EMBODIED ACTIVISM CERTIFICATE
“We need an embodied resilience, the flexible strength to overcome adversity and transform systems of oppression and inequity into places where we thrive.”
— NKEM NDEFO, MSN
PROGRAM AT-A-GLANCE
Navigating the Intersections of Embodiment and Social Justice
Join co-directors Nkem Ndefo, MSN and Rae Johnson, PhD, and faculty Farzana Khan for this 25-hour certificate program to explore how the body is political, how politics are embodied in our everyday experience, and how to connect the body with our activism, organizational work, and collective movements.
Drawing on somatics, neuroscience, critical social theory, and trauma-informed anti-oppressive education, participants will learn practical strategies for interrogating and transforming the political realities of our everyday lives using the felt experience of our individual and collective bodies as the ground of our social justice work.
If you’re ready to make a meaningful contribution to social change efforts in an embodied, authentic way this program is for you!
Nkem Ndefo, MSN
Co-Director
Rae Johnson, PhD
Co-Director
Farzana Khan
Faculty
WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR?
This course is open to anyone interested in exploring the power of Embodied Activism to interrogate and transform the political realities of our everyday lives and for creating a more socially just world. It is especially beneficial to: activists, community organizers, somatic practitioners, parents, teachers, educators, psychologists, therapists, mindfulness practitioners, artists and change agents.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Navigating the Intersections of Embodiment and Social Justice
This course explores how the body is political, how politics are embodied in our everyday experience, and how to connect the body with our activism, organizational work, and collective movements. Drawing on somatics, neuroscience, critical social theory, and trauma-informed anti-oppressive education, participants will learn practical strategies for interrogating and transforming the political realities of our everyday lives using the felt experience of our individual and collective bodies as the ground of our social justice work.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Participants in this course will learn how to:
Interrogate the problems with disembodied activism and depoliticized somatics
Strengthen the body’s capacity for difficult conversations on oppression and privilege
Appreciate the impact of spiritual bypassing in somatic processing and social justice work
Unpack the dynamics of internalized and relational appeasement
Navigate obstacles to relational harm repair and accountability
Use nonverbal communication to shift unjust power dynamics
Reclaim body image as a form of embodied activism
Explore the supportive place of grief work in liberation
Bring embodiment into community and organizational change work
Validate the role of embodiment in growing capacities to scale collective movements for structural justice
Notice and celebrate connection, joy, pleasure, and success in social justice work
WHAT IS EMBODIED ACTIVISM AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
As global conditions galvanize us to transform increasingly untenable social systems, it can be difficult to know how to engage effectively and sustainably in support of liberation, justice, and authentic connection. How do we find the footholds to leverage our actions so that we make a meaningful difference in the world? Where are the handholds to engage with others in ways that don’t inadvertently perpetuate misunderstanding or marginalization? Is there a way to stay centered and grounded as we take on overwhelmingly complex issues and navigate charged relational territories?
This course introduces a very different approach to social change – one that focuses on how politics are embedded in our everyday experiences and enacted through our relationships with people and systems. Instead of thinking about social justice as a process that starts with changing people's minds, an embodied activism understands our bodies – how we feel in them, and how we relate to others through them – as a crucial site of transformative intervention.
Drawing on the intersecting dimensions of somatics and social justice work, this course articulates the importance of bringing the body into our individual efforts and collective movements. It offers a roadmap for exploring and transforming the political realities of our everyday experience by harnessing the felt experience of our bodies as the ground of our activism. From listening to our body language and questioning body image norms to deconstructing appeasement and building embodied shame resilience, the course will provide practical strategies for cultivating a visceral compassion for others and reclaiming a sense of everyday agency in the context of social conditions that might otherwise foster apathy, intolerance, and disconnection.
PROGRAM REGISTRATION
These deep-dive training experiences are offered with an exclusive discount for all Embody Lab Members. This means that if you attend regularly, your membership fees could well be covered!
All members will be sent their exclusive discount code via email. If you would like to take advantage of this discount, become a member here before registering for this course.
$487
NON-MEMBER
PRICING
$467
EXCLUSIVE
MEMBER PRICING
BECOME A MEMBER OF THE EMBODY LAB FOR FREE & SAVE $20
PROGRAM DETAILS
LEARNING PLATFORM FORMAT
ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM: The online learning platform will host all the information about the course including:
• All session recordings available to watch at your own pace.
• Both video and audio files of all sessions.
• Supporting materials such as PDFs of the reading material and presentations.
ACCESSIBILITY
VIDEO / AUDIO: Within the online learning platform, students may watch the video within their online library or download the video or audio to their computer. They will have lifetime access to the content.
LIVE CAPTIONING / TRANSCRIPTS: Captioning was only available during the live sessions. Transcripts are offered in English.
READING LISTS: Each instructor provided required or recommended readings.
• Required readings will be available freely online or in PDF format.
• Recommended readings are optional and for futher exploration. They may include books, online articles etc.
• PDFs of the instructor’s presentation will also be provided.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
Below are the requirements to receive the Certificate of Completion:
• Watch the recordings
• Minimum 60-minute Independent Guided Practice and/or readings (advised to you when you enroll in the program)
REGISTRATION / ENROLLMENT / TUITION
Enroll for the certificate program here.
“The smallest incidents of our social life contain all the moral and political values of society, all its structures of domination and power, all its mechanisms of oppression.”
— AUGUSTO BOAL
“The political lives within our very tissues and movements.”
— MARY WATKINS
“An oppressive system does not become liberatory of its own volition. People make systems. People can dismantle and transform them.”
— NKEM NDEFO, MSN
CURRICULUM
This 25 hour certificate program includes 8 three-hour modules offered over 4 days.
COURSE BREAKDOWN FOR THE FOUR DAYS OF THE PROGRAM:
DAY 1
Orienting our Compass and Mapping the Territory
with Nkem Ndefo, MSN and Rae Johnson, PhDUsing the metaphor of social justice as a journey, this module begins with the assumption that we are fellow travelers, and that sharing our maps helps us build a movement that is inclusive of a range of experiences and perspectives. We begin by exploring some common terms and concepts to co-develop a shared language, and attend to resourcing and basic capacity building through the body. Lastly, we discuss some of the problems with disembodied activism and depoliticized somatics.
Navigating Challenging Terrain and Exploring Neglected Corners
with Nkem Ndefo, MSNIn this module, we will unpack internalized and relational appeasement dynamics, examine alternate ways of relating across power imbalances, and reframe spiritual bypassing as both a form of privilege and a protective strategy. We will explore how our bodies can help us move through some challenging relational terrain, including experiences of shame in repairing harm and building accountability.
DAY 2
The Small (Huge) Journey of Embodied Micro-Activism
with Rae Johnson, PhDThis module focuses on the small but important ways we unconsciously perpetuate inequitable social structures through our bodily interactions with one another. We will explore how nonverbal communication can be a key channel for conveying implicit bias as well as a valuable resource in transforming relational dynamics.
Road Trips in Embodied Macro-Activism
with Nkem Ndefo, MSNThis module spotlights the integration of embodiment into collective change work. We will examine specific examples of organizations across sectors to illustrate creative embodied approaches and strategies for organizational development and healing initiatives.
DAY 3
Sailing the Seas of Grief
with Farzana KhanThis session will steward the important journey through the multiple intersecting and compounding losses brought about by ongoing violent systems of racialized capitalism, borders, and imperialism that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. We will consider embodied approaches that support mourning and build solidarity to collectively surf the waves and reach safe harbor.
Questioning and Transforming Body Norms
with Rae Johnson, PhDThe more marginalized and subordinated a social position we occupy, the more pressure we experience to modify our bodies to conform to social ideals. This module invites us to question how our bodies are shaped by the expectations of others and consider the political and relational implications of conformity and non-conformity in our body image.
DAY 4
Construction on Terra Firma
with Farzana KhanMoving beyond the individual, this session explores how collective embodiment lays the foundations for structural justice. We will survey examples of focused interventions, disruptive initiatives, and innovative models across sectors and at varying scales.
Souvenirs and the Ongoing Voyage
with Nkem Ndefo, MSN and Rae Johnson, PhDIn our final session, we consider some hidden pleasures of embodied activism, including reclaiming joy and sensuality and learning to rest. Drawing on frameworks for integrating embodied learning, we’ll explore lingering questions, new curiosities, next steps, and links to our everyday personal and professional lives.
PROGRAM REGISTRATION
These deep-dive training experiences are offered with an exclusive discount for all Embody Lab Members. This means that if you attend regularly, your membership fees could well be covered!
All members will be sent their exclusive discount code via email. If you would like to take advantage of this discount, become a member here before registering for this course.
$487
NON-MEMBER
PRICING
$467
EXCLUSIVE
MEMBER PRICING
BECOME A MEMBER OF THE EMBODY LAB FOR FREE & SAVE $20
MEET YOUR TEACHERS
Nkem Ndefo, MSN
Nkem Ndefo is the founder and president of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit, a model that promotes embodied self-awareness and self-regulation in an ecologically sensitive framework and social justice context. Licensed as a nurse midwife, Nkem also has extensive post-graduate training in complementary health modalities and emotional therapies. She brings an abundance of experience as a clinician, educator, consultant, and community strategist to innovative programs that address stress and trauma and build resilience for individuals, organizations, and communities across sectors, both in her home country (USA) and internationally. Nkem is particularly interested in working alongside people most impacted by violence and marginalization.
Rae Johnson, PhD
Rae Johnson, PhD, RSW, RSMT, BCC (they/them) is a social worker, somatic movement therapist, and board-certified coach working at the intersections of embodiment and social justice. The author of several books, including Embodied Social Justice and Embodied Activism, Rae currently teaches in the Somatic Psychology doctoral program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Farzana Khan
Farzana (she/her) is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Healing Justice Ldn. Her practice works on building community health, anti-oppression, repair and self-transformation rooted in disability justice, survivor work and trauma-informed practice working with communities of colour and other marginalised and underrepresented groups. Farzana has over 10 years of background in Youth and Community work particularly focused on arts-based education projects both in the UK and internationally. Farzana is the former creative and strategic director at Voices that Shake, bringing together young people, artists and campaigners to develop creative responses to social injustice. She ran this working at Platform London, a climate and social justice organisation working across arts, education, research and activism. Farzana is a Fellow at the International Curatorial Forum. Farzana’s recent curatorial practice/art includes launching the Black Cultural Black Activism Map with the Stuart Hall Foundation and All Water Has Perfect Memory, writing on climate and gender justice and generational trauma & memory.
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This course is open to anyone interested in exploring the power of Embodied Activism to interrogate and transform the political realities of our everyday lives and for creating a more socially just world. It is especially beneficial to: activists, community organizers, somatic practitioners, parents, teachers, educators, psychologists, therapists, mindfulness practitioners, artists and change agents.
This is an education program and not a licenser program.
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All live sessions have been recorded so students may watch in their own time. Please note, captioning was only available during the live sessions.
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During each of the live sessions, the instructors had a Q&A period where students asked questions. A private online community forum is also provided for the certificate.
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ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM: Once you register, you will receive access to our online learning platform which will include all the information about the certificate, including:
Detailed schedules
Recordings of all the live sessions
Supporting materials provided by your instructors
ACCESSIBILITY | Video / Audio: Within our online learning platform, you may watch the video within your online library or download the video or audio to your computer. You will have lifetime access to the content.
ACCESSIBILITY | Live Captioning / Transcripts: Captioning was only available during the live sessions. Transcripts are offered in English.
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All students who complete this program will receive a Certificate of Completion whether they attend it LIVE or watch the RECORDINGS.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
PROGRAM REGISTRATION
These deep-dive training experiences are offered with an exclusive discount for all Embody Lab Members. This means that if you attend regularly, your membership fees could well be covered!
All members will be sent their exclusive discount code via email. If you would like to take advantage of this discount, become a member here before registering for this course.
$487
NON-MEMBER
PRICING
$467
EXCLUSIVE
MEMBER PRICING
BECOME A MEMBER OF THE EMBODY LAB FOR FREE & SAVE $20
RECEIVE THE RECORDING OF THE INFO SESSION
RAE JOHNSON, PHD
Co-Director
NKEM NDEFO, MSN
Co-Director
FARZANA KHAN
Faculty
REGISTER NOW
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