Body Wise Professional Development Retreat

Red Road, Hawaii

Upcoming Retreats: July 5-10, 2020 and January 10-15, 2021

It happened just the other day. My friend and I attended a new yoga class. The teacher is well-known for working with arthritic bodies and I was hoping to benefit from her approach. It was immediately clear that she was not accustomed to working with fat students, and she seemed uncomfortable with my companion's gender non-conformity. That's right, even someone who is lauded for working with disabled bodies, can carry other body biases. I'll go a step further. Every one of us was taught to freak out about certain bodies, regardless of our own marginality. Unless we continue working on our own comfort with others' bodies - probably for the rest of our days - that freakout is going to compromise our professional abilities.

Join Kimberly Dark, sociologist, facilitator and yoga teacher for the Body Wise Wellness Retreat, a five-day experiential retreat where we practice caring for ourselves in order to care better for others. We'll use writing, nature and movement to help uncover what makes our work effective, and how to grow in both skill and compassion. We'll explore the influence of social hierarchies and power imbalance on our work. Chances are there are some areas in which you are expert - either because of your experiences or training. In other ways, you'll be surprised by your vulnerability. We'll work on uncovering unconscious bias and explore our own intersections of privilege and oppression and how they influence who we are to others. We'll also rest, write, meditate, move, spend time in water and nurture ourselves and each other on the journey.

Such a wonderfully held space... Perfect balance of group time and time on our own. Perfect balance of meeting us where we were, and pushing us a bit beyond.
- Retreat Participant

Who this retreat is for:

Body Workers
Therapists
Yoga Teachers
Fitness Teachers
Counselors
Life Coaches
Health Coaches
Personal Trainers
Nutritionists
Teachers

Anyone who wants to explore the intersection of body, ability, size, and perceptions from social, therapeutic, and personal perspectives. Anyone who wants to move beyond "beliefs" to address the often unconscious micro-aggressions we perpetuate in our work and our own lives too.

In particular, I want to welcome those whose bodies live at the margins and intersections of public acceptabilities, personal practice, and working with others. As a fat, queer-femme, disabled (and of course, aging) yoga teacher and sociologist-writer, I'm well aware of how our marginalized selves become specimens for learning in classes and workshops, while our other acquired intelligence may be dismissed. I aim to create a setting in which everyone's lived experience, practice, and learning are valued, where we contribute and receive as experts and learners - acknowledging as many of our identities and experiences as we choose.

What to Expect Professionally:

What to Expect Personally:

An exploration of unconscious bias and how it influences each of our lives, how it leads us to uphold cultural values with which we may not even consciously agree.
Tools for working with bias - in ourselves and others - so that we can treat all bodies with care and welcome.
Discovery and discussion about the intersections of body-ability bias, focused on three specific types of bodies: fat bodies, aging bodies, and disabled bodies.
Tools to work with and expand our current understanding about bodies, so that we facilitate greater awakening, ease, and ability in those whose lives we touch.
Tools for approaching social change/justice and body equity that uncover where our strengths and contributions lie, and how to use them individually and in concert.
Practice with language and approaches that increase inclusion.
Discussion on moving from ally-ship toward real intersectional involvement where we are invested in each others' positive outcomes.
How to acknowledge the oppressor and oppressed within. We'll practice compassion for both, along with how to shift our own language and behaviors.

A beautiful environment in which to reconnect with nature, swim, move and relax.
Two outings to visit local Hawaii.
A place for your body and your physical practice/ability to be honored and appreciated.
Time to write and stargaze, and explore your connection with the social and natural world.
Activities and prompts that place you and your body in relationship with other people's bodies and identities - a chance to explore how you are perceived and perceive others in your work.
Daily yoga - throughout the week, a combination of restorative, active and gentle classes.
Fabulous food, hot tub and birdsong daily.

This retreat has been personally transformative... This retreat helped me take a large step into my power [and] to observe the unconscious biases that might be a barrier around collaborating with my clients on their own well-being.
- Retreat Participant

Rates and Booking: Early Bird Discounts are on for the July Retreat - Register now!

All rates include your vegetarian meals, tuition, and adventures. Not to mention the beauty of Hawaii.

There is a variety of lodging options available (all rates include sales tax):

$1350 ($1040 Early Bird) - Triple Occupancy, Private Bath
$1460 ($1150 Early Bird) - Single Occupancy, Shared Bath
$1770 ($1460 Early Bird) - Double Occupancy, Private Bath
$2300 ($1999 Early Bird) - Single Occupancy, Private Bath
$899 ($799 Early Bird) - Commuter Rate

A deposit of 50% tuition reserves your spot in the retreat.

For booking, register below, or please contact info@kimberlydark.com with any questions.

Please, please, please attend the retreat if you can. I have experienced so much movement and insight this week, and made amazing new friends and colleagues from the US. It was well worth the trip from the UK.
- Retreat Participant

Such a great professional development retreat - I highly recommend for those wanting a more local culture experience. The information at the retreat is personally and professionally impactful. Taking home so many good memories and ways to carry this work forward!
- Retreat Participant

Body Wise Professional Development Retreat July 2020

Body Wise Professional Development Retreat January 2021

Carlsmith Beach Park, Hilo

Accessibility:
The Puna coast, while magnificently beautiful, is not accessible to all. The retreat center is two-story with meals on the second floor. Lodging can be provided on the ground floor where the yoga room is located. Terrain is uneven as well. For those who can navigate stairs at least once or twice a day, this retreat will be appropriate and we'll include visits to the sea where entry is easy and currents are calm. For those unable to navigate stairs, this retreat won't be suitable.
Please inquire if you'd like to work toward bringing this retreat closer to you, in an accessible format. Kimberly has traveled to provide classes and workshops in accessible venues in the past, and is committed to continuing to helping East Hawaii become more accessible over time.

Additional Resources:

What is Intersectionality? from Peter Hopkins on Vimeo.

It sounds cliche to share that her work changed my life, but I do not have other language for it. Through her, I am learning to not only accept my body but to treat myself with kindness. Her work plays at the intersections of queerness, fat, gender and anti-racism work. Through her, I've learned about self-reflexivity and the complexities of performance as activism. Kimberly Dark mentored me the summer I took her course, and continues to do so via interactions on Facebook, email, and through revisiting her performance work myself. Her belief in continued relationships as being powerful is one of her largest strengths.
- Retreat Participant

Book Kimberly