This month the mixtape is in two parts, combined into the same audio program.

Side A: The why and what of brave spaces

Side B: A little about “How” —practices for a brave space

Contents

Side A: The why and what of brave spaces

From the beginning to 33:00
• A short story about replicating harm
• This stuff is baked into our days and our institutional cultures
• Spaces of bravery and belonging: hosting ourselves and each other

Side B: Some practices for a space of bravery and belonging

From 33:30 to the end—43 minutes total
• The context: an organization committed to shifting its culture
• The BIPOC group
• The white group
• The purpose: how do we want to be together?
• The practices (see Additional resources below for a downloadable summary)

You can…

listen using the player below
download to play the mixtape on your own device

Download a transcript

Or listen and read with an animated transcript

Sheba Gittens

Mother (Guide) to Alioune and sister to humanity, Sheba is an ancestor returned living in this iteration of the world. She is a heArtivist, Arts Educator, Co-creator of Space, Facilitator of Joy, Organizer with Community, and a Weaver of Truth. Sheba received her BA in Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and has spent her career in the practice of equity and justice. She is a certified Wellness Coach (Institute for Integrative Nutrition), a Prenatal Yoga Instructor (SoulWork), and a 200-hr Raja Yoga Instructor (Yoga Roots on Location). Utilizing a multitude of mediums Sheba presents workshops, co-creates integrative arts experiences, facilitates affinity group spaces with Folks of the Global Majority, and exists as a member of humanity. Through her role with YogaRoots On Location, she bears witness and holds space for the healing and self-discovery that nurture individual and communal balance.

willi farrales [ t\ he /y ]

[ t\ he /y ] i am a brown-skinned, mixed-race, queer, cis-male(ish) being, and i feel at home with narratives of the bisexual community. i was raised into white adjacency and was heavily oriented toward assimilation into whiteness until my mid-twenties, when my project of decolonization and returning to myself began in earnest. i bear the lineages of peoples who survived colonization in what is now known as the philippines and el salvador. i carry the lineage of german-american-salvadoreño migrants, which includes ancestors who served in the united states military before moving to central america. i bear the lineage of my stepfather, who comes from a family of german and italian descent with a strong generational tradition of united states military service.

i live on ramaytush ohlone land, colonized as sf, ca, and pay land tax to the ramaytush ohlone.

i hold a master’s degree in somatic counseling psychology and am currently working toward licensure as a psychotherapist. i’m currently employed at ucsf in the center of aids prevention studies, where i actively bring my skills, voice, and insight around intersectional cultures and systems of oppression as they present in study participant cases as well as in the practices and cultural and structural norms of research and the academic institution. i am currently a training facilitator for mndfl’s mindfulness intensive training, which includes exploration of social justice in its approach. i am on the steering committee for a monthly call devoted to programming and engagement around race and racism for the mankind project out of northern california. i’ve facilitated instructor trainings and development workshops for les mills fitness instructors nationally since 2010, where i have also given a talk on embodiment and somatically-oriented fitness coaching. i’ve also been on les mills panels for mental health; authenticity and vulnerability; and lgbtq+ experience. among many others, i am inspired by the works of pema chodron, rev angel kyodo williams, john welwood, kim tallbear, audre lorde and wilhelm reich.

may our exchanges together serve collective liberation—that we feel radically freed, that our every human corner may know rest and joy.

Hanna du Plessis

Hanna is principal at Fit Associates, an educator, host of culture-shifting spaces, an artist and a writer. See her LinkedIn profile for more, much more.

Marc Rettig

Marc is a principal at Fit Associates, a host of conversations, a maker of experiences, and an educator who explores for bridges between theory, poetry, practice, spirit and street. Learn more in his LinkedIn profile.

Music credits

Gotcha Like and Cafe Radio by Nu Alchemi$t. Find them on YouTube, Amazon Music, Soundstripe, and many other sources.

Now is the time to turn the record over, Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band.