Tools for

Resistance

A guide through a series of exercises and somatic movements that help folks increase capacity in order to build a collective framework for resistance.

Can implementing practices of health, pleasure, abundance and money into our daily routines help create new resources for our communities?

Created in collaboration with artist NIC KAY

HEALTH      PLEASURE

ABUNDANCE      $$$$$

agreement

Community agreements are any set of social contracts and or expectations practices when engaging with other people. We encourage folks to always set agreements when doing any organizing work, when entering new spaces or engaging in vulnerable or physical activities. For this exercise our agreements are:

1. one mic

2. ask for consent before physical contact

3. stay engaged, intentional

4. make space for yourself and others to be vulnerable

5. collaborate

6. take your time, go slow

$$$$$$$

How does your relationship with money align with your values?

Exercise (solo, 15 mins)

Consider:

What are three of your cultural/ personal values?

Do these values differ from those of your community?

How do your values manifest into actions?

What role does money play in enacting those values?

What are the most urgent financial needs in your life?

What are the most urgent financial needs of your community?

Imagine:

You have 100,000 to distribute - how would your values and needs, as well as those of your community determine how you allocate the funds?

HEALTH

Can we think of health as a practice of self-empathy? Can good health practices look like us declaring what we need?

Exercise (group, 10 minutes)

Gather in a group of 2. preferably with someone you do not know

Ask your partner for their phone number and save them as a new contact (this can also be a written exercise)

Begin writing a text message that answers the following questions:

  1. What is your greatest need at this moment in life?

  2. Why? What does it fulfill?

  3. Why do you need this now?

Once you are both finished writing, text your response to your partner at the same time

Can you see yourself in their response?

ABUNDANCE

Cultivating abundance is an act of recognition and gratitude towards all of the movements, actions, and blessings present in our lives and in nature. It is a mindset, that is imaginative, flexible, and adaptive. An example of speaking abundance is saying “yes, and…”

“Yes, and” is also a comedic tool practiced during improv. For this exercise, we will play “yes, and” toward a world with more equity.

Exercise (group, 20 mins)

Anyone can start the game, begin with a statement such as “Wow can you believe that we have to work so late and still be back here early in the morning…”

The next person continues the story replying first with “yes, and”

Repeat “yes, and” until everyone in the group has added to the story

reflections

What new things did you learn or relearn about yourself?

What new ideas did you have during the exercises?

Can these new thoughts/ideas become a resource for you and your community?

PLEASURE

Pleasure is most accessible when trust is established, prioritized and felt. How can strangers quickly establish trust amongst one another, can this experience be pleasurable?

Exercise (group, 3 mins)

In groups of 3 form a triangle, shoulders close together, with everyone looking at one another. Try to maintain a soft gaze with your partners

One person turns away from the group, while the other two continue their gaze

Another partner turns away from the group, leaving one partner looking towards the other back

Switch the gaze incrementally allowing each partner to have a different experience and vantage point of the group. All turns can be improvised. Continue for three minutes

PLEASURE = TRUST

HEALTH = EMPATHY

MONEY = VALUES

ABUNDANCE = YES &

REFLECTIONS = NEW RESOURCES

This workshop was developed in collaboration with artist NIC KAY for the 2019 iteration of New Museum Ideas City, Bronx.

Ideas City Bronx was promptly shut down during opening remarks by community organizers from the Bronx after it was exposed that the New Museum and organizers of the event did not uphold core tenets of community engagement with invitees. The museum’s lack of understanding of how to engage with a uniquely positioned community like the Bronx was amplified by the aggressive and violent response organizers had toward protesters.

NIC and I never performed the workshop, we handed out the zines to visitors and exited the event. If you wish to receive a free copy of the zine or want to use it as a tool in a workshop please contact me.