Diversity Thursday

If one must think of Woman's History Month, I like to think of Mama Salamander. Honors graduate in Math. Trailblazer for women in the computer industry, mother, entrepreneur and never ... never one to suffer fools or fads.

A misogynistic, woman hating, male chauvinist pig would be harder pressed to create an event that tee'd up an "I told you so" ball better than what I am about to share below - and about as contra-Mama Salamander as you can get. (think of Mama Salamander as a slightly younger Grace Hopper ... if Grace Hopper was also a model as a side job)

As someone who from MIDN days supported women serving wherever they physically and realistically could, this torques me off, as it gives the "I told you so" crowd all the negative stereotype fodder they need.

Of what do I speak? Well, if you haven't eaten yet - you may want to hold off. If you have a spray shield for your computer, you may want to go get it.

First, NAVAIR ... you own this. All of it, so just soak it in.

-----Original Message-----
From: TOTALFORCE_HR_NEWS
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 2:37 PM
Subject: Women's History Month event, 3 March

All hands,
Celebrate Women's History Month on 3 March featuring LeeAnn Mallorie, founder and CEO of Leading in Motion, who will address "Leadership Sustainability." Ms. Mallorie specializes in coaching, personal development, leadership training and organizational change. This event is jointly sponsored by NAVAIR's Women's Advisory Group and Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Office.
EVENT DETAILS:
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Times:
-- 1000-1130 (main event: "Sustainable Leadership")
-- 1230-1345 Breakout Session 1 ("Increasing and Managing Your Energy")
-- 1400-1515 Breakout Session 2 ("Emotion and Stress Management")
Location: River's Edge Conference Center, Patuxent River, and via video teleconference
Flyer: https://mynavair.navair.navy.mil/links/WAGFlyerEastCoast
REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
Note: Each program segment requires separate registration.
-- Visit https://navairu.navair.navy.mil . (Note: You must have a NAVAIR University account to register. If you do not have an account, follow the instructions below.)
-- Click on the "Classes" tab on the top menu bar.
-- Enter "CISL-EVT-0101" in the search field and click the blue search button.
-- Click on "Register" in the register column for the session you wish to attend.
-- Click the "Yes" button to enroll in the event.
Course numbers and titles:
-- CISL-EVT-0101 - Women's History Month -MAIN EVENT
-- CISL-EVT-0102 - Increasing & Managing Energy
-- CISL-EVT-0103 - Emotion & Stress Management
NAVAIRU REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
-- Visit https://navairu.navair.navy.mil .
-- Select "Register" in the upper left corner of the screen.
-- Complete all fields, and click the save button.
If you are unable to register in NAVAIRU, email [redacted]@navy.mil and list sessions attending.
Thank you,
Total Force Strategy & Management Department

I guess that comes under the category of Conference Weaving & Group Energizers.

Oh, I don't know if I can really do this ... but, sigh, if not me, who? If not now, when? Let's go.

NAVAIR is a fairly technical organization. We can all agree on that I hope. Nothing in life is free. Especially for events like this. In an era where every other speech by senior leadership squeals about sequestration, one would expect all organizations to be very careful how funds are used. After all, it is hard to cry poverty when you are spending $20 on popcorn at the movie theater every weekend.

So, with that set - what is the mindset NAVAIR wants its very technical force to have? Especially their female cadre? What tools are they giving them to compete? 

What does LeeAnn believe?

I believe in GUT-FEELING and intuition. I believe that MUSIC & MOVEMENT can unlock the soul. I believe that ILLNESS is a wake-up call. I believe in SIMPLICITY. I believe in RADICAL SELF-CARE. I believe experts don’t always know BEST.

I believe in PLAY… that our life depends on it. I believe in BOTH-AND. I believe our INTENTION affects our destiny. I believe that our PRESENCE is the ultimate gift. I believe we must FEEL in order to HEAL.

That doesn't reinforce negative tropes ... nope ... not at all.

LeeAnn has her fingers in all sorts of stuff. What else can she offer? We have "Dancing Freedom;"

Dancing Freedom is a global movement supporting liberation, community and leadership through the sacred medicine of dance. We are co-creating a global rEvolution, dancing towards a world in which all beings feel more at home, empowered, peaceful and free.

Dancing Freedom blends conscious dance and the essence of medicine ceremony, taking you through an elemental wave of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Each Dancing Freedom class provides a safe and dynamic space to explore your own body sensations and emotions, while connecting with whole group consciousness. The ceremony begins with a powerful prayer for your life, and ends with a harvest circle where collective wisdom is shared.

We believe that oneness includes everything, no exceptions. Therefore welcome all people to participate in the journey, from experienced dancers who want to deepen their practice to those who have never stepped foot on a dance floor.

She can bring in her skills as a Somatic Coach;

There are many perspectives on coaching today, yet rarely do you see a methodology that fully encompasses the totality of our humanness. Somatic Coaching is the discourse that represents this unity of the whole human being. A somatic perspective includes our thinking, feeling, emotions, and acting; this also accounts for our narratives and stories, our moods, and our energetic body. This comprehensive and integrated view is what sets the SI Somatic Methodology apart from other styles and methods. While some systems may simply add the body as an element in their coaching curriculum, we treat the body as a fundamental place of change, learning, and transformation. We hold that the self and the body are indistinguishable and by working through the body we can directly work with the self. Working through the body at this level is Somatic Coaching. Through systemic, bodily intervention, transformation occurs. It is through this holistic coaching process that fundamental, sustainable change is possible on a level not achieved through most coaching modalities.

Our narratives, belief systems, world views, bodily contractions, streamings, pulsations, and a yearning for that which is beyond the self all live in our soma. These experiences shape our mood, our actions, our perceptions, our way of being – and our bodies. Through the SI Somatic Methodology, coaches learn to observe the self in the body. With this skill, one can assess aspects of the self by observing the shape of the body. This is not body language; this is a skill that allows one to deeply and respectfully see who someone is. Our somatic shape, the shape of our self, produces possibilities and limitations. Through disorganizing the conditioned, historical shape we can re-shape ourselves into a more relaxed, confident, bold shape through which we can live our full potential. SI’s methodology offers the skills to bring forth this level of change for your clients.

There have always been issues raised on the sexist nature of the PRT. Maybe LeeAnn would have some options we can look at in order to be more inclusive. She is really in to Nia, that could be a start.

Nia is the art of movement the body's way. Nia is a cardio-dance workout, a movement practice, and lifestyle based on the intelligent design of the body.

We believe every person can discover, explore, unleash, and enhance their individual potential to live a healthy and meaningful life by engaging their senses and listening to their bodies.

Nia Workout

Nia tones your mind and tunes your body. Each workout brings mindfulness to your dance movement experience leaving you energized, mentally clear, and emotionally balanced.

Nia cardio-dance workouts combine 52 simple moves with dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts to get you fit in 60 minutes - body, mind, emotion, and spirit.

Nia is practiced barefoot, non-impact, and adaptable to individual needs and abilities.

There ain't no party like a NAVAIR dance party; mark it down as command PT.

I know, I know ... you must be asking yourself, "Where does NAVAIR find its motivational speakers?" Usually, you see one, you like them, and then you ask them to come speak to your people.

The City of Brotherly Love is just a day's drive from NAVAIR, isn't it? Perhaps someone met her at the 2014 Poly Living Philadelphia Conference. Did she bring this advice and perspective to NAVAIR. Goodness knows we need to make sure we access all the tools in the toolbox.

LeeAnn Mallorie recently moved to Philadelphia to pursue her first love: building authentic communities through the power of dance. For the past ten years, she has trained with Bay Area conscious dancers, martial artists, sound healers, shamans, coaches, somatic therapists, body workers and musicians, while boldly disseminating their cutting edge work to the rest of the world. LeeAnn believes that intimate relationships are a path to personal transformation. Walking her talk, she followed the thread of her parents failed marriage and her own series of tumultuous monogamous relationships, through the barriers of social convention, to the joy of loving openly. She has been in a creative and open relationship with her partner, Jorge Cortez since February of 2013, when her sexuality cracked open while studying the practice of Orgasmic Meditation.

OK, that is an interesting form of meditation. Are there practical exercises, vignettes, and possibly workshops? I have no idea. If you are interested in more, Salon.com has a primer.

Even better, visualize this at NAVAIR ... not that there is anything wrong with it, though LeeAnn seems a bit heteronormative in her practice.

One last bit. I am never one to want to take away someones honest living - no one owes you a job and you have to make your way in the world as best as you can. 

That doesn't mean that anyone is entitled to the money with your stamp on it though. If this is really what NAVAIR leadership thinks is best for their organization and what present Navy leadership wants, then so be it.

I do want to take a moment to emphasize a central tenet of DivThu: this is all about the $$$$. There are a lot of otherwise unemployable people who have invested tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in education that they have to find some way to monetize. LeeAnn is, in this respect, a hard driven and successful entrepreneur. Part of the Diversity Industry? You'bet'cha;

Founder LeeAnn M. Mallorie has a passion for culture and a knack for supporting people in "ah-ha" breakthrough moments. LeeAnn completed her M.A. in Cultural Social Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, focusing on bicultural identity negotiation among Chinese-American biculturals and inter-cultural communication v. conflict among U.S. majority/minority groups. She was trained in dialogue facilitation through the University of Michigan Program on Inter-group Relations and Conflict. She studied and worked abroad as a Princeton In Asia Fellow teaching EFL for ten months in rural Hunan, China. In addition to running the Cultural Horizions Institute, she currently works as a life coach, on-site facilitator and 360° feedback specialist at Learning as Leadership, a San Francisco based consulting firm. Her clients include NASA, Shell Oil, Sandia National Laboratories, Harvard Business School, and Artech Inc, Taiwan. LeeAnn is fluent in Mandarin, Chinese.

Fluent in Mandarin. What a waste. I'd rather have her in the N2 shop at PACFLT, but then again - knowing those guys, the last thing any of us need is seeing them dancing in yoga pants and going on an orgasmic meditation workshop retreat.

I hope all my NAVAIR bubbas had a chance to go ... for goodness sake, you don't want to miss a chance to explore your, what do you call it,

"Our narratives, belief systems, world views, bodily contractions, streamings, pulsations, and a yearning for that which is beyond the self ..."

Yeah, that. Take your local ABHC.

As you watch the two video below ... which I know you will as your tax dollars are paying for this ... think about all that sequester talk ... and think of your happy place.



... and yes, this new age snake oil as about as non-diverse as anything I have seen in a long time.

I'm a giver ... so I give. Behold URR and MTH's next girlfriends having a chat.




Hat tip K.