Un-colonizing Mindfulness: Rethinking Clinical Practice Culture & Care
Wednesdays Beginning Nov 4th (skipping Nov 25th)
10am-11:30am
Led by Deanna Danger (they/them)
Mindfulness has become a familiar part of contemporary clinical practice…
But what happens when a practice is extracted from its cultural, ethical, relational, and liberatory context and transformed into a clinical technique?
Un-colonizing Mindfulness: Rethinking Clinical Practice Culture & Care is a six-week inquiry for clinicians & others who guide mindfulness from secular teachings, into what becomes possible when we question inherited assumptions and approach mindfulness through cultural context, somatic competency, relationship, and ethics.
Drawing from Theravada, Mahayana & Engaged Buddhist lineages alongside trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming, somatic and relational approaches, we will examine what it means to practice and teach mindfulness without assuming that breath, stillness, internal attention, calm, or “nonjudgmental awareness” are universally accessible or beneficial.
The workshop emphasizes pedagogy over technique. Rather than offering another collection of mindfulness exercises, we will explore how mindfulness has been secularized, individualized, commodified, and clinicalized—and what is important yet lost in that process.
This workshop is for those who teach or guide mindfulness and feel that something is missing or not landing right/harmfully with clients, and those actively seeking ways to decolonize clinical techniques derived from Indigenous or cultural teachings. This is not for those seeking clinical understanding, training, or application of mindfulness, and training on mindfulness techniques.
*Please note, this workshop does not teach clinical practice itself, nor provides case consultation or supervision. Please visit www.sovereign-somatics.com to view full info, including who will find benefit in these teachings & FAQ
Together, We Will Explore Questions Such As:
What happens when mindfulness is separated from Dharma, Buddhist ethics, and sangha?
What does it mean to extract a practice rather than simply “move” it across cultures?
Who is imagined when we teach someone to “return to the breath” or “find a place of safety?”
What happens when there is no reference baseline of safety to return to—or when attending to the body is associated with pain, panic, dissociation, or overwhelm?
How might neurodivergence, disability, chronic pain, trauma, and different sensory or cognitive experiences challenge conventional assumptions about mindfulness?
What is the difference between non-attachment and detachment, acceptance and resignation, choiceless awareness and avoidance?
When does mindfulness support discernment, and when might it become a tool for bypassing?
What becomes possible when “somatic” means more than attention to bodily sensation?
What changes when mindfulness is understood as cultural and relational rather than an individual self-regulation technique?
What might Buddhist ethical practice, generosity, and uncertainty have to do with clinical mindfulness?
$300 standard registration.
$350 solidarity tier supporting Deanna’s STL Queer Sangha, which is a twice monthly, pay-what-you-can, Radical Dharma & meditation group for queer & trans folks in the St. Louis region.
For full info, FAQ, registration & Deanna’s credentials visit: www.sovereign-somatics.com
Health and Safety Precautions
We value community care and showing up for one another. Currently: Masks are optional. Please stay home if you have symptoms, test positive, or were exposed to someone with COVID-19. We use a HEPA air purifier in the studio. If anyone would like to participate and would only feel comfortable if everyone is masked, please email Kelly kelly@empoweredspaces.net.
Accessibility
The Empowered Spaces studio is located on the ground floor. There is a 12-car parking lot adjacent to the studio & additional free parking on neighborhood streets. Restroom is gender neutral, wheelchair-accessible and ramp-accessible in the main building. Please reach out to Kelly kelly@empoweredspaces.net if there is anything more we can do to make our offerings more accessible. Empowered Spaces is committed to accessibility, and strives to be accessible and inclusive of all abilities and all individuals.
Meet Deanna
Deanna (they/them) is a somatic guide, Dharma Teacher, and organizer of STL Queer Sangha.
They are accredited to teach Vipassana “Insight” or “Mindfulness” meditation through The Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Center of the University of California at Berkeley, with guiding, internationally recognized Theravada Buddhist teachers, authors & psychologists, Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. They are also a certified Insight Meditation Mentor, have completed the Living Dharma program as a scholarship recipient at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, has studied & practiced Buddhism since 2018 with teachers such as Ruth King, David Cabrera, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Kate Johnson, Sebene Selassie, Larry Yang, Mushim Ikeda, Dr. Adriana DiFazio, and Joanna Macy. Deanna also receives mentorship guidance from Saraswati Pottekkatt who is in Buddhist chaplaincy.