Luna Jimenez Seminars

I saw this on my sister Rita’s blog today. And it made me cry.

My father has diabetes as a complication from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; my mother was diagnosed with diabetes in her late 60s but was able to reverse her diagnose through regular exercise and Weight Watchers; when I was 10 years old my grandfather’s leg was amputated after gangrene set in after third-degree burns from sleeping with a heating pad (he couldn’t feel the heat or the burning since his circulation was so poor by then). Type II Diabetes (also called “Adult Onset,” although it is increasingly diagnosed in children) is a pandemic in my family, and especially in my Mexican and Puerto Rican communities. When I was a little girl, I was told this disease is genetic and that I could expect to get it when I got older. Not a question of if, but of when. No information about what causes it. No information about how to live differently to interrupt its course. Just a fact. My destiny.

I have come to understand this disease as one of classism. It’s poor people who marketed to and sold cheap mineral- and vitamin-deficient foods. It’s poor people who do not have access to affordable, organic produce. It’s poor people who are marketed to and sold high-processed, high-sugar foods as a way to numb to our emotions and the injustice of classism. The effects of diabetes are slow and insidious. It’s the socially-acceptable way for us to self-destruct. And then we are targeted and blamed for being fat. And yet it is not only reversible--it is completely avoidable.

Despite no longer being poor, the effects of being raised poor and having parents who grew up in poverty under the full weight of classism, I still struggle to make choices that will support my health and longevity. To not choose food to numb, especially ones high in fat and sugar, I have to notice my emotions, perhaps anger or sadness. As the video highlights, without addressing the emotional components of what underpins food addictions, the struggle is fierce and I would dare argue virtually unwinnable. I will continue to share my insights and thoughts on wellness as a social justice issue--and as a personal act of transformation and human liberation. I hope you will join in the discussion…and find support to keep making choices that treat you as the precious being you are.

As summer kicks off in June, LJS & Associates will return to work with the residential housing staff of UCLA. Lillian Roybal Rose will lead the LJS Team, along with Shoshanna Cogan and Stephanie Gonzalez, in presenting a Transformational Communication workshop to assist staff with skills strengthening and professional development.

Listening is the most powerful tool for transformative and lasting change. Our 2-day seminar, built around a listening practice and framework for understanding the dynamics of institutional power, deepens skills in cross-cultural communication.

Our internationally acclaimed Transformational Communication seminar takes the participant on a life-changing journey that fosters understanding of others by understanding the self.

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In May LJS will present a 3-day customized leadership program for Latina managers at Nike. LJS is excited to collaborate with Nike, one of the premier sports merchandise manufacturers in the world, in its commitment to Latina leaders.

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LJS continues to present monthly Transformational Communication trainings for VOA Oregon. The overall course objective of this engagement for LJS is to provide Volunteers of America Oregon staff with a baseline cultural competency training.

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Some of you have read the LJS Newsletter article on “Authenticity: A Guiding Principle of Diversity & Inclusion” (which I also posted on this blog on February 24, 2010). In the article I refer to a keynote presentation I did with an organization encouraging participants to use their first language–even though no one else might speak their language in the room. Below is a response from the person in charge of diversity programs at that organization who hired me to deliver the keynote. Here are her observations, unedited, post event:

“Hello, Nanci. Thanks so much for the pictures and great article. I really took it to heart. Since the training the biggest difference I’m noticing is that people are talking about things. It’s not always nice stuff. Sometimes it’s expressing feeling hurt by a supervisor’s treatment or the way someone addressed them. Instead of just stuffing things under the rug people are opening up and talking a lot more. The break room is just louder and more vibrant. It seems like people have held back a lot of hurt feelings over the years and now feel like they can talk about them. It’s very different with all these new voices of people who used to be pretty silent. Thank you so much.”

Having more authentic conversations, even though they bring up thoughts and feelings that can be hard to hear or challenging to have, are a sign of success. Sometimes organizations are confused by this turn of events. Organizations assume that if no one’s talking about these issues, then everything is going fine. Quite the contrary–if you create enough safety, more and more conversations will happen, and more issues will come into the light; the silences are be broken. And that is a good thing. The question: do you have the organizational capacity to handle these conversations? Skills building for effective conversations as well as a framework with which to “hold” them is essential if the organization and individuals will move through them, toward true alliances and cultural competency.

LJS will join with Childcare Resources to facilitate a 2-day Transformation Communication workshop at the end of April. LJS will, among other things, assist participants to understand the causes, context and roots of oppressive behavior, with a special emphasis on adultism while teaching the dynamic of institutional and internalized oppression and its impact on them as childcare providers and on the children and families they serve, and how to heal from its effects.

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Collaborative relationships require cultural competency—skillfully guiding group and self to authentic relationships across differences that acknowledge and address power imbalances.

In this 2‐day deeply interactive workshop participants will learn a framework for alliance building, social change and emotional healing that deepens trust and safety. Modeling collaborative co‐facilitation, you will benefit from the knowledge and guidance of two facilitator‐trainers. Built around a unique listening practice and framework that clearly explains the dynamics of institutional power, you will join others on a life‐changing journey to explore the effects of oppression, while fostering understanding and collaboration to enhance your practice as a facilitator.

“The workshop went into the core of what it means to be an authentic facilitator. All facilitators should take this workshop.” IAFNA 2009 Participant

“The learning environment was powerful allowing and supporting each individual to meet their needs. The skill, ability to present of the facilitators added to an amazing process.” IAF NA 2009 Participant

“[The most valuable aspect of this seminars was] learning about yourself—your frame of reference…as a facilitator, [and] as a person—how to be authentic, how to transform yourself in your work, how to transform conflict and increase cross-cultural dialogue.” IAFNA 2009 Participant

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