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the body as a tool to heal racism

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

This week, again, I found myself in deep rage and deep grief around the Derek Chauvin trail, the killing of Duante Wright and the excessive force used against second lieutenant Caron Nazario. I feel it coursing through my body, as heat and aggression and blame and judgement, as well as sadness, lethargy, and even apathy. And I know I’m not alone. I also know these feelings pale in comparison to the rage and grief many people of color experience every day.

This week, I accidentally recorded the beginning part of my Community Care class (these classes are never recorded). As it turned it out, I had unknowingly captured a great sampling of the class – the opening dialogue and grounding exercise. I’m sharing it with you today.

A little context: our community care classes at Yoga Home are designed to support the well-being of our extended community as we move through the world together. Created a little over a year ago, these classes were designed to specifically address the pandemic and the deep unrest in our country, including but not limited to, issues of racial injustice.

It is my responsibility as a yoga teacher, and as a human being deeply invested in social justice, to address “what’s in the room”; this includes when it feels inconvenient or uncomfortable to do so . This is the practice of yoga and the path of transformation. It involves change. And we can not change what we do not acknowledge. It is especially relevant to our Community Care classes – this is exactly what they were designed for— a chance to move, breath, intend and process together.

In this video, you’ll hear me talk about racism and the ways it lives in the body, how it’s our collective responsibility to heal racism and how the body is a tool of information for us to do this healing work. Rage and grief and sadness and everything in between are feelings, and feelings live in the body. We experience life through our body and therefore it MUST be involved in any healing work we wish to step into. We can not think our way through this work. Yes, strategizing and learning and book clubs and anti-racism Facebook groups are part of the equation but they are not the whole picture. (If they were, wouldn’t we have “figured out” how to end racism by now?) We can not heal what we do not feel and so we have to feel all that comes up when we talk about issues of race.

 

You’ll also see in this video a few examples of how the body (in this case, my body) responds – what is called a ‘somatic experience’, ‘soma’ means body – and well as some practices/tools for how to stay present:

  • I name that I’ve been feeling sensitive and overwhelmed.
  • You’ll see me take a few, intentional deep breaths to stay grounded.
  • Watch for when I draw attention to my somatic response, specifically my neck (heat and redness)

This video also captures the exercise I lead the class through. This is an “orienting” exercise from Resmaa Menakem’s book, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. This is a simple, trauma-informed practice designed to help you get grounded and present. When we are overwhelmed, we have a tendency to leave our body and leave present time. Talking about race can bring up a lot of feelings – or the desire to bail from the conversation completely – so learning practical tools to keep us in the conversation are necessary. That being said, exercises like this can be used anytime you feel overwhelmed or checked out, not just around race.

There are many practices (in fact, Resmaa’s book is full of them!) including some of the exercises I often teach in my Community Care practices that support this work. It’s going to involve all of us; it’s going to mean getting really present to uncomfortable feelings, memories, relationships, etc.  Resmaa says, “Healing involves discomfort, but so does refusing to heal. And, over time, refusing to heal is always more painful.” What a privilege to have access to the yoga practice that is teaching us this very thing! As I often say at the end of my classes, may we remember this privilege is not granted or accessible to all so may we never take it for granted.

You’ll see I edit this video to ask you, the viewer, to participate along with me and the students. Even if you choose to just reading this and not watch the video or you decide to just tuck this information away until the next time you find yourself in a conversation around race and you feel that charge coming up (I know you know the charge I’m talking about), take a deep breath and check it with your body. Ask yourself:

  • How do I feel right now? (Happy, sad, avoidant, pissed, apathetic, enraged…)
  • Where do you feel it? (My chest is tight, my throat is closing, my belly just flipped…)
  • What does the sensation feel like? (It’s hot, cold, heavy, electric, tingly, stuck…)
  • Can you try to let it be there, even if uncomfortable, and not resist it or want it be something different? (This is how we build resilience.)
  • Can you breathe with it until it shifts? If it’s not safe to do so at that time, can you come back to it later to let it run its course? (Anything that stays or gets stuck in the body accumulates into tension, stress, dis-ease)

A few additional things worth noting:

  • Racism is a system and structure that affects all of us. I am posting this video with an assumption that you already have an understanding of racism and the depths of it on a systemic, structural level as well as personal level. I’m also assuming if you aren’t aware, you will use the fantastic tool that is Google to learn. I’ll share resources below and we’ve shared many resources through Yoga Home throughout the years – see here and here and here.
  • I’m also assuming you have a general understanding of yoga being more than just a physical fitness routine. It’s a practice of transformation, liberation and unification.
  • I’m coming to this dialogue as a white woman addressing a primarily white audience. When you hear me use the words “we” and “all of us” in the video, I am speaking to the audience I am teaching. I do believe that healing racism and the generational impact it’s had on everyone must involve the body, as all healing work should; I also believe that the responsibility of anti-racism work lands heavily with white people. You can reach out to me directly if you have questions about this and I’m happy to share my learnings, teachers and resources mauramanzo@gmail.com

The idea of collective care sees healing and wellbeing as the shared responsibility of a community and all its members, it values our interconnectedness and holds each other in deep care, respect and accountability.  Sometime our work together is joyful; sometimes it’s uncomfortable; most of the time, it’s both and everything in between. Thus is life and yoga is a practice for life. May we remember that we are not designed to grieve or heal alone. We need each other. This fight is for all of us. #blacklivesmatter

Resources:

 

* One last thing, shout out to Yoga Home teacher, Alicia Rudolph, for the reminder to get Resmaa’s book. It’s 100% worth it and necessary to have a crew of people “doing the work” with you, to share resources/experiences and build a new culture.

 

Maura Manzo is the co-founder of Yoga Home. Maura has trained extensively around trauma informed practices and the intersection of social justice and yoga. She is currently enrolled in Villanova University’s Peace & Justice Graduate Studies Program. 

Yoga Home’s Community Care Classes are currently offered Tuesday & Thursday 12p and Saturday 9a. These offerings are free. Donations are welcome. Learn more here.