Not My Jesus

All classes and support groups that we host are carefully curated and heavily moderated. We resist all forms of racism, white supremacy and colonialism, especially when disguised in language and practice of religious belief or spirituality. See “our commitment to you” below, for the specifics on how we aim to create safer spaces with BIPOC in mind.

If you have suggestions to improve or clarify our anti-racist policy, please reach out.

All bodies are amazing, powerful, and inherently worthy of love. We affirm and celebrate the diversity of human form, size, and shape whenever we engage with our physical bodies in the context of spiritual practice, meditation, or movement. We also take into account the wide range of physical (dis)ability, both visible and invisible, and strive to make our groups as accessible as possible.

If you have any suggestions for increased accessibility, please reach out.

We come from an understanding that trauma affects our whole person (body, mind, and emotions), and that whenever people gather together there is potential for trauma responses to be activated or triggered. Sometimes trauma affects us at the individual level, other trauma is generationally inherited, and some forms of trauma are experienced across entire populations or groups of people.

All trauma responses are natural and valid, and we hold a space that acknowledges that sometimes our nervous systems just can’t handle any more. If for any reason you feel activated or triggered during a session, we encourage you to do whatever you need in order to take care of yourself.

Check out our resources page for more about what trauma is, how to build resilience practices, ideas on what to do when activated or triggered, or to find therapists who are qualified to help.

As white, European settlers in Canada, we acknowledge the problematic and harmful trend in many spiritual communities towards cultural and spiritual appropriation. That’s why we’re doing our best to stay in our lane. Whenever we come together, we only share from our own lived experience of spirituality — honouring keepers of wisdom and tradition in their original context. The forms and practices used in this course draw from Pip’s personal practice, which has been informed by (1) universalist, post-christian mysticism, (2) animistic paganism drawing from her own eclectic witchcraft, (3) “western esotericism” via ceremonial magick and (4) contemporary scientific research on techniques to calm the mind and ground the body (like Generative Somatics).

We think this is an important issue, which is why we encourage people to read through this guide and list of resources from the team at Native Governance Centre, Cultural Appropriation and the Wellness Space.

As organizers and facilitators we commit to:
(a) stay in our lane by not using iconography, music, clothing, sacred medicines, regalia, or embodiment practices from outside our lived experience, and by ensuring proper compensation for any special guests from outside our religious or spiritual context,
(b) regularly remind the room (in verbal and written form) about cultural and spiritual appropriation, and call individuals in for a private conversation or call out publicly depending on the nature of the situation,
(c) interrupt racism, classism, fat-phobia, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, and all other forms of discrimination immediately, and call individuals in for a private conversation or call out publicly depending on the nature of the situation,
(d) be open to being called in or called out if we have failed to maintain group safety as facilitators, and we will work to repair the situation,
(e) create and encourage opportunities for honest feedback and constructive criticism to continue to improve on our ability to offer safer spaces for spiritual work in community.