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The Peaceful Brain is a series of events focused on understanding how hate, racism, xenophobia and discrimination emerge in our brain and how we can overcome them.

By combining art-making, community support, and neuroscience evidence, we will explore ways to tackle those emotions by creating positive experiences around diversity and difference. 

 

We invite you to learn about stress and anxiety management from different spiritual perspectives by discussing hope in "Where Hope Shines." Then, let's explore unfamiliar communities together in "The Human Library." In our third event, we will celebrate nature as the glue that joins our communities in "When the leaves leave, we dance." Finally, we will have an open and honest conversation about skin colour in a fantastic workshop while we learn to paint different skin tones in "Skin."

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Register for our last event Skin! 

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Where Hope Shines

Sunday, October 23, 2022
Mont Royal Park, near Beaver Lake

When we face an unfamiliar situation, our brain is flooded with signals preparing us to freeze, fly, or fight. That response increases stress hormones which elevate heart rate, breathing frequency, and blood pressure. In the modern world, the rise of these stress hormones are related with increased fear, anxiety, depression, and aggression.

 

Where Hope Shines explores community, spirituality, and the practice of mindfulness as ways to deal with those stressful responses. Hope can be a remarkable light when everything seems dark. Let's hear how our communities and religions seek hope while we practice different forms of art and mediation.

 

This event is free and open to everyone.

The Human Library

Saturday, October 29, 2022
Park Jean-Drapeau, Saint Helene Island

Our brain operates in a state of alert that can be triggered by the unknown. For example, unfamiliar faces activate the center of fear in the brain, impacting reason, planning, and memory recollection. Fear of the unknown, the unknown individual, the unknown culture, and the unknown idea can trigger on us visceral responses leading to discrimination based on prejudgment. 

 

The Human Library invites you to learn about stories that are unfamiliar to you. Come and chat with a person from another place, with other ideas, other skin colours, and other ages. This activity explores the benefits of human interaction and conversation to dissipate fear and fight discrimination.

 

This event is free and open to everyone.

When the leaves leave,
we dance

Saturday, November 5, 2022 
Honorable George O'Reilly Park, Verdun

Nature and celebration have a profound positive impact on stress, anxiety, and community making. In those instances, the brain produces Oxytocin, a powerful hormone involved in behaviors like trust, attachment and several forms of love. This hormone reduces fear and allows us to take advantage of our relationships with other human beings.

 

In When the Leaves Leave, we Dance, we will explore nature and collect materials to create beautiful garments to celebrate Fall. While listening to fantastic musicians from different backgrounds, we will share a meal together, with recipes each participant will contribute to a communal table. Then, prepare yourself to show your garments and be part of a photography session in nature.

 

This event is free and open to everyone.

Skin

Saturday, February 11, 2023 - 1PM 
The Native Immigrant Art Gallery
5442 Côte Saint Luc Rd, Montreal

Seeing or thinking about an out-group, or simply someone that looks different than us, can dampen activity in the brain, restricting social cognition and empathy. This deactivation contributes to feelings of dehumanization, seeing the other group as less than human, which in turn leads to an increased risk for violence. 

 

In Skin, we want to explore how the objectification of color and reason works, and how we can train our brains to reject biased conjectures. We invite you to talk and appreciate other skin colors by teaching you to mix colors to create different skin tones. Art educators and models from diverse backgrounds will join us for a conversation on diversity, art and representation.

 

This event is free and open to everyone, but space is limited.

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Registration is required.

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