Welcome.

After our contemplation of racism in its history and systemic forms, the next two sessions are dedicated to exploring whiteness as it operates in our bodies, hearts and minds – with the support of somatic perspectives and the Dharma. We will be trying to “make sense” (literally) of the ways in which history and structural racism get reenacted through us, and how we might transform this conditioning which is harmful to everyone, white people included. In particular, the Buddhist concepts of vedana, delusion, conceit, equanimity and mindfulness can be examined in this light.

This session we begin at the beginning: contact and mindfulness of the body. We consider racialized intergenerational trauma in white bodies with the support of the work of Resmaa Menakem and what the fields of “healing justice” and “cultural somatics” might offer to our exploration.

1) Mindfulness of the white body

This session we would like to invite you to engage with the work of Resmaa Menakem. In his own words, he is “a therapist and trauma specialist who activates the wisdom of elders.” He is a leading voice in the emerging field of Somatic Abolitionism, which “utilizes the body and its natural resilience as mechanisms for healing racialized trauma.”  Depending on your preferences and constraints, here are 3 different options to engage (just choose one).

Something to watch: In October 2020 Dharma teacher and psychotherapist Tara Brach interviewed Resmaa Menakem about “Healing Racialized Trauma”. This includes a good overview of his work and key elements of his book My Grandmother’s Hands. He also offers some guided practice for white bodied people in this session. (60 min - the conversation starts after the meditation at min 28)

OR

Something to listen to: Krista Tipett from the OnBeing podcast also interviewed Resmaa Menakem in deptth in June 2020. This covers similar material but goes into a some detail and the sound quality is better.
Resmaa Menakem ‘Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence’  (50 min)

OR

Something to read: book chapter 16 from My Grandmother’s Hands: “Mending the White Heart and Body”, pages 199-213 US edition. (If you have time and have the book, chapters 4 and 7 are also recommended). Please note that this chapter goes right into a charged exploration of violence and our responses to violence, which may be a bit jarring without the lead up of the 15 prior chapters. It may not be suitable as a starting point for those not familiar with this approach, but it’s a good refresher.

2) Cultural somatics

The work of Tada Hozumi brings additional dimensions to the “Somatic Abolitionism” of Resmaa Menakem, with a closer examination of the “cultural somatics” of European colonialism, through their interpretation of Asian mind-body traditions. This talk may be provocative. There is no expectation to “agree” with anything, but rather to spark reflect on our bodily conditioning.

• “Whiteness as trauma in the body” (20 min video, made in 2020)

3) Optional: “Healing Justice”

What happens when we re-imagine justice as healing? If you have time, we invite you to explore the work of Prentis Hemphill. In 2016, Prentis was awarded the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Soma Award for community work inspired by Buddhist thought. Receiving the award, they said: “Buddhist practices have given me the capacity to be with contradictions, to practice an emotional volume that can be with the level of trauma I see in our communities and in our organizing every day.” Before founding The Embodiment Institute, Prentis Hemphill was the Healing Justice Director at Black Lives Matter Global Network and a lead somatics teacher with generative somatics, an organization committed to bringing politicized somatics to movement building. Their book is launching in June 2024. In the meantime, here are some resources:

• 1 page handout on “What is Healing Justice?”

• podcast interviews: The Story Being Told Through our Collective Body, and Healing Justice & Queer Spiritual Purpose