Dear all, This past calendar month, as we walked onto the bridge of spring, towards budding new beginnings, I noted down and journaled on the messages I received and my fleshy knowing, and reflected on the endings I experienced, and the doors which closed. I then closely observed the new doors which opened. I also created images and posts on social media about it all. In this email, I’m sharing the process and my journal entries - the messages from the bridge - to see if it is resonant or helpful to anyone else in transition. With love, Kay The main messages.Personal practices, collective action & communities of belonging, meaning, connection & purpose which focus on humanitarian action, humane conduct & human welfare are the future. This is #embodimentspirituality The humanity in me sees the humanity in you HOPE Yes to new structures of spiritual, moral & meaning-making education & communities of connection & belonging in society - free, statutory & community-based provision, for these basic human needs & rights. Interconnection - seeing our common humanity creates a resonance of goodness HOPE #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #tangibledivinty #spirituality Where are we bridging from and to?Transactional communities are business-like; based on buying & selling & are full of people seeking connection for individual gains. Members of such communities (implicitly or explicitly) ask 'what can I get or take from these other people & how can I benefit from them?' Connection is based on extraction. Belonging in such communities is based on how 'useful' we are - usually to the leaders & currently in the 'spiritual & wellness industry' for the business or retreat owner that's based on the money, skills, networking, or ego massaging we can give them. So, what's the alternative? True communities of connection, meaning, belonging & purpose are relational & collaborative; focused on long-term visions of collective purpose, meaning & values. What's the alternative to religion & spiritual commercialism? More new & free educational structures, resources, safeguarded & regulated communities where purpose & meaning can be explored. Stop selling belongings & connections for individual profit. Stop being transactional. Stop sacred & spiritual entrepreneurship. Stop following celebrity gurus. Stop colluding & perpetuating abusive, patriarchal, misogynistic, colonial systems i.e. the Church. Just #stop. Choose to #serve collective liberation with the privilege we have - #serve the marginalised & vulnerable = #embodimentspirituality Just #choose. The future. #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #tangibledivinty #spirituality So, to be clear, what are we walking from? What’s ending?Spiritual - relating to or impacting the human spirit or soul. Capitalism - an economic system based on private ownership & production for profit for that individual. Ick No #spiritualinfluencers #endspiritualcapitalism No going back. We're in the end times of selling: Connection Meaning Belonging Purpose False prophets & profits FALL. #spiritual #entrepreneurship is over We see the "den of thieves in the Temple" Those who have turned sacred into a house of trade, capitalising on the disconnect of trauma. We see the masked robbers with their 'pretty veneers', selling their hollow & false spirituality, an abuse of spirit (& humanity). And we cry NO MORE. We collude no more. We withdraw our energy & resources & lifeforce. This stops now. The veil is lifted & the illusion is shattered. Ok, but what will help us during the transition - as we walk over the bridge?The antidote to the despair that any of us connected to our bodies & emotions will inevitably be feeling due to living in a grey & bland, gloom & doom, normative & rational, destructive & extractive paradigm, society & system ... is a deep dive into that black pit of desolation - ideally whilst held within the community & then waiting for our instinct & impulse - our colours, our passions, our creativity, our divergence (& often subversion - our fight for life) to show themselves. Eros - lifeforce wanting to live, express & create - & ideally the community itself are the defibrillator shock - the charge which reactivates our belly, heart & mind fires. = The Future = communities of #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation hose of us who #bridgeashope from the wasteland, rubble, ruins at a #grassroots level are the #newancestors & #spiritualleaders the world needs RIGHT NOW Bridge: the structures & way over an obstacle or something impassible as Hope: with a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen, with a feeling of trust & wanting something to be the case = The Future= #embodimentspirituality #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #tangibledivinty #spirituality Surely this is the only vision that communities - especially educational, therapeutic, spiritual & I'd like to think religious ones - must aspire to. Joyous = full of hope, good cheer & exuberance Belonging = one of humanity's most basic human needs - feeling safe, secure, supported, welcome, accepted, seen, heard & valued group member = The Future = #embodimentspirituality Isn't this what we truly desire from our education & our communities - including therapeutic, spiritual & religious? Heart-led teachers, leaders, spaceholders, facilitators peers who connect = relate, collaborate, interact ... as & with curiosity = inquisitiveness, openness, interest. = The Future = #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation May we resist becoming, emulating or fighting with the tools & methods of the oppressor & current systems - which are primarily pain, despair & domination, rationality & control. May our communities & services - be they educational, therapeutic, spiritual, or religious - teach us to rise, live & ... Resist: withstand the effect of / refrain from doing as Rapture: enchantment, pleasure, ecstasy, delight = The Future = #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation Beyond (rational & logical) mind - radically rethinking how (& what) we know. Take time to tune into your intuition (#interoception) & for ceremony, ritual, playing with symbolism, connecting to the earth, giving thanks, creativity & imagining. Connect to your #fleshyknowing - seek information, solutions & guidance here. Let's #normalise all of this in our educational pedagogy, creating #neuroqueerlearningspaces (see @autisticrealms & @stimpunks to learn more about these and read to the end of this email for more information) & community, spiritual, religious & therapeutic spaces. The Future = #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation I refuse to pathologise my capacity to give & receive love. I refuse to feel ashamed of longing for a loving society or to think of that desire as immature. I refuse to belittle, diminish or infantilise the power of my ability to be loving. And ... I refuse to believe in or endorse any education system, health structure, trauma therapy, or religious or spiritual community setting, which pathologises love or whose practitioners, teachers & leaders are devoid of it. Liberate = to set free, unbind, unshackle as Love = a verb = the action of liberation = bond of common humanity The ability to remain loving, & speak of the power of love in a society driven by hate & dominance, extraction & transaction, is true strength & revolutionary. The Future = #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #tangibledivinty #spirituality Which doors are opening?Our concept of #embodiededucation & premise that there is no learning without the body - as outlined in our book by the same name - is part of the foundations of #neuroqueerlearningspaces & Cavendish learning spaces which @stimpunks & @autisticrealms are creating a roadmap for. Check out more here: https://stimpunks.org/glossary/cavendish-space/ Relevant to school, university, community, spiritual & personal development settings .. ANYWHERE EDUCATION, SHARING OR FACILITATION HAPPENS - THERE IS NO LEARNING WITHOUT THE BODY FEELING SAFE & REGULATED New collaborations & visioning of alternative structures of communities of belonging and educational spaces.At the heart of #neuroqueerlearningspaces (@autisticrealms & @stimpunks) is the golden thread of #embodiededucation (Kay & Dan Aldred) in which individuals are happy, curious, full of wonder & free to learn in a way that suits their body mind. #educateevolveembody #embodiededucation More about this later but if you are already interested find out more clicking here or https://stimpunks.org/ The PDA Summit: support for those who are themselves neurodivergent or parent or work with neurodivergence individualsDan & I are speaking on why #selfregulation is vital for #educators & about our book Embodied Education at the end of April at this year's @the_pdaspace #pda 2024 summit To join click here or https://www.thepdaspace.com/summit-2024 Girl God Books Update: Kali Anthology: |
AuthorKay Louise Aldred MA, PGCE Archives
November 2024
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