Practice - Sustainable Activism

Sustainable Activism

Many people devote their time and energy to some form of activism - acting with focused passion to bring about positive social and/or environmental change. That focused passion is perhaps essential motivating energy but it can also contribute to burnout, a state of psychological and/or physical exhaustion. The activist community cannot ignore the human cost of burnout: We need to practice sustainable activism, which means adopting effective techniques of self-care.

Activists won’t adopt any practice that might compromise our work, so these techniques must clearly and quickly enhance it.

I’m developing a set of practical tools for sustainable activism. These include techniques activists already use to stay strong, centered and sane, like yoga and spiritual practice plus newer ideas from NLP, Eco-Psychology and Core Energy Management.

Workshop Aims:

• To share experiences of burnout and strategies people have used to avoid it
• To introduce effective techniques I have used: Yoga, meditation and CEM.
• To share other practical skills that will be of immediate use in preventing burnout.
• To explore means of sharing techniques and strategies of ‘sustainable activism’ with the wider community.

Workshop Outline:

Introduction:
Short discussion on burnout and sustainable activism. Sharing experiences, preventative techniques etc.

Skill Share:
Ideally other people will share techniques of ‘sustainable activism’. I intend to share techniques from yoga, meditation and CEM.

Yoga - A brief discussion of yoga and mediation and how they can be used for sustainable activism.

Core Energy Management (CEM) - Overview and practical session on CEM, a set of simple mind/body techniques to manage your physical/emotional energy. CEM uses visualization to stimulate endorphin production and energy work adapted from Taoism. It’s useful to help prevent burnout, reduce stress (ideal before and during an action), and generally people keep energized and positive.

Next steps:
Exploring how we might develop and share these strategies - workshops, booklet, website, etc.

About the facilitator:
I’ve been an ‘activist’ for long periods of my life and have personal experience of ‘burnout’. I’ve run several workshops on CEM and used it in a protest action and during life on a protest site. I’m certificated to NLP Practitioner level. Although I’m not a qualified yoga teacher, I have a regular personal practice and facilitate weekly ‘Sustainable Activism’ yoga and meditation sessions at Camp Bling.

Length:
One and a half-hours, but longer if other people have skills to share. Ideally I’d like to invite others to offer skills in advance and finalize timing near the day.

Who for?
The workshop is aimed at activists but would be useful for anyone.

© Adrian Harris 2006

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Also see: Core Energy Management Events - Endorphin Magic workshop Related sites: Holistic Partnerships William Bloom

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