INNER WORK job?”“ What will actually change this time to overturn centuries of systemic racism?” Because trauma is energetic and somatic, when this trauma loop happens in the brain, we often do not have words to describe the experience. The fact that we lack language to define our experience can feel further isolating, especially within the dominant culture where we rely so heavily on words to relate to one another. These activations are draining and depleting our energy and resulting in increased escalations, compromised mental / physical / spiritual health, and strained relationships.
While the repeated, heightened activation of the sympathetic nervous system has daunting short- and long-term implications, we are also drawing on our strengths and discovering our adaptability during this time. Thoughts of gratitude and memories of our resilience are also activated. Because our historical catalog of memory is being pulled, this is a time particularly ripe for discovery, of both shadow and light. By leaning into this discovery rather than dissociating, we leverage this time as a time to build resilience and individual / communal healing.
What does inner work actually entail?
Understanding is love. If you can’ t understand, you cannot love. When you understand yourself, your suffering, you love yourself.- Thich Nhat Hahn
It may be that we think of therapy when we consider inner work. While that has deep value and merit, the common definition of therapy focuses only on one component of the self: the mind. Mechanisms for inner work are vast and dynamic. A combination of modalities / other modalities engage all of spirit, mind, and body in our process of discovery. Here is a list of just some of the methods we have witnessed, participated in, and facilitated:
1. Create time and space for stillness for the mind to settle and connect with the body / spirit, e. g. journaling, meditation
2. Nourish space for creation, e. g. art, poetry, singing
3. Engage in somatic movement therapy, e. g. dance / expressive movement, theatre
4. Connect with communal healing, e. g. healing circles, restorative spaces, Clearness Committees, ceremony
5. Participate in contained spaces that engage one in a process for naming and exploration of core beliefs and inner wisdom, e. g. therapy, coaching, asking open and honest questions
Schools can support dynamic inner work by intentionally prioritizing time for it, not seeing it as separate from the professional, but integral to the actualization of the institution’ s mission. We have been supporting schools these past years in institutionalizing
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CSEE Connections Fall 2020 Page 13