Location: Kingston NY

ExplO+re Class: Just Transition Primer

Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. No longer in the eye of the pandemic storm, we continue to navigate the uncertainty of a landscape in which soaring housing prices have displaced community members and extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm. How do we make sense of these realities? Where can we glimpse the kind of possibility worth coming together to work for? This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being?

Micah (he/him) is of mixed race (black and white) and mixed religion, and grew up in two different socio-economic homes. He is a cisgendered, working/middle class parent of two living on Munsee/Lenape land in the Mahicantuck Valley, commonly referred today as Kingston, NY, working to prove possibility and to liberate the imagination in order to see a Just Transition.

goodworkinstitute.org

ExplO+re Class: Homecoming

A meditative sound bath of dreaming the future through an Afrocentric sound scape. Attendees are encouraged to assume positions of comfort while attending.

Ben Brown is a sound practitioner, visual artist, and bodyworker. Much of his work comes from the impulse to create more space in the nervous system and body through vibrational frequencies that connect us to our ancestral wisdom and being.

He is the co-creator of HOME and E L I X I R, two monthly sound practices and provided sound experience at Columbia Teacher’s College, Innisfree Garden, You Can Thrive, Dharmakaya, and Lululemon.

www.handandtemple.com

ExplO+re Class: Vegan Chocolate Making Class

Learn to make delicious chocolate and chocolatey treats from Federico Fridman, the founder of Cacao Lab. This tasty experience is for anyone ready to discover the magic of the world’s most beloved treat. Learn how to make chocolate bars and bonbons. No cooking experience required.

Brand Bio:
Cacao Laboratory is a New York-based social good company that honors the tradition and integrity of ceremonial grade cacao. Through proprietary blends, cacao ceremonies and educational offerings, Cacao Laboratory aims to restructure the industry by changing the way we see cacao.

Cacao Laboratory, Cacao Lab for short, is the co-creation of Argentine siblings Federico and Florencia Fridman. The pair hail from Bariloche, a small Patagonian town known for its delicious artisanal chocolate. In 2016, Florencia journeyed to Guatemala, and after a transformational experience, become a cacao devotee. She quickly shared her passion with Federico in New York, and the pair began their journey.

With Florencia’s background in health and wellness and Federico’s history in finance and entrepreneurship, the two set to work, creating a brand designed to be a new business model- a place to experiment with new ways of doing business. A true laboratory. This model, is based in the Fridmans’ ideas of shared success and the brand pillars of respect, equity, and sustainability. Florencia embodies this through cultural connection and community outreach. Federico exemplifies this by maintaining personal relationships with the farmers and producers, and cultivating Cacao Lab’s social impact enterprise. Together the pair have built a global brand that honors our food systems, cultural differences, and interconnection.

Personal Bio:
Federico Fridman is a social-impact entrepreneur and self-taught chocolate maker dedicated to restructuring our food systems. He believes that connections to who, where and how our food is grown can have a positive ecological and financial impact on the world at large. Federico graduated from Ramapo College in 2008 with a degree in Business and Communications. With a focus on bringing wellness to the Hispanic community, Federico built Ser Saludable, a free magazine dedicated to providing healthy lifestyle alternatives to the mainstream Spanish-speaking populations in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York. In 2009 he developed Just Bee Productions, a brand building and marketing agency. He has traveled to Central and South America and to Europe; creating community, and learning about the nuances of our global food systems. He is the co-Founder of Cacao Laboratory, a Ceremonial Cacao company committed to redefining our relationship with the growers of our food in order to affect positive change.

https://www.cacaolaboratory.com

ExplO+re Class: Access Your Connection + Blossom Your Inner Creativity | guided meditation and music experience

Join Kissey Asplund in a guided meditation where you can experience stillness, deeper connection with self, inner empowerment, and presence—through easy, gentle movements and simple breath techniques. These modalities are used to relax into the body and activate a deeper state of meditation, well-being, and inner creativity. The meditation will oscillate between deeper moments of stillness and release, with moments of building empowerment (inner energy). You can do the class sitting, standing, or lying down. A soundtrack written by Kissey will support your meditation.

Kissey Asplund is a creative consultant specializing in the process of generation & creative subatomic energy. She is the founder of the creative wellness website Generation Watts (generationwatts.com). Asplund has gained international recognition as a music producer, multi-disciplinary artist and DJ. Her journey of researching how to use meditation to enhance creativity began at 17 in Stockholm, Sweden. Today, it’s been 22 years of meditation studies and 34 years of creating. She spends her day teaching others how to optimize their energy so they can perform better, through meditation- & presence classes and private sessions.