Walking Each Other Home - July 28, 2022

Through mindfulness practices, focusing on antiracism, we increase our emotional resilience, recognize our biases, and make real our common humanity. "Walking Each Other Home" is a guided embodied meditation practice.

Transcript

Welcome to Project Sanctus,

Mindfulness practice,

Our weekly mindfulness practice that we call walking each other home.

So let's just start with a breath together.

I've taken to calling it a collective act of solidarity,

Where we take a breath together to remind us that collectively,

That together we do our healing work,

That together,

That while we have an individual practice for our own healing and transformation and expanding our capacity to hold the charge of race,

To hold the charge of conflict,

Of difficulty,

Because we've got a little bit of that floating around.

We also need to do it collectively and part of our practice is collectively doing this mindfulness practices to together just be slow ourselves down,

Be very mindful of what we're doing,

You know,

Kind of some reflection,

Some introspection,

And it's important that we do it together.

So we call this practice walking each other home.

We call this our weekly coming together,

Walking each other home and you can join us on Zoom live,

If you'd like.

And you can also just be watching,

Streaming it to Facebook live so you can come back at any time and watch any of the videos that we have at any time of the day.

Because really these practices are about deepening our capacity to live in the presence of all things,

Including race-based suffering and how that intersects with other aspects of our lives.

We can,

You know,

By doing this,

You know,

By becoming awake and the aliveness and focusing on our well-being,

You know,

And as we deepen our practice,

We can see how it brings us to,

You know,

Into every aspect of our life.

It's not that,

You know,

The suffering of racism,

Of sexism,

Of classism is separate.

It really,

There's an every part of our life,

Every aspect,

Every facet of our lives intersect.

So we just,

You know,

These practices are to increase our awareness throughout the day of what is peaceful within us.

And that when we don't have a sense,

You know,

When we find ourselves kind of moving into our head and just wanting to check out and sometimes we just check out and then we realize we've checked out.

But doing these practices,

Walking each other home is,

Helps us bring us into some balance,

Some sense of balance.

And also it grounds us.

It settles us into our body.

We know that our trauma lives in our central nervous system.

And so we want to settle the central nervous system and be more,

You know,

Holistically present,

Awake,

Alive,

And well.

So even when we focus,

You know,

We need to be able to focus on some of the identity-based suffering,

Which is around race or age or gender.

And to remember that we are alive and that we are well,

And we continue to practice this walking each other home so that we can continue to be well,

We can continue to be alive so that we have the strength,

We have the flexibility to take in what's not well,

To take in the dis-ease and transform it and be able to hold it,

Not to make it our own identity,

But to create spaces in our world so that others can also move into their,

Move into their sense of wellness.

So because it's from this grounded,

You know,

Expanded awareness that we,

As I said earlier,

We can hold the charge of racial inequity.

We can hold the charge of,

You know,

The systems of oppression around gender identity,

Around any,

Anything that goes on in our lives where we are shunned and punished and pushed to the margins.

So if you've experienced race-related trauma,

These are practices to,

For that healing.

And it is disproportionately,

You know,

If your community has really disproportionately experienced race-related trauma,

Or if you see someone really feeling overwhelmed by the efforts of working together,

Then we pause,

Right?

We pause.

And that's what these mindfulness practices are about,

Is the pause and ensuring that we are carrying sensitivity and we are carrying,

You know,

Our,

Our capacity to really care.

So that's what our,

Today,

Our practice is about,

Awake,

Alive,

And well.

So we'll pause for a few minutes.

And again,

You are welcome to join us any week on Zoom.

If you go to ProjectCencus.

Com,

You can register there and you'll get an email with the Zoom link,

As we'll do the practice.

And then sometimes we hang for a few minutes just to,

Just to kind of chat and debrief,

But it generally isn't longer than 20 or 30 minutes.

Let's begin with the pause.

Begin with the pause,

With the stop,

And,

And settle into your body in whatever way is comfortable for you.

That's the most important thing is that it's comfortable for you,

Which may or may not mean your eyes are open or closed.

It may mean you're lying down.

Some people stand up so they can feel the energy moving through their whole body.

As long as there's some comfort and you have a sense of support.

And with all our mindfulness practices,

Especially when we're going to take a dive into embodying racial awareness,

Just be aware of your need for self care.

Really be aware of self care.

If at any point,

You know,

It really becomes overwhelming and you can feel yourself really checking out,

Then you want to pause.

You want to seek the support of someone.

But just some discomfort is not a,

You know,

The point is to have some measure of discomfort.

That's where we meet.

We meet the,

That's where,

Therein lies the direction of our Zoom.

So you want to sit or you want to stand in a way that supports you in really experiencing a sense of your own dignity.

How often do we really pause and kind of take on that energy of being dignified?

And what does dignity mean?

The first thing that comes to mind for me is I see me holding my head up.

There have been many times in my life where I just sort of look down as I go through my day.

And it's,

It's,

That's allegorical or metaphorical.

I'm looking down.

Sometimes it's,

It's literal.

I'm moving through my day just with my head down because I'm just not,

I'm not having a sense of my own dignity.

I'm not having a sense of I'm allowed to take up the space that I take up.

Just sit and breathe.

Don't change the pace.

Pause within and see if you can have a sense of your own dignity.

Maybe you find your spine gets a little bit straighter.

You put your feet flat on the floor.

And if we want to know the support exists from the ground beneath you,

Take a few very deep breaths.

You may need to slow it down a little bit to really get the depth.

Breathe all the way into the lowest lobes of your lungs.

And as you do that,

Focus your attention on the sensations of your breathing in and out.

You're breathing through the nose.

You may feel cool air that moves through the nose and the sinuses and into your lungs.

You breathe in through the mouth.

You can,

Maybe it feels a little different than breathing in the nose,

But just notice the way that breathing simply provides light in and out.

And keep bringing your attention back to the breath again and again.

With kindness and with gentleness,

Follow the breath.

Bring the attention to breathing in deeply,

Slowly exhaling.

And again,

With that,

Don't lose that sense of dignity,

That self assurance.

Now you want to bring to mind,

Turn towards something that you have personally experienced around race and racism,

As recent as possible,

Not looking to go way back in time,

Because we see it every day.

But slowly,

Very slowly,

What memory or memories do you still carry?

Some of them may be quite old.

What have you personally experienced around race and racism,

Whether it's been oppression or you've noticed your own privilege?

Just go very slowly.

And if it is something maybe a little further back a year or five years or maybe 20 years,

What have you not spoken about in those years?

What have you not spoken about that conveys something about what you've learned about race over the course of your lifetime?

As you turn toward those personal experiences around race and racism,

What have you not spoken about for whatever reason?

And as you check in with that,

Expand your awareness to the sensations that are in your body.

Expand your awareness to where you have physical sensation,

Your shoulders maybe,

The chest,

Gut area.

Sometimes my feet get a little numb.

So what sensations are you experiencing in your body at this moment?

And what thoughts are arising?

What images are emerging?

What emotions are you feeling?

Allow yourself to feel the full measure of emotion.

Could be confusion,

Could be rage,

Could be embarrassment,

Could be guilt,

Sorrow.

And pause for a moment and just pause and come back to the breathing.

Come back to the breathing,

Allow it to open you to the knowing that is deep in your bones about how race has intersected with other aspects of your lived experience.

How race has intersected with your gender,

Your age,

Your able-bodiedness,

Your sexual orientation,

Your class.

Pause and really breathe,

Slow the breathing and allow it to move a little deeper into your bones,

The knowing about how race intersects with all the different facets of your lived experience,

Of your identity.

Might feel difficult to do,

But you just go gently with it.

The difficulty really depends on our own experiences for black and brown bodies.

The sheer number of painful memories may be too difficult to bear.

I as a white passing body can never know.

I have listened to the black and brown bodies talk about it,

Yet I can never know the sheer number of painful memories and the weight of that.

And if you're not black or brown body,

If you're identified as a white body,

You may have been shielded from ways in which your experience bears a mark of our systemic racism in this country.

Continue to focus on the breath.

If you're white,

It might be difficult to do some of this practice.

Maybe there are experiences we have as white bodies that travel with us as white bodies,

But they're very subtle and we can go our whole life and never see so many of the experiences.

You may be thinking,

I don't really have anything to reflect on.

You may not know,

But we do.

Each person listening may have memories based on identity-based injury,

Maybe have memories that as an Asian person,

Recalling different experiences of discrimination in this country.

You may consider yourself multiracial or multiple lineages.

Your body designation may have not just be white body,

Maybe white body and indigenous.

The reality is that all of the racialized groups that we have created comprise people from a myriad of cultural heritage groups,

Each with unique stories,

Each with unique histories.

And within those,

There is much pain.

There is complexity.

There is denial woven in.

We'll come back to the breath,

Breathing in,

Deeply breathing out.

And just consider the silent teachings about race.

Remember,

I had previously invited you to consider what you had not spoken about,

Which is some of your own experiences.

Now,

Take a moment after your next exhale to consider the silent teachings that were given to you about race and its meaning in your life.

And just stay present to what comes up in the body.

What have you come to think about the various ways that we have for labeling people?

And just notice your level of comfort or discomfort with such terms.

And just stay present to what comes up.

There's nothing to fix right now.

We're just wanting to notice and be present.

That's our mindfulness practice,

Is noticing and just be present.

Let's close,

As we sometimes do,

With one hand on our heart,

One hand on our belly.

One hand on our heart and one hand on our belly.

As we've considered the suffering of ourselves,

Our own,

As well as those around us,

The suffering from memories that we've looked back on over our life,

Things we've spoken about or not spoken about,

Rather,

Our silence or the silent teachings that have been passed on to us.

Let's just check in with ourselves and allow yourself a moment of compassion.

One hand on the heart and one hand on the belly.

Just sense into the emotions,

The bodily sensations,

And any discomfort or suffering or pain that you might be having.

Noticing that you are not alone,

That this connects you with all humanity,

With all sentient beings,

And that our suffering,

Our pain,

Our discomfort,

Our confusion is part of being alive.

So as we bring this to a close,

Let's come back to the breath.

Just gentle and kind attention to our inhale and our exhale.

Feel the hand on your chest and the hand just below your belly moving as you inhale slowly and deeply,

And then exhale.

Realizing thus that we are connected to all life,

To all life.

And at any moment of the day,

In any moment of frustration or difficulty around anything,

We can always pause and give ourselves some self-compassion.

We are grateful for our time together.

Thank you.

And have a blessed day.