Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism and Communal Consultation

Alicia Mosley

I attended a powerful, two-day foundations course co-facilitated by Resmaa Menaken, author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and Pathways to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. In the course we focused on acknowledging, holding, and responding to the somatic responses that we experience while constantly living, working, teaching, and being students in a highly racialized society. While, in part, we discussed the histories and constructions of race, racial trauma, and anti-blackness, we returned to somatic awareness with the knowledge that cognition alone is not a salve, that the work of deeply healing racial trauma takes time and presence, and that the trauma and work to heal it is collective. We deepened our understanding of the restorative tools Menaken offers in My Grandmother’s Hands. Most importantly, and in line with the proposal of the book, we practiced the tools.
I also participated in the “communal consultation” that followed the Foundations course.  I met monthly for six months with a large group of Black-identified participants and continued to apply the practices and use the somatic tools. Over the six-months, we formed triads which also met monthly and worked together to discuss the book and apply the resources. 

I continue to use the practices consistently to respond to my own somatic responses as a teacher and colleague, and I incorporate some of the practices in my classroom to help students stay resourced and regulated while we do the rigorous work of discussing intersections of identity in literature. Doing this work has deepened and strengthened my student-centered teaching practice.
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The College Preparatory School

mens conscia recti

a mind aware of what is right