I am because we are: Creating beloved community from the inside out
Please note: This course is underway and no longer taking participants. You can register for next year’s course here.
A six month intensive meditation course on Zoom led by Singhashri and Balajit. For those with at least six months meditation experience.
I am because we are is a traditional saying from the African Ubuntu tradition invoking the truth of interconnectedness and the promise of beloved community.
“We will not end…any form of human evil…by trying to tear it to pieces. Instead, we can offer people better ways to belong and better things to belong to.”
- Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts
We all yearn to find and engage with others in spaces of deep meaning and heart-felt belonging, where we are each doing our own work in authentic connection with one another.
This is the ideal of Beloved Community.
Our dharma practice provides a crucible where we hold the tension between our ideals and what is happening now, which sometimes feels very far from our ideals.
How do we show up for ourselves and others with an attitude of openness and curiosity, willing to see clearly the parts of us that are both longing for freedom and those still in the shadows, confused, or actively resisting change?
This question is relevant to both how we work internally and also how we engage in beloved community. It is the ground from which true inclusivity can take root, grow and flourish, creating beloved community from the inside out.
Over this six months we’ll explore:
Our vision for liberation for ourselves and others and our intentions for practicing
How our unique conditioning shows up in the space of meditation and how we relate to what’s happening now
Embodiment as a radical act
The role of joy and pleasure in opening to ourselves, one another and the world
How a creative response to fear, grief, shame and anger can support our efforts towards collective liberation
The co-created and interconnected nature of experience and reality
For those with at least six months meditation experience interested in deepening their personal and collective practice at the intersection of Dharma, somatics, and social and environmental justice.
Course Dates
We will meet on Zoom one Sunday a month from 10:30am-4:30pm GMT (with breaks).
Oct 6th
Nov 10th
Dec 8th
Jan 5th
Feb 2nd
Mar 2nd
In addition to scheduled Zoom sessions, the course will also include:
Monthly 20 minute one-to-one practice reviews with Singhashri or Balajit (five reviews in total)
Reading material excerpted from a draft of the forthcoming publication - The Radical Embrace, by Singhashri
Audio recordings of each session, with additional resources
Option to join a Signal group for those on the course to connect with and support one another on our collective journey
Invitation to join the Radical Embracers Facebook group for all those who have been or are currently on retreat or a course with us