— Sounds True Presents —

The People's Inauguration

10 Days to Activate Revolutionary Love

Masthead-Line-Arrows-Mob

January 22–31, 2021

Welcome

Welcome to The People’s Inauguration!

The event begins in:

Days
Hours
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Daily sessions will unlock as they become available, and will be accessible for the duration of the free 10-day event.

A welcome message from Valarie Kaur

Dear friends,

Welcome to this 10-day journey! I’m so grateful you are here. I’m Valarie Kaur, and I’m excited to partner with Sounds True to bring you this experience.

The People’s Inauguration begins with a kickoff celebration on January 21, 2021, followed by a free 10-day virtual event that will inspire, equip, and embolden you to enter this new era with revolutionary love—love for others, for opponents, and for ourselves.

Each day of the event you’ll hear powerful stories, insights, and wisdom from a wide range of visionaries, and receive hands-on tools and practices to take into your life and community. You can access each day’s presentations by navigating the sidebar on the left-hand side of this page. New presentations will be released each day and will remain available for the duration of our 10-day journey.

If you would like to learn at your own pace or explore even deeper, we invite you to consider the Upgrade Package. It gives you lifetime access, downloadable materials, bonus gifts, and more.
The People’s Inauguration comes at a time of great transition in our nation and world. As we reckon with deep injustice, inequality, grief, and loss, we have an opportunity like never before to reimagine a future that holds all of us in its loving embrace.

Here we go!

With love,

Valarie Kaur, JD
Host of The People's Inauguration
Founder of the Revolutionary Love Project
Author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love

About your host

Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur is an activist, lawyer, filmmaker, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. She has won national acclaim for her story-based advocacy, helping to win policy change on issues from hate crimes to digital freedom. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California, she earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. Valarie’s debut book, See No Stranger, expands on her popular TED Talk.

Daily schedule for The People’s Inauguration

Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston

Emmy-nominated host and New York Times bestselling author

Ari Afsar

Ari Afsar

Singer and composer who originated the role of Eliza in Chicago’s Hamilton

America Ferrera

Award-winning actor (Ugly Betty, Superstore), author, and Harness cofounder

special kickoff event
To kick off our journey into revolutionary love, join Valarie, Baratunde Thurston, and Ari Afsar for a nationwide celebration of healing, inspiration, music, and art to reaffirm our core values and reimagine our future.

Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston

Emmy-nominated host and New York Times bestselling author

Simran Jeet Singh

Simran Jeet Singh

Writer, teacher, scholar, and activist

Allie Young

Allie Young

Storyteller, writer, and citizen of the Diné (Navajo) Nation

Wonder

Wonder is the practice of cultivating an awe-filled, reflective openness to others’ thoughts and experiences, their pain and joy. In this session, Baratunde Thurston, Simran Jeet Singh, and Allie Young discuss how wonder has helped them understand their own experiences and those of others from marginalized communities.

Session Highlights:

  • Why wonder is the wellspring of love
  • Seeing others, even strangers, as a part of ourselves we do not yet know
  • Immersing ourselves in stories outside of our own and our community
Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon

Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon

Leading voice for social justice through the redemptive power of love

Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews

Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews

Deputy director of Faith in Action and host of the Prophetic Resistance podcast

Najeeba Syeed, JD

Najeeba Syeed, JD

Associate professor of Muslim and interreligious studies, Chicago Theological Seminary

Grieve

Those we grieve with, those we sit with and weep with, are ultimately those we organize with and advocate for. Transformative faith leaders Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon, Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, and Najeeba Syeed join Valarie to discuss how grief has forged some of their deepest connections, helping to bridge cultural divides in their communities.

Session Highlights:

  • How is grieving an act of love?
  • Creating rituals for our own grief
  • The importance of showing up to grieve however we are able
Ai-jen Poo

Ai-jen Poo

Award-winning organizer, author, and prominent voice in the women’s movement

Caitlin Breedlove

Caitlin Breedlove

Deputy executive director of organizational advancement, Women’s March

Isa Noyola

Isa Noyola

Translatina activist, cultural organizer, and deputy director at Mijente

Fight
To fight is to choose to protect those in harm’s way; to fight with revolutionary love is to fight against injustice alongside those most impacted by harm. Here, Ai-jen Poo, Caitlin Breedlove, and Isa Noyola discuss how when we fight with and for one another, we begin to build the solidarity needed for collective liberation and transformation—a solidarity rooted in love.

Session Highlights:

  • Recognizing the fight impulse in our bodies, and channeling that impulse into something that gives life
  • Developing metaphorical “swords and shields”
  • Becoming a strong “accomplice” for vulnerable communities
Rabbi Sharon Brous

Rabbi Sharon Brous

Spiritual innovator, named “most influential rabbi in America” by Newsweek/The Daily Beast

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

Womanist minister, author and fierce champion for love and justice

Amy Olrick

Amy Olrick

Author, journalist, and techie studying the science of connection

Maggie Wheeler

Maggie Wheeler

Facilitator, songwriter, choir director, and actress on NBC’s hit series Friends

Rage
To rage is to honor and tend to our own pain so that trauma does not hijack our ability to see another’s humanity. But how do we process our rage in a way that is healthy and safe for ourselves and others? Join Rabbi Sharon Brous, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Amy Olrick, and Maggie Wheeler as they reveal how they harness their rage to grow as people and activists, working toward an anti-racist society.

Session Highlights:

  • Defining and developing “safe containers” for our rage
  • Resisting the urge to disconnect when witnessing the rage of communities of color and others who experience injustice
  • Asking ourselves, “What information does my rage carry?”
Van Jones

Van Jones

CEO of REFORM Alliance, CNN commentator, host of The Redemption Project and The Van Jones Show

Sister Simone Campbell

Sister Simone Campbell

Attorney, activist, and author of the influential “Nuns’ Letter”

Listen
Listening to our opponents is seeking to understand them. It is an act that preserves their humanity—and our own. In this conversation, foremost listeners Van Jones and Sister Simone Campbell reveal why deep listening is not only moral, but strategic in building bridges of understanding.

Session Highlights:

  • What is required of us when we practice deep listening?
  • Listening to our own bodies to know when it is safe to listen to our opponents
  • Why we must risk being changed by what we hear when we listen
Lisa Sharon Harper

Lisa Sharon Harper

Public theologian and founder/president of Freedom Road

Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren

Speaker, activist, public theologian, and author of Faith After Doubt

Deepa Iyer

Deepa Iyer

Writer, lawyer, strategist, facilitator, and coach

Sherrilyn Ifill

Sherrilyn Ifill

President and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Reimagine

To reimagine is to explore a vision of a relationship, community, and world where we all flourish. How would you reimagine the world you want to live in, and what does collective reimagining of our world require of us? Lisa Sharon Harper, Brian McLaren, Deepa Iyer, and Sherrilyn Ifill join Valarie to discuss why imagination has been an essential component of their individual journeys with social transformation.

Session Highlights:

  • Imagining the world we are fighting for, not those we are fighting against
  • Protecting our collective imagination through pockets of revolutionary love
  • Rituals and art as a means of nurturing our imagination
Seane Corn

Seane Corn

Internationally celebrated yoga teacher and humanitarian activist

adrienne maree brown

adrienne maree brown

Writer, doula, podcaster, and pleasure activist

Breathe
Breathing creates space in our lives to think and see differently, enliven our imagination, awaken to pleasure, and let joy in. It sustains us—and each other—in our shared labor. But how do we practice this act of love for ourselves when the labor ahead makes us feel breathless? Join adrienne maree brown to discover why we don’t have to make ourselves suffer in order to serve.

Session Highlights:

  • Discovering our ancestors’ ancient rituals for breathing in community
  • Noticing beauty in the world
  • Taking time in your day to slow down and focus on your breath
Rev. angel Kyodo williams

Rev. angel Kyodo williams

Zen priest and author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace

Susan Raffo

Susan Raffo

Writer, cultural worker, and bodyworker

Push
To push is to choose to enter into grief, rage, or trauma as part of a healing process. Pushing requires us to discern the right times to breathe and rest, and the right time to push through painful sensations, emotions, and thoughts to birth new possibilities. Join Rev. angel Kyodo williams and Susan Raffo as they discuss how breathing and pushing can help us to heal and transform as individuals, as communities, and as a society.

Session Highlights:

  • Investing in healing practices that best serve you
  • Engaging in processes of accountability
  • Exploring the links between inequalities, healing, and justice
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, PhD

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, PhD

Marine biologist, policy expert, and founder of Urban Ocean Lab

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

Senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ and social justice activist

Transition
What awaits us on the other side of our labor? As a medical term, “transition” is the final and most dangerous stage of childbirth—but the metaphor is just as apt in our labors for justice. In this session, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III discuss why we, the people, are America’s greatest hope for transitioning to a better future.

Session Highlights:

  • Becoming attuned to our sacred inner wisdom
  • Finding our deepest courage to keep pushing, even when it is difficult, to birth new realities
  • Asking ourselves, “What stories am I willing to let die in order for new possibilities to be born?”
Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

Iconic singer-songwriter, feminist, and founder of Righteous Babe Records

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

Founder of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

Theologian and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign

Parker J. Palmer, PhD

Parker J. Palmer, PhD

Prolific activist-author and founder of the Center for Courage & Renewal

Resistance Revival Chorus

Resistance Revival Chorus

Collective of 70+ women and nonbinary protest singers

Joy
Joy is the gift of love. Beyond a feeling, joy is the core practice that sustains all others. During this joyful celebration of music and wisdom, Ani DiFranco performs new music inspired by Valarie’s writings, along with special guests the Resistance Revival Chorus. And Valarie interviews three transformative social leaders: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, and Dr. Parker J. Palmer.

Session Highlights:

  • Why is joy a necessary practice of revolutionary love?
  • Noticing and protecting your joy each day
  • Joy as an act of moral resistance and reimagining
Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur, JD

Sikh activist, filmmaker, civil rights lawyer, and leader of the Revolutionary Love Project

Go Forth
To close out The People’s Inauguration, Valarie presents a special send-off to inspire and empower you to “Go Forth” in revolutionary love.

Begin your journey:
Summoning your deepest wisdom

Introductory Teaching & Practice with Valarie Kaur

Within each of us resides a voice of wisdom and self-compassion, but learning to summon it takes intentional practice. In this video session, Valarie guides us to strengthen our connection to this deep wisdom, becoming attuned to what it has to teach us and giving it permission to dispel our inner “not-enoughness.” She introduces the practice of keeping a wisdom journal, which will aid us in each daily home practice throughout this 10-day journey.

“Imagine if a critical mass of us are being led by our deepest wisdom—perhaps that is how we take humanity across this threshold.”
–Valarie Kaur

Theme Song by Ani DiFranco

People’s Inauguration Symbol © Obey Giant Art Inc.
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© 2023 AWARENESS TRAINING INSTITUTE ·
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Presence FAQ

Can I participate in an Inquiry discussion group?

The Diamond Approach is offering live, online Inquiry groups to accompany this course at a discounted rate — $100 for eight, 90-minute sessions, where you’ll take turns with other students working one-on-one with an expert teacher. This is completely optional and available after purchasing Presence.

 

How do I purchase Presence: Venture into the Heart of Enlightenment?

You can purchase it here.

 

How do I access Presence: Venture into the Heart of Enlightenment after I have purchased it?

To access your course, you will need to:

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You may contact us Monday–Friday, 8 am–5 pm MT.
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To access Realization Unfolds: A Conversation between A.H. Almaas and Adyashanti, you will need to:

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I already have the bonus in my library. Can I substitute it for something else?

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How do I know what time live sessions start if I live abroad or in a different time zone?

All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Here is the schedule. Please use a time zone converter of your choice or thetimezoneconverter.com.

 

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Are the sessions live or prerecorded?

The course videos are prerecorded. Videos noted as “Live” are live.

 

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