I Turn to the Body Poem & Practice

I Turn to the Body

I turn to the body
in life and in death.

Another Black body killed
and played on repeat.

Another Black body
a threat just for living.

A blow to the body every time.

I turn to the body
when there’s brokenness,
ease, grief, joy,
confusion, rage, terror,
anything, everything.

I turn to the body in love.
Love filling the numbing wounds,
the screaming emptiness.

Holding, humming,
and rocking myself.

I’ve got you.
I love you.
I’m here
wrapped in each embrace
in an offering to the body
and the vastness of this being.

And the body always holds me back
whispering in each moment
I’ve got you.
I love you.
I’m here.

I’m always here with you.

With the devastations of the anti-Blackness crisis, the climate change crisis, the COVID-19 crisis, and countless other challenges arising rage, grief, and confusion in so many of us, it’s time to center body care. It’s time to stop thinking that the mind alone can guide us out of any of this.

We must start with the body and stay with it as the body is our main source of wisdom and resilience. The body is our anchor to each present moment, our guide to knowing how we are feeling and also our teacher in how to offer and receive healing. Consider exploring the guided practice below inspired by the book My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem to allow space for connection and care with and for the body.

During or after the practice, consider reflecting or journaling on the sensations and feelings that you notice. What is present in the body right now? Where do you notice the sensations the most in the body? Is there a sense of warmth, coldness, tingling, pressure, spaciousness, aching, etc.? Does it feel okay to rest your attention there? If that feeling or sensation could talk, what would it say? What does it need? Does it feel okay to offer yourself what you need?

The invitation is always to offer yourself what is being asked for by the body and to find space to offer it in a way that says I’ve got you to the body. I’ve got you. I’m here. I love you in the form of presence and care. That’s an I’ve got you that I’ve always found to be reciprocated by the body back to me.

Offer yourself rest, care, love, and acceptance, dear ones. Be gentle with yourself. These times are asking us to offer more and more care to ourselves and the world and we need all the care we can get.

—Lissa E.

I turn to the body.
I turn to the ancestors.
I turn to the earth…

above and below images by @whale