The Path of Sacred Warriorship

Invitation to An Experimental Workshop at the Intersection of Spirituality & Social Change

 

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS PROGRAM.

PLEASE VISIT US IN 2024 FOR OUR NEXT OFFERING.

The world faces interlocking and escalating crises of climate change, racism, economic inequality and rising authoritarianism.  Meeting these immense 21st century challenges requires renewal of the lineages of sacred warriorship.  Our world needs leaders who are spiritually grounded, socially conscious, and strategically savvy.  This experimental workshop will introduce concepts and tools for individual and collective practice that are designed to support sacred warriors in their work.  

“I consider human rights work or activism to be a kind of spiritual practice. By defending those people who persecuted for their race, religion, ethnicity, or ideology, you are actually contributing to guiding our human family to peace, justice, and dignity.”

H.H., the 14th Dalai Lama

PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER HÖNNEMANN, USED WITH PERMISSION

The Path of Sacred Warriorship

About

The workshop will draw on a variety of traditions and disciplines, including contemplative, spiritual and social movement lineages, and psychology, sociology, political science and medicine. It is designed for experienced social change practitioners who also have a spiritual practice of some kind.  We define “social change” broadly to include all forms of organizing, advocacy, healing, education, and service work that aim to undo deep structures of inequity in society and to advance liberation and justice.  We define “spiritual practice” broadly to encompass religion and spirituality as conventionally understood, and also earth-based and body-based practices that foster awareness, empathy and attunement to self and community. 

Community

The course will be jointly taught by Oxiris Barbot, Deepak Bhargava, John Churchill, and Nicole Churchill, each of whom has decades of experience in inner and outer change work.  The workshop is designed to connect streams and traditions of practice and theory that are usually taught in different communities of practice.  As such, it is an experiment, and we are inviting advanced practitioners to go on a journey with us to explore and prototype the possibilities of deeper integration of these wisdom traditions. Exploration of participants’ own experience with the relationship of inner and outer change work will be a crucial part of the learning.  

 

"I have learned you are never too small to make a difference."

Greta Thunberg

The workshop will engage material such as: 

  • how to navigate and hold power, how to alter power relations and be comfortable exercising power

  • how to engage conflict and polarization skillfully, including working with projection and the shadow

  • working with trauma and cultivating healing and resilience 

  • channeling, holding and transmuting strong emotions at the level of individuals and groups

  • how to help others scaffold their own development

  • connecting to sacred lineage in the past, present, and future

  • compassion practices and holding energy at the heart

 

We’ll explore a wide variety of practices including working with breath, sound, meditation, movement, somatic work, visualization, invoking lineages and community dialogue.

 

“I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds, but our hearts and our souls.”

— Malala Yousafzai

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

 
 

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.”

— Rosa Parks

Meet the Team

  • Oxiris Barbot

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Oxiris Barbot is a physician, public health practitioner and leader at the intersection of public health and social justice. Her longstanding commitment to social justice has manifested through advocating for health equity, children’s well-being, and community health. Her career has been shaped and inspired by the dignity and courage of the many patients she’s cared for and communities she has served. She is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Senior Fellow for Public Health and Social Justice at The JPB Foundation. She has written and spoken frequently on racial health equity, community resiliency and wellness. She is a committed dharma practitioner most recently interested in cultivating community connectedness as a pathway to resiliency.

  • Deepak Bhargava

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Deepak Bhargava is a movement leader and organizer who has dedicated the last three decades to working for social, economic and racial justice. As President of Community Change for 16 years, he led major national campaigns to change public policy and trained thousands of organizers and grassroots leaders in communities of color. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies, and has written and spoken frequently on issues of poverty, economic inequality, immigrant rights, racial justice, and progressive strategy. He is a longtime dharma practitioner and has a longstanding passion for the integration of social justice and spirituality.

  • John Churchill

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Born in London, England, Dr. Churchill's interest in psychospiritual development, integral theory, contemplative studies, and Mahayana Buddhism began in his adolescence. At this time, John also received the esoteric Planetary Dharma transmissions that would in time unfold as his contribution to a planetary fourth turning teaching. For 15 years he trained to teach Great Seal meditation in an Indo-Tibetan Mahayana lineage practice with a senior Western teacher. For the last 25 years, John has developed a somatically based contemplative practice path; Embodying the Open Ground, that integrates psychodynamic healing, adult development and meditation. John holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from William James College, and is a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

  • Nicole Churchill

    CONTRIBUTOR

    Nicole is the Executive Director of the Karuna Mandala Initiative, a 501 (c)(3)umbrella organization that nurtures, cross-pollinates, and actualizes projects that aim to raise human consciousness and develop wisdom culture in support of a good, true, beautiful, and sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants. She is a long-time contributor in the field of Leadership Education with expertise in human development, curriculum design, and has advised and led clients through human change initiatives and transformational educational experiences since 1995. Nicole is a seasoned facilitator who loves to help her students dive deep into all phases of the human learning experience.

Application

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED FOR THIS RETREAT.