How can we process grief, loss and uncertainty in times of Corona
+ Embodied Self regulation tools as mutual care

 with Camille Barton

Time: 15:00 to 17:00

Email unsettling@rietveldacademie.nl for more information and to join!

* 9th of April :
How we can process grief, loss and uncertainty in times of Corona.

    Fear, as philosopher José Gil once said, “shrinks space, suspends time, paralyses the body, limiting the universe to a tiny bubble, which imprisons and confuses us.”
    Anxiety, loss and uncertainty are being collectively experienced during this time of the Corona pandemic and it is limiting our ability to think clearly.
    How can we move past paralyzing fear into clarity and the ability to seed the futures we desire to create? How can we use this time to reflect on what is most important to us so we do not simply distract ourselves over the coming weeks, praying for a return to business as usual?
    One answer lies in the need to grieve. To name and allow ourselves to feel the many losses that are being experienced in our time. The loss of life as we knew it, environmental collapse and the ongoing inequalities that are heightened in this moment at home and abroad.

    In this session, we will explore the way that death phobia in the West has led to an inability to process loss. We will highlight some indigenous approaches to grieving that can support us to tend to our grief, so we can metabolize it, find meaning and clarity about what we wish to grow.

    Optional podcast to listen to in advance: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/david-kessler-and-brene-on-grief-and-finding-meaning/

* 16th of April:
Embodied Self regulation tools as mutual care

    When the body is stressed the nervous system goes into fight or flight response. When we are in this state, it is difficult to think clearly, take care of ourselves or others. We tend to be reactive rather than responsive.
    During the Corona pandemic, the inequality of capitalism is being laid clear for all to see. Thankfully, many mutual care networks are emerging in different locations allowing people to support each other.

    In this session, we will explore a variety of embodied self regulation tools to use when you are feeling anxious or in fight or flight response. Consciously regulating your nervous system in times of stress, will allow you to have more capacity to think clearly and support others from a place of groundedness. Operating from groundedness will enable mutual care networks to be sustainable in this time.
    Yuval Noah Harari sums up as: “In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.”

About: 
Camille Barton is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, facilitator, coach and somatic movement practitioner, working on the intersections of wellness, arts, drug policy and social change. Camille is the director of the Collective Liberation Project, and creator of the Embodied Solidarity Method, a trauma informed approach to diversity, inclusion and decolonization work that centers the body and lived experience.

Camille’s art practice involves dance, improvisation, ritual and Afrofuturism to weave new realities fusing pleasure and visions of utopia. They serve ritual bass music as DJ AfroOankali and host a regular dance ritual called WERK at Karada House, Berlin.