Joy as Resistance

Embodied Joy is a vulnerable and intimate practice of reflecting, thinking, and acting from a place of unconditional love for myself and others.

This 3-hour workshop invites us to pause and reflect on systemic and internalized oppression — both how they impact us and how we may be complicit within our sphere of influence. Through embodiment and joy, we’ll explore antidotes to oppression and paths to collective liberation.

This workshop aims to ground every being ready to bring liberatory practice and community building into their professional and personal realms and into embodied and conscious practices. The series will give participants the tools to engage in sustainable contemplative and radical work and offer an immersive learning experience taught via didactic, somatic, group, and individual activities. It will be transformative.

Frameworks Highlighted

• Neuroscience
• Stress Studies
• Mindfulness
• Spirituality
• Black Psychology
• Psychology of Liberation
• Anti-oppressive and Anti-Racist Praxis
• Collectivist and Afro-Centric
• Frameworks and Practices
• Intersectionality
• Activism
• Liberation and Consciousness
• Imagination and Futurism

Joy as Resistance Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to body awareness exercises and practice self engagement through awareness of the physical sensations in their body and environment, and grow in their self-attunement skills.
• Participants will be introduced to contemplative practice of being body-ful (embodied) and explore how political, social, and interpersonal interactions impact their ability to stay connected to their body, mind, and interpersonal interactions.
• Participants will be introduced to internalized oppression and how internalized oppression creates injuries in the mind and body. In group discussion, participants will identify and articulate three manifestations in themselves.
• Participants will practice one contemplative practice in session and discuss its personal and professional benefit.
• Participants will define resistance in their own words and articulate the role of joy in resistance and in their personal and professional life.
• Participants will identify and articulate a minimum of three antidotes to oppression and discuss how they can actively subvert/resist the learned/survival habit to sustain their work life balance and overall well-being.

YACEP Continuing Education Hours

Approved by Yoga Alliance

This program offers three continuing education hours (12 hours if all four workshops are completed).

Accredited by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work

This workshop offers 3 continuing education hours through co-sponsorship with the University of Pittsburgh's School of Social Work. These credit hours satisfy requirements for LSW/LCSW, LMFT, and LPC biennial license renewal. For information on social work continuing education please visit socialwork.pitt.edu/continuing-ed.

Approved by the NASW-PA

This workshop offers 3 continuing education hours through the National Association of Social Workers Pennsylvania Chapter.

ACT 48 Professional Development/ Continuing Education

This workshop offers 3 PDE-approved continuing professional development hours.

Series At A Glance

Collective Liberation Through Embodied Joy

This interactive 4-part workshop series stems from Felicia Savage Friedman’s 30 years of practicing, leading, and organizing anti-oppression Raja Yoga. In this historical and present-day analysis, we unpack systems of patriarchy, capitalism, and racism.

You’re invited to join us for the entire series or individual workshops.

March 6, 2025

Joy as Reconnection: Understanding Oppression and Dehumanization

March 20, 2025

Joy as Resistance: Antidotes to Oppression

April 3, 2025

Joy as Creativity: Imagining the World We Want

April 17, 2025

Joy as Spirituality: Our Divine Humanity