Jia-Ba-Bue Somatic Leadership Beyond the Binary | USABP Speaker Series

Description

In a world driven by rigid binaries—success vs. failure, mind vs. body, us vs. them—there is little room for nuanced, meaningful conversation or innovative thinking. The complexity of our time calls for a new model of leadership and healing: one that is embodied, relational, and systemically aware. Jia-Ba-Bue—“Have you eaten until full?”—is a Taiwanese greeting that reflects an embodied ethic of care, relational presence, and attunement to human needs.

Dr. Yi-Li Godfrey—a Juilliard-trained musician turned Radical Aliveness practitioner and crosscultural facilitator—invites you to move beyond traditional command-and-control paradigms and into the transformative field of Somatic Leadership.

Wisdom from Lived Experience

As our world becomes increasingly complex, clinicians are called to work beyond technique and theory alone. Each of us is a unique individual shaped by personal history, cultural and geographic location, and professional journey. When integrated with self and systemic awareness, this personal and cultural knowledge becomes a profound source of wisdom.

Lived experience serves as an internal compass—guiding intuition and shaping interventions and inquiries organically. When used skillfully, it allows us to meet clients not from a place of rigid authority, but from a source of healing presence that textbooks alone cannot reach. This is the field where binaries soften into wholeness, and where clinician and client co-create healing that is relational, contextual, and alive.

Main Points of Presentation

The Living Symphony

Drawing from her evolution from a “musical genius” in Taiwan to her training in Radical Aliveness and DEI facilitation, Godfrey weaves ancient Eastern philosophy with contemporary systemic practices. The result is a living symphony explored through:

• The Somatic Leadership Chord Framework — An integrative model for harmonizing cognition, emotion, and physical presence to cultivate authentic authority.

• Ancient Wisdom for Modern Systems — Applied Taoist (Wu Wei) and Confucian principles that foster empathy and resilience within high-stakes environments.

Deepening the Therapeutic Alliance

For the somatic practitioner, this framework offers a map for the “in-between.” By harmonizing our own internal chord, we transform the therapeutic alliance from a clinical transaction into a resonant, embodied partnership. This approach allows practitioners to hold systemic complexity without losing grounded presence—turning the healing space into a site of collective restoration and creative possibility.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Differentiate between the clinician’s own healing objectives and those of the client to maintain therapeutic clarity.

• Describe the core principles of Jia-Ba-Bue: Somatic Leadership Beyond the Binary and its roots in body psychotherapy, Taoist philosophy (Wu Wei), and Confucian relational ethics.

• Identify how embodied awareness influences relational dynamics, power, and inclusion within clinical, organizational, and community systems.

• Recognize the binary narratives that are often embedded in traditional therapeutic interventions.

• Integrate somatic leadership practices into psychotherapy, facilitation, and organizational consulting settings.

> This event will be recorded and available for members and non-members who register for this event. This course will not include CEs.

Bibliography

1. On Somatic Philosophy and Self-Awareness

• Gendlin, E. T. (1981). Focusing. Bantam Books.
Connection: Grounds the practice of internal bodily awareness (the "felt sense") as the primary source for both deep self-awareness and authentic care for the other.

2. On Systemic Evolution and Leadership Development

• Laloux, F. (2014). Reinventing Organizations. Nelson Parker.
Connection: Maps the evolution from "either/or" hierarchical models to "both/and" evolutionary systems, mirroring the move toward somatic wholeness and organizational purpose.

• Torbert, B., & Associates. (2004). Action Inquiry: The Secret of Transforming Leadership. Berrett-Koehler.
Connection: Validates how increasing internal self-awareness "in-action" allows leaders to navigate complex, high-stakes environments with greater systemic efficacy.

3. On Cultural Competence and Systemic Trauma

• Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother's Hands. Central Recovery Press.
Connection: Supports "Healing Beyond the Individual" by grounding somatic practice in ancestral and systemic contexts.

• Sue, D. W. (2001). Multidimensional Facets of Cultural Competence. Counseling Psychologist.
Connection: Provides the clinical framework for cultural competence. Sue’s work helps clinicians identify the "micro-level" behaviors and "microaggressions" that occur when systemic awareness is absent in the therapeutic alliance.

• Thandeka. (1999). Learning to be White. Continuum.
Connection: Illustrates the "somatic cost" of racial socialization and how binaries of identity are often constructed through the internalization of shame and the suppression of the core self.