Grounding in our power and a "finding inner justice" practice.

Hi loves, I wrote a post with the practice I started to talk about in our GroupMe chat, that I will be sharing on our business insta early next week. But I wanted to first share it here and come into dialogue around it. 

BTW I'm also creating a new label called "Grounding in our power" for our ongoing inquiry, so we can keep returning to it as we explore and share experiential wisdom.

Basically, for me, this practice is about addressing almost an internal sense of injustice. "What is inner justice?" is a potent question for me right now, and I think all of our work points in some way to this. It feels deeply relevant to current events. I don't necessarily want to use this framing publicly yet, because it feels new and I don't want to invite angry comments about what justice is/isn't, when the foundation for this work is not yet established externally. But I want us to talk about it.

Here is what I wrote:

The world feels full of deeply disturbing + unacceptable things right now. Black lives continue to be taken, and it's not okay. From a systemic change & trauma responsive POV, we have been learning a lot from @racismrecoverycenter about the wisdom in not acting from a place of unresolved pain.

So we want to share a powerful practice that we've been using lately, to lean into what is here and not run away from it or pretend otherwise. 🔥

This can take just a minute or two. You can do it right now for yourself, or try it before a difficult conversation or taking more direct, outer action. 

🍃

Feel the tension, fear, anxiety, or discomfort that is here.

Name & witness it - What is it? What is it saying? Why is it showing up right now? What is it afraid of?

Then ask yourself: What is this voice trying to do *for* me? 

Is it trying to keep you safe or protect you? Is it trying to warn you about something? Is it trying to bring about balance? 

Often, our stuff is rooted in old survival patterns. As dysfunctional as these urges & tensions can seem, they are about deeper needs that some part of you is trying to fulfill.  

When you've gotten some clarity about what needs are trying to be fulfilled, ask: What would help this underlying need feel more taken care of right now?

The answer may surprise you in its simplicity. Sometimes, all we need to do is reroute our focus to what we *actually* need when it comes to safety, balance, protection, etc. 

🍃

When we take the time to listen the small, scared, loud voices in us, and to the unfulfilled needs they represent, we can begin to access inner harmony. Then we recover more capacity to address what is before us, and the unfulfilled needs of the world around us. 🌱

Let us know how this goes for you. 💙

*

Alia and I have mostly used this practice to help ourselves ground into work sessions and work on stuff that feels intimidating, but I honestly think this could be a practice to help with activated racial trauma, and the overwhelm that can come with witnessing intense injustice in the world and not knowing where to start, NOT necessarily because the external resources aren't there, but because the *internal* resources aren't there. 

I mean, this feels so obvious to me - when our nervous systems aren't online, how are we supposed to do anything helpful? But there's a lot of nuance here too, because there is a certain amount of discomfort that those of us situated within or adjacent to whiteness need to face and work through. And trauma healing isn't as simple as just doing the above practice. (Alia and I are going to actually sign up for April Harter's year-long coaching offering, and hopefully will get a lot more clarity there.) 

But this is a place I think we can start.

What do you think? Also interested in how the "ritual as justice" somatic work may dovetail with this "inner justice" inquiry.

<3 Tessa