8 Week Course: Getting the Support You Need to Thrive in 2020

The legacies of domination cultures - patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism to name a few - have kept most of us separated from aligning to our deepest truth and calling. As a result, many of us are not equipped with the tools to  connect to our inner wisdom, nor are we self-connected enough to collaborate in a way that reflects our deepest values. So even when we make a step towards beloved community - when we step outside the mainstream paradigm of "every person for themselves" - we find that it's a monumentally difficult task.

Undoing domination communication, as we see and teach it, is the process of relearning how to be in relationship, how to have both the autonomy and interdependence we need to reach our unique creative potential and align with our highest purpose in this time of global crisis. Language is a primary way we engage in relationship, so we focus on language as a way to transform our inner (spiritual/emotional) and outer (social/collaborative) lives. We believe that this work of relearning patterns of language and communication is essential to the work of bringing about what Joanna Macy calls, "The Great Turning."

*WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT GSYN*
"This class has been a revelation. I have encountered certain of my habits of mind and expression that I now see as blocks to authentic communication. But in the challenge of facing them, I am learning to give myself empathy, while learning a lot about empathizing with others. This has been a glimpse of a post dominance world, a palpable experience of a new paradigm. I want to continue!"
-Sarah C.

"This course has been a weekly reminder that the world can be full of abundance and love when we choose to see each other tenderly and look at each other without the lens the domination culture that surrounds us. I have felt held and supported to care for myself and others in a way that I want to share in every space I work in, but that is difficult to do without support."
-Helen C.

"This course is an open door to a lifelong opportunity for personal growth and connection with myself and others. It has positively impacted my life and these tools will be used for a lifetime. It's an invaluable course that everyone will benefit from."
-Rachel R.

**WORKSHOP DETAILS**
This workshop is a total of 16 hours of live, interactive small group instruction and guidance. This is NOT a prerecorded or self-paced course, though recordings of the sessions will be available to participants after each session.

Classes will meet on ZOOM, an online video platform.

This series is highly interactive and experiential. There will be ample opportunities to apply and practice these tools as we learn them.

While this workshop will be grounded in the practice and principles of Nonviolent Communication, it will be supported by an understanding of interpersonal neurobiology, a growing area of study that's adding to our knowledge of how humans thrive. Nonviolent communication is a practical and accessible way to apply these new findings - that humans thrive in relationships with warmth, resonance, and attunement.

**FACILITATORS**
Amanda Blaine is a white, cisgendered, straight, double-Ivy-League-educated, middle class, Jewish woman. And she’s hellbent on using every ounce of her privilege to leverage change. She wants to support you to learn the skills that make the difference between “heartbreaking waste of time” and “heart-opening, get-lots-of-important-shit-done-together collaboration.” She makes her home on Vashon Island, occupied Puyallup land near Seattle, Washington.”

Nicole Bauman is a white, middle class, queer, genderqueer, farmer, healer, movement builder and parent, rooted in community and organizing in the Rust Belt city of Elkhart, IN, on occupied Potawatomi territory. Nonviolent Communication has been an empowering tool for Nicole's own personal healing and transformation, and has also increased her capacity to show up more skillfully to communication, conflict and collaboration interpersonally and within the movement. Nicole is excited to share all of this with you!

Josh Blaine is a community song leader and organizer based out of Austin, TX (occupied Numunu and Tikan'watic territory) who's found that unlearning his patterns of white and male supremacy is best done in community. Since the Fall of 2017, he's been organizing other men who are committed to undoing male domination patterns by leveraging the tools of nonviolent communication as a backbone of the work.