praise

What an honor it is to experience community like the one we held in my Winter Quarter ’18 Liberation Spring Session. As someone who hasn’t before done learning and unlearning in this community-based learning type classroom, I really gained the ability to self-reflect on a deeper level and learned how beautiful learning from those around you is. Anjali is the most amazing person who leads sessions with such grace and wisdom. Anjali makes the classroom environment conducive to having challenging discussions while maintaining community guidelines ensuring folks are okay.  I always leave sessions feeling inspired about our conversations and anticipating the next week’s session. I look forward to taking more courses with Anjali through Liberation Spring to continue the important work it is we are doing in each season.

V.C.
Anjali invited me to sit in on a Liberation Spring “class”.  Expecting a lecture, I was surprised and a bit uncomfortable with the format. I truly appreciated all the thoughts, questions, feelings, and knowledge flowing around me from Anjali and the other participants.  I was challenged by the invitations to share my own.
This fall I took my first course with Anjali and other students of life. As a white cis female baby boomer, I have a lot of unlearning to do. Acquiring deeper knowledge of the  imperialist, colonial, white supremacist foundations of the u.s.a  has been a disturbing and at the same time deeply appreciated and liberating experience. Anjali’s extensive knowledge, diffuse awareness and sharp focus guide us all. Through experiencing Liberation Spring courses, I am gaining the valuable tools with which to identify and build the transformations I seek.
As a visual artist trying to find meaning and have those meanings come through in my work, I find the weekly interactions and education a wellspring of ideas and motivation.
This course has led me on the path of becoming more humble and open-minded, with a keener sense of purpose.
Antonia D. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring is a vital wellspring that has quenched a thirst I didn’t even know I had. Like a moving body of water, ever-flowing, dynamic and powerful, participating in this community has consistently generated insight, resonance and inspiration in my experience. It has washed through my life and re-shaped the way I relate to learning. I had no idea what I was stepping into when I came to my first class and looking back I’m not sure I could have anticipated it. Anjali’s warmth and guidance has brought new insights into sharp focus and helped me to see into my blind spots. I have begun to take more seriously the invitation to stop living in ways that are killing me/us/life and that feels like a step towards greater integrity. Amidst the crumble of some long held identities and beliefs, LS has offered a nourishing ground to grow upon. I feel a renewed sense of commitment to life and an expanded relationship to possibility. I am absolutely humbled and honored to have the opportunity to engage this journey in such unapologetically brilliant company.

Kelsey G. decolonial activism

By the time I enrolled in Gaslight the System in the Fall of 2018, I was experiencing much confusion, frustration, and disappointment in my life. Like many people I was led to believe that my problems were entirely of my own making and if I just changed my attitude, everything would change, but I’ve always suspected something else was going on. I like to explore issues with a wider lens but have often felt discouraged or dismissed. During that season’s course I started validating my experiences and putting more language to what I saw around me. I’ve participated in 4 more courses since then.

Liberation Spring is a space to see what’s behind the curtain, to look at how our systems, structures, and the media have upheld the status quo and causes harm to so many people and our planet. Instead of accepting things at face value, we take a deep dive into various topics and explore with some history and context. Each season I enjoy diving into issues from the variety of perspectives from others in the courses. Anjali’s facilitation is truly remarkable in that she picks up on the nuances of what one has to say and expands on them in ways that are mind-opening and encourage deep insight. Anjali is also a role model for offering compassionate feedback. It gives me hope that there are fellow travelers who are deeply concerned with the state of the world and want to imagine a different one. I also feel encouraged to keep questioning my conditioning and the systems in place.

Felicia B.

This class held space for me where I would not have thought to do so, for myself. After reflecting on the lessons, I’ve learned more than I thought I did. New relationships, sisterhood, and people who come to me to hold space have helped me realize that. I am more clear about my boundaries and I have tightened up my character. The lessons in self expression and practice of consent helps me to be more aware and available to myself (being true) and to my community. I’m definitely moving toward my purpose with this knowledge. Thank you Anjali!

Anonymous feminist activist class

My experience with Liberation Spring (and in particular, the Just Pleasure course) is that Anjali is inexplicably adept when it comes to seamlessly weaving learning objectives into readings, assignments, and group discussions. She has the uncanny ability to create a safe, brave space for connection, critical thinking, and integration of the introduced concepts into her students’ lives—not as distant theories but as lived practices with distinctly political ramifications. As with all of Anjali’s undertakings, her courses are incredibly rigorous and nuanced, and also anchored in deep respect for her students’ lived experiences. There is something incredibly vitalizing about being in a Liberation Spring course. I can expect to be challenged, perplexed, and delighted. I can expect to have my intellectual horizons stretched, to come back to beginner’s mind, and also to know that I’m an integral part of the learning community. This is the kind of consciousness-raising that nourishes me deeply—and reminds me on a daily basis of how my everyday choices impact not just my life, but the collective.

Nirmala N. feminist activist class
Liberation Spring is exactly what I was looking for before I dared let myself imagine it: a space where my full self is welcomed, nourished, necessary. A place to unlearn and learn that centers indigenous women and women of color’s genius and is fiercely decolonial. A community dedicated to healing from violent paradigms that would have us separate our minds from our bodies from our spirits from each other. A project whose aim is nothing less than our collective liberation. An invitation to step into my/our power, grow my/our knowledge and skills, and set my/our imaginations wild and free. Because we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. So what are we waiting for?
T.A. decolonial activism

Liberation Spring has been an invaluable experience for me. Anjali’s engaging pedagogy and the radical material she covers has challenged me to deeply reflect and critically question the ways in which I have been conditioned to move through the world. I have come away from my first season of Liberation Spring with a heightened sense of mindfulness and an eagerness to learn more about all the ways I can begin to decolonize and detoxify every aspect of my life. The (Kitchen) Counter Intelligence curriculum alone has enriched my relationship with food, the earth, other living species, my body, my culture, and my ancestry. I’m extremely grateful to have found such a powerful learning community.

Somaya A. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring was the first time I truly analyzed, on a micro and macro level, the status-quo-building-blocks that I thoughtlessly built my life and identity upon. Liberation Spring was a refreshingly challenging exercise that showed me the full spectrum of my impact as a human in society. It fundamentally changed my perspective on myself and the way I conduct myself on a daily basis because it reminded me that I can question the systems around me.

My first quarter at LS elevated my awareness and continues to enrich my life by the kinds of conversations I’m now able to have with people around me. I’m so thankful for finding this magnificent group of curious learners, and to be fortunate enough to grow along side them while being gently pushed by Anjali to continue expanding my consciousness. For folks who are ready to roll up their sleeves and do some hard work on yourselves: I can’t recommend this journey to clarity and self discovery enough.

Shayan S. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring is an incantation of radical transformation and expansive possibility in which decolonial (un)/learning becomes the tongue we recover together in conversation. This learning community is a rare gift that invokes curiosity, creativity and collaboration outside of systems that disenfranchise people power. Rather than relegate the space into a distinctive separation of teacher/student, each participant takes on both roles and is celebrated for all the wisdom they offer. We learn from hxstory, we learn from ancestors, we learn from seeds and stars, and each other. I am in awe and admiration of Anjali’s heart commitment against erasure, oppression and dismantling the false narratives that keep us stuck in seeing so little for our futures. I have taken part in two consecutive seasons of Liberation Spring offerings: Techno-Skepticism and Revolution 2020. Within these courses, I have come to understand the power of discernment that allows us to see beyond the state sanctioned evil eye of surveillance and LOOK in depth at these unjust realities as they exist to know what we are up against. With our conversations and critical undertakings, we are able to strategize solutions for uprising for liberation at the individual, interpersonal and institutional level. Liberation Spring calls us to action with love. This space is a reminder that we each have the agency to (re)claim our responsibility to fight for a more just reality and this requires us to be in community//in constellation with each other. 

Madhvi T.

Liberation Spring has been an incredible source of learning and a place to come together for our collective unlearning. The process of discovering the roots which are the foundation for creating a more just and loving relationship with life itself are just the beginning of the gifts of this education. I’m immensely grateful for Anjali and the way in which she holds the challenge and opportunity of this path of learning which allows me to step into becoming the most powerful force for collective healing that I can become.

Michelle D. feminist activist class

After six seasons with Liberation Spring covering themes from food to the erotic, technology to spirituality, consciousness to revolution, I can honestly say that the un/learning offered here by Anjali and everyone who joins has already changed my life, and I have no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. Liberation Spring homework and discussion and integration practices have given me opportunities to build a better relationship with my body, to grow a deeper understanding of my gender and sexuality, to navigate difficult changes in consciousness and mental states with confidence and boundaries (and support!!), to situate myself more consciously within the world, and to strengthen not only my practical knowledge and spiritual center, but my faith in hope as praxis, and my resolve toward a true peoples’ revolution.

Bax
I started @ LS during the autumn season of 2018 with “GasLight The System.” That class in particular struck so many chords with me in my adult life. Liberation Spring is a real undertaking: there are no gods too mighty to remove from their pedestals for examination; there are no authorities beyond reproach; there are no issues/reflections too small to discuss. There are no grades but for one to ‘excel’ in LS all that is needed is an open mind, a willingness to learn, and a journal (writings within are considered gifts to one’s future self).
LS has encouraged me to take a hard look at how I was living my life compared to how I wanted to be living my life. I felt empowered with a vocabulary to name and tools to recognize many instances of oppression, propaganda, and gaslighting occurring right before my eyes. LS teaches these, and other, life skills that one can implement as soon as you start the class.
Anjali’s teaching style and the class setup ensures that all students feel safe enough to share deeply and intimately very early on. And by the end of the class, you will be good friends with many of your classmates.
Zanda P.

Colonization’s ancient, insidious agenda is NO MATCH for the Cosmic Oasis that is Liberation Spring. Sacred space for the radical healing of amnesia and imagination, Liberation Spring study is guaranteed to rock to you to the core.

Should you accept the challenge, get ready to see the complexities of the matrix and come face-to-face with the “you” that is both complicit perpetrator and Decolonial Revolutionary. Get excited.

T.K. decolonial activism

Courses with Liberation Spring are a sure way to fall in love with reality. Five Seasons in, I have more questions than I arrived with. Anjali is a gentle, yet fierce, facilitator pointing attendees towards important truths, but refusing to cross participant boundaries to make a point. For this reason, she is able to hold dozens of learners every season in a container of ever-deepening growth, reflectiveness, and engagement.

My life has been greatly enriched and in some ways, complicated, by the learning within this space. When I first heard Anjali speak in a podcast, I was lit up listening to her views on our greater potential and creating healing visions for our future. Her words respect the tangible and root within well-researched historical precedents, without abandoning other forms of knowing (subtle or otherwise).

I hope everyone has an opportunity to participate in these highly accessible courses. May we all unlearn harmful narratives and come home to more dignified, informed ways of being with and of the world. I am grateful for my continuing education with the Liberation Spring community and Anjali.

Natasha T.

Liberation Spring is one of the best, most nourishing medicines we could ask for in these times, a place where our intellectual hungers need not require the disowning of our humanity but in fact, invite the reclaiming of everything we have lost. The magic of Liberation Spring is subtle – on the surface it is coming together for Zoom calls and the discussion of readings carefully curated by Anjali. If you aren’t paying attention, you might miss the way these readings get into your bones and give them room to breathe, or Anjali’s skill at cultivating the kind of inclusive environment and sense of belonging that most only aspire to. One of the readings I will never forget, it shifted my understanding of colonialism, and helped me to more consistently put certain internalized pressures I have felt back onto systems from which they came. In another class, we learned to be discerning in our views on what constitutes ‘progress’ in ways that have continued to stick with me, sharpen my analysis, and continuously bring me back to my best priorities. There are many more moments and insights that impacted me for the better. If you are interested in moving toward collective liberation with honesty and heart, these classes are most definitely for you.

Anonymous feminist activist class

It was a privilege to join LS for the autumn 2019 season “Gaslight the System”. There was no end to the rich and challenging moments of learning and unlearning mental “health” systems’ role in upholding white supremacy and distancing us from our own mind/body/generational trust. This season got me thinking and has kept me thinking about what I haven’t been taught to look for, what it means to be attuned to myself, and what purpose gaslighting serves on a systems level. It was emotional and inspiring listening to others share their stories of navigating systems and their desire to see them uprooted. Anjali is a thoughtful and bold facilitator/educator who created space for discussion, growth, and liberating work. There is so much intention put into this project and LS sessions felt life giving in a way my traditional education has never been. I really appreciated being encouraged to push back on the texts we were given and take everything with a grain of salt, because the gaslighting runs so deep. The urgent need for justice and healing shines through in every LS session, every critique of readings, every uncomfortable discussion, and every story shared in the space. I intend to come back for future LS sessions as soon as I’m able!

Sophia X.

I absolutely love the topics, the amazing and passionate community, the kinship we have, the friendly and safe environment you create when we meet in group. Anjali, I absolutely LOVE how you are a walking encyclopedia! You offer so many amazing resources it’s mind-blowing! If you want to expand your intellect and your heart, meet extraordinary people and gear up to change the world, you must join this group!

Simone W. decolonial activism

Participating in Liberation Spring has been a transformative experience for which I am truly grateful. I initially joined, almost a year ago, largely out of curiosity and the desire for some kind of community with the priority of fighting against injustice. I was really blown away by the knowledge I gained, the connections made, and the deeply personal and political work it inspired for me that will stay with me for life. The coursework is real-life work, and on many levels: political, intellectual, spiritual, relational, and somatic to name a few. Liberation Spring offers an invitation and the tools with which to critically examine and confront challenging issues in the world and in our own personal lives. Liberation Spring also provides an incredibly supportive, healing, and loving space and community – so necessary and yet so rare! I believe all Liberation Spring participants are continually inspired by and grateful for Liberation Spring and each other. Each participant I know is fighting against oppression in their own way, doing incredible work and continually cultivating new ideas and projects, individually and collectively.

On a personal level, Liberation Spring has provided a framework and vocabulary for me to grow as a human being and begin the critical process of un-learning destructive patterns of thinking. Liberation Spring has helped me to heal old wounds, build healthier relationships, cultivate a deeper connection to my roots and ancestors, re-examine my work and its impact, and examine for the first time my relationship to the land which I occupy. Anjali is an incredibly knowledgeable, thoughtful, and supportive teacher, and her care and commitment to our well-being and collective liberation is an inspiration, to say the least. The gratitude is endless, and I recommend Liberation Spring to anybody and everybody – this is about us all getting free!

Grace S. decolonial activism

Liberation Spring (LS) is a learning space like no other. I have been in higher education for 7 years (and counting) and have earned various academic degrees, but no other academic space compares to the level of critical thinking and social responsibility that LS has encouraged me to consider. This space validates my feelings of alienation and stress that result from my experience navigating colonial academia. LS offers courses that are not taught in most colonial educational institutions, nourishes a learning process that triggers critical interrogation about everyday taken-for-granted assumptions about how the world works, encourages an un-learning process of oppressive frameworks with which we are taught to interpret oppressive conditions, and lastly it offers classes at different times so I have the flexibility to choose the meeting times that best fit my schedule. Take a class with LS and you will not want to ever go back to traditional pedagogies that do not value y(our) ancestral knowledge and only serve to make us submissive to oppression. 

Joanna B, MA

Having just completed my first class with Anjali, I am deeply moved by all she offers. In the last three months of my participation in this solidly held container of unlearning, the transformation and movement towards greater liberation from the matrix has been profound. There is a wisdom she shared and an astute understanding of the greater energies at play that not only brought understanding to the waters I swim in as a white woman, but as a human longing to discover deeper self love and belonging in this world. Definitely confronting, but in all the most delightful ways. Thanks again, Anjali for your passion and commitment to truth and liberation. I am looking forward to next season.

S.G. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring is a special and much-needed kind of educational experience. It is not just a class but a community space to learn, unlearn, laugh, and share food and sorrows and anger and ideas. It is the kind of learning space that challenges all of you to show up and that refuses a tired separation between feelings and intellect, knowledge and ethics, and theory and practice. Plans and plots and friendships grow out of it, and it is the kind of learning in which by the end of it, you are not quite the same as when you began. Mad props to Anjali for creating a safe, respectful space to hold difficult conversations about things that need to be shared and talked about and that so rarely are.

Patricia K.

When I first came across Liberation Spring, I was blown away by the courses offered. The content taught in Liberation Spring courses contained the very things I wished we were talking about in my Master’s Social work program. It’s given me a clearer perspective on how the harmful systems we want to push against and dismantle show up in my thoughts, rhetoric and behaviors. Each course you could take over and over, gaining new insights and findings every time. Anjali is a supportive and approachable guide on this journey, which also helps in digesting the wealth of information given to you. I also appreciate that I can take a course and be instantly connected to a community of bright minded and authentic people who are just as passionate about dreaming up different possibilities as I am! I am grateful for access to this invaluable community and knowledge!

Madeline Adele

Liberation Spring is not like anything else I’ve experienced. And that’s kinda the point: no matter what season you’re attending, LS situates what you thought you knew firmly within the constellation of other experiences, perspectives, world views, and histories, making you more aware of the edges of your own reality. Anjali is a generous and skilled facilitator, as well as an encyclopedia of resources. Is there any subject for which this woman can’t recommend five articles, a documentary, and a podcast? I think not. Adults need spaces to be students, in the best sense of the word: to admit what we don’t know, to remember what we do know, and to encounter new ideas in the context of community and conversation. Liberation Spring is an open window when the room of your mind is getting stuffy. It’s a portal to connect with real-life radicals all over the world (and those of us who aspire to be). It’s a substantial gift. 

Addie U.

Liberation Spring is essential education towards habitable and just futures. Spending time in this learning community dials up the brightness of the north star of decolonial feminist inquiry as a guiding orientation to navigate the core issues and root conditions of our time. It is a joy and honor to learn from Anjali, to experience the immense care she pours into the exquisite curation of learning materials and the ways she meets each person where they are at, continually expanding our collective context for critical understandings and liberatory practice.  I brim over with gratitude for this approach to education, which is not about “figuring it all out” in an urgent check-list of response to systemic horror kind of way, but about polishing lenses of discernment as an ongoing practice, inviting humble connection with emancipatory lineages of thought and practice, ethical attunement of our antennae, and posing questions to truly live into for the rest of our lives. My experience of Liberation Spring is of nurturing greenhouse conditions for transformative practice, in real acknowledgment of people’s different paces and rhythms of processing, learning and unlearning, and offering densely coiled seeds that may unfurl over a lifetime.

Zara Z.

A collective exists to uplift, challenge, unify, and liberate ourselves and the various communities in which we exist! Since attending Liberation Spring I have been completely supported in decolonizing and reclaiming the existence of my Ancestors. Anjali brings an incredible, truly captivating, engaging, and profound Spirit to our group which is Beyond what I have ever received in any “traditional academic setting.” I am extremely grateful for Liberation Spring the Collective and Teachings have meant so much to me.

 

Anonymous feminist activist class

Anjali is a very special facilitator, scholar, and educator who is warm, genuine, generous, and brilliant. As a person who is relatively new to the work of decolonization and un-learning, Liberation Spring warmly welcomed me and allowed my questions, experiences, thoughts, and feelings to be there. I really felt supported by the community to take on this journey, and it challenged my biases and conditioning. I’m so glad I started! I gained so much wisdom and knowledge from the time I spent with LS and appreciated accessible materials, resources, deep discussions, insights, creativity, and a sense of solidarity. The challenging topics were often paralleled with expansiveness and possibility. I was often inspired and energized after the class. The awareness and understanding I started to cultivate since my first course, Gaslight the System, have been a very important part in my work as a therapist. I am looking forward to taking more courses and to continue participating in the work of collective liberation. I can’t express enough gratitude to the offering of LS and all the work Anjali and everyone does!

Yuriko D, MA

Liberation Spring is game-changing. The work is deep, and supported by Anjali’s meticulous, comprehensive guidance paired with a group of brilliant, dedicated un/learners. The experience is nothing less than radical transformation.

Catherine P. feminist activist class

Anjali Nath MA² is a brilliant, deeply compassionate decolonial
revolutionary feminist philosopher and teacher. Her Liberation Spring
adult freedom school is a superb opportunity to connect or reconnect
mind, body and spirit in service of our collective liberation. As a
former participant in the critical race theory workshops, I found
resonances in our weekly sessions with that other intellectually tough,
politically grounding, and for me also spiritual experience.  Liberation
Spring though goes further emphasizing nourishment in multiple meanings
of that term. Nath’s class offerings, designed to pull weeds, plant
seeds, and build beloved and liberatory community, are recommended for
all creative radicals, left wing activists, and revolutionaries.

John H.T., JD, PhD. feminist activist class

One of our Liberations Spring cohort recently spoke during a sesh of creating a brave space. In our collective, we do just that: work in solidarity to create a brave space, at once interrogating, transgressing, and transcending dominant learning paradigms, putting theory into practice, and turning conventional academic practice on its head—all in third-space style.

Anjali is (re)born to teach. Her proclivity for facilitating discussion, her gift for carefully crafting curricula, her profound knack for connecting students with a staggering array of spot-on resources, and her obvious love of conspiring to unlearn is immense. In both one-on-one meetings and in our weekly group gatherings, she supports, inspires, and cuts to it: if we want to myth make, reimagine what is possible, dream, think-feel, nourish ourselves and one another, and get down, this work is not luxury—it’s necessity.

Kris G. feminist activist class

I happened to stumble upon Liberation Spring- by chance, a friend invited me on the very first day of the summer gathering. It was a pleasant surprise and I found myself eager to return. These weekly gatherings were perhaps the core of my summer, which was essential in redirecting my energies, uncovering layers of feelings, unsilencing myself, and returning to my body. A return to my body and the present- that is my greatest appreciation. It was also extremely relieving to find myself in a community of women that could cultivate a brave space to share our hxstories, experiences, and voices; as the youngest in the group, I gained an extensive amount of knowledge to aid me in my own journey to feel diving in my being. I felt affirmed in my lived past, my unstable present, and my hopeful present. If I were to recommend Liberation Spring to a friend, I would pass on my experience of community, liberation, and empowerment- if one is looking to expand their horizons with a group of radical women through thought, conversation, lived experiences, and food, to honor our ancestral knowledge, affirm our stories, and liberate our minds from the exclusionary, normative education/history that has been fed to us, Liberation Spring offers a beautiful chance to do so.

I have most enjoyed the space that you have fostered for all of us to come in with our full selves and share; the fact that it is a popular education space where there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ was truly comforting for my soul. I also appreciate the facilitation style, it felt like there was room for all of us to share. I am just really grateful for all of the knowledge that you left me with as well as the time and support throughout the summer!

Ozichi O. E. feminist activist class

I’ve had the joy of learning from Anjali Nath since Fall 2015.  She brings her vast knowledge of social justice, community building, and creating change to education.  I was deeply impressed by her passion and genius.  Her articulation of ideas is incredibly engaging.   She is actually the best speaker and presenter I have ever heard – and I’m not exaggerating.   She is eloquent, clear, and engaging.  And. her voice is so melodious that one feels captivated by what she is expressing.

Actually, I think her poise and clarity of speech is reflective of someone who walks the talk on all levels.  Anjali is deeply spiritual and has done the inner work to engage with people in a highly inspiring, transformational manner.  And, that is what we need today: people committed to the evolutionary path to create a happier, healthier world for all.

I consulted with Anjali regarding a particular controversial topic I was challenged by in my own activist and academic work.  Our conversations helped me to navigate the subject with more clarity and courage moving forward.

Anjali is a visionary of our time.  Anyone would be blessed to learn from her and be guided by her.

Charlotte C. feminist activist class

I’ve participated in LS for 4 seasons in a row now, and our classes have become an important part of my weekly rhythm. A time to reliably connect with others who hold shared interests and priorities, ready to have honest, heartfelt, sometimes uncomfortable but ultimately liberatory conversations. The format of our meetings have been created with such care and intentionality; it is the most trauma-informed space I have been a part of. What a gift to dive into the important content we do within a container like this. It has been a delight to connect with other LS participants, and so much is learned from each other’s perspectives, curiosities, and stories. Additionally, Anjali shares resources and poses questions that encourage deep reflection, growth, and momentum for action. I feel really fortunate to have found this space, and look forward to more seasons with the LS community.

Ellie C.

Gaslight the System was the first course I took at Liberation Spring and it opened up dialogue, critical thoughts, and deep self-reflections. I remember being really drawn to the title of the course and feeling like it strung some beautiful chords for me. It held space to speak freely on what my thoughts were.

Liberation Spring for me is a way to exercise and articulate the thoughts that sit with me throughout my every day life. In this digital age, I have found it difficult to find groups in my community to talk about the topics Anjali provides in Liberation Spring whether it is folks already have done the work or have not done the work and don’t want to start any time soon.

The way Anjali brings forth prompts and facilitates conversations with folks from all backgrounds is both respectful and responsible.

The conversations reaffirm what I think about but also bring to light other perspectives of folks living in this era today.

It is nice to see a collective of people working on these things on a weekly basis and continuing to educate themselves about what goes on current events and issues.

Ji Y. feminist activist class

Anjali is a superb teacher. I have taken about four Liberation Spring classes, and in each one, the readings and other resources have given me new ways to think and feel about consent and violence and the roots and out-growths of colonialism, to name just a few big themes. Anjali shapes and guides each class and every session of every class to be inclusive and holistic. She makes room for participants to show up fully in mind, heart, and body and honestly with any combinations of skepticism, fear, fatigue, curiosity, love, and excitement. Unlearning the traps of patriarchal, white supremacist, capitalist reality can be messy. It’s not easy to bring one’s whole self to the work (and joy) of protecting life and getting free. Liberation Spring offers ways in. 

Anonymous feminist activist class

This work is ground-making. This learning and unlearning literally allows new earth to emerge beneath our collective feet to gently and consciously stand in our truth and growth. My edges were met by the course material and I was able to move through some painful unlearning and since then feel more whole in myself. I am passionate about being of the best service to my children, the future holders, and this course supported my instincts to resist dominant culture structures and values. This course offers alternatives to dying narratives about bodies, boundaries and sexuality born out of the conquest of this land space so called ‘America’. I highly recommend Liberation Spring learning space, Anjali as a facilitator, and this learning material to all humans. So grateful for this community and for the opportunity to participate. Thank you.

aeow feminist activist class

This past season of Liberation Spring titled: Our Spirits, Ourselves was a truly trans formative experience that allowed me to better understand how North American culture attempts to narrow which belief systems are valid while others are kept on the periphery of acceptance. The class allowed me to see how these attempts are a direct assault on my ability to connect to the teachings and practices of my ancestors. I am Mexican American but my ancestral connection is to the land, the skies, and waters that nurtured my bloodline, Before attending this class I hesitant to accept the “accuracy” of my abuelita and abuelitos. However, now I am honored and humbled to revisit their lessons, the use of plants, and connection to the land. I feared being labeled as an atheist or someone that is “making all this stuff up.” However, this class has allowed me to see how these attempts at questioning my spiritual understanding was a result of an attempt to limit my relationship to the land and its energetic influences over my livelihood. This class allowed me to see how important it is for people who are engaged in conscious raising efforts toward liberation to also consider the role spirituality has on our ability to connect with one another through our differences and also our similarities while also recognizing their artificiality.

Johnny A. feminist activist class

I started my journey completely unaware of decolonization theories and collective liberation practices, and Liberation Spring has been a complete game-changer in the way I perceive, think, and interact with the world and my community. Anjali has created a safe space to learn about my own biases and blind spots in a group that is very welcoming and non-judgmental in the learning processes.

I have gained a lot of perspective and insight on various very relevant topics such as capitalism, neocolonialism, antievolutionary systems, feminism, and much more. Anjali’s knowledge has allowed me to explore more deeply my relationship with my local community and has given me the courage to pursue further learning.

Ana K.

My favorite part of LS has been the growing sense of empowerment and awakening I feel as a result of working through resources in a non-hierarchical community of fellow thirsty travelers who share a longing for imagining and creating realities that are juicy. No matter how “crazy” I have felt for most of my life, LS affirms and encourages me to believe in my own bones. I can hardly believe it.

I can’t remember how I originally described our meeting. Something like, ‘i’m meeting with a group of folks who went rogue from the University, including my favorite professor. We’re starting our own school of community education and it doesn’t cost $10,000 a semester. We meet weekly and discuss all sorts of things from political theory to pop culture to dismantling the patriarchy. We’re decolonizing ourselves. I feel held and affirmed and challenged in this group. My crazy is actually an asset here.

 

Grace D. feminist activist class

My favorite part of LS has been the holistic weavings of wisdom, intellectual pursuit, creative inquiry, community building, and medicine.  In a world where the fragmentation of self and commodification of knowledge is cultivated and rampant, LS feels like a nest of abundance where I can welcome home all aspects of myself in pursuit of a focused interest.  This is a place for me to walk the walk- not just talk the talk. A place for me to courageously grow in the support and nurturing of others who share a passion for self and societal transformation. The investment of time and money has already been life changing because we are recreating structures of learning and distribution of resources, building sustainable and supportive community, and authentically weaving spiritual, personal, and political revolution.

What I deeply appreciate about Anjali is her authenticity and courage. I appreciate how deeply she cares for us as individuals. I appreciate her unapologetic, badass presentation of her truth all the while encouraging us to further hone our own.  On a more logistical level, I appreciate Anjali’s accessibility and approachability. I admire and respect her ability to hold space for potentially uncomfortable and challenging conversations with seemingly such ease and connection.  I appreciate her organization of curriculum all the while allowing for organic growth and change.

Eri G. J. decolonial activism

What I appreciate about Liberation Spring most is the fact that it has re-framed what an educational setting, teacher, and learning looks like for me.  There is something magical about learning in a family friendly environment, over a delicious meal, in a home lovingly selected for our classes.  If you have never tried it, I invite you to take a class with us.

What I appreciate most about working with Anjali is how educated, non-judgmental, and experienced she is.  Anjali does not act as if she is better than or knows more than you.  Anjali just simply offers you another lens to see the world or your situation from.  Every time I communicate with Anjali she challenges me to dream bigger, expand past the limits of my own lived experiences and she gives me new authors to research.  Anjali is a phenomenal teacher and personal mentor.  I am honored to be one of her students.

Ashley B. feminist activist class

I keep coming back season after season for more Liberation Spring courses because they provide solid information in a supportive space with lots of dialogue to process, digest, and unlearn.  Anjali’s depth of knowledge, evocative prompts, and thought-provoking “homework assignments” compel me to look at the issue of the season from a variety of lenses, and invite me to see how my own cultural conditioning has informed my assumptions.  All of this takes place in a supportive community where my unconscious beliefs are made explicit and challenged, but in a way that feels generative.  I find it refreshing to learn about the impacts of imperialism and colonization with solid information, grounded in reality, and always with invitations for personal practices for our own healing and to stop perpetuating oppression personally and collectively. I am now able to more quickly recognize and interrupt (when possible) the myriad ways that imperialism and white supremacy are perpetuated in mainstream culture and institutions.  I highly recommend her courses to anyone who wants to lift the veil on the unspoken assumptions of mainstream culture and deepen their understanding of systems of oppression.

Linda R.

This class and the instructor Anjali Nath were so transformative for my growth. At the time of this course I was processing deep sexual trauma that I had just acknowledged that I was holding, and this space not only opened my mind tremendously through a thorough and scholarly framework, but also helped to call into my awareness the knowingness of my being. This community class and space taught me how to be more deeply in tune with my truth and power. Anjali and the other participants did an excellent job in creating a space that felt safe and filled with so much authenticity and vulnerability. The discussions that we had were so rich and deeply personal, with each week it seeming like a new classmate was having deep epiphanies about themselves and their stories. It was so beautiful to heal together with women-identified folks around such a deep and often shamed part of ourselves that really ties into our whole humanity. To see myself reflected in women from different backgrounds and ages (myself and Ozichi Emeziem being the youngest participants) was so inspiring.

Fatima N. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring is a really phenomenal program! I was skeptical of the online learning platform at first, worried that it would not be compelling enough for me to even come to class (since that’s kinda how college was for me). This was double true because I felt pretty knowledgeable about some of the subject matter going into it.  Yet Anjali has really created something special here. The readings were all manageable but enlightening. The prompts were personally challenging in a way that allowed me to set the own rigor of my thinking. The reflections of my classmates really welcomed me to go deep and most importantly, Anjali’s deeply consent based teaching style really let me feel held in going that deep with strangers. I learned a ot more about my self and liberatory possibilities than I expected. I ended up looking forward to the class every week. My classmates and I really felt like a temporary but nourishing intellectual-emotional community. Liberation Spring was truly a great gift, I can’t recommend it highly enough.


Just Pleasure was really an eye-opening experience for me. I’ve been engaging with Black Queer Feminism for years now and it has regularly transformed my life. I was not expecting to be really blown away with anything new in the course but I definitely was. My partner and I took the course together and I found it was challenging for our relationship in really positive way. It both prompted and supported me to ask myself some really deep questions about what actually feels good for me and what pains are standing in the way of my pleasures. The mix of personal reflection and group process was really really transformative for me. Having a space to share things that I rarely let myself think let alone express out loud was really healing. It also made it much more natural and organic for intense conversation about pleasure to arise between my partner and I through the guise of debriefing the class. I think it really helped us name and address some unnamed desires and ask that really opened up our relationship in a beautiful way. I’m really really glad that Anjali encouraged me to take this course, I can’t recommend it enough. 

Aaron G. feminist activist class

As I sit and reflect on my favorite aspects of our Liberation collective…Consciousness raising. Love. Positivity. Awareness. Sharing. Nourishing. Consideration. Powerful. Soulful. Openness. Safe. Dedication. Helpful. Knowledgeable. Supportive. Information. Connection. Revolution.  Awakening. United. Accountability. Community. Uplifting. Respect. Liberating. Diligent. And Effectiveness are a few characteristics that flow through my mind. We are new wave feminist. We are activist. We are artivist. We are environmentalist. We are on a path of spreading righteousness. I deeply feel this is just the beginning…

I feel utmost grateful for the resources and personal experiences that are constantly exchanged during our gatherings. From the care we put into nourishing one another to a member intentionally initiating our spark of the evening, each session is truly therapeutic. Meeting with these lovely folks is the highlight of my week. We are jointly deepening our understanding of systemic oppression, the hurtful effects of colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, and removing the layers of mental slavery.

Our main facilitator is a breathing and high vibrating collection of encyclopedias. This phenomenal woman’s wealth of knowledge is as deep as Badwater Basin, high as Mount Whitney, and wide as the Milky Way. Anjali’s dedication to educating is a blessing and inspirational. She is deeply in touch with her existence and ancestry; superbly supportive in our individual awakening journeys as well as collectively. She has been a pivotal partner in my journey of uncovering and relearning the history of my ancestry and my power. I feel eternal gratitude for this collective.

Tyler M. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring has been an incredible, humbling, passionate and fortifying space for learning and unlearning for me. In courses I’ve taken, there was not only space that allowed me to integrate my body, emotions, spirit, ancestors, and lands into education, but it was encouraged. I have been struck by the way Anjali contextualizes events, concepts, cultural discourse, politics, etc. with such depth. Anjali’s knowledge and ways of teaching has helped me to recognize many ways systems of domination and oppression show up and affect this world and my personal life, catalyzing healing, growth, and mobilization. I really appreciate the ways relationship is centered at Liberation Spring; through direct relationships with the people/communities/land whose materials, practices, teachings are brought to LS, and to supporting relationship-building within and outside of LS. 

If you’re looking for an unlearning/learning space with potential for transformation; where multiplicity and difference is supported; you and your (un)learning are treated with dignity in all the ways you show up; inquiry, critiques, and personal experiences are valued and invited; honesty, authenticity, creativity, accountability, and collective liberation are practiced, please check out and support Liberation Spring.

Eva

Prepare to stretch. Prepare to be amazed. Give your humanity the reboot you didn’t know it was craving.  Liberation Spring is a game changing adventure for the intellect, heart, and spirit. LS offers practical community-based solutions for both living in and re-imagining the modern age of late-stage capitalism in which we find ourselves embedded. Unfurling the fabric of colonial rule and global domination is neither a project for the complacent nor the faint of heart. In fact, it  takes a brave and open one. The processes and curriculum are simultaneously  enlightening, confrontive, confounding, exhilarating, and gloriously messy (like all worthy and noble pursuits).  Anjali Nath is the brilliant thumping pulse of this freedom school  project. She’s the brainchild and lead facilitator of Liberation Spring’s sophisticated decolonial curriculum and intimate learning environment. The pedagogy invites students to learn  by unlearning; to engage with innovative and ancient approaches for reclaiming  land-based and indigenous knowledges for the sake of planetary renewal; one that’s equitable and just for every global citizen and stakeholder.

The most significant take-away for me, personally, was the opportunity to examine and  re-examine my relationship to / with culturally appropriated ritual, ceremony, and practices. This segment of the course–with  Anjali’s apt and mindful guidance –connected me to my own ancestry and mother tongue of origin. Anjali expertly and graciously led us home to deeper understandings of self and heritage by inviting all students to research particular words from our ancestral homelands. This simple yet profound assignment launched my personal journey of inquiry that has now expanded to include the study of Celtic language, Tarot, and DNA testing and mapping.

Anjali Nath’s very warm and cozy Liberation Spring freedom school is comprised of a robust,, generous, engaged, and compassionate community of people who truly care about each other and who are fervently committed to the formation of a renewable world.  Liberation Spring is a rare standout from the crowd of many contemporary activist spaces and modern affinity groups which get bogged down in bureaucracy, infighting, and the prevalence of hostile call-out culture that shames members who are in the early stages of waking up from the collective sleep walk of imperial supremacy. Liberation Spring is the antithesis of shame-based anything and is one of the safer and more intimate learning spaces available.

 

Kelly J. K. decolonial activism

I am deeply impacted by Liberation Spring and the space Anjali has created for questioning, consciousness-raising and discovering the vast areas of work that are being cultivated in the spirit of decolonization, across the planet. Educational spaces have historically been traumatizing for me, and this has been a revolutionary and healing experience for me to see how a learning space can exist in support of un-learning, and ‘pulling out the weeds’, all the while making space for new wisdom and creativity. Every week of the class, I find myself humbled to witness the warriorness of Anjali and so many class-participants who actively resist the powerful tides of dominance and oppression that colonial systems and societies are built on, while acknowledging ancient wisdom traditions that continue to resource these movements of resistance. In a world where I find myself frequently manipulated to believe that my vulnerability is weakness, where my subjective realities are considered inferior to the objective rules built to maintain the status quo of power-dynamics, Liberation Spring has given me the energy to identify and name the phenomena of oppression, and to reclaim my truths as I strive to exist in service of authenticity and collective liberation.

Shalini R. feminist activist class

Liberation Spring provides a unique and much needed space for critical thought and personal reflection. At a time when the effects of militarization, environmental degradation and profound racial injustice are becoming obvious to more people, it is all the more important that we have spaces to learn how we got here and re(imagine) where we can go. So much of this critical information is not taught in school and not shared on mainstream media. The sessions are truly a model of liberatory education – provocative, insightful, and transformative. What makes them so special, other than the material and Anjali’s masterful facilitation, is the invitation to engage on a deeply personal level. How else would we get free?! Are we unwittingly replicating within our organizations or relationships the same oppressive forces we are trying to combat? Are we taking the time to heal our own trauma so that we don’t pass it on to others? The only way out is through… Knowing that the personal is not separate from the collective allows us to offer and receive more support, all in service of the whole. Anjali’s ability to offer feedback with compassion is very helpful as many of us leap and stumble on the path of collective liberation.

 

Ioana T. decolonial activism
Liberation Spring will literally blow your mind. It creates a much needed space for unlearning and relearning. Your fragility will be tested. The community of learning is supportive and Anjali is a walking encyclopedia. Wanna make a change in the way you navigate the world? Then this course is for you.
Uzo N. MSN RN decolonial activism

I started Liberation Spring looking for a space where I could continue to understand who I am and what each of my identities represents. From the very beginning it was clear that LS would provide me with the community, knowledge, and critical lens to empower me to discover and continue discovering just that. Each class is a tight knit community, full of love and support, something that traditional forms of education deeply lack. I would never be at the place where I am in tune with my body at this level, aware of how I contribute to systems of oppression, and optimistic that collective liberation is possible if not for these courses and the people who took them with me.

Each season of Liberation Spring is a beautiful, deep dive examining your past, current and future self with expert guidance from Anjali along the journey. With educational information, personal challenges, and collective goals in mind, Anjali creates a brave space where nuance and discernment flood every class. There is no end to the hard work and no end to the healing while you navigate throughout each season. I highly recommend investing in yourself and all of humanity by partaking on a season of learning and unlearning with Liberation Spring.

Sam W. feminist activist class

I am a lifelong student, and Liberation Spring is one of the most deeply satisfying learning environments that I have ever been a part of. Anjali is extraordinarily gifted at curating exceptional content from diverse sources. I also love that the content is accessible to all, even those not enrolled in the class. Anjali creates a deeply experiential, trauma-informed classroom where all class participants can express themselves authentically in a process of learning and un-learning. I’ve had many mind-opening experiences, including a renewed interest in exploring, reclaiming, and re-imagining my ancestral heritage, as well as new frameworks and perspectives for understanding a variety of subjects relating to sexuality and justice. I look forward to future seasons with Liberation Spring, and continuing to put into practice what I have learned and un-learned. I highly, highly recommend any of Liberation Spring’s courses to anyone seeking to expand their intellectual and political horizons.

Leah H. feminist activist class

Participating in Liberation Spring’s Summer program “Just Pleasure” was the absolute best investment I made this year. Anjali’s carefully curated writing prompts, content and leadership set me on a trajectory into much deeper inquiry and shifts in my work. As a placeholder for other female leaders, I was struggling with finding the balance in language-ing and direction in the fast-paced shifts in our cultural landscape, and this program allowed me to sit with those changes without having to move too quickly through it. Anjali is way ahead of our times in terms of what we need to bring more balance in human relations. What reverberates the most for me is the piece around anti-oppressive and trauma-informed approaches to consent and building boundaries — it is a framework that will carry me through my lifetime, and one I get to pass down to my son. I am deeply grateful for this program and how it has taught me to be my own permission giver.

Sonali F. feminist activist class

I am profoundly grateful for the Liberation Spring community and Anjali’s abundant compassion and rigor in cultivating this space for unlearning. This is the real deal. Decolonial, trauma-informed inquiries into potent topics ranging from pleasure to revolution without posturing or pretense. Unapologetic truth-telling regardless of what’s trending because if we’re serious about collective liberation we’re not getting there by passing a social justice jargon entrance exam. 


For me, that’s looked like legally changing my name. Reclaiming a spiritual heritage that has both drawn me into a deeper relationship with Creator and a deeper accountability for the ways in which Christian Empire has devastated Indigenous peoples and our planet. I am showing up in my activism and community organizing with greater integrity and discernment, while simultaneously taking care of and nourishing my body/mind to keep the work sustainable.


I would have never, ever guessed the reverberations that would come from a 3-hr weekly meeting and carefully crafted curriculum over 1 1/2 years with this project. I cannot more highly recommend, and regularly do to people I love who care about peace, justice, the future of humanity & our beloved Earth.


Thank you for all your hard work, Anjali! Looking forward to many more seasons of “pulling weeds and planting seeds”! 

Amy TK

I found Liberation Spring during a confusing and frustrating time in my life. As a Muslim American, I constantly felt rejected by the place I called home and was struggling to reconcile and honor all of my identities. LS was a space in which I could sit with the discomfort, gather my strength, and channel my energies into learning, growing, and serving my community. The topics of the season are incredibly relevant to the times in which we are living, and Anjali is a master teacher and facilitator that brings out the innate learner in each of her students. I’m excited to rejoin LS in the summer, and eternally grateful for Anjali, the space, and the community members that make LS a true gem of the Bay Area.

Sadia S. decolonial activism

Liberation Spring empowers and motivates me through my process of unlearning and learning. I am consistently inspired by the work of my peers and mentor, who move with humility and groundedness, and intentionality. I appreciate the value of intellectual knowledge as well as the somatic, the spiritual, the emotional knowledge that comes from our lived experiences, knowledge that is not found in books or technology, but in our bodies and ancestral roots. The education I’m receiving from Liberation Spring is absolutely foundational in my work as an artist and activist, and for me this is a lifelong commitment. Now more than ever we need communities like this to thrive.

 

nicole g. decolonial activism

Taking courses with Liberation Spring has been a global learning experience for me. Within Anjali’s courses I have been challenged, expanded, created community and have learned about new ways of seeing the world and what is possible in education. This classes are transformational personally and professionally and although the content can be confronting, I am inevitably met with a safe space where everyone has a voice. I cannot recommend this work enough.

Nicole M., MA feminist activist class

Liberation Spring is a deep well of truth that washes away the lies of omnicidal dominant culture from consciousness, one class gathering at a time. Anjali stewards with clarity the political reality of these times with compassion, comradeship and rigor. This is a school to return to season after season if you are interested in hearing honest and dynamic analysis about what is going on right now in the so-called United States and the world. In the process of unlearning in this freedom school format, I have found myself both healing educational trauma as well as coming into a greater capacity to navigate these intense times with my own clarity and purpose. As a white person who occupies a position of privilege in a white supremacist culture, I say to my fellow white folx that we must do this essential work of unlearning and removing our blindspots in order to show up as true accomplices in the collective liberation movements of our times. Thank you, Liberation Spring, for your radical, liberatory education!

Gaia E., M.A.

Liberation Spring is the fresh dose of community, solidarity and perspective I needed. As a professional, academic and activist trained in Euro-Centric institutions, connecting to people and organizations who function beyond this paradigm is crucial for my sanity and sense of stability. Anjali models what it looks like to stand firm and embody decolonial values and therefore gave me permission to do the same. She models the standards, the boundaries and validated my experiences and needs around liberation, solidarity and freedom. During my time participating in Liberation Spring, I’ve gained resources that I’ve used with my therapy clients, professional colleagues and on my personal journey. I’ve gained clarity around my purpose, as well as empirical knowledge to legitimize my praxis in the White supremacist and colonial society I live in. Though I’ve never actually met Anjali in person, my interactions with her always make me feel as though we are a part of a global community committed to liberation. Anjali is generous with sharing herself and her gifts through Liberation Spring and is truly an accessible spring of wisdom, knowledge, perspective and critical consciousness. I feel grateful to call Anjali community, colleague and friend and will continue to engage with her offerings and would recommend them to anyone wanting to walk a decolonial path toward liberation. 

Muriel V., MA

Intimately transformative, soulfully cleansing, mentally gripping. A brilliant celestial shower of thought and experience that encompasses lifetimes of generational struggle; all well crafted and presented in a way that exposes oneself to both ancestral paths of grounding, and a true wellspring of liberation. For the activist, this is an opening to the infinite possibilities of growth and the work of decolonizing one’s personal being.

Sulaiman H. feminist activist class

 

Liberation Spring
Is a river that shapes me
Softening edges

 

 

Your healing and mine
There is no separation
Decolonize now

 

 

Unlearn to relearn
Truth and authenticity
Self-loving classroom

 

 

Accepted, challenged
Alternate alternatives
What brings you alive?

 

 

We collaborate
We show up for each other
No obligation

 

 

Radical self care
While creating new structures
Listen to the plants

 

 

With new perspectives
Freedom is my horizon
Gratitude is fuel

 

Ross W. decolonial activism

Taking a class was Anjali was truly transformative. Never have I been so challenged, yet felt so cared for at the same time. I left each class with ideas I had never before considered, reflections that made me rethink my sense of self, complexities unearthed and explored, and a deep feeling of belonging and having a place in this world. My thoughts that had previously been labelled as too radical were the baseline in class, and I loved it! Thinking about the community of people that Liberation Spring has brought together gives me such hope; this is a revolutionary education!

Alison A.