If you are able, please make a Su$tainability contribution of whatever amount you can continue on a monthly basis. If not, not. Train anyway.
During the global pandemic and ongoing crisis of supremacies (white, class, gender, etc.), supportive civic infrasturcture continues to be disassembled and working persons forced into poverty. The sure way to re-build a part of our shared public life is to support specific people through participation in their work and offering them automatic payments. To help build Conflict Done Well and make it more widely available, most students make an ongoing contribution of between $50 and $200 per month.
When you choose to participate regularly I will consider you a student and make additional resources available. Depending on your needs, these may include:
- Sign-in credentials to Culturesmith.com to access in-depth research and continually updated exercises, curated videos, and interctive learning
- Discounts on one-one-one sessions, leadership coaching, and related gear
- Introductions to colleagues, both conflict professionals and in related fields, with whom you may explore cross-training
- Invitations to participate in field work, request membership in a Direct Action Team, and apply for Conflict Professional Certification
Before participating in class, please sign up for Culturesmith.com and consider the following:
Especially during a time of crisis and fear, it is vital to be able to work together, differ, negotiate, find solutions that work for all, and do so with flexibility in order to get everyone what they need. Even so, when we are under stress, especially when we must eschew the company of the larger world and spend more time at home, physical and emotional violence tends to increase.(1)
How may those with privilege, with safer places to shelter, offer and receive support without compromising safety? Learn to keep your balance under pressure, respond creatively to stress, keep yourself safe without harming others, and be ready to act to do whatever is needed.
I would like to suggest that practicing Conflict Done Well in-person and remotely, and then sharing it widely with other people is one of the most essential and effective contributions that can be made during this time. Without improving your conflict skills you are likely to replay the same struggles over and over, at the international, national, local, and familial level. The better you get at conflict the better results you will get, and the more good you can do both for yourself and for others, especially with the support of a group of fellow learners who understand and reinforce your practice.
When preparing for class, please consider the conflicts in your experience. You will be asked if you would like to share the specifics in our work together, and may or may not feel moved to do so. Please share anything you like, as long as you are comfortable with it being known in public and it is unlikely to trigger an overwhelming responses, as the online nature of the work may not allow for a sufficiently supportive or confidential container.
You may participate in whatever way works for you, but you may want to dress and make some space so that you can move around a bit. We will connect the physical and psychological parts of conflict so that better habits in one area transfer to others.
We intend to make video recordings and still images available for the promotion of the program and learning of others who were not participants. Please allow me to do this, as video is the most compelling way to invite people, and most helpful in teaching people who can't be in the same room. If you do not object explicitly, and allow a recording to be released, you may still change your mind at a later date, because it is more important that we work well together than almost any other consideration. You may request something be removed from the public eye at any time, and I will do my best to comply with your request.
Q: What is the format of the Conflict Done Well class?
A: Zoom meeting. Brief introduction of people and concepts. Short somatic (bodymind) warm-up. Exercises combining movement and communication. Discussion.
Brandon WilliamsCraig Ph.D., Sensei, 5th dan Aikikai
1. https://www.propublica.org/ article/domestic-violence-and- child-abuse-will-rise-during- quarantines-so-will-neglect- at-risk-people-social-workers- say
https://duckduckgo.com/?q= quarantine+domestic+violence& t=fpas&ia=news
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