Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

  • Embodying Racial Justice facilitates online and in-person programs to support social movement practitioners interested in learning more about their bodies, their responses under pressure and their capacity to work with other white people and people of color toward racial justice.

    The courses foreground somatic body based practices, relational connection and community building as well as anti-racist frameworks and political commitments. During the courses, we move toward our individual visions for the future and a collective commitment to liberation and justice.

    The interactive courses are designed to build your capacity, embodiment and understanding of yourself inside of liberation movements in the U.S. at this time. Participants will explore the role our bodies, the land, and our lineage(s) play in building a different future and world. Courses typically infuse a combination of song, poetry, physical movement, connection to nature/land as well as practical and theoretical resource materials into a unique curriculum specialized for changemakers.

    Courses will invite you to deepen your embodied awareness, explore somatic embodiment practices and build your commitment to racial justice - all within a politicized and relational lens.

    “If you aren’t in your body, someone else is. The systems of this world have everything to gain from your disembodiment.” - Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies

    In ERJ courses you will connect and build community with others in shared political commitments. Together we will practice learning about our bodies, our feelings and our healing for the sake of ending racial capitalism.

    The people I've met on retreats are exactly the kind of co-conspirators that I need in my movement work, and I imagine that you need more co-conspirators like this too. -- Ren Rhodes, Executive Director, Sam and Devorah Foundation for Trans Youth

    Embodying Racial Justice supports the development of organizers, consultants, trainers, coaches, activists, body workers, artists, spiritual leaders and more.

    We are a commitment to ending white supremacy in our lifetimes. We are a commitment to building a strong BIPOC & working class- led movement to fight for and win real change for our communities. We hope you’ll join us.

  • We offer a variety of in-person and online courses, such as:

    • One-day, in-person introductory courses

    • Four-day, in-person intensive courses

    • Yearlong, intensive courses that combine in-person and online gatherings

    • Virtual workshops, online gatherings to support our community and introduce folks to somatics

    • Virtual Open Houses and FAQ sessions

    • Virtual Practice Spaces to support ongoing learning

    Please note that some of our courses are just for white people and some of our courses are for multiracial groups. Specific details about attendees will be listed on the course event page.

    Please visit our course description page for further information.

  • Our courses are for you if you:

    • Are ready to feel more aliveness in your body - in the form of sensation, temperature, pressure and movement - and gain greater understanding of how that aliveness informs your actions

    • Long for groundedness in your work, clarity about your purpose and how to take focused action in the midst of the noise of the world 

    • Would like practices to feel more present, open and connected in your day-to-day life

    • Need support to stay in action under pressure and through the contradictions of this political moment

    • Want deeper understanding of embodied race equity and liberation frameworks

    • Seek access to deeper resilience and mutual support under the increased pressures of the world 

    • Desire to align your embodiment, words, and actions with your longings

    Participants should be ready to deepen their connection to their body and the collective body, into their feeling selves and to move toward their longings and visions for the future.

  • Embodying Racial Justice teachers, including but not limited to Dara Silverman, may be available for coaching and/or consultation. Email us and let us know what your needs are so we can talk more about whether or not we have availability and alignment for coaching or consulting.

Somatics, Lineage and Approach

    • The term Somatics was coined by Thomas Hannah in 1972. 

    • Soma has a greek root and means “the living organism or body in it’s wholeness”.

    • This is an attempt to name and understand the human being as an integrated, biological, psychological, social and energetic whole. This is a shift in paradigm from a Cartesian Model (I think, therefore, I am.)

    • generative somatics and the Strozzi Institute draw from a number of cultures and practices from around the world- from East Asia and South Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.

    • All cultures have embodied practices, including European ancestry cultures.

    • Somatics can be inherently connected to how racism, white supremacy and colonization split our minds from our body and de-value embodiment.

    Teacher Prentis Hemphill writes about one way to think about somatics. They write, somatics is

    “the study and practice of how change happens in bodies” 

    “the study of our bodies, trauma, and the practices we generate to develop awareness of our bodies and transform them. I think of embodiment as related, but inclusive of all the practices, rituals and ceremonies that people have used across time to transform not only individual bodies but our collective bodies as well.” 

    Additional teachings and thoughts about defining somatics include:

    “A politicized somatics can act as a fundamental collective practice of building power, deepening presence and capacity, and developing the embodied skills we need to generate large-scale change.” 

    – generative somatics, What is Politicized Somatics? 

    “Trauma and oppression work to dis-integrate us, or disappear things, or break us, or compartmentalize us both individually and collectively. Somatics is one healing and transformative methodology that really tries to make us whole again individually and collectively. And decompartmentalize us and integrate us and have us, bring all of ourselves and know how to do that.” 

    – Spenta Kandawalla

    “Somatics is a holistic methodology and theory of change that understands both personal and collective transformation through a radically different paradigm... Somatics understands both the individual and collective as a combination of biological, evolutionary, emotional, and psychological aspects, shaped by social and historical norms, and adaptive to a wide array of both resilient and oppressive factors. Somatics is an intentional change process by which we can embody transformation, individually and collectively. Embodied transformation is foundational change that shows in our actions, ways of being, relating, and perceiving. It is transformation that sustains over time.” 

    – Staci Haines, The Politics of Trauma

    “When we use the term “body” we use it in the somatic sense of the word, which from the ancient Greek means the living body in its wholeness. This is not the sleek, airbrushed body on magazine covers or the Cartesian notion of body as beast of burden that ferries a disembodied mind to its intellectual appointments. Nor is it the mechanical, physiological body of modern medicine or the religious formula of flesh as sin. The body, in the somatic sense, expresses our history, commitments, dignity, authenticity, identity, roles, moral strength, moods, and aspirations as a unique quality of aliveness we call the ‘self’.  We cannot act or live in the world without the body, or the self in this sense.”

    – Richard Strozzi-Heckler

  • ERJ teachers trained with two sister organizations, the Strozzi Institute and generative somatics. 

    In those organizations, we learned from teachers including Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Spenta Kundawalla, Staci Haines, Nathan Naik Shara, Elizabeth Ross, Jennifer Ianiello, MawuLisa Adeyemo, Liu Hoi Man and many more. We also want to recognize some of the people who were influential in the founding of this lineage of somatics including Wendy Palmer, Arianna Strozzi, Richard Hall.

    ERJ teachers have additional coaching training from the Coaching for Transformation, Leadership that Works which is now based in India. We've also studied with Resmaa Menekam and Susan Raffo to be informed by other somatic pathways.

    Collectively, EJR teachers have decades of work experience in social movements spanning a range of issue areas. Further information about our training can be found under “What is ERJ’s approach to somatics, especially to racial justice?”

    Read ERJ teacher bios on our teacher page.

    Read more about Dara’s accountability.

  • At ERJ, racial justice is integral and integrated into everything we do. ERJ grew out of White Racial Justice Somatics, a previous partnership that was a direct response to requests from BIPOC (and specifically Black) somatics teachers in the wake of George Floyd's murder.

    The particular somatic lineage that ERJ is draws on both a more mainstream and a politicized somatics practice. For us, somatic work and collective liberation come together within the framework of ERJ courses.

    ERJ teachers trained with two sister organizations, the Strozzi Institute and generative somatics.

    In those organizations, we learned from teachers including Richard Strozzi-Heckler, Spenta Kundawalla, Staci Haines, Nathan Naik Shara, Elizabeth Ross, Jennifer Ianiello, MawuLisa Adeyemo, Liu Hoi Man and many more. We also want to recognize some of the people who were influential in the founding of this lineage of somatics including Wendy Palmer, Arianna Strozzi, Richard Hall.

    Many of the practices they teach draw directly from: 

    • Aikido, a nonviolent martial arts practice founded by Morihei Ueshiba in Japan after World War II

    • Theoretical and practice groundings of somatics from a group of mostly Jewish practitioners from Eastern Europe after World War II: Elsa Gindler, Wilhelm Reich M.D., Doris Breyer, Randolph

    Stone M.D., Dr. Ida Rolfe, Magda Prower and Moshé Feldenkrais Ph.D. 

    • Meditation and breath work from Charan Singh in India and the Insight Meditation tradition 

    • Linguistic framing and distinctions from Fernando Flores from Chile 

    • Core distinctions of safety, dignity, and belonging and Conditioned Tendencies from Dr. Karen Horney 

    • Additional psychological and psychoanalytical frameworks from Fritz Perls and Gestalt Therapy, the wide schools of Jungian Psychology, and the ongoing development of Feminist psychoanalysis 

    We also want to recognize generationFIVE, an organization founded by Staci Haines to end sexual violence against children and BOLD, Black Organizing for Liberation and Dignity, founded by Denise Perry. Both organizations developed some of our curriculum and practices.

    You can read more about the lineage of this stream of somatics here.

    ERJ teachers have additional coaching training from the Coaching for Transformation, Leadership that Works which is now based in India. We've also studied with Resmaa Menekam and Susan Raffo to be informed by other somatic pathways.

    Collectively, EJR teachers have decades of work experience in social movements spanning a range of issue areas. 

Curriculum

  • Embodying Racial Justice facilitates online and in-person programs to support social movement practitioners interested in learning more about their bodies, their responses under pressure, and their capacity to work with other white people and people of color toward racial justice.

    Our courses combine theory, practice and relevant practical examples from today’s social movements and our current political context.

    In-person gatherings include body-based activities, physical movement and interactive teaching and learning sessions.

  • In an ERJ course you will be invited into:

    • More access to aliveness

    • Moving towards more choice under pressure and through the contradictions of this current moment

    • Deeper understanding of embodied anti-racist frameworks

    • Moving from old shape to new shape in current political conditions

    • Becoming more congruent, aligning embodiment, words and actions with our longings

    You will have the opportunity to learn from experienced teachers who have decades of combined experience in somatics and who are focused on our current political moment.

    You will learn with and from participants who are active in social movements right now. 

  • During our time together participants will move through an arc that includes building somatic awareness, foundational anti-racist practice, somatic opening, regenerating connection and more.

    Topics may include things like how to hold contradictions in challenging political times, how we show up under pressure in social change work, making requests and offers, allyship and more.

    Practices may include:

    • Standing and seated activities

    • Written exercises

    • Individual, paired, small group work

    • Story-telling (and more)

    Each course is also emergent; some practices are in response to the teaching team assessing the needs of the group.

  • Participants need to be ready to deepen their connection to their body and the collective body, deepen into their feeling selves, try on new practices and move toward their longings and visions for the future in a group setting. Arriving with a desire to learn and grow will support participants in our courses. Your consent will be built in at multiple junctures throughout the course and we invite you to be in choice throughout our time together.

    ERJ course participants are asked to consent to and grapple with our community agreements.

    A brief excerpt of the Community Agreements we begin with are shared with permission from Co-Lab, a Black and Women of Color-led collective. 

    • Focus on Racism- while we acknowledge the multiple forms of oppression at play, in this course, our focus is on racism, racial justice and white supremacy

    • Depth without Drowning- Our goal in this work is to feel more, but not to flood our systems. Begin to feel for yourself what level of depth and self-disclosure is right and how deep you can go while staying in the growth zone. 

    • Simultaneity- Feeling multiple things at one time. 

    • No Quick Fix- We can’t undo systems of power and oppression overnight. This is a lifetime commitment to change work, fighting white supremacy and defending Black lives. 

    • Equitable Labor - Share the work of learning and creating together.

    For queer and trans folks and folks with multiple marginalized identities, feeling into our bodies can be a scary experience. Even though there can be fear and vulnerability, feeling more deeply is worth it because it brings us into contact with our deepest longings and with the reality that another world is possible.

    – Ren Rhodes, Sam & Devorah Foundation for Trans Youth

  • No, our courses are not teacher trainings. We recognize the longing to teach and to become a teacher. However, currently, ERJ is not offering teacher training.

Preparation & Follow Up

  • Before your course begins, you will be asked to review foundational resources that will help all participants arrive with shared references. The resources include things like readings, podcasts, and videos and cover topics such as strategy, culture and vision to prime our work together. After acceptance, please review your course welcome packet for further details.

  • After your course, you will be invited to optionally participate in activities to continue your practice, learning and connection to our community. Follow-up activities may include things such as:

    • Invitations to online practice

    • Connection and conversation with potential participant practice buddies

    • Organizing and/or attending local in-person practice groups where you live (if applicable)

    • A follow-up virtual call with teachers and participants

    • Potential bonus add-on coaching (for an additional fee)

Registration Fees

Registration and sliding scale details are available on separate pages.

Movement, Accessibility & Community Health

  • We seek to make our courses accessible to a wide range of participants.

    After acceptance course participants are asked to share any accessibility needs or concerns with us so we can be in conversation with you and do our best to meet your needs.

    If you have accessibility needs and questions about whether or not the course is right for you before you apply, please contact us so we can discuss potential accommodations.

  • During in-person courses, we seek to create a space that supports the health of a wide range of community members needs. Based on the needs of each group, our requests for participants may include things like supporting a fragrance free environment or increasing our rigor around COVID-19 prevention.


    Before registering for an in-person course please review our COVID-19 protocols.

  • We invite participants into consent practice regularly during our courses. We want everyone to be in choice and feel for their yes’s, no’s and maybe’s and to practice sharing that information with the teaching team early and often.

  • Practices and physical movements during our in-person courses often can be taught seated or standing to provide options for a variety of bodies.

  • Many participants opt to sit on the floor and/or the ground from time to time. However, it is not a requirement for your participation and there are a variety of options for different bodies including chairs.

  • Frequently our in-person courses need to be sent free to make the courses as accessible as possible. Please review the course materials for specifics about your location.

    In general, to prepare to be fragrance-free:

    • Refrain from wearing, bathing, or washing clothes in any scented products

    • If you bring personal care products (like hand sanitizer, deodorant) please use fragrance-free

    Here are more details (borrowed from the East Bay Meditation Center):

    • Out of respect for people with environmental illnesses, we request that students please not wear fragrances or scented products. This includes clothing that has been laundered with fragranced detergent or softening products. 

    • We greatly appreciate your efforts to make this space accessible to those with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities). 

    • A detailed list of fragrance-free products is available from the East Bay Meditation Center.

    • Please plan to use fragrance-free sunscreen and bug sprays if these are items you need to use.

  • Please read our COVID-19 Protocols carefully.

    It will provide guidance on all that we are doing to create a safe learning environment, and requests around your preparation for the course.

    Be sure to read your course materials in detail as we may have additional specific requests for you based on the context of the course, the course location or the needs of other participants. 

    We appreciate you helping to keep our community healthy and make our space as accessible as possible to all.

  • Let’s talk about it. Please contact us in advance about your needs so we can discuss the context fully. 

Community Care Teams

One of the highlights of in-person practice are the ways we can care for each other in informal ways, including protecting one another's health and safety. Participants will be asked to sign up and practice giving and receiving care.

For each course, we ask for participant volunteers to join a team. This is one of the ways we care for each other, visibilize and distribute the work of care. Some of the teams may include:

  • Access Coordinators

  • Space Tenders

  • Resource Gatherers

  • COVID-19 Point People

  • Transportation Coordinators

  • Time Tenders

  • Set up, Check-In, and Errands

Attendance

  • We encourage you to be fully present for the duration of the course. This ensures you get the most out of your experience and allows you to be fully present with your fellow participants. 

    And we know things come up from time to time. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question about this so we can best advise given your specific context and considerations.

  • We encourage you to be fully present for the duration of the course. This ensures you get the most out of your experience and allows you to be fully present with your fellow participants. 

    And we know things come up from time to time. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question about this so we can best advise given your specific context and considerations.

Conversations

  • Occasionally we host virtual open houses and course FAQ sessions with our community and prospective students. This is where prospective students interested in an in-person course can come to receive answers to their questions. Please contact us for more information. We may be able to send you an invitation or a link of a previous recording.

  • Yes you can schedule a one-on-one if you’re interested in in-person practice and have questions that are not answered in the FAQ. 

Teachers

Participants

  • Generally speaking, social movement practitioners attend our courses. This includes a wide range of people in a wide range of roles and issue area foci. For example, organizers, facilitators, coaches, trainers, teachers, bodyworkers, artists and leaders often attend our courses.

    Please check the specifics for the course you are considering applying toIn advance, as some of our courses are specifically for white people or specifically for multiracial groups.

  • Yes! Get in touch with us directly to talk about your group’s needs so we can discuss the context further.

Experience Levels

  • Yes! Participants should be ready to deepen their connection to their body and the collective body, into their feeling selves and to move toward their longings and visions for the future.

  • Please review your course materials for pre-work, which will help orient you to the course.

    In addition, you may want to optionally look into some of these teachers (who are not on our teaching teams), many of whom have written books, essays or regularly host or are interviewed on podcasts and videos:

    • adrienne maree brown

    • Alta Starr

    • Kai Cheng Thom

    • Prentis Hemphill

    • Richard Strozzi-Heckler

    • Spenta Kandawalla 

    • Staci Haines

    My education as a white, straight cismale has been all up in my head. To live life disconnected from my body and my emotions (except anger, which bell hooks notes is the only emotion society lets me share) is to know only a fraction of the richness this life has to offer.

    In my racial-justice work, particularly with other men, this means I am often in "over-intellectualized" spaces with deep undercurrents of unaddressed emotions that need to be felt and expressed.

    Being able to practice, and then model and demonstrate, embodied approaches to racial-justice work is a huge gift to me and to the folx I work with.  

    --Steven Joiner, Life After Patriarchy

  • Yes! Practice is what sustains us and moves us towards our longings. It takes 300 repetitions to commit a move to muscle memory and 3,000 to make it our go-to move under pressure. Attending multiple courses will deepen your learning.

Testimonials

  • Eli Berkowitz, Community Voices Heard, Hudson, NY

    Engaging conflict directly and practicing ways of responding generatively is not something we do often or well as people with white privilege, so this retreat offered a desperately needed antidote to our patterns of under-accountability. Getting to practice being brave, messy, and caring in a container that's committed to both individual healing and developing disciplined, collective anti-racist praxis among white people has helped me become a more committed organizer, leader and community member.

  • Hannah Nelson, Peace and Justice Action League, Spokane, WA

    I'm so grateful for the way that I was able to learn and be stretched by Dara's workshop in ways that I hadn't known I needed. It especially challenged the ways that white supremacy culture has taught me to separate myself from my body,  to the detriment of myself and those around me. Months later, I still find myself coming back to lessons learned in the workshop and putting them into practice both in the context of social justice and my day-to-day life. A specific takeaway that was big for me was that I can work to hold different, conflicting perspectives in the context of social justice work while still remaining settled and present in my body.

  • Jo Quest-Neubert, Literacy Teacher, Cambridge Public Schools, Cambridge MA

    This session rooted me in my humanity, connecting me to parts that had been severed, and deepened my sense of connection and interdependence. It helped me feel hope and possibility, which has empowered me to lean into my racial justice work with not only a more powerful commitment but also confidence that a new way is possible, even if I can't see the entire path. That confidence makes me more humble, rooted and bold in my work. 

Logistics

  • Course venues range from retreat centers to community centers, from campgrounds to farms as well as churches, synagogues, and mosques. We seek venues that are aligned with ERJ values, are grounded in community, and provide access to outdoor space. Whenever possible we work with local colleagues to brainstorm a range of options from which to choose.

    Some of the venues provide for residential accommodations, while others include on-site or nearby camping options, and still others include off-site shared housing options.

    Please check the specific course details in the location you are considering to learn more about the venue.

  • Every course is slightly different so please check your welcome packet for specific details.

    In general you can expect a schedule that is something like:

    • Day 0: arrive after 4 p.m.

    • Day 1: 9:30 a.m - 6 p.m.

    • Day 2: 10 a.m - 6 p.m. 

    • Day 3: 10 a.m - 6 p.m.

    • Day 4: 9 a.m - 3 p.m., departure

    The schedule usually includes a break about every 1.5 hours, including breaks for meals.

    Optional evening activities are sometimes included, such as a bonfire, ritual celebrations, song circles, etc. 

  • Typically we’re invited to partner with people in a local community. And we try to offer courses in a variety of locations around the U.S. to make somatics accessible to a wide range of people.

    If you would like to host a course where you live please reach out to us.

  • Course sizes range from approximately 15-50.

  • Depending on the location, the venue and the specific dietary needs of a group, food during a course will range from catered meals to do-it-yourself (DIY) rustic camp-style meal preparation to meals on-you-own. Snacks and drinks are typically included.

    We do our best to accommodate dietary needs and requests based on participant registration information. Folks with food allergies and dietary restrictions may want to consider bringing supplemental food along with them.

    Please review your welcome packet for the specific course you are attending to learn more information about meals and food. If you have questions that are not answered in the welcome packet don’t hesitate to reach out.

  • A sample list of what to bring is below. (Please review your course welcome packet for specifics.)

    • Proof of pre-trip negative COVID test, rapid test, masks 

    • Comfortable clothing, easy to move in, with extra layers 

    • Shower items (including a towel/washcloth unless otherwise noted)

    • Warm socks and/or slip-on shoes, if available to you, as shoes are often not worn during practice.

    • Reusable water bottles & reusable thermal cups for coffee/tea

    • Protective gear such as rain gear, and sun protection (if using products, please select chemical fragrance-free items.)

    • Ritual items, books, and other items such as water or soil rom where you live for our shared altar

    • Sleep items you may need, such as eye masks and ear plugs or any extra pillows 

    • If you are local and have access, or are driving and have room, please bring: yoga mat(s), yoga blanket(s), meditation pillow(s), backjacks, portable indoor/outdoor chairs, cushions for yourself and to share. 

  • Please plan to wear casual clothing that is easy and comfortable to move in. Shoes are often not worn during practice, so you may want to bring a pair of warm socks. Slip on shoes in between practice may be helpful. Please come prepared with layers and what you need to be comfortable with variable weather and the potential for both indoor and outdoor practice. Occasionally indoor practice takes place with windows and doors open.

  • Some of the venues provide for residential accommodations, whereas others include on-site or nearby camping options, and still others include off-site shared housing options. 

    For out-of-town participants who select a need for housing when registering, you may be asked to indicate your willingness to:

    • Camp on-site or off-site 

    • Stay in shared housing on-site or off-site

    Single rooms are not guaranteed.

    We encourage participants to stay in shared housing options when possible for the sake of building relationships. Participants are more than welcome to arrange and pay for their own lodging as needed.

    Please check the specific course details in the location you are considering to learn more about the accommodations.

  • No. Shared accommodations are typically for out-of-town participants who request accommodations during registration. Locals usually stay in their own homes. Participants are welcome to arrange and pay for their own accommodations.

  • Some of our courses have taken place in locations such as:


    • Memphis, TN

    • Bay Area, CA

    • Portland, OR

    • St. Louis, MO

    • Upstate New York

    • Whidbey Island, WA

  • Generally, no childcare is not available. And, please talk to us about your needs so we can be in conversation about possibilities.