Spiritual Activism: Meeting the Needs of Our Time

Join us on October 8, 2022 to explore how meditation, movement, and other “inner” practices can support lasting transformation that extend beyond individual liberation and into the relational, cultural and political context we live in. While we can’t only meditate our way to a better world, political action and critical thinking cannot be the only tools in effective social transformation - we must move from our heads and into our bodies and hearts to create a more just, caring, and sustainable society.

The day will contain a combination of guided embodied exercises and informal conversations that build bridges between "inner" meditative/spiritual practice and "outer" social action based on our model, CourageRISE (https://courageofcare.org/our-theory-of-change/).

Together, we will dive into practices that can help us to:

• cultivate self-care, joy and compassion as necessary elements for caring for others, prevent burnout and show up in challenging work of our times: from gender and racism to capitalism and sustainability.
• recognize our reactions, assumptions and prejudices, so that we are in more supportive and loving relationships with ourselves, each other and the planet.
• examine how our tensions, thoughts and feelings can be direct reflections of oppressive social structures and how we can work with the body to dismantle and change such conditions.
• transform our awareness from being solely rooted in 'what is important to me’ to having a felt sense of interconnectedness and the common good.

We hope the day will build ground for a community of practice where we can continue the conversation.

The workshop will take place at the beautiful spaces of Heartfulness - a meditation center dedicated to offering training and mentoring in heart based meditation.

The day will be led by a group of facilitators from the Courage of Care Coalition - a global community of social justice activists, contemplative practitioners, educators, health and social service professionals, committed to co-creating a more loving, just and liberated world.

Katrine Bregengaard’s work as a facilitator combines her background as a critical human rights educator, organizer and researcher with her work as a contemplative and somatic practitioner. She’s passionate about building meditative and compassion-based approaches that can strengthen our personal and collective capacity to address the complexities of eco-, gender-, class- and racial-justice. She facilitates radical mindfulness groups in Copenhagen and works with Courage of Care Coalition to build bridges between individual and collective healing and systemic transformation.

Maha El-Sheikh brings her experience in international humanitarian work with studying and teaching trauma-informed yoga, somatics, and meditation to explore the interconnection of healing, social transformation, and justice. She is core faculty at Courage of Care Coalition, and partners with leaders in economic, racial, gender and climate justice movements to reimagine the world through compassion-centered, counter-oppressive, liberatory frameworks.

Brooke D. Lavelle is the co-founder of Courage of Care. She holds a Ph.D. in Buddhism and Embodied Cognition, and is committed to ways in which individuals and communities develop cultures of practice that support love, health and liberation. Brooke has consulted to various human rights, education and spiritual organizations, and has experience leading national and international political, educational and climate justice projects. Through her work at Courage, Brooke understands the challenges of trying to build alternatives to the status quo, and remains steadfastly convinced that another way is possible.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Holbergsgade 15, 15 Holbergsgade, Copenhagen , Denmark