As many restorative justice practitioners know who actively facilitate any form of circle or conference, or convening with a purpose, there often comes a moment when the sharp tenseness transmutes to....something unexpected, something that allows for a new understand, a new lens on oneself and the "other", a bridge of sorts where none previously existed...you know it, we know it, you've witnessed and so have we....but what is that? How does it happen? What are the conditions for transforming in the face of pain and suffering, with those who harmed us or those we've harmed?  And what are the basic needs we as humans have, across the world, that we can lift up especially during violent and unthinkable collapsing times?

About Shilpa

Shilpa's Substack (full of incredible posts on timely topics)

Shilpa Jain is currently rooting herself in Oakland/Berkeley, CA. For the last 11+ years, she served as the Executive Director of YES!. YES! works with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aims to co-create a thriving, just and balanced world for all. Prior to this role, Shilpa spent two years as the Education and Outreach Coordinator of Other Worlds and ten years as a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India, where she served as coordinator of the Swapathgami (Walkouts-Walkons) Network.

Shilpa has researched and written numerous books and articles, and facilitated workshops and gatherings on topics including globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning and unlearning. Her publications include A Poet's Challenge to Schooling, Reclaiming the Gift Culture, Other Worlds of Power, Paths of Unlearning, Unfolding Learning Societies volumes one, two and three, and several issues of Vimukt Shiksha (“Liberating Learning”) and the Swapathgami newsletter “Making Our Paths of Living and Learning”. She is also co-author of “Connect. Inspire. Collaborate”, a highly sought-after facilitation manual.

Shilpa has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings in India, Jordan, Senegal, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand, Canada, Peru, and the US, working with hundreds of young leaders from over 50 countries. She was founding coordinator of the Global Youth Leadership Collaborative, a network of 15 Jam facilitators from 14 countries that has collectively produced dozens of international gatherings for young changemakers, and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to small-scale grassroots social change innovations worldwide.

Shilpa made the decision to leave the trappings of academia, Washington, DC, and the path of “professionalism” to live and work in greater alignment with her soul's calling. Today, she sees her work as contributing to the deep healing of internal, interpersonal and systemic breakdown. Shilpa is committed to using very simple human technologies to uncover ways for people to free themselves from dominating, soul-crushing institutions and to live in greater alignment with their hearts and deepest values, their local communities, and with nature.

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