Facing White Supremacy Culture
In Ourselves:
Peer Co-Regulation as an Antidote to Oppression
Fall Dates TBD
Price: $45
It is always easier to go for connection instead of “power over” when we feel safe in our own skin.
- One-up/one-down relating is damaging to everyone, those up and those down.
- Do you know what hierarchical relationships feel like in your nervous system?
- Co-Regulation wires the brain for healthy peer relating.
In this workshop by and for people who identify as white, we will look at the downside of one-up (white supremacy culture) and what else is possible.
We white folks all have a level of denial around our racism and the ways it affects our lives and our relationships. Our denial compromises our hearts, our relationships, and our ability to collaborate on global survival issues. Body Up Co-Regulation is our best shot at relaxing into authenticity and rewiring our nervous systems for safe, peer relationships.
As I see it, oppression is always rooted in misuse of power in hierarchical relationships. There is nothing wrong with power or hierarchy, but everything wrong with misusing it. So, we will explore the internal edges/habits where we unconsciously position for power and privilege. We will also practice building nourishing peer relationships.
Authentic peer engagement around oppression issues means we go to real and uncomfortable edges with each other, to places where we may feel unsafe. We can notice, and tell the truth to ourselves and each other. We can take care of ourselves, and repair connections without just going one up or one down and smiling as if nothing happened.
In this Workshop you can expect to:
- Learn how to feel safe exploring racism and oppression.
- Learn about the internal and external dynamics of oppression.
- Practice embodiment exercises for authentic peer relating.
- Explore what changes in your nervous system when you shift from one up/one down relating - to peer-relating.
- Learn about the ladder of White Supremacy and how it prevents authentic peer relating.
- Drop some guilt and feel your humanity.
Embodiment in collaborative, peer relationships and well regulated nervous systems may not be all we need to end racism and oppression, but they do go a long way to diminish white fragility and misuse of power.
When I think I am better than someone I am relating with, I get lonely. When I avoid a person begging on the street, I close my heart a bit, to feel safe and separate from that life.
When I put down the drive to be either better than or worse than the other person, we can be equally human together. We can witness vulnerability, share strengths, and cooperate for success, survival and even play.
Beth Dennison
MA in MFT, MEd, LMT, SEP
Beth brings 50 years of teaching, psychotherapy, bodywork and study of neuroscience, to designing learning experiences that rewire our brains for connection and co-regulation. She models the embodiment she teaches.
Her groundbreaking book on Body Up! Co-Regulation provides a much needed remedy to the disconnection and dysregulation that pervade modern culture. She developed Body Up! Co-Regulation to rewire our nervous systems for peer relationships. We need to trust peer relationships if we are to get off of the hierarchical ladder of oppression.