self-accountability skillshop: weaving resilient webs
every thursday
22 october - 10 december
7:00-9:00 pm ET (4:00-6:00 pm PT)
tools to navigate relationships through radical, embodied practices of desire, consent, and power-sharing
week 1: orienting & housekeeping
week 2: core values/purpose
week 3: different relationships, different needs
week 4: midpoint reflection & integration
week 5: skillful boundaries
week 6: dynamics of systemic oppression & power
week 7: mental health & trauma
week 8: closing integration & future persistence
this 8-session group is for queer people & those who love us who need tools to navigate intimate relationships in ways that meet both our individual needs & the needs of others with consistent integrity. rooted in a lifetime of practicing polyamory, 20 years of abolitionist & peer-to-peer support work in queer communities, 15 years in leatherdyke community learning about power from skillful elders, and 10 years facilitating politicized/cultural somatics, this skillshop builds the work of self-accountability as a core component of interdependence. with origins in a non-monogamy skillshop i began facilitating in 2016, this space always welcomes specific questions & focus on non-monogamy!
self-accountability is the capacity to attune to our internal sense of what is good & right (shaped by family, community, culture, and systems of power/oppression) in order to be responsible for ourselves & responsive to the impacts we have on others. this is an embodied skill, not a cognitive skill: no matter how much we study & think about how to conduct our intimate relationships, no matter how much we theorize what an abolitionist future looks like, we cannot embody those ways of being without actually practicing them. that practice is what this skillshop is for.
we gather to do this work knowing that many people find it hard to determine where our boundaries should be, to enact those boundaries, to own our own shit, and to recognize which shit belongs to which relationships, past or present. we gather to do this work knowing that despite our commitments to liberation & to the abolition of policing, prisons & white supremacy, most of our cultural shaping has left us woefully unequipped to root in authentic desire, to tend to our true needs, and to navigate conflict & harm in our everyday lives. we gather to do this work with respect for the survival shaping that has gotten us this far & with a deep longing to transform survival shaping into something more nourishing. we gather to do this work in service of attuning to our own true north, so that we can be more resilient in conflict & more creative in our relational web-weaving.
partners, friends & roommates are fully encouraged to sign up together to build shared language, frameworks & practices, though the focus of the work in sessions will be individual! if you sign up together, you can each use the code OURWEB for 13% off.
accessibility: pricing is at four tiers ranging ~$0-35/hour of programming (no-cost tier for low-income QTBIPOC & trans women/trans femmes). please pay the highest rate you are able to, taking into account income, debt, savings, family/other support, and care responsibilities, and don't hesitate to grab that low-cost or no-cost ticket if you need it to access practice.
if you earn money in USD, EUR, or GBP please consider paying on the higher end of the range given the lower exchange value of CAD. when more people register at cost or higher, i am able to open up more spaces at the no- & low-cost tiers.
space is limited; please do not take a ticket (especially low-/no-cost tickets) unless you're pretty sure about your participation!
participants are encouraged to show up as-is each session, as a practice of inherent worthiness to connect & learn, and sessions will also be recorded for times that's not possible. we embrace a wide range of participation styles beyond sitting up straight & looking directly into your zoom camera while answering every question. you can definitely join intending to watch recordings for all or some sessions, but keep in mind that this skillshop is sequential, building on previous sessions, and that somatic practices are often more effective when you do them with other humans live. (another great option for those who can't attend live is to register with a friend who also can't and to watch/practice together at a time that works for you both each week!)
participants are always welcome to have video on or off, and to contribute via mic or chat. automatic closed captioning will be enabled, and collective wisdom will be gathered on slides visible to the group. if you need or would benefit from ASL interpretation, please contact me ASAP & i will book an interpreter if at all possible. while there are no guarantees what the group makeup will be, breakout rooms for small group work will be created to hold space for requested affinity groups (past cohorts have included BIPOC only, sex worker only, survivor only, ND only & more).
please don't hesitate to contact hannah@bodywitchery.com with any accessibility questions or requests!
lineages: somatic experiencing (SEP), generative somatics via vanissar tarakali, biodynamic craniosacral therapy, ecstasy is necessary by barbara carrellas, kitchen table education & practice on transformative justice & monstrosity/shame with many queers including kai cheng thom & kota rook, leatherdyke community, lived experience of intergenerational madness/trauma & substance ab/use, turtle cypher, and countless more thinkers & cultural workers. you can check bodywitchery.com for more general info about your facilitator, and i share more detailed info about the teachers & peers in my lineages as we practice together.