Ro Horton and Swan Keyes: UNtraining Cultural Conditioning

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Whether aware of it or not, and no matter how liberal one’s belief system may be, all white people are culturally conditioned into racism. Undoing this cultural programming requires conscious work, and our guests today have dedicated their lives to undoing their own conditioning and facilitating the transformation of others. 

Ro Horton is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the UNtraining; a program designed to guide people through the process of undoing racism. Ro has been working in this field since 1994 and has been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for over 30 years. Swan Keyes is a psychotherapist, consultant, and racial justice educator dedicated to dismantling white supremacy and other forms of oppression. She’s been engaged with the UNtraining since 1997, first as a student, then as a teacher.

In this episode, we discuss the far-reaching effects of cultural conditioning, white people's resistance to recognizing their racism, and the process of “UNtraining” racist programming. Ro and Swan share their personal transformation journeys, and what led them to this line of work. We learn about various UNtraining tools and benefits, the concept of multidimensional consciousness, and more. Tune in for inspiration to connect across differences, and protect our world and each other. 

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Key Points From This Episode:

  • Ro Horton and Swan Keyes’ respective journeys to their work of undoing racism. [0:02:48]

  • The challenge of undoing cultural programming. [0:15:46]

  • The UNtraining purpose and process. [0:16:31]

  • The far-reaching impact of racist conditioning. [0:23:28]

  • How “isms” can be used in the UNtraining process. [0:24:56]

  • Ro and Swan’s personal transformations through their work of UNtraining. [0:26:52]

  • Tracking as an UNtraining tool. [0:33:49]

  • The concept of multidimensional consciousness. [0:39:03]

  • The importance of working together for the survival of our species. [0:41:07] 

  • The undoing of social conditioning as a healing tool for anxiety and depression. [0:45:13]

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Tweetables:

“The population of Untouchables in India is larger than the entire population of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and these are some of the most oppressed people in the world.” Ro Horton — [0:04:37]

“The whole field of psychology in the United States and Europe is based on a Euro-American model of health.” — Swan Keyes [0:15:46]

“Every single white person is conditioned. It’s like breathing smog in a city … you can’t avoid it, and you don’t know that you’ve breathed in smog, yet it’s affecting you. Likewise, the conditioning [of racism] is like that.” — Ro Horton [0:17:50]

“The people who are going to be feeling the strongest effects of climate change will be people of color and poor people.” — Ro Horton [0:36:00]

“If we don’t come together across difference, I don’t think we have too much of a shot as a species of survival right now.” — Swan Keyes [0:41:26]

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The UNtraining: https://untraining.org/

Unlearning Oppression: https://www.unlearningoppression.com/

Swan Keyes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swan-keyes-04878032/

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