Soma

Code of conduct

What we agree to here.

We teach partner dance, acro and jiu jitsu. People who have not met put hands on each other in a first class, so what is allowed cannot be left to guesswork. This is what everybody agrees to, students and teachers both, and what follows when somebody crosses a line.

Integrity
Walking your talk, honoring your word, and being in right relationship.
Safety
Physical, emotional, spiritual and energetic.
Respect
For yourself, for other people, for the container, and for the land we gather on.

Consent, before contact.

  • Ask for and get clear, enthusiastic consent before any physical contact.
  • Honor a no the moment it arrives, spoken or not. No convincing. No pressure.
  • Know what you are doing to a shared room, physically, emotionally and energetically.
  • Do not assume anybody else’s comfort, their limits, or how open they are.

In a rotating class nobody has to rotate. Sitting one out needs no reason and costs you nothing.

What you agree to

Communicate with care

  • Speak and act with respect and presence toward members, staff and guests.
  • Use clear language, kindly meant. No gossip, no passive aggression, no assuming.
  • Take a concern to the person it is about where you can, or bring it to one of the core team.
  • Do not post in a way that suggests you are speaking for the studio.

Act with integrity

  • Take responsibility for your words, your actions and your energy.
  • Be open to feedback, and willing to learn and unlearn.
  • Nothing violent, sexual, harassing, threatening or manipulative.
  • What is said in a circle, a ceremony or a private session stays there.

Hold the space

  • Build a room where everybody feels welcome, seen and heard.
  • Step out of dominating a group, or putting yourself at the center of one.
  • Clean up after yourself, and treat the room as somebody else’s practice too.
  • Hold yourself and other people accountable with love rather than shame.

In ceremony and sacred space

  • Arrive grounded and present.
  • No drugs or alcohol in sacred space, unless it is part of a ceremonial protocol.
  • Treat sacred tools, altars and ceremonial practice with care.
  • Do not offer healing work, touch or advice to somebody who has not asked for it.
  • Somebody’s spiritual path is theirs. This is not a place to preach, to convert, or to fix anybody.

If you teach here

  • Build your container with clarity and consent.
  • Hold professional boundaries. No romantic or sexual advances toward students.
  • Speak from what you have lived rather than from rank.
  • Honor each person’s autonomy, and stay out of savior dynamics.
  • Keep growing, through mentorship, feedback and shadow work.

Telling us something happened.

There is an incident report form, and it covers any of the following. What you send on it is kept confidential.

  • Physical injury
  • Sexual harassment
  • Inappropriate touch or boundary crossing
  • Discrimination by race, gender, identity or body
  • Verbal abuse or aggressive behavior
  • Emotional distress or a triggering experience

A form rather than a conversation, because something said out loud gets lost or misheard, and a form is a clear place to start from.

Open the incident report form

The form is the first route. If a form is the wrong thing for you, call 443-565-6440 and ask for Harnoor or Diara. A person picks that up and reads it. It does not sit in a queue.

Either way we will build a support plan with you.

If what you report involves somebody else here, we talk to them as well. That is how what we decide stays fair, and how both people know what it was based on.

What follows

Three levels, developed with Consent Academy.

The Support and Accountability Team speaks to everybody involved, and to witnesses where that helps. They then recommend no action, or one of these.

  1. Level 1

    Corrective

    A warning, by phone or face to face.

    What it covers. Non-sexual touch without consent. A poor read of race, gender or age.

    • A verbal or written warning is issued.
    • Education on boundaries and behavior is offered.
  2. Level 2

    Moderate

    A three month suspension from classes, socials and workshops.

    What it covers. Consent accidents. Repeated corrective findings. Pressuring or badgering somebody into something that did not lead to sexual contact. Certain negligent harms.

    • A consent and communication workshop has to be attended.
    • Monitored or instructor-approved spaces, such as a private lesson or a staff-led practice, may be considered during the suspension.
    • More education or agreements may be required before coming back.
    • We reassess to decide what follows, which can include continued restrictions.
  3. Level 3

    Major

    Reviewed case by case. It can mean a twelve month suspension, removal, or a lifetime ban.

    What it covers. Unwanted sexual touch. Pressure that led to sexual contact. Sexual assault. Rape. Threatening or abusive behavior, here or online. An ongoing pattern against the values of this place. Extreme intoxication. More than one earlier finding. Photographs taken at an event without consent. Deliberately false reports.

    • Whoever crossed the line may be the one who pays for the therapy, coaching, education or mediation that follows.

We will look at a report about something that happened at an event we did not host, if it comes in written and in detail. We may look into it ourselves and act on what we find.

This one is not the fine print.

The money terms live separately, on the policies page. Anything here, bring it to us at 107 East Preston Street or call.

Call 443-565-6440 The policies