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Contemplative Practices

These posts share a range of contemplative practices, including guided meditation, reflective writing, and everyday divination. Practices can be used for healing, visioning, mindfulness, and more.

Reclaiming Childhood Power with Coloring Books

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee September 20, 2017 Leave a Comment

There’s a story that I’ve told for years, a story that represents my early disappointment and dislike of school. In kindergarten, I was assigned to color a bird brown, but I thought brown was too typical. I’d been reading Zoo Books and learning about parakeets, toucans, and other birds at home. I knew birds could be practically any color or any combination of colors. I decided, therefore, to use my creativity, knowledge, and the tools (crayons) available to me to create ... Read more ...

Mantras to Stand TALL for Justice

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Higher Education, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee September 4, 2017 2 Comments

This week I returned to teaching First-Year English (FYE), a course focused on information literacy, academic writing, undergraduate research, and the first-year college experience. This course helps students in making the transition to college, asking research questions, and navigating academic disciplines and the larger university system. The goal is for students to see themselves as critical readers, writers, and researchers—agents with response-abilities to make ... Read more ...

Playing Through the Pain

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies By Beth Godbee August 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

This image shows an indoor swimming pool with the YMCA logo against the back wall, a blue water slide to the right, and a sign with "Pool Rules" posted in the front.

I’ve written recently about violence in our everyday lives, in our shared social world. For many of us, this violence is internal and personal as well. Even though I aspire to self-love and self-care, I fall back into patterns of negative self-talk and “playing through the pain.” I continue to push myself even when I recognize the desire to slow down. I do violence to myself even when I set the intention of being gentler, kinder, and more forgiving. With this ... Read more ...

Imperfect Meditation and the Desire to “Slow Way Down”

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies By Beth Godbee July 19, 2017 Leave a Comment

Lately, I’ve been craving time to feel-think-move my way through transitions and even physical pain, as my lower back has been speaking up again. In response, I’ve been practicing daily meditation: sitting for just 10 minutes on my yoga mat each morning. Even when practicing imperfectly, I find that meditation gives me the permission, the opportunity to slow down. I’m finding that the more time I spend in meditation—breathing, noticing, releasing thoughts, and being ... Read more ...

Exploring Exhaustion and Energy Loss

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Higher Education By Beth Godbee May 5, 2017 Leave a Comment

This image shows a person (read as a white woman) with hands and hair covering the face and whole body slumped in front of an open laptop.

I’ve been particularly exhausted, as is so often the case at the end of each school year. I often feel that the further I get into spring semester, the more I become tired, grumpy, and on edge. It’s as though my brain becomes over-worked, my body under-utilized, and my balance thrown totally off. This year I’ve also been experiencing exhaustion as more than regular semester stress, and I feel certain it’s due to the routinization of daily assaults on personhood. It’s ... Read more ...

Practicing Yoga Through Writing

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices By Beth Godbee February 13, 2017 Leave a Comment

This fall I returned to Milwaukee after a year in Washington, D.C. The move back home allowed me to re-see familiar spaces, including where I practice yoga-asana and where I write. Though seemingly unrelated, yoga and writing have blended for me, as I’ve constructed a single contemplative-working space. In this week’s post, I ask about the spaces that energetically nourish, revitalize, and activate work for justice. My return to Milwaukee allowed me to feel/sense more ... Read more ...

Today Resistance Looks Like …

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee February 7, 2017 Leave a Comment

How do we work to align feelings, thoughts, and actions (heart, head, hands) with the world we’d like to see? How do we go about our everyday lives for the “ought to be,” for justice? I’m thankful for Jardana Peacock (of the Liberatory Leadership Project) for modeling a contemplative writing practice that I’ve been using to think through these questions. At the end of each day, I’ve been filling in the answer to her prompt: “Today resistance looks like …” I ... Read more ...

Gentle Yoga Practice for Healing

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee January 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

In the past week, I’ve experienced some new/renewed lower back pain. And the pain has brought me back to my yoga mat and specifically to this gentle yoga practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKVunWMHNm8 I appreciate this video for the s-l-o-w movement, the focus on breath, and the ways my body responds. With each day’s practice, I’m feeling a little less pain, a little more openness, and a little more myself. This practice also invites a quietness for me, allowing ... Read more ...

Heart, Head, and Hands: Explaining the Blog’s Name

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education By Beth Godbee December 12, 2016 2 Comments

Photo showing eight hands with varied skin tones: 4 with gloves, 4 without. By sharing three sets of “emergency gloves” among the five of us, we found a way to share in the warmth: each of us with one hand covered, one uncovered. Together, we created some warmth, much laughter, and good memories that remind me still today that we need solutions for solidarity and mutual support. Together, we can create warmth, even in chilly conditions.

For months, I kept a list of keywords and imagined titles for this blog. For months, I ran possible names by friends and family, who responded with “nope,” “eugh,” and “huh?” Then, casually and unsurprisingly, my friend and frequent co-author Rasha Diab said, “Beth, your blog is heart-head-hands. That’s your thing.” I guess this exercise—this linking of feeling with thinking with acting—is “my thing.” Often in classes and workshops, I use the contemplative writing ... Read more ...

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Embodied knowledge matters. So do commitments. And especially acting on commitments as part of everyday life, BIG and small. This website—a mix of blog posts and research writing, courses and offerings—shares ongoing efforts toward everyday living (feeling, thinking, and doing) for justice.

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  • Contemplative Practices (59)
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bethgodbee

I've been reflecting a lot on trails this winter a I've been reflecting a lot on trails this winter and feeling how grateful I am that my work, especially coaching, is rooted in relationships.
 
One-with-one coaching can mean many different things, but it always involves connecting, listening, question-asking, and co-learning. At its best, it highlights what’s possible—possible in writing, relations, and life.
 
If you're interested in learning more or want to try a session, reach out. I'm here.
 
*This photo shows me standing next to a carved statue of two bears (adult and cub). Bears remind me of the importance of introspection and self-work, especially during the winter hibernation season. What are you reflecting on these days?

#coaching #learning #writing #reflecting #reflection #reflectivepractice #winter
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・・・
We would like to formally announce the opening of applications for our Spring 2023 Possibilities Hub Seminar, titled "Coalitional Literacies: Strategies for Building Social Justice Initiatives Across Institutions," hosted by Drs. Jones, Gonzales, and Del Hierro. 

Applications close February 17! You can scan the QR code on the flyer below or visit the Programs page on our website to do so.

#literacy #literacyseminar #freeseminar #socialjustice #socialjusticeeducation #seminar
I keep six writing retreat dates open at a time an I keep six writing retreat dates open at a time and schedule retreats on different days of the week, hoping this supports access.
 
Is there an upcoming date you’d like to join?
 
Share, register, and sign up here: https://heart-head-hands.com/product/writing-retreats/ —> link in bio. ✏️
 
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Happy Saturday! Here are some photos from a winte Happy Saturday!

Here are some photos from a winter break last week -- time at the beach and in the marshes. Hoping the nature connection may bring a boost this weekend. 

Photo descriptions:
1. The beach at sunset.
2. Cypress knees in a swampy area.
3. Me and Jonathan in the swamp at sunset.
4. Marshlands with blue water and sky.
5. Tendrils / winding lines in the sand.
6. Awesome branching tree.
7. A final ocean sunset pic.
#Repost @mvmnt4blklives with @use.repost ・・・ #Repost @mvmnt4blklives with @use.repost
・・・
PASS IT ON, COPY/PASTE:

From Jenin to Memphis to Atlanta, the wave of grief from losing our people to cops & soldiers must end. Defund them:

1. Abolish the police and #StopCopCity. #DefundThePolice
2. Stop funding Israel's massacres of the Palestinian people. #StopArmingIsrael

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About Beth Godbee

I'm an educator and former writing studies professor who believes our fully embodied selves matter in the world. We can’t just think our way out of the incredible injustices, dehumanization, violence, and wrongdoing that characterize everyday life. We must feel and act, too. [Pronouns: she/her.] Read more ...

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