Reflections on Practice and Scholarship Opportunities Inside!
A joyful group photo from the Queerly Beloved intensive, taken outdoors in a wooded area with lush green trees in the background. Around 20 people of diverse races, genders, and body types are smiling and gathered close together, many holding wooden jo’s. Some are kneeling or sitting in the front row, while others stand behind them. The group radiates warmth, connection, and grounded presence, dressed in casual summer clothes. Sunlight filters gently through the trees.
Queerly Beloved Reflections
A couple of weeks ago, we gathered for Queerly Beloved, a weekend of community, truth-speaking, and centered transformation. We practiced being with ourselves and one another in ways that made room for contradiction, deepened clarity, and nurtured collective care.
Throughout the weekend, we engaged in practices that support us to lead from the body, a source of deep wisdom and knowing. Hand on Heart invited us to speak from the body up, rather than from what we think we “should” say. Contradictions Practice helped us stay with what’s complex and find movement in the places we feel stuck. Jo Kata supported us to cultivate coordinated, centered power. Gates Practice offered us a space to be witnessed, supported, and held in our commitments.
These practices are not just tools; they are portals into new ways of being, rooted in the body, community, and the world we are trying to build.
A promotional graphic for the Embodied Leadership Facilitators. The background features a zebra-like abstract pattern. There are five rounded portraits of facilitators, each labeled with their name: Fayza Bundalli (top left, wearing a red top); adrienne maree brown (top right, with a keffiyeh draped over her head and looking upward with eyes closed); Yashna Padamsee (center, smiling in front of flowering bushes); Eliana Rubin (bottom left, with curly hair and a floral dress); Adaku Utah (bottom right, smiling joyfully in a blue dress in a garden). At the bottom center is the Sanctuary Embodied logo in black.
Embodied Leadership I & II
What happens when we bring our full selves - our wisdom, our patterns, our presence - into leadership? What becomes possible when transformation is not just theoretical, but practiced?
Embodied Leadership I & II is a two-weekend training designed for movement builders, cultural workers, politicized healers, facilitators, and those supporting leaders from the inside. Together, we will deepen our leadership through embodied practice, reflection, and collective commitment.
We’ll learn to lead with more authenticity, accountability, and clarity. We’ll explore how to show up under pressure and gain tools to shift patterns that no longer serve. We’ll build the skills, vision, and capacity needed to support bold, coordinated action.
We’re honored to be guided by a dynamic facilitation team whose work spans movement building, healing, and embodied leadership. This year’s team includes:
Adaku Utah – grassroots strategist, social justice facilitator, holistic healer, somatics coach, and ritual artist
Fayza Bundalli – somatic therapist, bodywork practitioner, generative somatics teacher
adrienne maree brown – movement facilitator, somatics practitioner, author, ritual singer-songwriter, and co-host of How to Survive the End of the World
Eliana Rubin – anti-imperialist organizer, politicized somatics practitioner, and lead teacher of Sanctuary Embodied
Yashna Padamsee – organizational strategist, healing practitioner, creative facilitator, and movement builder
The training will take place August 22–24 and October 17–19. Applications are due by June 23, 2025.
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds, and scholarship opportunities are available. Please indicate in your application if you’re applying for a scholarship spot.
