Events
Join us for Black Feminist Breathing for Lovebirds (in Durham), a generative journey designed to help you soar and transform through the intentional practice of Loveship and Black feminist meditation. Grounded in the visionary lineage of the Black Feminist Breathing Meditation Chorus, this space invites you to harmonize your breathing and fill your consciousness with the life-giving wisdom of our ancestors. Together, we will move through chanting, mindfulness, immersive sound circles and dancing that honor our deep communal roots and creative spirit.
We conclude this sacred gathering with the joyful release of "Sunday School"—a service of congregational singing, cathartic sermonics by Sangodare and an oracle by Alexis to infuse your life with the unstoppable power of Black feminist love.
Make it a Weekend Retreat
If you want to expand the daylong practice you can make it a weekend retreat.
On Friday we will do One-on-One Black Feminist Breathing Oracle Deck readings with lovebirds and a live taping of the September Podcast. Then Saturday morning, before the larger group Meditation Chorus practice and dance party, we will host a small group workshop and brunch.
Included in this additional day and a half:
Oracle Deck
BFB Collage
One-on-One Reading
Creative-Ancestral Practice Workshop
Co-facilitation by Alexis & Sangodare
Live Taping of September Podcast
(with your live Q&A)
FAQ
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We want our whole community to have access to mindfulness practices. It is the foundation for everything else. Black Feminist Breathing is one but there are others. We will do BFB and other practices together everyday of this gathering but most especially on the main event on Saturday afternoon.
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Plan to be in downtown Durham Saturday by 1:45pm. We plan to check folks in and start at 2pm. We will be done around 6pm.
Then we’d love for you to come to the bonus day on Sunday at 3pm.
Locations will be shared in a separate email.
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FRIDAY
1) There are 4 spots for one-on-one BFB Oracle Readings with Alexis & Sangodare. Time slots (45min) for those are from 10am to 2pm (4 slots: 10a,11a, 1p, 2pm- 45min each).
2) Friday 6pm - The first group event is at 6pm when we’ll do a Live Recording of September: A Podcast for Loveships and take our listener/participant questions live.
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SATURDAY
1) Saturday 10AM to 1PM for Weekend Retreaters
2) Saturday 2 to 6PM for Day Practitioners & Weekend Retreaters
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SUNDAY (optional)
Sunday 3 to 5:30pm - Invitation Only + RSVP Required
So, if you registered for the half-day or the weekend you are invited but we need you to RSVP. You can also bring a guest to Sunday only. Your guest also needs to RSVP so we can be sure to have enough space for what we have planned. ;)
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All those that resonate with the love and legacy of Black feminism are welcome to attend. We set a special invitation to our Trust Fall Lovebirds since we have already been practicing with them recently. We hope to especially facilitate wonderful hospitality to our Lovebirds and other solo participants. Although, we think it would be great to participate with a friend or framily.
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We are holding space for the retreat participants. The activities we want to do during “Sunday School” aka Chu’ch require we keep attendance to about 50% of the capacity of the space.
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Because the event is less than a month away we are not able to spread out the payment. We are working with a wonderful local team and I know you want us to come correct in how we take care of them. Check back for other spring and summer offerings for which we plan to offer payment plans.
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Any of these or similar inspirations sound to me like you resonate with the flow of Black feminist love and legacy. So, yes register and shom’on!
You will be safe enough as you are. -
This is not a religious event. We honor the religious traditions of our community, kin and ancestors. In these spaces we draw from the cultural and spiritual resources of all our teachers some of whom are or were religious. This may include a story from a religious tradition or it may include a fundamental principle of physics.
What we do is more about resourcing each of us as the infinite energetic (aka spiritual) beings that we are and trusting that if there is a generative religious tradition or a non-religious tradition (e.g. science, etc.) that supports and sustains you OUR PRACTICE SPACES can contribute to your deepening in that tradition AND contribute to your growth and transformation in general.
It also worth noting that we believe in the power of feeling and emotion to facilitate and activate necessary change. That could look religious to some. AND it might feel religious to religious people.
We believe two things can be true at the same time in the same space. The same song or chant could be like: Bob could be experiencing the Holy Spirit in a Christian-way, while Carmen is experiencing a new perspective, a liberating clarity that overwhelms her emotions and fuels a decision.
Still, you could come and be like, good for y’all but that’s not for me. This is a perfectly plausible and reasonable outcome as well. {{ shrug emoji }}
ARCHIVE
1 March 2019 - Duke University: Incomputable Futures
7 March 2019 - University of Washington: The Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry and Poetics
17 March 2019 - Northstar Church of the Arts (Durham, NC)
Worship Service Officiating - Angelic Troublemakers
19 March 2019 - UNC Chapel Hill: Being Ocean as Praxis: Sylvia Wynter, Depth Humanisms and Dark Sciences
22 March 2019 - Michigan Guardian Dead Retreat with Eric
Sangodare delivering an Invocation at Joe’s Pub in the National Public Theater (NYC) February 14, 2019 For Jomama Jone’s album debut.
Alexis & Sangodare leading the worship service at Northstar Church of the Arts March 17, 2019.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: University of Washington
Incomputable Futures: A Symposium on Representation, Computation and Experimental Scholarship at Duke
Past Events
February 2019
February 14th
National Public Theater - Joe’s Pub (NYC)
Jomama Jones Album Debut - Anew
Invocation by Sangodare
Heart as Big as a Whale
Being Ocean as Praxis: UNC Chapel Hill