Leap of Leadership
Community meet-ups with Spring Co-CEO Archana Deshpande
September 25: "Centering in Action": Leading with your body's wisdom
1 PM UTC | 6 AM San Franciso | 9 AM Toronto | 3 PM Cape Town | 8 PM Jakarta (Find your time zone)
“The world we long for must begin in our own bodies—by transforming what is harmful into what we long for: presence and love."
So says Angelika Arutyunova, a feminist resourcing activist, facilitator, strategist, thought leader, and somatic practitioner.
In these times of rapid change, it can sometimes feel impossible to stay on top of everything and show up with kindness and clarity for yourself, your team and your community. How then, can you embody the presence Angelika talks about? What practical tools can we all use to notice when we are aligned with that presence–or not?
In September’s Leap of Leadership meet-up, Angelika will guide us through “centering in action,” practices that help build somatic awareness. Through a blend of embodied exercises and candid reflections from her own humbling journey of recognizing and unlearning harmful patterns, this session will support you to better understand some of the habitual emotional responses and protective armour you carry.
What emotions come most easily for you? How do they take care of you? And, where might they keep you stuck in patterns that no longer serve you or your leadership? Emotions, like muscles, strengthen with use. By recognizing them and thanking them for what they’ve offered, and gently making space for new ones, we can expand the range of how we can show up—for ourselves and others.
Angelika will offer some practical tools for us to try and add to our leadership toolboxes: meaningful ways to stay centered, to recognize when your body and mind are aligned (or not), and to create more choice in how you respond to challenges. Without judgment, these practices can create room for curiosity, resilience, and a wider sense of possibility—even in turbulent times.
Angelika Arutyunova
Angelika Arutyunova is an international social justice leader, resource activist, and somatic practitioner with over 20 years of experience bridging philanthropy and movements. She has co-founded pioneering funds such as FRIDA: The Young Feminist Fund and Dalan Fund, and held leadership roles at the Global Fund for Women and AWID, where she led landmark research on “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights” and directed the 2016 AWID International Forum.
With deep roots in women’s, youth, and LGBTQIA+ movements, Angelika has advised foundations, UN agencies, and social justice networks on resource mobilization, participatory grantmaking, and the politics of money. Today, she is pivoting toward working directly with wealth holders—bringing her training in somatic practices to support courageous, embodied approaches to resource redistribution that align wealth with justice, healing, and long-term systemic change
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Archana Deshpande
Archana Deshpande is the host of Leap of Leadership, Spring Co-CEO and a multilingual, creative rights advocate, strategist, facilitator and Integral Master Coach™. She believes major strides towards justice, life-giving societal change and liberation are possible through the cultivation of generosity, presence, strong communities along with intentional actions.
Previously, Archana led the creation and expansion of OpenGlobalRights — a multilingual, global forum that explores human rights policies and strategies as well as managed and conducted research on human rights organizations and public perceptions of human rights in India, Mexico, and Morocco. She has co-authored various publications on the resource mobilization challenges and opportunities for human rights groups in the Global South and is passionate about finding innovative ways to sustain and expand social and climate justice initiatives.
Learn more about her on our About Us page!
