EMBODIED RACE-DIALOGUE SERIES

Our Dialogue work is primarily Embodied Dialogue. Now is a time for listening, speaking & acting.

“To listen is to lean in softly with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.” – Mark Nepo

"Our bodies have a form of knowledge that is different from our cognitive brains. This knowledge is typically experienced as a felt sense of constriction or expansion, pain or ease, energy or numbness. Often this knowledge is stored in our bodies as wordless stories about what is safe and dangerous. The body is where we fear, hope, and react, where we constrict and release, and where we reflexively fight, flee, or freeze. If we are to upend the status quo of white-body supremacy, we must begin with our bodies." - Resmaa Menakem

Own Drum’s Embodied Dialogue brings individuals from different racial backgrounds together to listen, to speak, and to better understand each other’s perspectives.

This is a necessary step on the journey of identifying and enacting the changes that will fulfil our vision of justice and equality in the UK.

Our Embodied Dialogue is facilitated through four, two-hour sessions:

• Who Are We?

• Why Are We?

• Where Are We?

• What Can We Do?

We practice ‘Embodied Dialogue’, integrating tools from our somatic and storytelling backgrounds with tools from contemporary dialogue. Through our sessions you will be invited to participate in simple physical and storytelling practices. We ask participants to come with the openness to truly listen, reflect and the courage to speak honestly.

What is “Embodied” Dialogue?

In this experiential methodology of dialogue we will use various activities and prompts in groups and pairs for discussion. There will intermittently be pauses throughout a session to assist in increasing awareness of the senses and bodily sensations. We use these sensations as a gateway to mindfulness. Stillness with sensations of body, supportive props and breath awareness are some of the tools we use to do this.

Why “Embodied” Dialogue?

A spectrum of emotions could be expected in dialogue work such as anger, hatred, shame, guilt etc. Each emotion we feel are both mental and physical experiences. There are always physical sensations that correlate to emotional feelings. Such as anger could be linked to tension in the chest and perhaps clenched jaw and fists. To begin to work with emotions that block change, we have to take a mind and body approach because:

• It enhances reflection, listening and connection with oneself which can feed into greater active listening and communication with others.

• Involving the body accesses the least explored or unconscious and is the most direct language we have.

• It helps us to operate from the prefrontal cortex in our brains, the region of our brain we need to solve challenges and to reset habitual behaviours.

We use embodiment methods for 3 main reasons in anti-racism work:-

1. To ground the body and calm the nervous system with awareness of our triggers. This enables us to expand our inner space in order to choose wise centred action in responding to racism.

2. To find a safe space in the body to allow our stories, stresses and traumas to be told, to be allowed and to heal. The processing of our race based experiences can be integrated.

3. We allow the body to be involved in change and process and do not allow only cognitive processes to guide anti-racism work. Bringing the body into this work is a form of self-care and can prevent burnout. Sustainable work and change need self care.

The dialogues will be launched on April 7th to May 12th 2021 each Wednesday 5.30-7.30pm. There will be 4 sessions with a 1 week pause after the second session to digest and reflect. Full launching fee course is £190.

We have some places that are partly funded for BIPOC attendees that cannot pay the full fee. This is based on necessity and availability. Please contact us if applicable.

This conversation is overdue. We help to provide tools to respond to racism from a place of care. We provide toolkits after the dialogue . A toolkit on how to have Racial Dialogues and another on Self Compassionate Care.

Will you lean in to this safe and brave space to create a more equitable world?

To join us on the Embodied Racial Dialogue Series please email owndrum.faryal@gmail.com or owndrum.jennifer@gmail.com. If you are interested in bespoke dialogues please get in touch also.