Why Embodiment Matters in Anti-Oppression Work

Danielle teaching at the Bhakti Yoga Movement Center in Portland, OR

Last weekend I facilitated the fifth iteration of my Embodied Liberation workshop in Portland, OR — a space that keeps evolving as I do. This year I integrated games from Theatre of the Oppressed, which opened a new layer of somatic awareness, play, and experimentation. And once again, participants reminded me why embodiment isn’t an “extra” in anti‑oppression work — it’s essential.

Oppression doesn’t just live in systems or policies. It lives in bodies -- in tight shoulders, in shallow breaths, sweaty palms. We shrink, harden and numb to cope, and that leads to dis-ease. When we ignore the body, and try to dismantle oppressive systems with only the mind, we leave the body behind in the very patterns we're trying to transform. The changes we do make are often shallow and easily reverted.

Embodiment gives us another way in. In helps us:

• Notice how oppressive and extractive cultures show up in our nervous systems

• Practice interrupting rigidity with breath, softness and intuitive movement

• Build capacity to stay present with discomfort rather than defaulting to control or a right to comfort

• Rehearse new relational possibilities -- slowly, gently, in community

Participants named the power of embodiment so clearly:

“I appreciated the opportunity to practice embodiment and body attunement related to navigating and confronting white supremacy culture… I want to bring this embodiment into my life more — welcoming in practices that connect mind, body, and emotion.” — Tamara

“I feel more equipped to shift from the intellectual/theoretical into actually embodying liberation… using tools like breath, flexibility, intuitive movement, and allowing discomfort to interrupt the rigidity and ‘shoulds’ of white supremacy that I internalize and perpetuate.” — anonymous "The actual embodied practice of shifting from white supremacy culture traits to the antidotes that allow for liberation. This workshop took something so nebulous and overwhelming and conceptual, and made it really concrete and enactable. - Caitlin

We all have different roles to play in the transformation (or dismantling) of our systems to be more just, more equitable, to be truly liberatory. I believe with my whole heart that we must feel, practice, and let liberatory values reshape us from the inside out. Liberation is not a concept -- it's a way of being.