Change Comes Through The Body
I've fallen in love with bodywork and I want to share it with others
Ramadan has come and gone and despite it culminating in a beautiful Eid, I miss the month of fasting. I miss waking up early, eating simple food, watching the sunrise, reading good books, and the clarity and integration I felt during the month. All of these things are accessible outside Ramadan but they have felt harder to reach since the month ended. I’m feeling unexpectedly sad and Ramadan-sick and I’m still finding my footing in life outside of the Ramadan retreat centre.
I spent the final week of the month in California doing a course in somatic bodywork. In the company of sheep, cats, one llama and many cows, I spent many days giving and receiving bodywork, and learning more about touch, breath, presence, emotions and my own somatic shape. It was an extraordinary experience that helped me learn more about myself and how I want to show up in the world. Since returning home, I’ve felt this quiet, empty space within me and have felt less chatty and social as I make sense of and integrate this week of learning and being. It’s even been hard to read.
One of the things that I am learning from bodywork is that emotions are bodily experiences. Sadness is not simply a cognitive thought or emotion, it is a felt sensation. That sensation might show up in collapsed shoulders or a tightening of my jaw or an entirely different sensation altogether, but it is grounded in my body. Joy too is an embodied experience. Transformation in turn, is not simply about learning new information, it requires practising and transforming at the level of the body. Widening and softening my jaw for example allows me to let go, surrender and be in deeper collaboration with others.
Our individual and shared liberation and healing takes place within our social conditions. We do not heal in a vacuum. And that was true in this course as well. Every day after a full day of class and practice, I would watch and read news about Gaza, pray for all those killed and injured, mourn the hospitals and systems destroyed and think about all the grief and rage we are all holding as we cross into the sixth month of the genocide.
I want more people to experience the openings that bodywork can create, and my intention is to offer bodywork sessions in Vancouver alongside my coaching work. Somatic transformation involves somatic awareness, somatic practices and somatic opening. Bodywork falls in the realm of somatic opening, and our teachers emphasized that opening releases contractions and creates the ground or soil in which somatic practices can root. Practices without openings our teacher Staci Haines shared, is like putting “frosting on a warm cake.” “It can work, but it’s less effective.”
One of my favourite descriptions of this type of bodywork comes from a coaching practice in Costa Rica called “re-spirited” that describes somatic bodywork as such:
Strozzi body work is “an approach that recognizes that a person’s physical, mental, emotional and psychological history is stored and manifested through the body. Our histories are often stored in our bodies in ways that we may be unaware of, and in ways that reflect the body’s deep intelligence about how to deal with the challenges life has brought us.
From the moment we are born, our family dynamics, culture, race, gender, peers, landscape and institutions influence us to create a body/self that moves in certain ways through the world. Our bodies are intelligent and adopt ways of being to stay safe, remain in connection and loved, and maintain the dignity of ourselves and others. These ways of being served us for a while, whether they serve us now is worth exploring.
In a gentle, systematic process, Strozzi Somatic Bodywork invites your body to open and release historical patterns, contractions, tension, and possibly trauma. And in this process of opening and releasing, you create space for more energy and aliveness to run. More aliveness opens the possibility for more choice—more choices about how you show up and how you respond to what life brings you. With more choice you have an opportunity to transform your life and to show up in ways that serve you better.”
The premise of this work is that there are horizontal bands that run across and around our bodies (because we exist in three dimensions!) and we often are armoured or contracted along/within these bands. The particular constrictions we experience may be connected to our history, our beliefs, and trauma among other things. When we can release those contractions, those openings can support the transformation we seek and the longings we have for something new.
Right now I’m in the process of getting set up (ordering a bodywork table/renting a room and supplies and so forth) but if you are in Vancouver, female and interested in being part of my practice sessions, let me know and I will be in touch when I’m more properly set up. In this practice stage, these sessions will either be free or be priced to cover the cost of room rentals etc.
Cool Things this Week
Somatics for Trauma Healing and Transformative Justice (Green Dreamer podcast)
Ever since we found out that we have to move, I’ve been trying to go for more walks in my neighbourhood. This week, I heard this wonderful interview with Staci Haines about somatics and transformative justice on the podcast Green Dreamer. It’s a thoughtful conversation that I really appreciated.
I loved this episode of the podcast “If Books Could Kill” that demystifies what they call “popular airport reads”. This episode is about the popular and often critiqued book “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg and is probably one of my favourite episodes of the podcast I’ve heard thus far.
An interesting tidbit from the episode: Some studies report that women of colour are less likely than others to experience imposter syndrome. The podcast hosts mention that this finding comes from studies that suggest that women of colour believe they are competent, knowledgeable and skilled but are routinely underestimated by others. It follows then, that women of colour do not need confidence programs or inspirational posters (a real thing in Lean In that is discussed in the episode). Instead, they need material changes within the workplace, managers and colleagues who trust them, support them and are able to recognize their knowledge and leadership. [For more on this, I highly recommend this insightful piece in HBR “Stop Telling Women You Have Imposter Syndrome” by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey.]
The hosts note that instead of making concrete changes, many workplace solutions often ignore root issues. There is a gender pay gap for example, and men are more likely than other groups to negotiate their salary. As a result, many “solutions” to this gap simply tell women to negotiate more, to lean in, to use better words to make their case and to be bold. What this ignores is that women are less successful in their negotiations and are penalized when attempting to negotiate and so the suggestion to simply be more confident and believe in oneself is a shallow and insufficient one. Instead, what is needed is to address the underlying dynamics that make negotiating a fraught and often unsafe process for those who are not men.
Learning Opportunities
Introduction to the Resilience Toolkit (Muslim women)
I’ve taken multiple courses with Lumos Transforms over the past couple of years and I cannot recommend their courses enough. This FREE(!) course is specifically for Muslim women and incorporates Islamic practices into its exploration of “how stress impacts your body, mental health, and relationships.” They also have other offerings for a general audience that you can find on their event page, and other timings for this particular course.
Till next time,
Shagufta
Loved reading your post today Change Comes Through The Body.
Am looking forward to my first session with you when your equipment is delivered.
With duas for your well being, Mum