Somatic abolitionist. It’s how Resmaa Menakem, popular trainer, speaker, and bestselling author of My Grandmother’s Hands, defines himself. He’s managed military counseling services for more than 50 bases in war-torn Afghanistan, consulted on trauma and healing for large school districts and police departments, and trained with top trauma and somatic experts to refine and teach his particular healing path of Cultural Somatics: an embodied, antiracist way of living.
For years, he’d watched as well-intentioned therapists tried reading, talking, and thinking their way past the intangible, living nature of racism in order to do good, culturally aware work. But white supremacy lives in the body, just as racial trauma does.
In this talk, Menakem will be joined by Talisa Beasley, transformational leader, speaker and author, who will show us how intergenerational trauma comprises brutal experiences and realities, compounded over time, from which our ancestors couldn’t heal. They’ll offer a road map for learning how to slow down enough to discern, in ourselves and others, historical from personal pain, and the role we may be unwittingly playing in keeping the effects of racism alive in our bodies.