"More Butterflies, Less Dragons": Accountability and Repair After Harm with Ohad Pele

Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Podcast

If you have ever done the wrong thing, you might have a sense of what it is like to deal with the aftermath. Maybe you denied your responsibility, or hoped that no-one would notice. Maybe you fessed up and found that people can be pretty unforgiving. Or, perhaps those around you understood and could support you to learn from the experience.

In this episode, ISTA Lead Faculty member, Ohad Pele, talks with Simon about his own process of taking responsibility. He entered this process in response to some attendees of his workshops feeling harmed by their experience.

It has been a long and tender process involving peer support, mentorship, trauma training, and deep reflection. As he explains, it is not often obvious when harm might be occurring in transformational spaces. People come to learn, and he has always held the intention to create spaces where people can experience the beauty and power of their own lives.

But there are ever-shfiting nuances in the domain of personal and community growth. Things like individual and collective trauma emerging unpredictably, communication across cultures and diverse backgrounds, and the ever-present possibility of unconscious drives motivating how teachers and students, alike, approach the workshop experience.

It’s a journey that has cracked him right open, humbled him, and given him the resolve to connect even more deeply to his teaching.

This is sensitive and wide-ranging conversation that respects the experience of people on all sides of this conversation, from those who have experienced harm, those who might not have sensed that harm occurring, and those supporting all of us to be better at caring for each other.

It also covers:

• Ohad’s background in Buddhism, shamanism, desert journeys, and the Kabbalah
  
• The difference between teaching techniques and creating space for our souls to shine
  
• The world-shattering experience of being accused of wrong-doing
  
• How it can be difficult to realize the effects of leadership power
  
• What a rigorous repair process can look like
  
• The importance of leading by example
  
• What it could mean to go beyond right and wrong

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