Why This Work Matters

In this chapter, we explore why somatic and mindful awareness is more than a personal practice; it’s collective, ancestral, and deeply political. We’ll examine how colonization and capitalism disrupted the body-mind connection through displacement, assimilation, and extraction, leaving lasting patterns of disembodiment. You’ll learn how urgency culture and productivity myths disconnect us from our natural rhythms. This chapter reframes somatic healing as an act of resistance, inviting you to remember that rest, breath, and presence are radical acts of reclaiming. A short grounding practice will support integration.