ABSTRACT
“Embodying our Feminism” draws on mindfulness and a politicized somatics to help readers more consciously align with their feminist values. It offers basic definitions of mindfulness and somatics, explaining why they are critical to aligning our embodied behaviors with our politics and vision. Mindfulness in particular has become a buzzword in contemporary society, so the chapter articulates a critique of popularized mindfulness that can be whitewashed, commodified, and culturally appropriative. Instead, I situate mindfulness and somatics within social justice.
Drawing on the work of the Strozzi Institute and Generative Somatics, the chapter explains how default practices and conditioned tendencies can make us behave in ways that are out of alignment with our feminist commitments. The chapter offers several practices to help readers cultivate deep self-reflection that can help us befriend and understand our embodied experience. As we work with our embodiment, we can learn to move from automatic gut reactions to more intentional responses that are in greater alignment with our intersectional feminism.
