Irresistible (fka Healing Justice Podcast)
Society & Culture
Today we’re talking with Sumitra Rajkumar. We discuss what somatics is, the meaning (and common misinterpretation and misuse) of the concepts of trauma and trigger, the reality of this political moment, and holding the seeming contradictions of organizing, healing, head, and heart.
ABOUT OUR GUEST: SUMITRA RAJKUMAR
After twenty years of political education and youth-led documentary work, Sumitra is now a somatics practitioner and teacher under the auspices of generative somatics. She coaches organizers and cultural workers to address the impact of trauma in their lives and step into leadership and collective action. Sumitra works with organized groups to hone shared values and purpose, process conflict and trust their power to move society towards justice. She believes in the creative, emotional and intellectual capacities of human beings to become agents of radical, interdependent social movements. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and is working on her first novel.
PRACTICE
Download the corresponding practice to hear Sumitra guide you through a Somatic Centering practice that can be done anywhere, alone or in a group… and is one of the most fundamental building block tools of somatics, helping you to presence yourself fully in your life and in your work. You’ll need a place you can focus, and no supplies other than yourself for this practice. It can be done alone or in a group.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Generative Somatics website
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Genome by Matt Ridley
The Physiology of Racist and Sexist Oppression by Shannon Sullivan
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
Healing Sex by Staci Haines
The Anatomy of Change by Richard Strozzi
Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman
The Feeling of What Happens by Anthony Damasio
Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert
And hey… the poem that talks about the “soft animal of the body” IS by Mary Oliver! It’s Wild Geese.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Sign up for the email list to hear when new episodes drop at www.healingjustice.org
Follow us on Instagram @healingjustice, like Healing Justice Podcast on Facebook, and tweet at us @hjpodcast on Twitter
We pay for all costs out-of-pocket and this podcast is 100% volunteer-run. Help us cover our costs by becoming a sponsor at patreon.com/healingjustice
THANK YOU
Mixed and produced by Zach Meyer at the COALROOM
Intro and Closing music gifted by Danny O’Brien
All visuals contributed by Josiah Werning
Practice: Investing in Leadership with Freedom, Inc.
Generative Organizations with Freedom, Inc.
Practice: Cultural Humility with Chinese Progressive Association
Intergenerational Organizing with Chinese Progressive Association
Generation Transformation: Youth Organizing & Resilience with United We Dream and Next Gen Fund
Practicing Access: Making Our Podcast More Accessible
46 Access is Love with Alice Wong
45 Practice: My Inside Voice with Bea Anderson
45 Liberating Our Voices with Bea Anderson
44 Practice: Sacred Shower or Bath -- Eroc Arroyo-Montano
44 Tender Masculinity with Eroc Arroyo-Montano
43 Practice: Reconnecting with Ourselves with Nora Samaran & Serena Lukas Bhandar
43 Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture with Nora Samaran and Serena Lukas Bhandar
42 Practice: The Do-Over with Idelisse Malavé and Joanne Sandler
42 Aging in the Movement with Two Old Bitches Idelisse Malavé and Joanne Sandler
41 Practice: Rooting in Desire with Samia Abou-Samra & Ije Ude of Turtle Tank
41 Sacred Work & Radical Purpose -- Ije Ude & Samia Abou-Samra of Turtle Tank
40 Practice: The Perfect Nap with Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry
40 Rest as Reparations with Tricia Hersey of The Nap Ministry
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