Communities of Practice

Our 25 years of research with tens of thousands of clients has taught us that what ails most modern people is a lack of deep connection to Self, Others, and the Living World. If we don’t feel safe at an embodied level, it is very difficult for us to turn on the physiology of Connection, which is the biological foundation of wellbeing. Our expertise is in creating nests. We build safe, authentic, multi-cultural spaces while teaching people to turn on Connection, and helping them remove what gets in the way (trauma). When this happens, many types of physical and mental distress and disease simply dissolve.

THE MODEL

Ancestrally, the campfire is the original classroom. It is where we gathered to keep warm, tell stories, tend the children, cook meals, and stay safe. This ancestral hearth in the Living World, and the circle around it, are at the heart of our work. Our experience is that most modern people are not receiving the proper connection nourishment that humans require in order to flourish. To this end, we have worked with more than 40 mentors in 20 disciplines of wellbeing across more than 20 cultures, with over 1000 years of experience, to unite cutting-edge neurophysiology and ancestral awareness into a model of development that turns on human connection systems.


The Restorative Practices Neurodevelopmental model has four parts. It begins with a set of proprietary assessment tools that we have developed with our mentors. The heart of the experience is a ten session LIVE class that meets for 3-hours every two weeks. Pre-COVID it met face-to-face, in one of our outdoor classrooms. During COVID times, we are meeting remotely via Zoom. Class is facilitated by two certified instructors, of different gender and ethnicity, and comprised of a group of 10-15 participants, that exceeds a diventity (density of diversity) threshold. You will meet with this same group for five months. Our meetings are experiential teachings in connection, and the removal of what gets in the way. Between sessions, you will be assigned a film in the Restorative Practices Film Series, which everyone in your cohort will watch together, building a shared conceptual and theoretical language. Based on your individual assessments, you will also receive practice recommendations. Restorative Practices are targeted neural exercises selected specifically for you, from our library of well over 200 practices.

The Program & The Platform

We built the platform from scratch.

The premise of our learning platform, which is built into its DNA, is that we remember things because they are relevant to us, not because someone else told us they should be. We are passionate when we have skin in the game, when we can see and feel how an idea or a practice matters in our day-to-day lives. We spent seven years having conversations with over 5,000 wellness professionals to crowd-source our practice model. We’ve tested it with over 10,000 clients.

Proprietary Assessments

Working with our mentors, we’ve developed a set of proprietary assessment tools to map your landscapes of connection, and your particular ways of responding to distress. This mapping allows you to visualize the dynamic edges of your own development, and target practices to address them. This gives you very granular information about where to focus your practice for maximum benefit.


Test Drive the platform.

The building blocks of the platform are practices, and the relationships between them. At present, there are well over 200 practices on the model. Practices are video-based, shot in 4K and professionally produced by our film division. Every practice also lists all of the Related Practices on the model, so that you can see and experience the connections between them, and follow where your interests lead.


The Restorative Practices Film Series: The Art & Science of Awaking Connection & Wellbeing

Humans don’t share a context anymore. It is part of what makes it so difficult for us to understand one another. Ancestrally, living on shared land, inter-dependently, with a shared culture, we saw the same world. Now, not so much. We created the Restorative Practices Film Series to create a common language, and a shared frame of reference for our participants. It highlights the work of a variety of our mentors, and walks you through a progression of ideas & experiences.

A co-learning community.

For five months, you'll work in a close-knit multi-cultural community of 12-15 members, with two trained facilitators. You will have the option to continue with your group once formal facilitation has completed. Almost all of our communities of practice thus far have continued...

  • Autum Romano
    Somehow you've created a ventral vagal space in a computer. Wow!
    Autum Romano
    Author of Body Wisdom and the Polyvagal Theory
  • Like Masterclass on ayahuasca.
    Restorative Practices Deep Learning Platform
  • Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, FAAP
    This work feels like a foundational piece of wellness and overall health that I feel has long been missing from the medical conversation. I love how it is based in the science of how we function- it is very practical, very direct. I’ve witnessed its effectiveness with my patients. These are places that I don’t think traditional medicine or mental health has succeeded in reaching, and I find this work extremely inspiring and hopeful in its implications for healing.
    Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, FAAP
    First Surgeon General of California
  • Amy Keala
    I use the tools we are learning in Restorative Practices every single day. With myself, with my family, with my clients. Everybody. Every day.
    Amy Keala
    Participant, Restorative Practices cohort
  • Participant
    I’m not even sure how to talk about the healing I experienced in ordinary language. Things happened in my body when we were practicing together that I’ve never experienced before. At the end of the second day I felt more relaxed and settled than I’ve ever felt. Unbelievable.
    Participant
    Restorative Practices Training
  • Anna Minsky, Mental Health Professional
    The Restorative Practices training has been exactly what I’m looking for in the next step of personal and professional development. The ways in which neuroscience, direct practice, systems thinking, nature connection, and self-exploration are woven together has made room for me to be more skilled, present, and nuanced in my work and in my life.
    Anna Minsky, Mental Health Professional
    Restorative Practices Cohort Participant
  • Dr. Drew Factor, MD
    The Restorative Practices program challenged me in ways which were both 'eye-opening' and 'heart-opening'. I learned a tremendous amount about the essential qualities of being connected to myself and the participants, and the difficulties of doing so with ease. Despite these challenges, I felt 100% supported by the wisdom of the participants and the skills of the facilitators. This course is not for the faint of heart, though it will surprise you with the growth potential that you didn’t think possible.
    Dr. Drew Factor, MD
    Restorative Practices Cohort Participant
  • Dr. Samata Vasisht
    After years of facilitating leadership groups for resilience and wellbeing with my background in holistic wellbeing, I was completely blown away with the heart and spirit of this cohort/community in Restorative Practices.I was longing to meet real people who have real conversations about real things in the real world. I noticed my own armour/mask dissolving and I recovered huge chunks of my own heart which was fragmented and numbed through years of protection from covert discrimination and injustice which I had accepted as part of my life. It was an incredibly healing experience... I notice my energy is flowing once again and am still integrating and learning. A deep bow and feeling blessed is the only appropriate response here.
    Dr. Samata Vasisht
    Restorative Practices Cohort Participant