Somatics and racial justice
We are socialised, especially in the West, to believe that we experience life through what we think of the world. The reality is that we experience life through our bodies, our brains being an important, but just a part of them.
Somatics literally means ‘related to the body’. As a practice and a way of life, it has been at the core of ancient and indigenous teachings for millennia and has only recently been incorporated by and branded as ‘new’ in the Global North.
Somatics invites us to remember the intuitive language of bodily sensations in which we as a species were once fluent. Those sensations include physical sensations of touch, the heart beating, blood pulsing in our veins, the weight of our bones, vibrations, increasing or decreasing tension in our neck, head or shoulders… to name just a few.
We experience life through our bodies, and this means that racism and other forms of oppression make an imprint not only on how we make sense of the world but also what and we feel.
Racialised patterns show up in how our bodies respond to each other, sending implicit cues of safety or danger. They show up in how defensiveness or curiosity manifest themselves, with whom we subconsciously feel safe, open and at ease, and with whom, often without any conscious awareness, we are triggered by the fight-flight-freeze response.
To try to leave the body out of the picture when doing the work on one’s own internalised racism and oppression in the wider society means missing out a key piece of the puzzle that can help us process, compost or integrate some habits. That’s why we cannot simply talk ourselves out of racism by intellectualising or suppressing emotions and sensations - we need to reconnect with the language of the body.
By bringing in attention to our bodies into race equity work, we can unlock powerful, embodied pathways to respond to racism (and in fact other forms of systemic injustice). Those pathways become more accessible if we slow down, helping us to re-connect with our authentic voice that can get lost in charged or difficult contexts.
Inviting somatic attention into anti-racism work could mean noting, recognising, engaging with and tuning into the sensations and emotions in the body, just as much as noticing thoughts. It could nurture a transformative, nuanced understanding, helping us to show up with integrity and courage, and to make space for care, collaboration and solidarity.