How Can We Help?
The Social Justice Program provides an entry point for individuals of all political, philosophical, and religious traditions to explore the value of contemplative practices.
We can help you and your organization:
- Support the integration of spirit in social justice organizing and activism to create a stronger, more sustainable movement for social change.
- Cultivate an institutional environment in which people can discover and develop their own moral and ethical values, sources of inspiration, and transformative practices.
- Support the creation of healthier working environments and new organizing cultures that value reflection, healing, balance, compassion, action, and awareness.
To do this, we offer:
Workshops, Retreats, and Trainings
We can create on-site, one-day or multi-day experiential workshops for leadership and staff on the application of contemplative practices to social justice work.
Upon request, we will periodically offer training specifically for program facilitators.
Pariticpant Responses
“Very good! Brings our big picture objectives down to the moment to moment of interaction. How to really listen-bringing in awareness so we can really listen to each other. Great focus question on passion of work fused the contemplative and our passion for why we do this.”
“ Very centering and motivating”
“ Will be very helpful in my personal /professional life”
- Clean Water Action Leadership Conference, Appel Farm, NJ
“Thank you very much for a really productive and good visit with GreenFaith this past week. I feel that we accomplished an enormous amount of work during your time with us — we were able to put good plans in place for integrating contemplative practices into our work environment, into our programming, and into our board and visioning work. You offered us some very creative, rich space in which to consider these various possibilities, and you gave lots of good examples from other organizations that have engaged these issues. I also appreciated the chance to think and talk with you about our work, and to reflect about our goals and purpose. ”
- GreenFaith , NJ
We also offer retreats to individuals seeking rest and renewal and concrete tools in how to sustain activism.
Participant Responses
“More than any specific learning, I feel like I was able to reconnect with how important contemplative practice and social justice are in my life—and that is incredible, special, unusual.”
“I learned that my work in the world begins with serious work on the self.”
“I learned tangible ways to integrate contemplative practice into my life and ways to justify the value of including it.”
- Social Justice and Contemplative Practice Retreat, Garrison Institute, NY
“The success of this retreat [is]...in motivating me to explore contemplative practice as a more integral part of my political praxis.”
[I liked] the options, [that is being] able to do yoga, meditation, movement classes, if we wanted to. The freedom of just being able “to be” was so appreciated.”
- Social Justice Activist and Organizer Retreat, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, NY
The Contemplative Toolbox
The Organizational Support Project enriches social justice organizations through a “toolbox” full of resources and materials focused on bringing contemplative awareness to the workplace. Organizations interested in consultation, or in integrating and applying the toolbox to social justice work, maybe benefit from a half-day or multi-day experiential workshop, training or contemplative retreat led by the Center. Uniquely tailored toolboxes can be designed and developed for groups interested in particular themes or practices.
We've created an online version of our basic toolbox. Explore the online toolbox.
Social Justice Mentorship
Social Justice Mentoring seeks to connect young social justice activists with seasoned veterans. Together, with the Center's support and guidance, they explore how to use contemplative practice as a tool to sustain themselves and their social change work.
For more information on mentoring, please contact us.