Reclaim for Liberation: A way to start your day

October 10, 2018 1 Comment

The board and staff of Interaction Institute recently gathered to learn from others working to bring about racial equity and to talk about how we build a board structure that supports or propels our work in new ways. To start the day, we did an icebreaker I called, “Reclaim for Liberation.”

A colleague planted this seed. What are the qualities or traits we once had that have been taken from us—by family dynamics or trauma, by histories of oppression, or as we have become adults and try to live in the dominant culture? And which of these do we actually want back?

Sometimes, as we are reaching for liberation, we find ourselves fighting against what exists. What we need more of is the vision of what we are heading toward. And sometimes, we imagine that we need completely new tools and skills and ways of being to get to our vision. What if we actually know (or used to know) most of what we need for transformation?

Growing up in this culture and transforming ourselves to fit, particularly as women and/or people of color and/or queer people, we shed things that are not only elemental to us but deeply important for our ability to move forward. Much of this is related to how white supremacy impacts our ways of being and asks most of us to be much smaller than nature would have us be.

When we did the exercise below, people told each other short stories of what they wanted to reclaim for the journey. The words that came up included play, song, dance, carefree, silly, laughter. And then the members of each small group used their bodies to create a sculpture embodying the words and feelings of their group.

It would have been even more effective if we then had kept those ways of being fully present throughout the day, particularly when more challenging conversations emerged. I would like now for us to practice bringing those skills into difficult conversations and see if they help us to speak and solve together.

Try this meditation and share what you see in the group. Do more possibilities or new pathways forward emerge as a result?

Reclaim for Liberation

Allow 20-30 minutes, ideally.

Let people know that in this work for liberation we sometimes feel that we don’t have all we need for change. And perhaps some of what we need we have lost on the way or was taken from us. We are going to spend time individually and as a group reclaiming some of the lost qualities that can be important to us now.

1. Start with a guided meditation (5-6 minutes to set up and lead people in and out)

  • Ask people to take up space in the room; to spread out; can stand or sit
  • Get planted—feeling souls of feet on ground, butt on chair if seated; close eyes or soft gaze
  • 10 deep breaths
    • Feel your body planted—feel the souls of your feet touching the ground, feel your hands resting on your legs or by your side
    • Roll each shoulder back—breath into your full breadth, feel connected to those around you
    • Hear the sounds of the room
    • Breathe to elongate—feel the roots shooting down from feet, up from the crown of the head reaching toward the sky—feel your full length and integrity
  • Ask people to travel back in years; begin to imagine a place you felt joy or lightness, a sense of freedom
    • What sounds do you hear?
    • What are you seeing around you?
    • Are there any smells?
    • Look around
      • Are you inside or outside?
      • Is this a place you recognize or a specific setting that is important to your childhood?
      • Are there people around you or are you alone?
    • Play in this space, enjoy the feelings.
    • Is there a piece of yourself that is present that you may have left behind? Is there a feeling or essence of that self that you want to bring forward and reclaim? Is there something (playful, clear, relaxed) that may be useful for your liberation today?
  • Draw people back to the room – come back into your body, hear the sounds around you, become more conscious of your breathing again, take time to come back into the room, and – when you’re ready – open your eyes.

2. In Trios (8-10 minutes) [decide in advance if there are any instructions needed about how to form trios—such as with people you don’t know or with whom you work less frequently]

  • Each person gets a minute to share the quality that you want to bring forward. Ask yourself: What did I see in my younger self that might serve me in my liberation work today? Share a picture, words or a posture.
  • Each group decides on a way to share back with the full group—encourage a physical sculpture or representation that captures everyone’s words or the quality of what was shared

3. Share back with group—up to 1 minute per group.

4. Ask people to call out some of the other words or feelings they want to carry into the day. You may want to capture some on a chart so you have a visual for your time together.

5. Decide as a group how you will keep pulling in these useful ways of being. This can be particularly useful if you have decisions to make or tensions to address. Ask people to consider an embodiment of their word or quality before engaging in such a conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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