Playback: Our Phenomenal Responsibility

Let’s do the work together to confront and dismantle Racism as it exists in our own consciousness, and the institutions that we continue to support and perpetuate. You may think, I do not support it. Well, if you are a US citizen who pays taxes to the US government, you are supporting it. It is our civic responsibility to look at the country we are a part of and its racist institutions. It is our phenomenal responsibility as conscious practitioners to apply our tools to the world around us and the old belief systems we still grasp onto. The time to confront them is now. The time to dismantle them is now.

Nico will be sharing with us his observations on how we can identify and confront racism in our society and institutions. (See his in-depth writing on the homepage) Jessica, Stephane, and special guest presenters will share tools that apply meditation specifically to identifying old belief systems and structures of consciousness as they perpetuate at the levels of thoughts and emotions. Rather than use mindfulness techniques simply just to watch the breath, learn how to apply mindfulness to identify patterns of “otherness” in our consciousness and ultimately eradicate racism from our own minds. Finally, we will look at how “otherness” is anchored in our built environment and what we can do to locate and dismantle those structures as well. 

The Guided Meditations are based upon consciousness tools presented in the Yoga Sutra and the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. We will examine deeper and deeper levels of consciousness to systematically identify and dismantle habitual thoughts patterns.

The course includes an optional teacher training component and 20 page manual with simple techniques that we can master and share with others. Be the change and share the change. The teacher training track also includes the original Sanskrit source texts for the practices which ground the information and facilitate mastery.  We will also present and discuss different strategies for supporting others to work to dismantle racist structures of consciousness and create an inclusive and compassionate world view.

Faculty Bios:

Nicholas Ratliff

Nicholas Ratliff is freelance a visionary artist, writer, researcher, and educator that has been formally studying Asian Classics and independently analyzing Esoteric subjects for fifteen years. His areas of interest include Astrology, Amateur endeavors in Comparative Religion, Ancient History, Yoga practice, Meditation, Creativity, Imagination, Healing, Therapy, Human Potential, Journaling, Qi Gong, Tibetan Buddhism, and Nonviolence. He currently resides in Santa Cruz, California where he continues his research projects, studies, and provides educational and astrological consultation for students and clients of all ages.

Jessica Kung Dreyfus

Jessica creates opportunities for individuals and organizations to ground themselves and their organizations in what it means to be human. To this end, Jessica has traveled the world catalyzing transformation and healing through her art, design, consulting, and coaching practice. She has founded many organizations including Triveni Yoga with Stéphane, Ornatista design consultancy, and now Make Conscious. Her 450 day silent meditation retreat informs the lens that she brings to all her offerings, bringing multidimensional depth and focus to the issues at hand. She graduated with honors from Yale University with a B.A. in architecture, and received her M.F.A from California College of the Arts. She is also an associate master of Taoist Environmental Studies and Land Healing.

Stéphane Dreyfus

Stéphane is a teacher’s teacher, bringing depth of knowledge and practice to a myriad of subjects and systems. He spent a decade studying the Asian Classics, yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sanskrit before bringing his studies into a 450 day silent retreat. Upon completion of the retreat, he founded Triveni Yoga with Jessica. Together they built an international yoga school and certified hundreds of teachers around the world. He currently teaches Sanskrit, coding, and meditation. He studied film and video at UC Santa Cruz and was an assistant editor for The Bachelor reality TV show for 7 years.