coming back to ​ourselves and each other
a politicized somatic healing group for white identified social change organizers and cultural workers
Beginning February 8th, 2022
We know that these times are unique and not unique. Communities have lived through this kind of horror and much more. As adrienne maree brown reminded us: “things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered. we must hold each other tight and continue to pull back the veil.”
As politicized organizers and cultural workers we understand the cycle of oppression creating trauma and trauma perpetuating oppression. It is built into us and passed along at the body level. The dominating culture has created a mythology of safety for white bodies through a strategy of racial hierarchy that impacts every aspect of life every day for those raised within it. This internalization of racialized hierarchy lives in our narrative, emotional range, and in our bodies. White bodies continue to teach each other tools of distancing, control, numbing out, high anxiety and ‘fixing it’ to deal with the deeply dehumanizing practice of racism. In order to achieve a vision of collective liberation, the inheritance of white bodied supremacy must be faced and named, feelings need space to be processed and run through, and we need new practices, narratives and ways of being to live from.
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By recognizing and exploring how your body is shaped to survive we are clued into what new skills need to be developed and what needs to heal through the body to find more freedom and choice in day to day interactions. During this 10 week healing arc, we will work through the body to heal contractions shaped by oppression, whiteness, and social conditioning to support you to embody what you most care about- even under pressure.
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This group will be a place to notice and heal your experiences of oppression, trauma, conditioned habits, and difficult life experiences that may get in the way of taking accountability for your experiences of privilege or causing harm. If you recognize systems of oppression and yet find it difficult to take new actions - or find old narratives popping up and blocking your way - this group may be for you.
What we learn together will plant seeds for new shapes of centered accountability, deep belonging, mutual dignity and embodied safety in order to take risks and actions aligned with what we most care about. Healing through the body literally makes more possible.
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The healing practices offered in this group are rooted in the teachings of generative somatics and Strozzi Institute.
Facilitators
Lizzie
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AMGS
I'm Lizzie (she/they). I'm a politicized healer; community herbalist, somatic coach and bodyworker. I believe healing is a critical component to ending white supremacy and all systems of oppression. As a white person who grew up middle class; as a queer, and as a person who grew up in rural Wisconsin from a large Chicago Irish/Italian/polish Catholic centered extended family, I have found my own healing process imperative to building relationships across difference for the sake of creating and sustaining life affirming systems.
Through 2 decades of collective organizing ranging from mutual aid projects to anti-racism education to abolishing the PIC, I have learned how it feels to have political home, grapple in an ongoing way and coordinate with other humans at my side. Through relating to the plant world and earth I have learned to belong to a place- to commit my life blood to place- and my practice of ancestral reverence has taught me to rest into the long arc of change and to hold vast contradictions with love. I began studies with generative somatics in 2013 after learning about their work at the 2010 USSF. From the first moment I was struck by the methodology and how it seemed to have a practice and an understanding of so much of what I was facing. It is through embodied learning I have come to know deep change and healing is not only necessary, but possible.
Becca Meredith
DATA ANALIST, GANT LTD
Becca (she/her) brings over 10 years of social justice organizing, non-profit laboring, embodiment and meditation to her somatic coaching practice. She has organized locally and nationally with white anti-racist communities in multi-racial movements and holds a deep understanding of the ways personal and collective experiences of resilience, trauma and oppression shape our bodies & our lives.
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After years of parallel journeys in grassroots social justice organizing and healing practices, Becca found a somatics practice that combined healing and justice. It is through these joined paths that she is committed to increasing her clients’ capacity to feel their interdependence with other humans and the earth, take action for what they care about, and live their wildest dreams.
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Becca identifies as a white, queer, femme and is a descendant of Western European colonizers and immigrants, currently living on Duwamish Land/Seattle, WA. She is clear on her role in dismantling systems of privilege and oppression, redistributing resources, and fiercely organizing for collective liberation. She believes that healing work is intergenerational, nonlinear and woven together with families, the land, and movements for justice. Becca offers grounded healing that supports increased access to interdependence, dignity, agency and joy.
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Zoë
Hi I’m Zoë (she/her), a somatic practitioner and artist living in Durham NC, on colonized Shakori and Lumbee land. My interest in somatics is rooted in a deep desire to explore the ways that social conditioning, oppression, and social norms are embodied and reproduced, and how this cycle can be interrupted. I am committed to learning and unlearning the many ways that my own whiteness contributes to this cycle of oppression.
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I trained as a somatic coach though the Strozzi Institute and have also trained with generative somatics. I’ve been a bodyworker for over decade and also have an MA in Embodiment Studies through Goddard College.
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Since the early 2000’s I’ve been involved in various direct action campaigns and mutual aid work, mostly around environmental justice, queer liberation, and radical mental health. I now primarily work in somatics, as a healer, artist, researcher, and facilitator, in support of movements for social justice and practicing/experimenting/dreaming toward new modes of life and social transformation.
USER EXPERIENCE
DESIGNER, MEGABEGA
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Group Details
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Dates: Tuesdays at 12am PST/2pm CSST/3pm EST, February 8 - April 19th, 2 hour group online via zoom for 11 weeks (with a break every 2 weeks for a 2hr coaching circle. See full outline below)
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Cost: Sliding scale $400 - $1000. Partial proceeds will be donated to Black-led organizing. See the application for my details on the sliding scale.
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Applications: Due Jan 7th and we will notify applicants by mid-January if you have been accepted.
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Size: This will be a small group of approximately 20 people. We hope this will allow for an intimate space to deepen our learning and vulnerability.
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Questions: Please reach out if you have questions.
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The facilitators: This group will have three facilitators spanning the country from Seattle to Madison to Durham. See their bios above.
Course structure
All sessions will be on Tuesday for 2 hours starting at 12pm PST/2pm CST/3pm EST. We will have two types of gatherings over the course of 11 weeks (see full schedule below):
Large group: In these large group sessions we will present content and practices and hold the overall arc of our work together. We will practice in the large group and in break out groups.
Coaching circles: Every third week we will break from the large group to have a coaching circle. These are smaller (5-9 people) sub groups held by one of the main facilitators where we can deepen our practice together.
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Schedule
Feb 8, 15 - large groups
Feb 23 - coaching circle #1
March 1, 8 - large groups
March 15 - coaching circle #2
March 22, 29 - large group
April 5 - coaching circle #3
April 12, 19 - large group
