Mondays Feb 24, March 17, April 28, May 26 2014
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Quaker Friends House
60 Lowther Ave. (St. George & Bloor), Toronto
Unify Toronto co-founders Jon Love and Satya Robinson hosted four sessions introducing participants to the methods, practices and background of “Embodied Leadership.” The third session of the series was presented by multi-instrumentalist Gary Diggins.
What is embodied leadership?
In our view great leadership is not much different from being a really good human being. Leaders build real trust within a group or community, pointing toward a new future and advancing with confidence into the inherent uncertainly of unknown realms. When you actually have capacity to face breakdowns, breakthroughs, unplanned opportunities and defeats without loss of confidence then we say you have “embodied” the essential components of leadership. First you have to be the leader of your own life - then and only then will people choose to follow you.
Arising out of the traditions of martial arts and the "human potential movement” that inspired the founding of Esalen in California during the 1960’s, “somatic practice” (embodied action) has proven amazingly successful as a way for people to awaken their awareness of their “authentic selves.” It has been adapted for personal, institutional and business transformation.
When you speak authentically, from your core, then what you say and how you say it matters. You will need to be able to use language effectively. Human beings are creatures of language, and yet we know very little about how language actually works. The field of “ontology of language” opens up enormous realizations about how we have been creating our own obstacles, when we could be moving through them. Leaders use language to create possible futures and then have them realized.
Arising out of the traditions of martial arts and the "human potential movement” that inspired the founding of Esalen in California during the 1960’s, “somatic practice” (embodied action) has proven amazingly successful as a way for people to awaken their awareness of their “authentic selves.” It has been adapted for personal, institutional and business transformation.
When you speak authentically, from your core, then what you say and how you say it matters. You will need to be able to use language effectively. Human beings are creatures of language, and yet we know very little about how language actually works. The field of “ontology of language” opens up enormous realizations about how we have been creating our own obstacles, when we could be moving through them. Leaders use language to create possible futures and then have them realized.
The series:
Session 1 – February 24
Introduction to the practices of embodied leadership: finding center, accessing energy in the body, training our attention, moving from center, facing and blending with opposing energies.
Session 2 – March 17
Incorporating language: distinguishing interpretations, declaring ourselves, creating possibility and managing breakdowns.
Session 3 - April 28
Deep Listening: Listening deeply invites us to practise mindfulness and the skill of focusing one’s attention. In this session, Gary Diggins will facilitate experiential interactions that help us to remain present to what we hear through the media of sound, word, music, and even silence.
Session 4 – May 26
Leading for Real: an Inquiry into, “What are you facing in the world that is calling for your leadership? What are we as a human family facing in the world that is calling for our leadership? And how can/will we respond?”
Participants in the series will get most value by doing all four sessions, but attending even one session on its own will be valuable. Each session will be highly participative, with activities involving movement, group interactions, dialogue and contemplative reflection.
Introduction to the practices of embodied leadership: finding center, accessing energy in the body, training our attention, moving from center, facing and blending with opposing energies.
Session 2 – March 17
Incorporating language: distinguishing interpretations, declaring ourselves, creating possibility and managing breakdowns.
Session 3 - April 28
Deep Listening: Listening deeply invites us to practise mindfulness and the skill of focusing one’s attention. In this session, Gary Diggins will facilitate experiential interactions that help us to remain present to what we hear through the media of sound, word, music, and even silence.
Session 4 – May 26
Leading for Real: an Inquiry into, “What are you facing in the world that is calling for your leadership? What are we as a human family facing in the world that is calling for our leadership? And how can/will we respond?”
Participants in the series will get most value by doing all four sessions, but attending even one session on its own will be valuable. Each session will be highly participative, with activities involving movement, group interactions, dialogue and contemplative reflection.
The Facilitators:
Jon Love has 25 years of consulting, coaching and leadership training, and has experience as an executive in corporate and non-profit organizations.
He is the Founder and Senior Partner of Leadership for Social Change Jonathan has been a practitioner of Organizational Transformation for over 25 years. He has assisted dozens of companies to develop leadership at all levels of the organization, ensuring that breakthrough results are accomplished by the people of the enterprise. Using a model of leadership that incorporates effective practices derived from diverse and eclectic sources, grounded in somatic, linguistic and emotional competence. Jonathan guides participants to discover and then realize commitments that have been suppressed and gone unfulfilled until now.
As an executive with The Pachamama Alliance, a non-governmental organization in San Francisco, CA. he was a key member of the development team that created a multi-media educational Symposium delivered by volunteers. In the first five years over 3000 facilitators were trained to lead the Symposium and over 200,000 people attended.
Satya Narayani Robinson is founder of WEB3, co-founder of JLS Global and employed by Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness, with 15 years of practitioner and teaching experience in numerous fields of Health and Wellness including Yoga, Pilates, Meditation and Visualization, Reiki, Reflexology, Massage, Therapeutic Touch, Thought Field Therapy and Card Readings. She offers individual counseling as a Soul Contact Specialist and is an Awakening the Dreamer facilitator.
Satya is a 22 year resident of Caledon and a blessed mother of 4 children who she declares are her greatest teachers. She has volunteered for the past 20 years in a variety of initiatives from schools to community gardens. She is currently a member of ecoCaledon and co-founder of Unify Caledon. She is committed to empowering embodied leaders to become a powerful presence in the world and to building communities to take a stand for creating a just, sustainable and thriving life for all, honoring individual process and taking action for personal development and somatic experiencing.
She is devoted to serving the greatest good by taking on transformation at four levels; Unify Home, Unify Caledon (our local community), Unify Toronto (our metro area) and Unify World, actively seeking to bring harmonious evolution into maximum development in each of these arenas.
Jon and Satya’s training comes from the Institute of Embodied Wisdom in Ojai California and working with Sage Alliance Partners.
Gary Diggins has worked Internationally for the last three decades as an expressive arts therapist, performing musician, and group facilitator. Before moving to Guelph in 2013, Gary maintained a private practice in Toronto combining counselling with musical forms of therapy. He continues to serve on the faculty of Fleming College’s Expressive Arts Therapy department. Gary is passionate and curious about human communication and the universal practice of listening to sound, word, music, and silence. His recent book, Listening as a Mindful Practice, will be available in 2014.
Gary has worked in post-conflict communities in Africa including Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, and Angola. Some of the multi-national organizations Gary has worked with include: Nestlé Global, General Mills, William Wrigley Jr. Company, Schlumberger, Bell, BP, TD Canada Trust Bank, Procter & Gamble, and IBM.
As a recording artist, Gary appears on dozens of musical projects including six solo albums. Some of 2013 appearances included the Guelph JazzFest and the Hillside Festival. In 2011, Gary collaborated with Cirque du Soleil and world music artists from around the world to present a special performance staged in Las Vegas.
He is the Founder and Senior Partner of Leadership for Social Change Jonathan has been a practitioner of Organizational Transformation for over 25 years. He has assisted dozens of companies to develop leadership at all levels of the organization, ensuring that breakthrough results are accomplished by the people of the enterprise. Using a model of leadership that incorporates effective practices derived from diverse and eclectic sources, grounded in somatic, linguistic and emotional competence. Jonathan guides participants to discover and then realize commitments that have been suppressed and gone unfulfilled until now.
As an executive with The Pachamama Alliance, a non-governmental organization in San Francisco, CA. he was a key member of the development team that created a multi-media educational Symposium delivered by volunteers. In the first five years over 3000 facilitators were trained to lead the Symposium and over 200,000 people attended.
Satya Narayani Robinson is founder of WEB3, co-founder of JLS Global and employed by Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness, with 15 years of practitioner and teaching experience in numerous fields of Health and Wellness including Yoga, Pilates, Meditation and Visualization, Reiki, Reflexology, Massage, Therapeutic Touch, Thought Field Therapy and Card Readings. She offers individual counseling as a Soul Contact Specialist and is an Awakening the Dreamer facilitator.
Satya is a 22 year resident of Caledon and a blessed mother of 4 children who she declares are her greatest teachers. She has volunteered for the past 20 years in a variety of initiatives from schools to community gardens. She is currently a member of ecoCaledon and co-founder of Unify Caledon. She is committed to empowering embodied leaders to become a powerful presence in the world and to building communities to take a stand for creating a just, sustainable and thriving life for all, honoring individual process and taking action for personal development and somatic experiencing.
She is devoted to serving the greatest good by taking on transformation at four levels; Unify Home, Unify Caledon (our local community), Unify Toronto (our metro area) and Unify World, actively seeking to bring harmonious evolution into maximum development in each of these arenas.
Jon and Satya’s training comes from the Institute of Embodied Wisdom in Ojai California and working with Sage Alliance Partners.
Gary Diggins has worked Internationally for the last three decades as an expressive arts therapist, performing musician, and group facilitator. Before moving to Guelph in 2013, Gary maintained a private practice in Toronto combining counselling with musical forms of therapy. He continues to serve on the faculty of Fleming College’s Expressive Arts Therapy department. Gary is passionate and curious about human communication and the universal practice of listening to sound, word, music, and silence. His recent book, Listening as a Mindful Practice, will be available in 2014.
Gary has worked in post-conflict communities in Africa including Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, and Angola. Some of the multi-national organizations Gary has worked with include: Nestlé Global, General Mills, William Wrigley Jr. Company, Schlumberger, Bell, BP, TD Canada Trust Bank, Procter & Gamble, and IBM.
As a recording artist, Gary appears on dozens of musical projects including six solo albums. Some of 2013 appearances included the Guelph JazzFest and the Hillside Festival. In 2011, Gary collaborated with Cirque du Soleil and world music artists from around the world to present a special performance staged in Las Vegas.
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