Mindful Direct Action Training Resources
Photo Credit: eberhard grossgasteiger
Thank you for attending, or planning to attend, the Mindful Direct Action Training. Here are resources to help you plan and implement mindful direct actions. We wish you much success in your efforts to create a more loving, compassionate, and peaceful world for all life.
Listing a resource here does not mean we endorse everything that resource has to say. Instead, we encourage you to learn from what is helpful, kind, and reconciling, and ignore that info which is unhelpful, unkind, or needlessly polarizing. Thank you.
Nonviolent Strategy, Tactics, and Planning
- Mindful Direct Action Training Handouts PDF (Contains lots of useful info not included in the training)
- The Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence
- Understanding the Power of Political Jiu-Jitsu in Nonviolent Campaigns
- Three Tools for Nonviolent Activists: Pledges, Role Plays, and Freedom Songs
- International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (Wealth of info on historical and current nonviolence and planning direct action)
- Organizing for Power (Resources to help you plan campaigns, direct actions, and more)
Inner Work Part 1: Loving All Life and Allyship
- Take the Beloved Community Pledge
- Creating the Beloved Community training series
- Loving Activism talk (Covers skillful ways to work with anger, overwhelm, and other strong emotions activists commonly face)
- Harsha Walia on Anti-Oppression, Decolonization, and Responsible Allyship (11 min video)
- A beloved community conversation between bell hooks and George Brosi (transcript)
- A beloved community conversation featuring bell hooks and Cornel West (video)
- Order a free Peace Pilgrim book
Inner Work Part 2: Meditation Resources
- Tips on starting/maintaining a meditation practice
- Free guided meditations (Nonsectarian mindfulness and love-based meditations)
- Tips for working with the "breathe" slogan (To incorporate mindful pauses throughout your day)
- The Four Kinds of Love training series
Recommended Readings
- Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haha
- Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
- Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words edited by Friends of Peace Pilgrim (Obtain a free audio, digital, or physical version of the book at PeacePilgrim.org.)
- Strength to Love by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential by Gene Sharp
- We Are All Part of One Another: A Barbara Deming Reader edited by Jane Meyerding
- Why We Can't Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- You Can't Kill the Spirit: Stories of Women and Nonviolent Action by Pam McAllister
Nonviolence in History
Documentary
A Force More Powerful: This excellent documentary shows a variety of nonviolent movements, direct action, and political jiu-jitsu at work across the world.
Podcasts
City of Refuge - Nonviolent Resistance to Nazis in France during World War II
Nonviolent Communication Resources
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg (Book)
Nonviolent Communication Books and Resources (Website)
Nonviolent Communication Learning Guide (PDF)
Feelings Inventory (Webpage)
Needs Inventory (Webpage)
People of Color for Nonviolent Communication (Group)
Nonviolence News Sources
Websites
PODCASTS
Groups Mobilized to Stop Line 3
- Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
- MN350
Get Involved with the Boundless Love Project
- Join our E-Newsletter to learn about upcoming meditation and nonviolence trainings.
- Volunteer with us to help us promote mindfulness, nonviolence, and social justice.
We Are Called to Increase the Love
Finally, I leave you with a quote from the excellent book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds written by adrienne maree brown:
"If love were the central practice of a new generation of organizers and spiritual leaders, it would have a massive impact on what we considered organizing. If the goal was to increase the love, rather than winning or dominating a constant opponent, I think we could actually imagine liberation from constant oppression. We would suddenly be seeing everything we do, everyone we meet, not through the eyes of war, but through eyes of love. We would see that there's no such thing as a blank canvas, an empty land or a new idea--but everywhere there is complex, ancient, fertile ground full of potential."
May your light and love shine through in all that you do. May you plant seeds of compassion and hope wherever you go. And may you be a blessing to all you meet.