Facilitators Sarah Shourd (She/Her) and James-Amutabi Connie Haines (They/He) have been creative collaborators for over a decade. They are trained in many traditions such as a trauma transformation methodology called Somatic Experiencing, a Brazilian participatory, liberatory theater called Theater of the Oppressed and various forms of facilitation, meditation, and bodywork — and they are both writers.

James-Amutabi is a Baltimore-born, Bay Area–breed queer, and questioning multimodal artist, educator, and guide with 25 years of facilitation experience teaching meditation, mindfulness, and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Decolonization, and Intersectionality) processes with an emphasis in somatics.

Sarah is a Somatic Coach trained in trauma transformation and participatory theater, as well as an award-winning journalist, playwright, producer, and author. In 2009, Sarah was captured and held as a political hostage in Iran for 410 days. This experience became a springboard for Sarah’s anti-carceral and healing justice work.