leaders of embodied organizing

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.

While the needs of each organization is different & UP shapes the work to meet these needs, there is often a common grounding all our work builds on.

For the LEO Intensive, the following goals are the grounding upon which all subsequent customized work is developed from:

• New to seasoned organizers develop key skills necessary to perform grounded, balanced organizing work with greater efficiency & impact;
• Organizers simultaneously learn contemplative skills & develop practices that support & guide their work towards balance & mature leadership; and
• In combining theory with practice coupled with greater impact through self-care & balance, organizers develop healthy practices that allow for effective work over the long haul.

While the structure & the flow of the intensive can be adjusted to fit the needs of any organization, the following is the standard & ideal structure for a LEO Intensive cohort:

Some of the principles that guide the work of UP and what we will achieve through the LEO intensive includes Rusia’s Embodied Leadership methodology which asserts:

• Internal development only for the sole purpose of external impact does not lead to long-term change;
• Focusing on changing you is what allows any of us to authentically change the world; and,
• Authentic, long-term change cannot be birthed from old patterns that are shaped by the very systems we seek to change.

The LEO Intensive will develop the skills of organizers that are required to shape individuals to be the absolute best version of themselves they can be personally and as organizers. The following is a list of skills organizers will develop over the course of the intensive:

• Time management
• Develop goal-oriented work plans
• Somatic campaign develop
• Developing campaign plans
• Somatic development of media + messaging
• Direct action + events
• Arts in organizing + puppet making
• Public speaking
• Grassroots fundraising
• Coalition + movement building

The integration of somatics, embodied leadership, and contemplative practices into a community organizing framework, all interwoven into skills development, offers the critical components required to cultivate the kind of leaders that are skilled and grounded to catalyze real change in local communities without compromise or sacrifice.

The LEO intensive has created pathways for organizers to gain proven effective community organizing skills sets that center their humanity, while not losing focus on effectiveness, impact, and efficiency of the work that serves the most disenfranchised communities.

Geared for social change agents, the mind your gap video is a step-by-step how-to on meditation tool for developing leadership superpowers. This methodology was developed by Rusia Mohiuddin, specifically with organizers in mind.

Practicing & cultivating alignment of our core values with our thoughts & actions, along with real, generative balance, allows us to be in a constant state of healing. This critical for organizers, as more and more of us live the very issues we organizer around.

Like meditation, this “core” work is at the center of embodied leadership & therefore at the center of developing effective organizers. We use this work to ensure LEO organizers are living & creating pathways to be who and how they want to be in the world.

Organizing & movement work can oddly be very isolating. The LEO Intensive creates a community of organizers, who develop & grow together, resulting in lifelong friendships & support systems.

Evidence shows that as social justice leaders sacrifice physical & emotional health to serve vulnerable communities, they find themselves unhappy & dissatisfied with the conditions in which they work, their work process & the results & impact of their work.

The LEO community is designed to build safety nets of support for each organizer so folks dont have to create or seek out support in the midst of crises, it’s already built in & available.

LEO organizers will also have a community of coaches, trained in Embodied Coaching, to support them in their development & change process.