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
Campaign Workers, Unite! There is Power in a Union (with Meg Reilly of Campaign Workers Guild & Shanequa Charles)
Building Transformative Campaign Culture with Nancy Leeds (CampaignSick) and Becca Rast (Jess King for Congress)
Elections vs. Movements: a strategy showdown with Sunrise (Varshini Prakash & Will Lawrence)
Surviving Elections: a new miniseries on midterms, movements, & staying human
Practice: Radical Gratitude Spell (by adrienne maree brown, read by Fhatima Paulino)
Season 1 Reflection, pt 3: Visioning the Future (Marcia Lee, Zach Meyer & Kate Werning)
Season 1 Reflection, pt 2: The Power of Practice (Justin Campbell & Kate Werning)
Season 1 Reflection, pt 1: Vulnerability & Voice (Jacoby Ballard & Kate Werning)
34 Trauma, Healing, & Collective Power with generative somatics (Spenta Kandawalla, adrienne maree brown, Prentis Hemphill, & Staci K. Haines)
33 Practice: Centering Prayer with Mystic Soul (Alexis Francisco & Cicia Lee)
33 Contemplative Activism -- Cicia Lee, Alexis Francisco, & Teresa P Mateus of Mystic Soul
32 Practice: Relational Inclusion with Cedar Landsman of Relational Uprising
32 Bridging Complexity Collectively -- Relational Uprising (Lucién Demaris & Cedar Landsman)
31 Practice: Heart Over Head with Teo Drake
31 Intention & Impact: Showing Up Right-Sized -- Teo Drake
30 Practice: Sing for Freedom with Resistance Revival Chorus' Abena Koomson Davis
30 Joy as an Act of Resistance -- Resistance Revival Chorus (Sarah Sophie Flicker & Meah Pace)
29 Practice: Reclaiming Our Names with AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez of Mystic Soul
29 Indigenous Reclamation -- Mystic Soul (AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez, Ra Mendoza, & Teresa P Mateus)
28 Practice: Essences for Everybody... Making Your Own Medicine with Dori Midnight
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