Radical Aliveness Institute

Radical Aliveness Institute When you can engage powerful feelings without the need to control or tame them, that's Radical Aliveness.

Come alive to your authentic self and awaken the radically alive leader within. Radical Aliveness is a transformative process that works with the body's energy and uncensored emotions. In a safe but highly charged group setting, participants achieve cathartic healing and raw, honest connection with each other. Developed by Ann Bradney, this work is a further evolution of Core Energetics. Drawing o

n Core's body-based techniques, Radical Aliveness creates a space where individuals are encouraged to step into their own authority and become influential leaders who are present and involved in the world. We offer professional training, workshops, and community events:

• 2-Year Radical Aliveness Core Energetics Leadership Training Program, led by Ann Bradney and Resident and International Visiting Faculty; meets in Malibu, CA for five modules each year

• 4-Year Radical Aliveness Core Energetics Professional Certification Training Program, led by Ann Bradney and Resident and International Visiting Faculty; meets in Malibu, CA for five modules each year

• Weekend Workshops, led by Ann Bradney in Santa Monica (and occasionally in other cities); those in Santa Monica are offered five times throughout the year with different themes

• Advanced Weekend Workshops, led by Ann Bradney in Santa Monica; offered once or twice a year; open to those who have attended at least two Weekend or Esalen workshops with Ann

• Weekly Process Groups led by Ann Bradney in Santa Monica; meets weekday evenings 7-9pm; ongoing groups with minimum consecutive 12-week time commitment

• Workshop Retreats led by Ann Bradney at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, and at Hollyhock in Cortes Island, British Columbia; offered several times throughout the year; (registration is made through Esalen, Omega and Hollyhock; overnight stay included)

• Introductory Evenings / “Mini-workshops” led by Ann Bradney, Friday nights before Weekend Workshops (formerly at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood; new times and location TBD)

• Introductory Evenings / “Mini-workshops” led by Faculty member Patricia Haman at Mystic Journey Bookstore in Venice, California; offered throughout the year

• Free Community Evenings led by trained members of the Radical Aliveness Community in Santa Monica; offered once a month

• International Radical Aliveness Trainings, led by Ann Bradney in Israel, Mexico, and the Netherlands; throughout the year

Our final day people were using every moment of time. Time is precious, for so many reasons. Time is precious because it...
05/19/2025

Our final day people were using every moment of time. Time is precious, for so many reasons. Time is precious because it is not promised. Time is so obviously precious in a war zone. Time is precious because our time as a group is coming to an end. Time is precious because in three years we have lived through so much and have come to know each other, come to witness each other, come to share our deepest challenges, and stories and hurts and joys with each other.

I feel this myself; I don’t want this to end. I don’t want life to end. I want to stay forever, and I know this is not possible. And with this knowledge of endings, of the inevitable goodbye that is always present when we allow it into our consciousness, every moment is to be cherished.

Can you imagine the feelings of – “I don’t want this to end” in the middle of war? Can you imagine the magic that helps us long to be together as the world tries to tear us apart?

In some ways this feels like such a fundamental reality to me, this precious feeling of love and connection. But oh, so many things keep us from knowing this feeling. Our learned hatred, the structures that stratify and convince us that some should have more while others have less. The endless diversions that keep us numb to our own being and slumbering through life.

I once had a dream, when I was a very young child. In that dream I was an old lady, and I was running around to everyone I met saying ‘WAKE UP, today is the only day you have.” I know this to be true more and more the older I get. I know this deeply when I am here. I am doing my best to wake up. I love witnessing people opening their eyes. I appreciate all of those who have helped me open mine. I hope to wake up tomorrow. With gratitude for each moment. WITH YOU! - ann

We are at the end of 6 days, having a beautifully led meditation on the shores of the Dead Sea, which leads us to her wa...
05/14/2025

We are at the end of 6 days, having a beautifully led meditation on the shores of the Dead Sea, which leads us to her waters where we float and laugh and let her take our weight, take our burdens, reminding us of everything that has held us till this moment; the air, the water, the food, our families (even in their imperfection), the earth, the sun, the stars, our ancestors and our own shining and powerful spirits. So much holding that has brought us to today. 

I write this the morning of our second to last day. And the question that keeps coming after this day like no other…. how can there be so much joy, care, laughter, dancing, celebration, singing, pure exuberance and letting go in the midst of all this horror? How is it possible? How is it possible? How is it possible NOW? What does it take for humans to do this NOW? 

We humans are made for connection. When we see this, isn’t there a deep knowing that walls are not the answer? Isn’t there a knowing that there is another way? Isn’t there a knowing that we were meant to sit together and share our food and share our songs and celebrate the sorrow and joy of each other? Isn’t there a way? When will we find the courage to wander out beyond the walls of our own comfort and travel to another’s reality? When will we find the courage to listen? When will we find the courage to try something different? And when we meet these realities, when will we say, I am willing to know more, I am willing to meet with you, I am willing to stand with you. It won’t be easy; I will have to meet my fear and all the things that live inside of me – whole lifetimes of experience that tell me to run the other direction. But if I stay- IF I STAY- the whole world can change. PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU- LET’S CHANGE IT.

We are at the end of 6 days, having a beautifully led meditation on the shores of the Dead Sea, which leads us to her wa...
05/14/2025

We are at the end of 6 days, having a beautifully led meditation on the shores of the Dead Sea, which leads us to her waters where we float and laugh and let her take our weight, take our burdens, reminding us of everything that has held us till this moment; the air, the water, the food, our families (even in their imperfection), the earth, the sun, the stars, our ancestors and our own shining and powerful spirits. So much holding that has brought us to today.

I write this the morning of our second to last day. And the question that keeps coming after this day like no other…. how can there be so much joy, care, laughter, dancing, celebration, singing, pure exuberance and letting go in the midst of all this horror? How is it possible? How is it possible? How is it possible NOW? What does it take for humans to do this NOW?

We humans are made for connection. When we see this, isn’t there a deep knowing that walls are not the answer? Isn’t there a knowing that there is another way? Isn’t there a knowing that we were meant to sit together and share our food and share our songs and celebrate the sorrow and joy of each other? Isn’t there a way? When will we find the courage to wander out beyond the walls of our own comfort and travel to another’s reality? When will we find the courage to listen? When will we find the courage to try something different? And when we meet these realities, when will we say, I am willing to know more, I am willing to meet with you, I am willing to stand with you. It won’t be easy; I will have to meet my fear and all the things that live inside of me – whole lifetimes of experience that tell me to run the other direction. But if I stay- IF I STAY- the whole world can change. PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU- LET’S CHANGE IT.

Why do we humans insist on putting our pain and fear and hate on others? WHY? On a simple level we learned it. But as a wise woman in our group once said, we have tried everything else and it hasn’t worked, can we try this for a while?

Yesterday I didn’t need to cry in despair, yesterday I laughed with joy. Joy from morning to night. Joy that when a group of humans is willing to feel and learn and see and understand the ways we have been taught to see and make meaning of the world, when their stories and pain are held- we have the ability to be together and bring something new into the world. And we are not just together, but together in ways that make the walls we have put up seem ridiculous.

What do we find? That we all have a human heart, that we all want our families to be safe, that we all want our babies to live, that we all want the freedom to live the lives we are meant to live.

If only those in power can keep convincing us to not be together, we will continue to destroy this world.

Today go out- look at someone whom you would never look at. Do they dress differently from you? Do they worship another God? Do they eat different food and listen to different music? Hallelujah! What a beautiful, sparkling, infinitely creative way humans have learned to express in relation to life. And that makes the world so unbelievably interesting.

I am telling you, if these people who have been through so much, who have different histories, who have lived through different horrors, and who all have broken hearts, if they can do this- we all can. PLEASE. TRY. NOW.

-ann

Here we are at the Dead Sea, all of us together again. And how did it feel when we first arrived? I could feel how tired...
05/09/2025

Here we are at the Dead Sea, all of us together again. And how did it feel when we first arrived? I could feel how tired people are, the exhaustion from constant conflict. I could feel the despair, that people with their ingenious ways of surviving learn to mute just to go on day after day. I could feel the lack of enthusiasm to be together. Of course, we are nearing the end of our training and here we are in a world with more killing and conflict than when we began.

One morning I woke up and just wept. I had to feel my own despair in order to go on. I found this quote and I read it to them and to me…."My great teachers these days are people who no longer need hope in order to do their work, even though their projects and organizations began with bright, hope-filled dreams. As 'the blood-dimmed tide' of greed, fear, and oppression drowns out their voices and washes away their good work, they become more committed to their work, not because it will succeed, but just because it is right for them to be doing it.” - Margaret Wheatley

And then we worked. What a marvel the human spirit is. We have had it all here. Rage, despair, grief, so much wisdom, and love. And as Martin Luther King would say, not the anemic love that has no power in it- but love infused with the power to stay even in the face of despair. Love that can stand in the fire of conflict and hopelessness. And STAY. Love that is committed to preserving each of our own humanity.

Every day we learn more about each other. Every day- something so vulnerable is exposed. Even if that vulnerability says- I will not open my heart to you- I truly cannot do it in this moment. TRUTH, truth that does not run away but truth that stays in connection and discomfort and gets held by all of us, incredible human spirits that we are.

As the days go on more comes. Laughter, healing, profound grief, stories that once heard will change all of our lives. Once you hear it, once you see it, you cannot unhear or unsee it. And that is good.

And what are we learning? That we are so complex. Each of us. That we are stumbling our way towards what we do not know, but our faith, even when broken keeps us going.

I want to shout to the heavens, TODA, SHUKRAN, and THANK YOU to all the souls on this planet who continue to try even when trying promises nothing but this moment. Oh but this moment- what a glorious one it is, here and now. In each other’s presence, touching hearts, touching hands, touching eternity.

- Ann

Yesterday, Sylvia Margieh and I did a one-day workshop in Klil, Israel. ONE DAY, just one day. What can you do in one da...
02/08/2025

Yesterday, Sylvia Margieh and I did a one-day workshop in Klil, Israel.

ONE DAY, just one day. What can you do in one day? Really, quite a lot.

You can make a space for multiple perspectives. You can start out with explosion and distrust of each other and the leaders. You can bring rage and spaciousness and the desire to leave. You can stay. You can slow down when your partner says ANN- “we must slow down to the speed of wisdom.” You can get hurt and hurt others. You can wonder “what are we doing here?” You can be afraid. You can shrink back, and you can speak up. You can notice a rainbow when things are feeling especially hard. You can wonder “what is the point?” You can tell stories about each other and yourselves. And that is the morning.

You can go outside and share food with each other.

You can listen to your wise partner Sylvia, and you can hand all the responsibility for the world that is being created in this room this afternoon, to be in the hands of all, and then you can sit back and watch the magic of creative humans conjuring a new reality. You can decide, no matter what, I am going to stay. You can invite people who you are “enemies” with to play with you. You can move and find the wisdom in your body. You can lie on the floor and turn towards each other. You can say truthful and unpopular things and see that you can survive, you can not resonate and still stay, you can tell a compelling story and then be willing to ask for a new family that includes all the brothers and sisters of this land. You can come together, this new family, and cry and feel your pain together. You can sit in groups and listen to each other. You can give to each other. You can play a song and make a commitment to bring what you learned back to the world. You can say goodbye and be willing to be changed. You can acknowledge that what happened here YOU made happen and if it can happen here, it can happen outside. You can feel full, and tired, and you can marvel at the sky when you leave.

You can go to a quiet place. You can feel like this was a very good day. You can fall into a deep sleep. You can say, good night world, I so hope I see you tomorrow! - ann

I learned on a wilderness quest a few years ago that if bones have something to say to me, they will tell me how to find...
02/06/2025

I learned on a wilderness quest a few years ago that if bones have something to say to me, they will tell me how to find them.

The bones speak.
I found this one in the Negev when we were done with our afternoon. And here is what it said.

Once I was alive, a beautiful Ibex, full of vitality. I walked this land, I lived. I can’t tell you if my death was violent or peaceful, but I can tell you that this is what is left of me.

I am reminding you that death will come to us all. Do not waste your time as you walk this earth, DO YOUR PART, DO YOUR PART, DO YOUR PART… create a world where all bones may rest in peace. So be it.

Word, I replied.

Here we stand together on this sacred land.When doing this work, the idea that there are lines in the sand that cannot b...
02/04/2025

Here we stand together on this sacred land.
When doing this work, the idea that there are lines in the sand that cannot be crossed becomes almost unbelievable. And believable at the same time due to the realities of the ways our human hearts have been socialized. But I feel like the astronauts who look back at Earth from space and see this ball of beauty hanging in the sky where no boundaries or lines can be seen. I feel the utter preciousness of this tiny dot called home, and the utter insanity of our divisions.

I had no idea that the Dead Sea was the lowest place on Earth. It is 1400 feet below sea level. So, at the lowest point on earth, we lived what people in the group called magic, and miraculous.

It is not just forgiveness, it is change. How hard it is to change. To validate our experience and be willing to open again, to stand together, to STAY. To see someone else’s experience and be willing to be changed by it. Changed in concrete ways that make a difference.

The boundaries, they are in our hearts. And I am not naïve. I know only from my tiny experience what it is to be hurt and to hurt others. I know how hard it can be to forgive and to open again. I have not lived war and humiliation and fear and loss the way these people have. I do not have the same history to navigate, though I certainly have my own. I am humbled in their presence.

Our group has been willing to stay. AND we asked that question again and again- are you willing to be changed? We must ask it on a daily basis, and I can see that every being in this group has said yes in so many ways.

The work that has come before this module, the teaching, the reflective work, the awareness raising and the processing, that work took time. It took the willingness to stay in profound discomfort and fear. Now after 2 entire years, our participants jumped in to lead each other. They know so much I do not know. And wow, and wow and wow. Each leader brought a new perspective, a different experience and way of holding and so much came out.

It is the end of day 5. I left the fires of Los Angeles and came to the fire of the middle east. Oh, but what a fire.For...
02/01/2025

It is the end of day 5. I left the fires of Los Angeles and came to the fire of the middle east. Oh, but what a fire.

For the first time since last May we were able to find a place to meet together. All of us. Israeli Jews, Israeli Palestinians, and Palestinians from the West Bank. We are in the desert. We are at the Dead Sea. We are in a place where we brush our teeth together, we eat together, we share the communal bathrooms and showers.

It is never easy. And yet…the changes in this group from when we began until today. The changes from the last time we met together. It is something to behold.

The second night after a powerful day when there was such love and unity in the room, we met at night around a fire. We sang together, we laughed, in the background we could hear the jackals howling. I felt a joy that is hard to explain. Looking at these beautiful faces shining in the light of the fire, singing and laughing. Peace on earth I thought. This is what peace on earth feels like.

Of course it doesn’t last, we ride the waves. We come close and then we break apart. And then we come close again. BUT WE STAY.

It is not easy to talk about the reality here. It takes time. But today was the day we faced it head on. We have to walk up to the edge sometimes before our leap.

What is amazing is the group members are now stepping into their leadership, both out in the world and here together. They have trained and done work. Today THEY held the process all day. With their wisdom, their courage, their maturity, their creativity.

Truth comes out, hard truths. Eyes are opened. People are changed. People keep being changed. They work the principles, and we go, we go where so many fear to go. And we keep going.

I watched them lead each other. I saw that they are learning to stand in the fire with such grace and power and awareness. They teach me. They inspire me. They make me believe anything is possible.

And it is not that we are agreeing. It is fierce and anguished, and sometimes even hilarious. The laughter and the tears. The rage. And then the hands, reaching out to each other.

It is so easy to see in these places that in the conflicts of the world we NEED each other. We cannot solve anything unless we are willing to meet, again and again.

We have not been stopped by October 7th, the war in Gaza, the bombs to and from Lebanon, the missiles from Iran. We have not been stopped. Sometimes I stand in wonder at that. Nothing has stopped us. And because of that we have all been changed. And because of that we are all seeing with new eyes, and because of that we can say more and more to each other. And because of that we walk towards new realities.

Thank you to all who gave to make our meeting possible. It is a blessing. It is a miracle. It is a hard work miracle.

With love from mother earth, with love from the salty sea, with love from the mud, with love from the stars. And with love from all of us to you. There is a light shining here- I hope you can see it. ann

Wishing everyone peace, love, and understanding in the New Year. Thank you for all the ways you were part of the journey...
12/27/2024

Wishing everyone peace, love, and understanding in the New Year. Thank you for all the ways you were part of the journey this year. With love, Ann

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