Issuu

real and not real | transform. | may 2010

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Read this version online: http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html Download printable PDF version: http://transformativechange.org/transform/print/201005.pdf This month's transform.: http://transformativechange.org/transform/2010/05/

what's new

welcome In May we observed International Workers' Day, National Mental Health month and Mother's Day. We also sent a birthday blessing for El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz aka Malcolm X who would have been 85 years old on May 19th, and who, through Islam, found his way to valuing and embracing all members of the Human Family. Our new "From the Field" section features a powerful examination of the "means" that are "necessary." Now, more than ever and especially in light of the misguided choices made in Arizona legislation, it is important to remember the ways in which we are connected and interconnected. In this month's journal issue of transform., we explore the interdependence between how we feel, what we think, and how we act. "One Human Family" Aids Memorial, Key West, FL. Tile design by Chรถd Stine, Tiles Etcetera.

What's Driving You? 5th Annual Inner Justice Intensive Offered only once a year, here is the opportunity for all activists, allies and agents of social change to take time to pay attention to what fundamentally drives us all: our inner life. There's no thing we can "do" that's more useful to what we "do." IJI Includes: fearlessMeditation, fearlessYoga, Breath Practices, Study, and Daily Talk by angel Kyodo williams. Be more than a social justice activist, BE a social justice practitioner. Read more... 5th Annual Inner Justice Intensive | July 3 - 10

in SIGHT What Would It Look Like?

real and not real: on borders and divisions INcite with angel Kyodo williams i have to make a confession... i've been holding up the publication of this

http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html

No video? Click: http://www.youtube.com/watch ? v=cZ96y_yOkI0

What if the world embodied our highest potential? What would it look like? As the structures of modern society crumble, is it enough to respond with the same tired solutions? Or are we being called to question a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization?

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real and not real | transform. | may 2010

month's journal version of transform. for almost two weeks now. and it's because i've had a block. not an ordinary writers' block—which, while annoying, unproductive and sometimes even painful, is generally unwanted—as that would be preferable to the block i've been having.

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civilization? This 25-minute retrospective asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves, and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at this time of unprecedented global transformation. Global Oneness Project Subscribe to CXC on YouTube

in TIME i've been having a heart-mind block.

CXC: The Only Full Range of Practices Designed for Social

i have found the thinking, choices, behavior and resulting consequences of our people so incomprehensible at a heart level, that my mind has refused to put words to a phenomena that seems beyond them. when i say our people, i mean OUR people. all of them. the one's that every single human that ever lays eyes on this—from now until the end of time—have a relationship to: -

the the the the the the the the the the the the

people people people people people people people people people people people people

in the Tea Party never invited to the Party in Arizona (made up of lines) of Arizona (made up of lineage) (and wildlife) within the Gulf Coast (and profiteers) far away from the Gulf Coast in the White House thrown out of their house of God that own God in Israel (that won't let up) in Gaza (that can't get out)

with each upside-down turn of events, my heart has broken further and has threatened to take my mind with it because my mind wants to make sense of something that my heart knows full well it cannot. and should not. what i can do instead is try to sort out what is real and what is not. that's an illusion of sorts too, i know, but this is what i came up with: Nine Things Real and Not Real 1. we, the People, are divided by fear, lack of vision and imagination is real.

Change Agents Universal Form and Jo Kata Practice in the Park

Meditation in Action Monthly | 2nd Saturdays | 12:30 - 2:30pm [NEW TIME!] Universal Form is a healing practice that incorporates body, breath and energy with elements of Tai Chi, Yoga, and Qigong. Jo Kata is an Aikido-based centering practice done with a wooden staff, "Jo" practice offers the opportunity to find your center and remain there even as you extend your energy into relationship with others and on behalf of what matters to you in the world. Individually, in partnership and in group, in 31 moves brings you back to your own Center again and again. Join us at MLK Civic Center Park and take your practice out in the world. fearlessYOGA Sundays Weekly | Sundays | 9:30am - 11:00am FREE for activists, allies and agents of social change... Drop-in for in-depth instruction on the fearless approach and Warrior Series postures. Jo Kata Practice Biweekly | Wednesday evenings | 6:30pm [CORRECTED!] Weekly | Friday mornings | 7am 31 Moves to Your Center. Aikido-based centering practice done with a wooden staff. (see full description above) . Community Thursdays

2. the so-called border that divides this land from the people we took it from by force is not real

Weekly | Thursdays | 6:30pm

3. the horrific show of how deep this country's racism runs, masking itself as it's very own Party of hatred, is real.

fearlessYoga and fearlessMeditation Mornings

http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html

Chant, Sitting Meditation and Council Practice.

Weekly | Tues - Fri | 6am-8am Yoga and Meditation designed for social change agents

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4. the idea that a President of any race, color, gender or creed can rise above and act beyond a corrupted system that put them there to begin with is not real.

to build presence: "the moment-to-moment practice of

5. the toxic waste hemorrhaging onto the land from 5000 feet under the sea—laying waste to the life in its path—is real.

Daily | Tues - Fri | 12:30pm-2:30pm

6. the will to stop feeding off of "ancient hours of sunlight" and converting fossils into a fuel that drives death and destruction worldwide is not real.

being in relationship to one's life as it unfolds". Drop-in Sitting and Public Garden Midday drop-in sitting at CXC's Practice Hall and Public Garden. Universal Form: Meditation in Action fearlessYoga Sundays Jo Kata: 31 Moves to Center

7. the cordoning off of nearly 1.5 million people like so much cattle that amounts to a New Millenium Apartheid is real.

Community Thursdays

8. the resolve of America and the world to stop financing statesanctioned war crimes and now international law breaches is not real.

CXC Practice Schedule

Morning Practice: Yoga and Meditation Drop-In Sitting and Public Garden

in the CENTER CXC Graduates First

9. the deep divisions of our society, people and planet, based on the peculiar illusory constructs of race, class, privilege, supremacy and superiority is real. and for this, we will all pay.

fearlessYOGA Teacher Training Graduates CXC has just completed the pilot program for the most

genocide is real. greed is real. destruction is real.

comprehensive, inspired, innovative, and transformative yoga teacher trainings available today. On April 28, 2010, CXC's fearlessYOGA School, a Yoga Alliance registered school, graduated 6

"illegals" aren't real. Mexicans aren't real. Americans aren't real. Muslims aren't real. Jews aren't real.

new fearlessYOGA instructors/apprentices and the first full-fledged fearlessYOGA teacher. Read more... Please join us in congratulating CXC's fearlessYoga Teacher Training graduates and help celebrate this historic occasion by giving a donation here:

fairness is real. justice is real. love is real.

from the FIELD adrienne maree brown | By Any Means Necessary

People are real.

Adrienne Maree Brown embodies transformative change as a facilitator

—yours in truth, aKw

extraordinaire. When not taking

dedicated to all the people that show up for real.

on the massive role of National Co-coordinator of the USSF, she invites us to reflect on what if Malcolm X's infamous "...by any means necessary" means forgiveness?

angel Kyodo williams is founder of urbanPEACE and its Center for Transformative Change. A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace. http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html

today I am reflecting on the meaning of 'by any means necessary.' its Malcolm's birthday today, and I think of his voice saying those words. at the time he said it, I believe he meant it as it is commonly understood—that we [black people] must be prepared to take up arms if that is necessary to defend our communities and Page 3 of 7

real and not real | transform. | may 2010

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that is necessary to defend our communities and

Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Like angel here Twitter: Follow angel for tweets of wisdom on Change Web: http://about.angelkyodowilliams.com

liberate ourselves from the weight of white supremacy. for me the meaning has evolved as I experience more and more of this world and its layers of oppression. there are a plethora of internal and external dangers to the soulâ€”it is so hard to keep your integrity intact, especially if you long for change, if the current world

angel Kyodo williams' next public talk: Thursday, June 10 @ CXC

disappoints you or makes you furious. Read more... adrienne maree, the luscious satyagraha

newDharma Talk The Fire of Truth & Love This talk was originally given by angel Kyodo

inner PRACTICE Transformative Track at US

williams in October 2007 following a meeting of like-minded, but differently-privileged folks at CXC.

Social Forum (USSF) | June 22-

It looks at how our beliefs that we're different than others keeps us disconnected from our extended

Last month, we shared with you

26, 2010 | Detroit, MI the plans in progress of the Transformative Intermediary

communities, ourselves and from love.

Group & Gatherers for the upcoming USSF. There are

"We had the kind of meeting in which people, often of color, come into a space in which people who often, not always, but often--in the

many avenues of discovery and ways to get involved at

imagination of our culture--have more power, more influence, more access, more more...and this usually contributes to getting more. And

The Transformative Track is being stewarded by CXC

they're often "doing" something, these people in power and in places of privilege and with lots of access. And too often, as we understand our

change field intermediaries: Stone Circles, Social Justice

history, their "doing" something is the other folks' "undoing" in some way. In a way that has become just too familiar. So familiar, in fact,

Somatics.

that we forget that it's even happening on a daily basis. So, we had this kind of situation where these folks--we're not talking about evil oil barons--these are good-hearted people that do good things in the world and have really good intentions. They were doing something that we--

the Forum. One such way is the Transformative Track. and also includes the following transformative social Leadership, Movement Strategy Center, and Generative Read more...

outer ACTION Miami Workers Center | Advocating for ALL The People

people that don't sit in that particular seat of privilege--could see as an undoing..."

Isn't it inspiring to know there are people who actually care

Listen to The Fire of Truth & Love Download text of The Fire of Truth & Love

about other people and are willing to do whatever is necessary to uplift humanity from burdens of economic imbalance and heavy societal conditioning embedded within collective consciousness? We'd like to give a special shout out to

activists, allies & agents of change Gihan Perera | Declaration for a Free Arizona Gihan Perera has become a nationally recognized progressive movement leader, organizer, and strategist. He began his activism as a student in high school in Los Angeles and then at UC Berkeley. While organizing against the first Gulf War, Perera hosted a radio program on a local station melding his passion for social and racial justice and music. In 1999, together with Tony Romano, he founded the Miami Workers Center (MWC), a dynamic organization which plays a leading role locally and nationally in the http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html

our friends in southern Florida, the Miami Workers Center, for supporting immigrants, women and low wage workers in creating solutions that eradicate racism, sexism, poverty and economic exploitation within their communities. Read more... Miami Workers Center

social CHANGE National Day of Transformative Change Page 4 of 7

real and not real | transform. | may 2010

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Transformative Change

social justice movement.

3rd Annual SIT-A-THON. Join America's next great movement:

On Behalf of the day laborers, domestic workers, home care workers, laundry, and debris cleaners, who are the diaspora of the world economy, On Behalf of the young people, who feel the difference between right and wrong in their veins, and who inherit our world, On Behalf of the elders, whose bodies we must care for, and whose wisdom we must not lose, On Behalf of harmony and dignity and the integrity of human life,

inner change for social change. Individuals and organizations participate nationwide. Get informed today. Register beginning June 1st. Read more... SIT for Change | National Day of Transformative Change

in the MIND

In the name of a decency that we still have time to salvage,

Live Your Life Well

May is Mental Health Month as

We must recognize that the developments in Arizona are the manifestation of a profound and growing sickness, toxicity, in the hearts and minds of our nation, promoted by a hateful few.

named by Mental Health America, the largest and oldest community-based network

resources for transformative changeâ€Ś

dedicated to helping all Americans live mentally healthier lives. Here, they share 10 helpful tools in managing stress and improving well

This month's resources highlight connection to our communities, the

being:

world and ourselves, body, mind and heart. Visit the Cesar Chavez Foundation website for a wealth of information on 'maximizing human

to promote health and wellness in homes,

potential to improve our communities.' In honor of Mothers (and mothering energies) everywhere, enjoy Global Oneness Project's video snippet of Zulu traditional healer, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa. Because May is Mental Health Month, get more information on mental health and community mental health resources. And, finally, reacquaint yourself with the man that was Malcolm X who would become El Hajj Malik ElShabazz. Chavez Foundation A Message to the World | Vusamuzulu Credo Mutwa | 2:19 Mental Health America Malcolm X.org

This year, our theme "Live Your Life Well," challenges us communities, schools, and inform those who don't believe it's attainable. Every day, Americans are affected by the myriad challenges, stresses and demands on their lives. And every day, they seek help in responding to them. The good news is there are tested and effective tools that are readily available and free that anyone can use to help them cope better and improve their well-being. Mental Health America | Live Your Life Well fearless Meditation is a 3-part signature series that teaches practical meditation within a social justice framework. It's offered for no charge for agents of social change.

"the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed

quote of the month

my work."

"We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community...Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own." â€”Cesar Chavez Learn more...

June 4, 2010 & every 1st Friday | 7pm

"We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary." â€”Malcolm X, 1965 Learn more...

fearless Meditation I:

in the BODY Twelve Months of Fearless Asana | Salabhasana The fourth Asana (posture) in the fearlessYoga flow, is Salabhasana

(pronounced "shalaBAsana") or "Locust Posture." This 'baby backbend' posture helps us to strengthen the muscles of the spine, buttocks, and the backs of the arms and legs. It also stretches the

http://transformativechange.org/transform/journal/201005.html

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support deep change

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the backs of the arms and legs. It also stretches the shoulders, chest, belly, and thighs. Some additional

Center for Transformative Change (CXC) is the first national center

benefits include improving posture, stimulating

entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a more effective, more

abdominal organs, and stress relief. Read more...

sustainable social justice movement. We name, frame and advance Transformative Social Change by both developing practices and programs for agents of social change and

wellness & being well Accelerate to Your Ideal

working in collaboration with leading organizations to help shape this emerging movement. Most importantly, CXC reflects the field and the

Weight

movement back to itself, strengthening our collective identity, community, and shared vision.

Jones points us to discovering

Wellness Consultant Tracy Lee and maintaining our ideal weight:

This long-term vision for shifting the paradigm of work for justice,

Rather than focus on all the things we know we could

changing the WAY change is done, will fundamentally alter broadbased social change at its very core--from inner to outer--resulting in a

be doing, but for whatever reason are not, this article is

more just, equitable society for all.

management I've leared from the 100+ dietary theories

focused on a few simple healthy options for weight I've studied.

Great vision takes great action and our work is not possible without the generous support and partnership of individuals like you. No amount is too small, so make your contribution to deep change today. Donate to CXC Visit the Center's website