Online: Forgiveness Practice – Giving Up All Hope of a Better Past
with Jacoby Ballard
Thursday, October 27th, 2022 | 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this program is canceled and will be postponed to a later date
In this evening with guest teacher Jacoby Ballard, we will explore the practice of forgiveness, a timeless practice exceedingly relevant for our divided times.
The practice of forgiveness involves forgiving ourselves for the ways in which we have harmed ourselves in thought, word, or deed; considering the ways in which we have each harmed others and asking for forgiveness; forgiving those who have harmed us; and forgiving the First Noble Truth in Buddhism — that dukkha (a Pali word meaning suffering, difficulty, stress) exists in the first place.
Forgiveness in each of these directions is profound work that can shift the trajectory of our households, neighborhoods, cities, and world, witnessing pain, processing it, releasing its energy, and learning necessary practices so as to not repeat and perpetuate pain.
Jacoby’s work sits at the intersection of contemplative and embodied practices and social justice, and so we will contemplate the application of forgiveness work with the justice issues of our time: the call for reparations, climate change and climate justice, transphobic policies in school districts, war, and more.
You can come with little experience or decades of practice; a broken heart or one resourced and grounded. The time is always ripe for forgiveness.
Teacher(s)
Jacoby Ballard
Jacoby Ballard is a social justice educator, poet, yoga teacher, and papa. With 25 years of experience at the nexus of justice, embodiment, and contemplative practice, he leads workshops, retreats, and has been an artist-in-residence on dozens of college campuses. He is a co-founder of Third Root Community Health Center which operated in Brooklyn for 13 years, currently serves as the Board President of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and is the author of A Queer Dharma: Yoga and Meditations for Liberation. He teaches a virtual queer and trans-centered prenatal and postnatal yoga class that gives parents and families the tools and community that they need to be grounded, creative, and resourced. Jacoby has taught Queer & Trans Yoga since 2006, and regularly offers retreats for queer communities. His current book project focuses on the relationship and tension between internal practices of forgiveness and external calls for accountability, and the internal work we must do to grow a large, cohesive, connected, powerful movement in these times. Find more at jacobyballard.net or follow him on Instagram.