Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions I’ve heard about learning embodied health practices and how I answer them. If you’re interested in more detailed scientific, social justice or educational information about the tools and skills from this studio, please consult the bibliography that I will give out after the session.
Q. What kind of technology requirements are there?
Q: How is this a “studio”?
Q: Where do these practices come from?
Q: Will I be asked about traumatic experiences in my life or my patterns of response to trauma?
Q: Can I still “bring” specifics things or experiences to work on?
Q: What does this practice session have to do with countering white supremacy?
Q: I’m finding I am being critical of my own practices and it doesn’t feel good. What should I do with that?
Q: I’m feeling really emotional or find myself teary or crying during these practices. What can I do?
Q. What kind of technology requirements are there?
A: For best use, I suggest plugging in and testing headphones, optimizing your internet connection (shut off competing electronics like TV, Alexa, Google home, PS4, etc that use internet), checking the lighting in your space for glares or lowlight in your webcam, and reducing noise in your surroundings. Also, before we meet, you can test your tools and internet connection with Zoom here.
Q: How is this a “studio”?
A: This studio is a space to meet with others who are curious about or ready to engage a new tool or build a skill in a hands-on way. It is a time for learning through "trying it on" and seeing if it fits. It is not a lesson in which there is a specific outcome or singular expectation in mind--each participant is able to shape, change and respond to their own goals for the session. My hope is that we will build the collective resilience we have as a faith community to cope with our shared political, economic and medical realities.
Q: Where do these practices come from?
A: Rev. Megan has been collaborating with her body in the tradition of generative somatics and embodied spiritual practices under the supervision and support of a coach since 2011. The practices she will share in this session have been a significant and growing part of her personal journey, grieving process and ministerial life. With permission, she has shared some of these practices as a religious professional, in integrative work with theological students, in Sunday services and in small groups.
Q: What is the relationship between trauma and these practices?
A: In terms of the relationship between trauma and these embodied practices, the brief answer is: the relationship is strong, but will differ or change, based on your own communities, cultures and life experiences or patterns. If they don’t feel connected to you right now, it doesn’t mean that embodied healing practices are “wrong” or “not applicable” for you. You don’t have to be in crisis or experienced something intensely in order to find these practices restoring.
Healing from trauma means facing things that have happened to us and this can be painful, scary or uncomfortable. These effects can mean we tend to distract ourselves from the trauma we have or do experience (those patterns can show up as freezing, fighting, escaping, appeasing, “checking out” or dissociating, feeling overwhelmed, among many other behaviors).
If you don’t want to get into the specifics and that’s an acceptable answer, then feel free to stop reading. There’s an argument to be made that as a world community, we are experiencing collective trauma and responding to transgenerational, lasting trauma as beings on Earth: whether that is the COVID-19 pandemic, life disruption following this pandemic, climate grief, or life in the United States in our current Administration. Those fearing and experiencing new, significant health and socioeconomic vulnerabilities, as well as people who are in historically marginalized groups who disproportionately experience the negative effects of all these global forces, could be characterized as experiencing trauma.
Then, there are the personal and interpersonal traumas -- I’m responding here, citing my own experience, which will be different from others’ experience and where they have found healing. I came to embodied spiritual practices a week after a significant traumatic experience for which my usual “talk” therapy and prescribed anti-anxiety medications weren’t cutting it. After experiencing rather-immediate transformative relief, I stayed engaged with those practices, because I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) from persistent, adverse childhood experiences that echoed into my young adulthood. I wanted to feel more freedom through my body and more fully inhabit my life, claiming the ministries to which I was working and felt called, but had tip-toed through, half-committing and hurting. Eventually, I also wanted to be able to share my experience appropriately in ministry without re-traumatizing myself and skillfully enough to be present and of use to other people who have experienced all different kinds of trauma (or haven’t really thought about trauma before) especially when gathered together (such as, you guessed it - our congregations, social movements and faith communities).
Q: Will I be asked about traumatic experiences in my life or my patterns of response to trauma?
A: No, you will not be asked to share this. I’ll make mention of it and I truly care about these experiences in your life and how they have affected you, your faith, and your healing.
In this studio, you will be invited to actively to stay at the level of your body’s sensation. My intention is not to encourage dishonesty or withholding information, but I want to respect the purpose of building our trust in our body’s experience of being in the world. I believe that sharing our stories is healing, but we are taking this studio time to focus on a particular form of support - embodied support.
This practice session is specifically designed to offer participants the opportunity to collaborate with their own bodies in creating safety and spaciousness to handle what’s ahead of us globally and as a religious community. If you are experiencing violence or abuse, having thoughts about hurting yourself or other people, please reach out for help today. Do not wait. You are beloved and there are people and resources ready to support you, even during a pandemic. Anyone can call or text the Disaster Distress Hotline for support with the emotional distress during or following this pandemic.
Q: Can I still “bring” specifics things or experiences to work on?
A: Sure! This could happen in a variety of ways. Perhaps, you carry or jot down some concerns or cares -- a past experience, an intention, a weird interaction with a peer, a resentment, a loved one, a health condition, or a death -- that you may want to explore. Or, perhaps, you have a physical pain or sensation -- an achey shoulder, a twitch, a numbness, a fatigue-- that you’d like to explore (or maybe, from which you want relief). Maybe it is an experience that happened yesterday, a month ago, a year ago or a decade ago (or more) that's still with you in some noticeable way.
It is also perfectly fine to just be curious about these practices or what you can do in this current pandemic moment or have no specific item in mind to work with/on.
Q: What does this practice session have to do with countering white supremacy?
A: White supremacy culture reinforces the idea that anything uncomfortable should be pushed away. Numbing out to change or discomfort or spiraling anxiously around it uses significant energy. Our energy resources are precious materials for working against racism and oppression and for embodying joy and liberation from the oppressions that marginalize us or the people connected to us. Can you think of examples of historical moments in movements for liberation that celebrated and affirmed the body? Two examples that come to my mind are freedom songs in the work of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the US Civil Rights Movement, and the development of GLBTQ Pride parades as protest. Bodies that are present, open and connected can move, inspire and build meaningful change and community survival.
Whether we have been the targets of oppression or the agents of it, discussing and opposing it usually means we will reopen trauma in some way. Our bodies deserve grounding in safety and support in our work for justice. I think our successes in anti-racism and anti-oppression movement building depend upon it, too. I like the way the connection between surviving/healing oppression and our bodies (as those survived/surviving oppression or agents of it) are explained in this article by my own somatic coach, Dr. Vanissar Tarakali. For a deeper dive, I’d also consider the book by Staci Haines called The Politics of Trauma.
This practice studio focuses on doing the healing work on ourselves, but the connection to social movement work and social justice principles is essential to understanding the broad purposes of this kind of shaping of resilience. My vantagepoint as an educator and minister is indebted to these perspectives on my own healing. There exist approaches labeled as somatic or somatic experiencing that focus solely on personal behavior change or individual healing. I believe the connections between trauma and oppression are so strong, that the role of white supremacy and systems of oppression, along with the hearts and actions of liberation movements must be linked up with these practices. I imagine you’ve heard the saying that “the personal is political” - social transformation and personal transformation must be taken up together.
Q: I’m finding I am being critical of my own practices and it doesn’t feel good. What should I do with that?
A: I find that my inner critic (let’s call her Meg the Grouch) is always in my “waiting room” - and sometimes, wants to march right in and tell me what’s wrong with what I’m doing or thinking. Over time, I’ve developed a pretty strong “dragon tail” that extends down my sturdy spine and can sweep Meg the Grouch back into the waiting room (most of the time). First off, try not to pile on with the critic -- no need to feel critical of yourself for feeling critical. But, even if that happens, one or some combo of the following should help:
1. Worthwhile Intelligence from Your Body: Does my inner critic come with worthwhile information from my body? Check-in in with your body. Notice if the practice itself feels like a “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” If it is a no or maybe, let your body take the lead and stop or move onto another practice or take a break. Notice your hip bones by either bringing your hands to them or swaying. Or, physically leave and re-enter your space if you can. Don’t return to a practice that’s a “no.” The “no way - not for me. Bye, practice!” is sacred and deserves our respect, praise, admiration.
If it’s a maybe and you’re feeling curious, still notice your hip bones (above) and then try what’s below:
If it is a “yes,” and you are feeling self-critical, remind yourself of the initial instructions about somatic practices -- your body can’t mess this up. If it is pleasing (a “yes”) to do the practice in the way you are doing it, then let’s consider trusting your body’s interpretation. What insight is there? How is your body wisely adapting the practice for you?
2. Assessing the Critique: If the critique feels like it is coming from an external source (your old boss, a memory, “that time”), ask yourself: Where is this evaluation coming from? Is it from a credible source? Does it fit with my own goals for practicing?
3. Try saying aloud, “Thank you. That may or may not be useful to me.”
4. “Bye, Grouch” Songs: Whether your hum it to yourself or head to Youtube, what is the song you’d play yourself to get over something that’s not for you? I usually re-interpret a break-up song with a message about “I’m in charge now!” like Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You,” Taylor Swift’s “We are Never Ever Getting back together”, or Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next”.
Q: I’m feeling really emotional or find myself teary or crying during these practices. What can I do?
A: This happens to me a lot. If it feels safe to do so, stay with your emotional self at the “body level” - noticing, being curious about it, and checking in there periodically.
Offer it what it is asking for, if you can. If you’re in a group situation and this comes up, it’s okay to shut off your camera, mute your microphone and change your physical position, scream into a pillow, exaggerate your cry. What would it be like to give your body ultimate say-so in how you show up to this event?
If this is in the course of a practice, notice if the practice itself feels like a “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” If it is a no or maybe, let your body take the lead and stop or move onto another practice or take a break.
On their own, embodied practices are not a replacement for regular, on-going and crisis support for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. You are encouraged to cultivate and rely on support systems, especially during this pandemic. Please reach out to your or any UU minister for specific resources or tools in your geographic area.
There are also embodied practices considered to be “emotional first aid.” First-responders and people experiencing acute distress and loss during this pandemic should consult these tools. I may reference them, but they will not be the focus of the education in this session. Here is one tool kit I reference by Patricia Mathes Cane. Capacitar International has also updated their resources and has several digital and video downloads on coping.
Q. What kind of technology requirements are there?
Q: How is this a “studio”?
Q: Where do these practices come from?
Q: Will I be asked about traumatic experiences in my life or my patterns of response to trauma?
Q: Can I still “bring” specifics things or experiences to work on?
Q: What does this practice session have to do with countering white supremacy?
Q: I’m finding I am being critical of my own practices and it doesn’t feel good. What should I do with that?
Q: I’m feeling really emotional or find myself teary or crying during these practices. What can I do?
Q. What kind of technology requirements are there?
A: For best use, I suggest plugging in and testing headphones, optimizing your internet connection (shut off competing electronics like TV, Alexa, Google home, PS4, etc that use internet), checking the lighting in your space for glares or lowlight in your webcam, and reducing noise in your surroundings. Also, before we meet, you can test your tools and internet connection with Zoom here.
Q: How is this a “studio”?
A: This studio is a space to meet with others who are curious about or ready to engage a new tool or build a skill in a hands-on way. It is a time for learning through "trying it on" and seeing if it fits. It is not a lesson in which there is a specific outcome or singular expectation in mind--each participant is able to shape, change and respond to their own goals for the session. My hope is that we will build the collective resilience we have as a faith community to cope with our shared political, economic and medical realities.
Q: Where do these practices come from?
A: Rev. Megan has been collaborating with her body in the tradition of generative somatics and embodied spiritual practices under the supervision and support of a coach since 2011. The practices she will share in this session have been a significant and growing part of her personal journey, grieving process and ministerial life. With permission, she has shared some of these practices as a religious professional, in integrative work with theological students, in Sunday services and in small groups.
Q: What is the relationship between trauma and these practices?
A: In terms of the relationship between trauma and these embodied practices, the brief answer is: the relationship is strong, but will differ or change, based on your own communities, cultures and life experiences or patterns. If they don’t feel connected to you right now, it doesn’t mean that embodied healing practices are “wrong” or “not applicable” for you. You don’t have to be in crisis or experienced something intensely in order to find these practices restoring.
Healing from trauma means facing things that have happened to us and this can be painful, scary or uncomfortable. These effects can mean we tend to distract ourselves from the trauma we have or do experience (those patterns can show up as freezing, fighting, escaping, appeasing, “checking out” or dissociating, feeling overwhelmed, among many other behaviors).
If you don’t want to get into the specifics and that’s an acceptable answer, then feel free to stop reading. There’s an argument to be made that as a world community, we are experiencing collective trauma and responding to transgenerational, lasting trauma as beings on Earth: whether that is the COVID-19 pandemic, life disruption following this pandemic, climate grief, or life in the United States in our current Administration. Those fearing and experiencing new, significant health and socioeconomic vulnerabilities, as well as people who are in historically marginalized groups who disproportionately experience the negative effects of all these global forces, could be characterized as experiencing trauma.
Then, there are the personal and interpersonal traumas -- I’m responding here, citing my own experience, which will be different from others’ experience and where they have found healing. I came to embodied spiritual practices a week after a significant traumatic experience for which my usual “talk” therapy and prescribed anti-anxiety medications weren’t cutting it. After experiencing rather-immediate transformative relief, I stayed engaged with those practices, because I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) from persistent, adverse childhood experiences that echoed into my young adulthood. I wanted to feel more freedom through my body and more fully inhabit my life, claiming the ministries to which I was working and felt called, but had tip-toed through, half-committing and hurting. Eventually, I also wanted to be able to share my experience appropriately in ministry without re-traumatizing myself and skillfully enough to be present and of use to other people who have experienced all different kinds of trauma (or haven’t really thought about trauma before) especially when gathered together (such as, you guessed it - our congregations, social movements and faith communities).
Q: Will I be asked about traumatic experiences in my life or my patterns of response to trauma?
A: No, you will not be asked to share this. I’ll make mention of it and I truly care about these experiences in your life and how they have affected you, your faith, and your healing.
In this studio, you will be invited to actively to stay at the level of your body’s sensation. My intention is not to encourage dishonesty or withholding information, but I want to respect the purpose of building our trust in our body’s experience of being in the world. I believe that sharing our stories is healing, but we are taking this studio time to focus on a particular form of support - embodied support.
This practice session is specifically designed to offer participants the opportunity to collaborate with their own bodies in creating safety and spaciousness to handle what’s ahead of us globally and as a religious community. If you are experiencing violence or abuse, having thoughts about hurting yourself or other people, please reach out for help today. Do not wait. You are beloved and there are people and resources ready to support you, even during a pandemic. Anyone can call or text the Disaster Distress Hotline for support with the emotional distress during or following this pandemic.
Q: Can I still “bring” specifics things or experiences to work on?
A: Sure! This could happen in a variety of ways. Perhaps, you carry or jot down some concerns or cares -- a past experience, an intention, a weird interaction with a peer, a resentment, a loved one, a health condition, or a death -- that you may want to explore. Or, perhaps, you have a physical pain or sensation -- an achey shoulder, a twitch, a numbness, a fatigue-- that you’d like to explore (or maybe, from which you want relief). Maybe it is an experience that happened yesterday, a month ago, a year ago or a decade ago (or more) that's still with you in some noticeable way.
It is also perfectly fine to just be curious about these practices or what you can do in this current pandemic moment or have no specific item in mind to work with/on.
Q: What does this practice session have to do with countering white supremacy?
A: White supremacy culture reinforces the idea that anything uncomfortable should be pushed away. Numbing out to change or discomfort or spiraling anxiously around it uses significant energy. Our energy resources are precious materials for working against racism and oppression and for embodying joy and liberation from the oppressions that marginalize us or the people connected to us. Can you think of examples of historical moments in movements for liberation that celebrated and affirmed the body? Two examples that come to my mind are freedom songs in the work of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the US Civil Rights Movement, and the development of GLBTQ Pride parades as protest. Bodies that are present, open and connected can move, inspire and build meaningful change and community survival.
Whether we have been the targets of oppression or the agents of it, discussing and opposing it usually means we will reopen trauma in some way. Our bodies deserve grounding in safety and support in our work for justice. I think our successes in anti-racism and anti-oppression movement building depend upon it, too. I like the way the connection between surviving/healing oppression and our bodies (as those survived/surviving oppression or agents of it) are explained in this article by my own somatic coach, Dr. Vanissar Tarakali. For a deeper dive, I’d also consider the book by Staci Haines called The Politics of Trauma.
This practice studio focuses on doing the healing work on ourselves, but the connection to social movement work and social justice principles is essential to understanding the broad purposes of this kind of shaping of resilience. My vantagepoint as an educator and minister is indebted to these perspectives on my own healing. There exist approaches labeled as somatic or somatic experiencing that focus solely on personal behavior change or individual healing. I believe the connections between trauma and oppression are so strong, that the role of white supremacy and systems of oppression, along with the hearts and actions of liberation movements must be linked up with these practices. I imagine you’ve heard the saying that “the personal is political” - social transformation and personal transformation must be taken up together.
Q: I’m finding I am being critical of my own practices and it doesn’t feel good. What should I do with that?
A: I find that my inner critic (let’s call her Meg the Grouch) is always in my “waiting room” - and sometimes, wants to march right in and tell me what’s wrong with what I’m doing or thinking. Over time, I’ve developed a pretty strong “dragon tail” that extends down my sturdy spine and can sweep Meg the Grouch back into the waiting room (most of the time). First off, try not to pile on with the critic -- no need to feel critical of yourself for feeling critical. But, even if that happens, one or some combo of the following should help:
1. Worthwhile Intelligence from Your Body: Does my inner critic come with worthwhile information from my body? Check-in in with your body. Notice if the practice itself feels like a “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” If it is a no or maybe, let your body take the lead and stop or move onto another practice or take a break. Notice your hip bones by either bringing your hands to them or swaying. Or, physically leave and re-enter your space if you can. Don’t return to a practice that’s a “no.” The “no way - not for me. Bye, practice!” is sacred and deserves our respect, praise, admiration.
If it’s a maybe and you’re feeling curious, still notice your hip bones (above) and then try what’s below:
If it is a “yes,” and you are feeling self-critical, remind yourself of the initial instructions about somatic practices -- your body can’t mess this up. If it is pleasing (a “yes”) to do the practice in the way you are doing it, then let’s consider trusting your body’s interpretation. What insight is there? How is your body wisely adapting the practice for you?
2. Assessing the Critique: If the critique feels like it is coming from an external source (your old boss, a memory, “that time”), ask yourself: Where is this evaluation coming from? Is it from a credible source? Does it fit with my own goals for practicing?
3. Try saying aloud, “Thank you. That may or may not be useful to me.”
4. “Bye, Grouch” Songs: Whether your hum it to yourself or head to Youtube, what is the song you’d play yourself to get over something that’s not for you? I usually re-interpret a break-up song with a message about “I’m in charge now!” like Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You,” Taylor Swift’s “We are Never Ever Getting back together”, or Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next”.
Q: I’m feeling really emotional or find myself teary or crying during these practices. What can I do?
A: This happens to me a lot. If it feels safe to do so, stay with your emotional self at the “body level” - noticing, being curious about it, and checking in there periodically.
- Where is your attention drawn and does that location or part have a temperature or movement or a sound?
- Would it like something warm or soft - a blanket across the hips?
- Does it want to move?
Offer it what it is asking for, if you can. If you’re in a group situation and this comes up, it’s okay to shut off your camera, mute your microphone and change your physical position, scream into a pillow, exaggerate your cry. What would it be like to give your body ultimate say-so in how you show up to this event?
If this is in the course of a practice, notice if the practice itself feels like a “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” If it is a no or maybe, let your body take the lead and stop or move onto another practice or take a break.
On their own, embodied practices are not a replacement for regular, on-going and crisis support for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. You are encouraged to cultivate and rely on support systems, especially during this pandemic. Please reach out to your or any UU minister for specific resources or tools in your geographic area.
There are also embodied practices considered to be “emotional first aid.” First-responders and people experiencing acute distress and loss during this pandemic should consult these tools. I may reference them, but they will not be the focus of the education in this session. Here is one tool kit I reference by Patricia Mathes Cane. Capacitar International has also updated their resources and has several digital and video downloads on coping.
