My Friends,

The systemic injustice towards people of color across the nation cannot continue.

We cannot remain silent about the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, and countless other Black, Brown, and Indigenous People. We cannot remain silent about racism and the myriad ways in which people of color in this country suffer on a daily basis. I cannot remain silent and just hope it will all magically disappear.

I must take action. I must own my part in systemic white-body supremacy.

There is no point in discussing health, wellness, mindfulness, etc., if I do not also address the dis-ease and destruction that is caused by racism both in its blatant manifestation and in its more insidious subtle forms.

While it is far past the time to be engaged in ending this injustice, it is not too late to work towards mutual liberation and racial equity. I hope you will join me in this challenging work.

My Grandmother’s Hands

You are invited to a gently facilitated online reading and discussion group to investigate the work of racialized trauma centered around the book, My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem. We will meet for 6 weeks at a time on a rotating basis. I will open a new session after six weeks. People in each group will be encouraged to start their own groups so that we can build a culture around discussing white-body supremacy and how it adversely affects each of us as embodied beings.

The first meeting will be Sunday, June 7, from 7-8 PM, ET online through Google Meets.

The next group will begin Sunday, July 19, 7-8 PM ET. If you are interested in joining our second online group, please contact me.

This will be a free offering for any friends who want to actively engage in examine the work of white-body supremacy in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.

Respond here and let me know if you would like to join.

All forms of harm and disease are connected. Racism is a public health emergency. Through the lens of yoga, we can hope to address this work and practice. Health and wellness is about establishing right relationship within our individual bodies, and within our greater body of humanity and the living Earth. Yoga is a practical tool of union and evolution. Within the practice of yoga, we engage with Swadyaya, Self Study, where we examine our own thoughts, actions, and reactions. How can we work to be better citizens? How can we contribute towards health and wellness for all sentient beings?

If we can begin by taking even just one small action step, perhaps we can finally begin the long hard work for racial justice, equity, and mutual liberation.

Will you join me?

With love,

Angie

Please consider supporting these groups:

Black Mamas Matter

Equal Justice Initiative

Please also read this article.

Praise for My Grandmother’s Hands

“Resmaa Menakem cuts to the heart of America’s racial crisis with the precision of a surgeon in ways few have before. Addressing the intergenerational trauma of white supremacy and its effects on all of us — understanding it as a true soul wound — is the first order of business if we hope to pull out of the current morass. As this amazing work shows us, policies alone will not do it, and bold social action, though vital to achieving justice, will require those engaged in it to also take action on the injury, deep and personal, from which we all suffer."

TIM WISE AUTHOR OF WHITE LIKE ME