On UNLRN Series, Mindfulness, and Apocalyptic Thinking
The first instalments of UNLRN Series, ROOTS I & II, are on their way June 10th, and the timing is ripe to let you in on a bit more about where they’re coming from!
Pre-sale for the courses (with special discounts/add-ons) starts May 15th.
Consider this blog an accompaniment to the 30-minute webinar released recently (make sure to sign up below to receive this and be added to the UP newsletter list!). I think it’s important at this stage to delve into the why of it all, and what UNLRN Series promises, and expects in return.
The short version?
It promises change, expects accountability, and vice versa.
The seeds for UNLRN PRJCT and everything it is becoming, UNLRN Series included, were planted during my time engaging in EDI work within institutional environments, I spent a lot of time thinking about connections, so-called grey spaces, the in-betweens that act as both connecting matter, and signify the gaps and obstacles to connection. Sometimes I'd get lost in the vastness of it, especially on the harder days, the days that were just a bit too heavy with microaggressions to bear it all, or when a marginalized student or colleague had yet again experienced something that dimmed their light: a violence, an erasure, an unbelonging, at the hands of the systems we all live within. Things came up as I created and taught workshops, advised upper level admin, helped with strategic planning, led yoga classes for Queer and Trans students, held community spaces for people of Colour, led student initiatives and collaborated with people all over campus, etc. In every facet, every interaction, every moment of my time in that space, I was thinking about how all this work could possibly survive in a space led by people who ostensibly want change, but struggle—or outright refuse—when the roadmap is created by marginalized folx and laid out in front of them.
What I found, over the years, is that the majority of us are socialized to desire validation, particularly when they come along with some kind of badge of honour we can proudly display for our corner of the world to see. People who move through the world with significant systemic privilege and power who are interested in learning about social justice often want to feel good at the 'end' of their learning. We all do, don't we? We want joy, we want happiness, we want comfort, we want community, and we want to be good. We want to arrive somewhere, yes? We want there to be an end to the learning, an accomplishment. In many cases, the desire to be perceived externally as good outweighs the intuitive sense of whether an action will indeed do good sustainably.
What regrettably tends to happen in the wake of many EDI trainings is one of two things: the person feels satisfied and, to some extent or another, vindicated, by attending a one time training session. They feel a level of absolution of responsibility. They feel good, and free. Or, they are suddenly able to grasp the weight of the issues at hand, their immensity, their sheer vastness, and it hits them, hard. Everything seems untenable, unmanageable, unchangeable, and chaotic. Set in stone, yet so in flux that you can't even place it all for long enough to take hold of it and remove it from existence. The former person sits in a mire of privileged oblivion, and the latter sits in a mire of guilt. Both are mired, unmoving—not immovable.
Most strikingly, I learned that people with systemic power and privilege were often ready, willing, and eager to learn, but unlearning old patterns and thoughts and practices? That was the hard work, the deep, introspective, apocalyptic work. When you pile knowledge, new vocabularies, methodologies, etcetc, on to learners and don't begin with mindful self-reflection and rewriting old patterns, the old always bleeds through the new eventually. After learning without self-work and internalization, now the psyche is equipped with all the tools it needs to—consciously or subconsciously—serve and prioritize self-comfort, dupe, to enter spaces it can do the most damage, to fool itself into thinking it is doing good when it has simply dressed old actions in new clothes. It is as if an uneducation must necessarily preface an education when it comes to social justice. An unlrning must begin it all, and it needs guides to help it along the path.
I believe a cogent, sustainable, quietly revolutionary way out of the myriad of mires that lay in wait as we navigate and battle our way out of oppressive systems is mindfulness, and its incorporation into learning, unlrning, and essentially rewiring our brains.
That is ultimately what I mean when I talk about UNLRNing—neuroplasticity is a real thing, and so while immediate revolutionary change is unlikely thanks to our socialization, the terrible resilience of oppressive systems, and how our brains have become wired over time living within these constructs, they are nonetheless deeply malleable, changeable, absolutely brimming with potential to see things differently, move in new directions, and ultimately change how we think about the world around us and how we interact with one another within it entirely.
UNLRNing is apocalyptic.
UNLRNing thought patterns and beliefs is work. It requires rewiring. Whether we are speaking of mindsets, systems, institutions, social and environmental practices, unjust ways of being in this world, etcetc, things must end before they can begin again. We must dismantle what does not serve equity and justice for all in order to step into a new reality.
UNLRN Series offers a way to engage with the work of rewriting your patterns over time, always building, always developing new ways of thinking, always questioning, always returning to your breath, your self, and your sense of community in the process of undoing the ties to systemic oppression within you, however they manifest.
UNLRN Series fills a gap.
It's not designed as a one-time offering to quickly learn and then move on. It’s a commitment to accountability and justice. It’s a dedication to a better self and better world. It’s a treatise between you and you to honour the healing this world needs by learning, unlrning, and taking action.
It's a way to approach your work toward equity and social justice from wherever you are in the world, and you can delve in as deeply as you have the determination for.
I hope you’re determined. I hope you’re ready.
What can you expect from UNLRN Series in return for your investment and dedication? Mindful, informed, dedicated, accountable, guidance through this ongoing, crucial work.
If you're after detailed course information, that will be released along with the Presale on May 15! There will be Presale promos for ROOTS I, II, and the packaged courses—with some lovely incentives to deepen your learning and the opportunity to save some coins if you're on the fence!
I'm so looking forward to UNLRNing and committing to the building of this community with you. This work is vital, needed, and transformative.
It's time. Join me?