Harrell "I Got Soul" Workshop at ACMHE 2018
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This document discusses contemplative practices and soulfulness. It begins by exploring soul music as a form of contemplative practice, providing examples from songs and analyzing their messages. It then discusses considering culture, context, and liberation in contemplative practices. Specifically, it focuses on African-centered cultural concepts like spirituality, interconnectedness, and communalism. It also explores African contemplative practices and the importance of considering contexts of oppression in contemplative work.
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Harrell "I Got Soul" Workshop at ACMHE 2018
- 1. “I Got Soul”: Soulfulness, Inclusion, and Contemplative Practice Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education 10th Annual Conference – Amherst, MA October 6, 2018
- 2. INVITATION TO THE “RIVER” • I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. -Langston Hughes • I feel myself a soul as immense as the world, truly a soul as deep as the deepest rivers. - Franz Fanon • I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside….I’m gonna lay down my heavy load, down by the riverside… I'm gonna study, study war no more.” –African American Spiritual • May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back. -Rainer Maria Rilke • When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know. It is well, it is well, with my soul. –Horatio Spafford
- 3. INVITATION TO THE “RIVER” • The river begins at Source, and returns to Source, unerringly. This happens every single time, without exception. We are no different. -Jeffrey R. Anderson • Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday. -AA Milne • As the river surrenders itself to the ocean, what is inside me moves inside you. -Kabir • I’ve got peace like a river in my soul, I’ve got a river in my soul, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul, I’ve got a fountain in my soul. I’ve got love like the ocean in my soul, I’ve got an ocean in my soul. -African American Spiritual • When you do things from your soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy. –Rumi • Don’t go with the flow, be the flow. Jay-Z
- 6. A Perspective on Contemplative Practice • Diverse strategies for deepening and expanding experiential awareness and critical consciousness by bearing witness to lived experience‐‐ internally, relationally, and collectively. • Practices involve experiencing, deepening, and enhancing mental, somatic, emotional, relational, and spiritual energies Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 7. CONTEXTUALIZING CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES: CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS • Contemplative Practices occur within larger sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts • They reflect and serve values‐centered and transformative purposes with the intention of having manifestation in how we live individually, relationally, and collectively. • Three critical considerations in the design and implementation of contemplative practices CULTURE CONTEXT LIBERATION Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 8. Considering Culture, Context, & Liberation CULTURE Contemplative processes have been developed and evolved within many cultures and are practiced within diverse religious traditions and secular settings The resonance and effectiveness of any meditative or contemplative approach is a function of its congruence with values, beliefs, and cultural sensibilities. CONTEXT Contemplative practices (like all human behavior) are embedded in a variety of socioecological contexts at multiple levels of analysis (sociohistorical, sociopolitical, community, organizational, familial, etc.) and these must be understood to maximize the potential effectiveness of any particular practice. The challenges of oppressive dynamics (societally, relationally, internally) that block liberation must be recognized and considered LIBERATION The fundamental core and ultimate purpose of all contemplative practices is liberation in the service of the enhanced consciousness and optimal expression of both our humanity and divinity (personally and collectively) Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 9. CULTURE AND CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE: A RECENTERING
- 10. MY SOUL ROOTS • Born and RaisedDetroit in the 1960s • Soul Music was my first teacher of contemplative practices • “Soul Music”: Expresses and Touches the Soul • Music as Expression and Transmission of Culture • Connectedness to Human Experience across Time and Place • Resonance and Identification (shared experience, not alone) • Experiencing‐ Emotion, Body (Movement), Immersion(Flow) • Wisdom: Messages and Meanings of Lived Experience • Processing and Working Through (listening to a song over and over) • Healing and Transformation •
- 14. • Loving is a blessing yeah, never let it fade away, its all about love yeah. (Stay centered in love as it is the source of everything.) • Talking to yourself is fine, makes you feel much better (Importance of having a relationship with your inner experience, being in dialogue with yourself) • Now, I want you to stop, whatever you're doing, Just stop (Importance of pausing from the activity of daily life) • So now, hey, y'all, I'm trying to tell you, You gotta love YOU. And learn all the beautiful things around you, the trees and the birds And if there ain't no beauty, You gotta MAKE some beauty Have mercy Listen to me, y'all (Encouragement to connect with self and surroundings in ways infused with appreciation; capacity to access our power for creative transformation) (EWF also counsel us to “Open Our Eyes”, “Keep Your Head to the Sky”, and to “Open your heart, feel the touch of “Devotion”) Contemplative Translation: Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 15. “EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE” by Roy Ayers • Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine (Importance of shared experience; the power of the light and warmth of the sun) • Sunshine, folks get down in the sunshine; Sunshine, folks get 'round in the sunshine (Authentic and joyful expression, brings people together in communal gathering) • Just bees and things and flowers (The power of just noticing and appreciating surroundings, “being” in nature, LIFE!) • Feel what I feel, when I feel, what I feel when I'm feelin', in the sunshine (Affirmation of being in the “now” of one’s emotional experiencing; acceptance of the experience that is happening) Contemplative Translation: Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 16. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Aretha Franklin • Don’t trouble the waters, leave it alone, why don’t cha, why don’t cha let it be. (Importance of acceptance and “being”, rather than messing with something sometimes) • Still waters run deep, yes it do, I know that, oh yeah, if you only believe (Importance of stillness to get to the depth of something; hard to see what’s most important if you’re always moving around; be patient and have faith) • When you’re down, when you’re on the street…I will comfort you... Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down. (When things get hard, you will find comfort, there will be a bridge to the other side, somebody’s got your back, will feel your pain and will give of themselves for you) Contemplative Translation: Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 17. MORE… • Aretha Franklin • Spirit in the Dark • Rock Steady • Young, Gifted and Black • Bridge Over Troubled Water • More Soul • What’s Goin’ On (Marvin Gaye) • Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding) • Change Gonna Come (Otis Redding) • Feeling Good (Nina Simone) • Still Water (The Four Tops) • Summer Breeze (Isley Brothers) • Neo‐Soul • I am Light (India Arie) • Everything is Everything (Lauryn Hill) • A Long Walk (Jill Scott) • Golden (Jill Scott)
- 18. AFRICAN-CENTERED CONSIDERATIONS • African cultural roots and diasporic expressions are studied in African‐ centered Psychology • The centrality of spirituality, an ethos of interconnectedness, cultural and collective consciousness, and a communal orientation (Myers, 1987; 2013; Nobles, 2006) provide guidance for important areas of emphasis within contemplative practices. • Ubuntu – “I am because we are and because we are I am”; Recognition of our interdependence and interconnected humanity; we exist and thrive in connection and community Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 19. African-centered Cultural Concepts informing Soulfulness Spirituality / Spiritness Interconnectedness / Interdependence Communalism / Relationality Harmony and Balance Inner Knowing/Wisdom/Intuition Emotional Experiencing / Feeling Expressiveness, Creativity, Improvisation Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 20. African Contemplative and Meditative Practices • Contemplative Practice does not belong to Buddhism or Hinduism or early Christian mystics • It is a HUMAN activity and evolutionary impulse to move toward wisdom, healing, liberation, and transcendence • Cultures throughout the world have strategies for expanding awareness, consciousness, and spiritual connection • The African Context • Communal and ritual practices throughout the African continent involve opportunities to connect deeply to self, others, nature, and Spirit through music (drumming), dance, rites of passage challenges requiring the individual to “dig deep”, sometimes involving periods of isolation in nature • Ancient Khemetic healing practices involved alteration of consciousness through chanting and other methodologies; depiction of “poses” of Egyptian gods and goddesses Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 22. Reflections on Oppression • The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. –Steven Biko • As long as the mind is enslaved, the body will never be free. –Martin Luther King, Jr. • Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds. –Bob Marley • You cannot keep the human mind forever locked up in darkness. A ray of light, a spark from freedom’s altar, the idea of inherent right, each, all, will become fixed in the soul. ‐From Slave Narrative of William Wells Brown
- 23. INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION/SUBORDINATION • Devaluing one’s own social identity group; Believing negative stereotypes and having prejudices against our own groups; colluding with prejudice, discrimination, and bias; living in ways that are against our own best interest • Idealizing the dominant group and believing they are better, smarter, more attractive, competent, etc.; seeking their approval and validation • Self • Native American psychologists talk about the damage of historical trauma like genocide, slavery, and colonization as “soul wounds” Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 23
- 24. Soul Murder and Soul Wounds • bell hooks (2003) contends that surrendering “the ability to feel” as a way of managing assaults on one’s humanity ultimately threatens one’s capacity to care for the soul; she describes this repression of feeling as “soul murder”. hooks contends that it is a strong connection to an inner soulfulness that allows for strength in the midst of racism. • Duran (2006) discusses the cultural “soul wound”, conceptualized as the intergenerational impact of devastating historical trauma that causes destruction at a deep soul level requiring a spiritualized soul healing. This soul wounding also takes similar forms in other cultural contexts such as the Maafa (i.e., African Holocaust) (Nobles, 2006) and what DeGruy (2017) describes as post‐traumatic slave syndrome, as well as in Comas‐Diaz’s (2008) discussion of post colonization stress syndrome among Latinx peoples.
- 25. Historical, transgenerational, and contemporary oppression‐related trauma, cultural violence, messages of inferiority, and ongoing dehumanization are threats to health and well‐being. Contemplative practices can facilitate accessing the cultural wisdom within to reclaim our humanity, restore our knowledge and dignity, affirm our existence, and manifest our highest potentialities. We have to first learn to “BE” with OURSELVES. Meditation and contemplative practice opens space to BE. African wisdom traditions, embedded in African belief systems (such as Ancient Khemetic, Yoruba, and Akan) provide us with insights into “ways of being” that are wellness‐promoting and affirming of our humanity, and that we can apply in contexts of oppression. The Struggle to “BE” in the Context of Oppression 25 Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 26. Liberation Pedagogy and Liberation Psychology • Liberation Psychology is the study of the social transformation of individuals and society such that oppressive systems are eradicated and humanity is moved towards justice, unity and fellowship • The central task of liberation is humanization; we humanize the world by transforming it towards liberation • Martin‐Baro‐ Writings for a Liberation Psychology • Paolo Freire – Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- 27. Critical Consciousness and Liberatory Praxis • Critical Consciousness is sociopolitical, sociocultural and sociohistorical awareness. It about developing, strengthening, changing, liberating, and mobilizing consciousness of these. • Liberation and humanization involves ownership of one’s consciousness that is affirming of their humanity; their consciousness is their own, their humanity and their identity is of their choosing. • Critical consciousness is a process wherein the oppressed develop critical awareness that they are oppressed, and that oppression is dehumanization • Praxis involves cycles of reflection and action which are conceptualized and unified processes that must be joined
- 28. SOULFULNESS & ACTION Soulfulness is about connecting deeply with the soul of who we are so that we can express it authentically and meaningfully in how we live Meditation is to see deeply into things, to see how we can change, how we can transform our situation. –Thich Nhat Hanh Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. –Thich Nhat Hanh Meditation is the life of the soul: action, the soul of meditation, and honor, the reward of action. –Sir Francis Quarles Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 29. Gloria E. Anzaldúa on the Inner-Outer Dialectic • The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the "real" world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.” • “Breaking out of your mental and emotional prison and deepening the range of perception enables you to link inner reflection and vision- the mental, emotional, instinctive, imaginal, spiritual, and subtle bodily awareness-- with social, political action and lived experiences”
- 31. WHY “SOUL” FULNESS? Meditation is thus the way to knowing and beholding the eternal, indestructible, essential center of our being. ~Rudolf Steiner • Culturally, soul resonates powerfully with many People of the Global Majority (PGM; i.e., non‐white, non‐European descended) • The concept of “soul” is embedded in the worldview of African, Native American and many indigenous peoples around the world (Duran, 2006). • It has strong roots in African American experiences and diasporic African cultural expressions where it is associated with an expressive aliveness and connectedness born of lived experience (e.g., soul music, soul food, soul brother/sister, soul power) (hooks, 2003; Rudinow, 2010) • It is a doorway into contemplative practice that may be more accessible and experienced as more natural than beginning with the “mind”
- 32. WHAT’S missing FROM “McMINDFULNESS”? SOUL! • The soul has been taken out of meditation through the commercialization of “McMindfulness” • In psychology this occurs through the colonizing practices of CBT (and other acronym therapies) that separate the “mind” from the whole person • But authentic mindfulness practices recognize that the mind is inseparable from the heart and soul! • “Heartfulness” has been offered and compassion is receiving more emphasis (Kabat‐Zinn; Neff; Shapiro; Murphy‐Shigematsu; Brach; and more) • There isn’t much focused attention to “SOUL” in the current mindfulness literature or within the standard practices taught! Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell (“McMindfulness is a term used by Purser & Loy (2013) in a blog on Huffington Post)
- 33. EMPHASES OF MINDFULNESS, HEARTFULNESS & SOULFULNESS Mindfulness = EQUANIMITY and NON‐JUDGMENT Heartfulness = LOVINGKINDNESS and COMPASSION Soulfulness = ALIVENESS and CONNECTEDNESS Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell *Authentic mindfulness practice encompasses heart and soul and these three terms could be argued to be interchangeable with respect to foundational elements; it may be that the emphases resonate more or less in different cultural contexts
- 34. Centering SOULFULNESS • Effort to center “soul” into contemplative practices • Practices that facilitate making contact with SOUL of the person, SOUL of living, SOUL of the world • SOUL of the Person: deepest core of being, authenticity, truth, divinity, spiritness • SOUL of Living: the how of living‐‐ the quality of living soulfully with feeling, experiencing and expressing personal and collective truths • SOUL of the Connection: (Ubuntu) ethical‐moral imperative emerging from our interconnectedness that demands liberation and justice Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 35. Influences on the Development of Soulfulness • African American “Soul” • Diasporic African cultural expressions • Liberation Pedagogy and Liberation Psychology • Diverse spiritual and wisdom traditions • Cultural and Community Psychology • Contemplative Studies
- 37. A WORKING DEFINITION OF SOULFULNESS Emerging from the convergence of spiritual, psychological, and cultural perspectives on “soul”, soulfulness is conceptualized as the quality of experiencing life in a deeply connected and connecting way, an enlivened inner attunement that illuminates authentic lived experience and radiates into outer expression. It is an interconnected “soulful aliveness” that is often experienced as a resonating, liberating, life-enhancing, spiritually-infused energy of deep connectivity and inspired expression. Soulfulness is comprised of four co-existing elements: essence, experience, expression, and engagement.
- 39. “Feel What’s Real”: Soulfulness and Emotion Experiencing and expressing emotion is central to Soulfulness! ● Soulfulness is about FEELING ○ Refers to our “real”, truest, deepest, experience‐congruent emotion ○ It is not about what we see but what we FEEL, SENSE, INTUIT ○ Emotion that emerges from soulfulness is a wisdom‐ and truth‐ infused emotion. ○ There is wisdom in emotion and emotion is part of the path to wisdom; ● Emotion is valuable for our survival and optimal functioning ○ Emotion signals us to pay attention and provides a compass to move toward or away; it communicates something important about our experiences in the world and how to navigate them ○ Some people are taught to be afraid of emotion, to see it as the enemy. But emotion evolved in the human species for survival to facilitate adaptation and relational connectedness. ● Being Soulful is not the same as dysregulated emotionality. ○ Uncontrolled emotion can sometimes feel like inner chaos, disorganizing. This is not the same as experiencing raw painful emotion which is part of the human experience ○ Emotion must be processed and brought into balance with body, mind, and spirit. Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 41. The SOUL-Centered Approach to Contemplative Practice •Soulfulness‐Oriented • Aliveness, Deepness, Authenticity, Healing Path • Expressiveness, Spirituality, Creativity, Perseverance •Unitive • Connection, Relationality, Attunement, Belonging • Inter/Connectedness, Interdependence • Wholeness, Inclusion •Liberatory • Emanicipation Towards Liberation • Intrapersonal (internalized oppression) • Interpersonal (relational oppression) • Societal (cultural and institutional oppression) • Spiritual
- 42. CORE PRINCIPLES OF SOUL-CENTERED PRACTICE Centeredness (Critical) Consciousness Calling Courage Congruence Creativity Communion Coexistence Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell
- 43. Modalities of SOUL Practices • Meditation (opening temporal-mental-emotional space for directing and/or regulating attention and energy in the service of awakening, illuminating, enlivening, liberating, and manifesting “soul”) • Music (to touch the soul, or for anchoring, grounding, and/or relaxation) • Movement (experiencing and expressing body-soul integration) • Meeting (connecting meaningfully and deeply with persons, nature, transcendent phenomena, etc.; relational attunement/resonance through deep soul-to-soul listening and dialogue) • Meaning (reflective exploration of deepest meanings, values, beliefs, purpose; illumination of inner wisdom of the soul) • Making (soul-inspired expression and discovery; creating, constructing, innovating through art, ideas, etc.)
- 46. MEDITATION AND “WOKENESS” • Helps us become more “woke” by opening our eyes and expanding awareness; illuminating aspects of our experience we are cut off from • Helps us tolerate the distress of seeing things that are difficult to see so that we can take action rather than numb ourselves or escape • Reminds us of the strength within to resist, persevere, overcome and transform oppression at ALL levels • Internally (how we oppress ourselves with self‐criticism) • Relationally (unhealthy relationships) • Societally (racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, etc.) Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. 46
- 47. PRACTICE: SOULword MEDITATION The “SOUL” Moment Sense the call of the stirrings of your soul and allow yourself to feel what’s moving within you. Open yourself to experiencing your inner aliveness as you awaken and bear witness to the truths of your lived experience. Unveil deeper understandings as you discern and illuminate the meanings and messages for your life, welcoming them with courage and gratitude. Liberate your soul’s wisdom and free its emanating energy into expression as you allow your truths and your gifts to become manifested and actualized. Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
- 48. Color by Mary J. Blige 48 “I can see in color…” PRACTICE: SOULsongs I’ll Rise by Ben Harper (based on Still I Rise by Maya Angelou) “But still like air I rise…”
- 50. Finding “PEACE” Within Your Soul • Pause and be Present. Stop for a moment and shift into being present with yourself in the here‐and‐now. • Exhale into your Experiencing. Breathe deeply and drop down into your experience; be fully present with what is going on in your body, mind, heart, soul, and surrounding environment. • Anchor your Attention. Focus in on your breath, sounds, or other sensations in order to stabilize your mind and regulate your physiological processes. • Connect to your Center. Connect to a word, phrase, symbol, image, person, location that centers you in that place of peace and wisdom within. Listen closely and connect to your deepest truths, to what matters most. • Emerge and Engage. Re‐enter your daily life empowered by the energy of peace as you prepare to engage your life from a centered place of harmony, alignment, and clarity. Copyright 2018. Shelly P. Harrell, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.