Greetings troubled and troubling ones, Thank you for your courage and willingness to practice Staying with the Trouble together. I am so excited to hold this generative, experiential space for us to stretch into nuance. In this workshop, we will explore the undefined, complex (and often uncomfortable) areas where borders are fuzzy and responsibility is shared. To get there, we will start where we are - we will ask ourselves how we have learned to uphold the binaries of right and wrong, good and bad. We will explore taking on both shapes of persuasion (coming in to convince) and receptivity (openness to others perspectives). We will practice embodying polarized perspectives, and then moving into a third space between them where we can hold the truth of both simultaneously. We will invite ourselves to feel the fullness of our inherent imperfection and the fullness of our divine dignity at the same time. Lingering in this space, we will dream into how we can center this awareness when we or people we know cause harm in our communities. In order to step into this vulnerable and brave space together, I offer the following guidelines to anchor us through this exploration of these uncharted (or forgotten) territories of nuance. Community Guidelines for Staying with the Trouble: - Embrace your body’s wisdom. If your body asks you to stretch, shake, or move during this workshop, you have full permission to do so. If you need to leave the space for several minutes, please let someone (ideally the facilitator) know before exiting. - Choose your own adventure. You are at choice about how you want to participate in this space. I will always offer opportunities to opt out of exercises and can support you with finding adaptations to participate in ways that work better for you. - Honor confidentiality - what’s learned leaves, what’s said stays. We honor confidentiality by not sharing or bringing up other people’s personal stories outside of this space without consent. We can share the lessons without sharing their experience. - Practice group care, share the air. Sharing yourself with this group is a gift. Taking up so much space that others cannot share themselves is a harm. I encourage you to open up and share yourself with this group with an awareness that we are all sharing the air. - Lean into edginess, discomfort, and messiness. This guideline speaks to the essence of this workshop. In this space, we will stray from the false safety of binary thinking and allow ourselves to be stretched open by complexity and multiple truths. This day-long workshop takes place in person with a 1-hour lunch break. I will bring some snacks to share, but encourage you to pack a lunch and any other nourishment you may need. We also may be going outside for portions of this workshop, so dress warmly and bring layers! Thank you for saying yes to this exploration - I look forward to dancing in the nuance with you. With a liberating love, Lux Gypsum