For over 50 years, social justice work has sought to galvanize peoples primarily through identifying self-interest. The integration of somatics into a social justice framework gives us new tools to look deeper and understand more holistically how and why individuals and collectives are primed to take some actions and unlikely to take others. By broadening our understanding and analysis of our communities with a somatics lens, we become more capable of moving our communities from a collective center rather than a time-limited self-interest basis. On a myopic level, somatics allow us to see our patterns on a deeper level that can directly inform our organizational and movement strategies. On a broad level, somatics beckons us to put forth humanity and the development of our collective humanity at the forefront of social justice work.
frontline organizing, four years of leading community organizing organizations, + ten years of training beginner to experienced organizers, Rusia has taken her vast community organizing + leadership development mastery to develop a new holistic model of organizing for the 21st century called Embodied Organizing.
The LEO Intensive, takes on a two-pronged approach in developing skilled organizers:
- Theoretical learning of a broad set of organizing methodologies and skills; and
- Deepening theoretical learning through application and practice to add a layer of experiential learning to deepen and enhance overall organizing knowledge.
An overarching goal for the program includes the integration of practical skills that support organizers to create more balance and self-care into their work to ensure individuals are capable of doing social justice work for the long haul. Broadly, the integration of somatics into the framework of organizing will address this need as well as including contemplative learning and practices in each session of the intensive. The design and development of the program is geared to take the rich lessons from community organizing over the last 50 years and reimagine a program that deeply integrates somatics and contemplative practices into every facet of organizing work.
