
The first two years of Radical Aliveness came to completion two weeks ago. We graduated the first class of the two year Leadership Training program. As the graduation took place it became clear how big an undertaking this has been for all of us; the dedication of the students, the things they said, the inspiration was palpable.We celebrated on Saturday night, and the following day as we were getting ready to go into our community class, Angela from the first year asked me if the first year students could have some time in the class. Our program emphasizes leadership and one of the beautiful things is the leadership that emerges in the groups. I always say yes to it. The first year ended up leading the community class, each one standing and thanking the 2nd year students for their pioneering spirits, their power of example. They said that when things felt hard or scary they looked to the second year and saw that whatever they needed to go through was worth it because they could see the power and connection in them. As the day unfolded others got up and we ended with Jeff, our resident music producer, leading us in an impromptu chanting session.
As I look back on these past two years there is so much I have learned. Sherri, from the second year sent me a link to a youtube video about a young woman street artist who got offered a show and said – “the space was given to me and I just filled it”. That is how I feel- we dream, we create- and then we grow into the space that wants to be filled. I would say never dream too small. I think about starting this program, not knowing what it would be, not knowing how I would do it, but knowing there was a deep desire in me to create something that fit my vision. I could never have dreamed up what has been created. I could not have known who I would become in this process. The great thing is that we grow into our lives. We don’t have to know, just trust and life will help us get where we are going, life will shape us into who we truly are.
Vision is powerful- when we put it out people respond, I want to thank all the students and assistants who have felt the vision, who have come to be part of this creation, who have brought their own leadership and creativity and voices and who wholeheartedly feel their importance in it. We are developing something new and we all feel it. We are developing a group process that works with the world. We are evolving our consciousness through world issues while we also develop ourselves as individuals. We are trying to become a community that embraces diversity inside and out. We are learning to work with conflict. We are becoming leaders who can face the most intense energy in life and not shrink from it. Most dear to my heart, we are becoming people who understand that life requires our participation. We must all be leaders. This takes courage. It requires us to know we have responsibility for our lives and for the life around us. It requires us to stop being passive observers. It is a deep knowing that becoming fully who we are meant to be is what the world needs. I feel inspired when I see my students and how alive they are and how much they are willing to speak up- to challenge and to be here.
I can’t wait to see where we go. When life is the leader it is always a mystery and always so much bigger and better than anything we could create on our own. Here’s to the next two years!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
When News Becomes Personal: Working with Women from Israel
One of the incredible things about working with people in the world is that the news no longer feels far away- it becomes personal, about our friends and loved ones. This experience of the world is incredible. That wall of separation we have where things feel unreal or far away or not about us just collapses. And that is a very good thing. When the news becomes something that touches us – or when we become able to touch the events in the world, we become more a part of things and our participation becomes more urgent.
I have been thinking about the events in Israel this past week. Having worked with the women of Beyond Words for the past few years I feel a very close connection with what is happening. I have learned so much from working with these women. On one level it feels that one of the simplest and at the same time most powerful thing that we as human beings can do is to sit with the “other”, the “enemy” and learn about the ways we are the same. As I have watched these women over the years I have seen the profound shifting that happens in points of view and perspectives as we listen to our enemies. Sometimes I think if everyone in the world did this we would have peace. But here is what is required- we have to sit with deep complexity, discomfort, strong feelings, disagreement, and still be able to hold onto our shared humanity. This is not easy- think about sitting in a room with someone you disagree with strongly, now throw in the energy of oppression, terrorism, death, bombs, fear. The people who do this are true heroines.
Complexity is something I think about a lot these days. If we as a world are going to survive we must develop greater tolerance for the complexity in which we live. There are not easy answers, in fact the need for simple and easy answers is part of the problem. We need to develop the capacity to sit with discomfort and not knowing for long periods of time. We need to be able to see beyond our own life spans into a future that that will be affected by our ability to allow its emergence through our tolerance of the present and service to this future. What an honor to give ourselves over to this.
I have included an e-mail I got from Nitsan, one of the leaders of Beyond Words. It touched me deeply- it touched me because she wrote about herself and also her co-leader Sylvia. Nitsan is Jewish and Sylvia is Arab. I love them both. They remain friends, they listen to each other, they see things differently and yet they know the only way is to stay in connection and listen and care and speak honestly.
It is truly something to do this deep emotional work with these women who process their feelings around war and loss and fear and hate with each other. They are my inspiration and my teachers. I have included here some pictures from our work together as well as a video I took when I was with them in Mobile Alabama. You will see from watching it the joy and aliveness that they have with each other even as they process the conflict they face together. Women laughing and crying with each other as a path to peace; I’m there!
Friday, June 4, 2010
From Nitsan in Israel
From: Nitsan Gordon - Giles MA, Director
The Beyond Words Organization
This last week with the Flotilla event has been agonizing. I am aware of so much -- the truth, the hypocrisy, the different set of values that people use when judging Israel, the immense suffering of the Palestinian people, the suffering of the families of the dead, the pain of the wounded and our own suffering. What hurts the most, though, is looking at ourselves in the mirror that the world is now holding up for us. It does not look good. In fact it looks pretty bad. Owning this part of us, this part of me is so painful.
What I am hoping for is that the criticism we are under now will put more pressure on our leaders to truly pursue peace. I am also seeing the immense need for our work and keep hearing Ann's words about staying in our healing leadership in the presence of strong emotions. We are now surrounded with powerful emotions... from some of the Knesset members who almost hit each other at the Knesset this week to the streets where flags and tires are burning and people are screaming.
On Tuesdays I have a Beyond Words group in Mgrar, Roset and Noha's village with Roset, Kaltoum and several other women.
We spent some time sharing our feelings around this incident. Some women were very upset: " Why couldn't we just let those supplies reach Gaza?" they asked. Or " Was there no other way to stop this boat? What happend to our intelligence? " One woman's husband works at the prisons. He is an Arab Druze. The Muslim prisoners were very upset by what had happened. They started a hunger strike and attacked some of the guards. He was attacked with a knife. She was so upset. Another woman's brother is also an Arab Druze who works as a nurse in a hospital. He took care of some of the wounded from the flotilla who were rushed there. On his way home he passed through an Arab town where his car was attacked by very angry men. "But I am an Arab" he shouted at them, but that did not stop them from breaking his windows and scratching his car.
My Arab Palestinian friend and colleague Silvia speaks for many others when she keeps asking "How can people who are the oppressors, the occupiers call themselves victims .. how is this possible?"
Yet it seems that it is possible.We, the occupiers, still see ourselves as victims because we grew up surrounded by people suffering from post traumatic stress who were never treated for this condition. Also we grew up surrounded by events that kept reinforcing our fears. It is hard to stop reacting from a fearful place when there are so many reasons in our part of the world that give our fears legitimacy. Yet to own our part in fueling this situation and to seek healing for our fears and traumas so we no longer play an active role in continuing this self destructive drama ...this is where our work, Ann's work and Dick's work can be so important and perhaps even life saving.
The Beyond Words Organization
This last week with the Flotilla event has been agonizing. I am aware of so much -- the truth, the hypocrisy, the different set of values that people use when judging Israel, the immense suffering of the Palestinian people, the suffering of the families of the dead, the pain of the wounded and our own suffering. What hurts the most, though, is looking at ourselves in the mirror that the world is now holding up for us. It does not look good. In fact it looks pretty bad. Owning this part of us, this part of me is so painful.
What I am hoping for is that the criticism we are under now will put more pressure on our leaders to truly pursue peace. I am also seeing the immense need for our work and keep hearing Ann's words about staying in our healing leadership in the presence of strong emotions. We are now surrounded with powerful emotions... from some of the Knesset members who almost hit each other at the Knesset this week to the streets where flags and tires are burning and people are screaming.
On Tuesdays I have a Beyond Words group in Mgrar, Roset and Noha's village with Roset, Kaltoum and several other women.
We spent some time sharing our feelings around this incident. Some women were very upset: " Why couldn't we just let those supplies reach Gaza?" they asked. Or " Was there no other way to stop this boat? What happend to our intelligence? " One woman's husband works at the prisons. He is an Arab Druze. The Muslim prisoners were very upset by what had happened. They started a hunger strike and attacked some of the guards. He was attacked with a knife. She was so upset. Another woman's brother is also an Arab Druze who works as a nurse in a hospital. He took care of some of the wounded from the flotilla who were rushed there. On his way home he passed through an Arab town where his car was attacked by very angry men. "But I am an Arab" he shouted at them, but that did not stop them from breaking his windows and scratching his car.
My Arab Palestinian friend and colleague Silvia speaks for many others when she keeps asking "How can people who are the oppressors, the occupiers call themselves victims .. how is this possible?"
Yet it seems that it is possible.We, the occupiers, still see ourselves as victims because we grew up surrounded by people suffering from post traumatic stress who were never treated for this condition. Also we grew up surrounded by events that kept reinforcing our fears. It is hard to stop reacting from a fearful place when there are so many reasons in our part of the world that give our fears legitimacy. Yet to own our part in fueling this situation and to seek healing for our fears and traumas so we no longer play an active role in continuing this self destructive drama ...this is where our work, Ann's work and Dick's work can be so important and perhaps even life saving.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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