Thank you for taking the time to read the following guidelines and agreements for this container. These agreements help create a cohort that supports curiosity, growth, and care in our learning.

Kelsey Blackwell wrote and developed the guidelines inspired by Marika Heinrichs, InterPlay, and East Bay Meditation Center. Your participation in Decolonizing the Body indicates you have read and consented to these boundaries and agreements.

Last Updated August 2024

Agreements

• Responsibility to Self-Tending and Care. Connecting to the body can bring up strong emotions. This is not a therapy space, and I am not able to provide therapeutic or crisis support to participants. That said, this work is trauma-informed, and practices are designed for what is appropriate at a group level.

• Listen to Your Body. Move, shift, and amend any exercise to make it work for you. Ultimately, this journey is about learning to trust and follow your own inner knowing. You are always supported in doing so.

• Lean In To Imperfection. We are countering the pressures of racialized capitalism by creating a perfection-free space. Speak your experience even when it’s not fully formed, or you’re worried it will come out raggedy.

• Embrace Discomfort. The norms and values of dominant culture are not the norms and values of this space.

• Expect and Accept Non-Closure. Decolonizing is life-long work. Things will go left unsaid and unfinished. This is okay.

• Respect Privacy/ Mutual Consent. Please don’t share personal details about others. At the same time, please be mindful about what you share.

• You Choose Your Adventure. Though we are learning as a cohort, this course is self-guided and intended to enrich you personally. Ultimately, the path you take through the material is your own.

• Avoid Generalizations. Speak using I statements and from personal experience.

• Lean in/ Lean Back. Our time is about investigating what we “tend toward” in our embodiment, noticing what that allows and what it gets in the way of. Toward this end, you’re invited to try new ways of showing up in a group space that may feel unfamiliar but that also give you more options.

• Be Present. To build a sense of cohesion and presence during live calls, I love when cameras are on. This helps our space feel more like a group experience than a presentation. That said, if you’re moving about your space during our calls, please keep your camera off so as not to distract others

Container Guidelines

• Curriculum Flexibility. Due to the emergent nature of embodied learning, curriculum and outlines may change. I intend to trust what is unfolding in our collective group body rather than force a pre-determined agenda.

• Intellectual Property Attribution. Please share what you learn here; however, please do not replicate these materials without permission from Kelsey and attribution.

• Informed Consent. Decolonizing the Body is not intended to be a substitute for psychotherapy or other individualized support. You are responsible for your results and progress from participation.

• Photo and Video. Live classes will be recorded and shared in the class portal within 24hrs. Kelsey holds the right to use these recordings for any purpose without further notification or compensation.