Breathwork
Learning to Relax
Letting oneself be held is no easy feat, and it can be all the more frustrating when relaxation seems to be easy for others. I want to validate that frustration. I also acknowledge that when we turn to external sources to downregulate (drinking, eating, drugs, sex), we arrive seeking peace. Softness. The sensation of being held.
Trust the Body
As trauma survivors, trusting the body that houses the memories of our survival and generates reactions we cannot rationalize can be very difficult. Rather than being a home or a temple, the body can often feel like a prison we are constantly trying to escape.
In Memoriam (George Floyd)
Today is May 25th, 2021. This is the first anniversary of George Floyd's murder. His memory continues to live on, but that day really was the last day of our lives as we knew them. It was a moment when Americans for the first time, in my lifetime, we're able to take to the streets, not because a new tragedy or something unusual actually happened, but because people had time.
An Introduction to Black + Breathing
Black and breathing is a social practice project by me, Lory Ivey Alexander. I believe that our collective trauma as Black and Brown people can only be healed when we come together collectively, really seeing our past and our future as an interconnected past and future.
Being Present Is Soul Work
The potential for your Black freedom resides in your ability to maintain your presence here in your life. That is difficult when we have cultivated a practice of escaping for survival. As we do this work to free the Black body, we free the soul.