Where We Stand ~ take 2

Fired up and inspired and from this same seat at the same desk, I wrote an article with the same title for this newsletter in June of 2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.  Today as the seasons begin to change and I savor the last vestige of color in the gardens, I am moved by awareness of my privilege and by gratitude, to take stock of the times once again. 

While on the surface of things there appears to be less violence, fewer Covid deaths, less fire under necessary social movements; but there is surely more tension, more polarity, and many more real life threats for those who are not privileged economically or through skin color or able-bodiedness.  

For me these past 13 months have been a time of learning, of finding and receiving support and guidance, of beginning to see my ignorance and arrogance, the assumptions I have absorbed and used to perpetuate oppression as a member of the dominant culture.  It is amazing to become more aware of all of the areas of thinking and of our lives and lifestyles and expectations for other people's lives and lifestyles that are influenced through the culture of capitalism, competition and separation.

I am so grateful for the support I have. From the organization Holistic Resistance, from my consultant Akasha Saunders, from my colleagues and friends and students who are willing to engage difficult conversation, for so many people who constantly put out content to keep the issues front and center.  All of this is allowing me to take steps to unpack my conditioning, to examine my impact, to speak out with my unique voice, to be humbled in the face of my self-centeredness and denial; helps me to feel supported and present with what sometimes feels way too big but just needs to be approached - one step after another.  I feel myself changing and that is meaningful to me.

All of this to say, we have fall offerings, and within these offerings is the ongoing commitment to help others do the same; to examine conditioning that is overwhelmingly biased toward a system that only has winners and losers, to explore hidden belief systems, attempt to become aware of our effect on both other people and the natural world in which we exist, and to seek to find our joy and our true selves and ways to express our gifts and passions that also lift up others in our global community.

We have 3 fall events here that have room for you, please check out the Special Events page and see if you can join us!

Where We Stand

As director and owner of Seattle School of Body-Psychotherapy and speaking for myself personally and for the school; we are coming out of deep denial in regards to white supremacy and oppression for all people of color and especially towards the black community.  SSBP is now taking an active stand against all forms of oppression, denigration, slavery through classism, fear, humiliation, torture and murder that people of color and especially black people have experienced at the hands of all white people since the west was born.  We are committed to learning about and eradicating practices such as tone policing, white centering, and the myriad of actions and institutional attitudes that maintain the old institution.  We will be revamping the curriculum and working with consultants to that end from here on out as we need help in this endeavor.

To the Black people in our country and in the world, I am so sorry for the endless loss and grief you have suffered, on top of the personal trauma that each of you carry, for the murders of George Floyd, Eric Gardner, Brionna Taylor, Treyvon Martin, and so many many other people whose abuse wasn’t caught on video and set free on social media to create accountability.  On behalf of those we haven’t heard about, I am so sorry.  My heart breaks for you. 

To other people of color, I understand that each and every one of you carry a complex of pain and trauma due to race and white supremacy and I am committed to to come out of my deafness and acknowledge my role in it, and to fight for change.

We are on the edge of the Great Undoing.  There are so many directions this can go in.  Many of us experience Privilege with a capital P and observe the uprising through the media. I would like to put out a call to use this Privilege well. I want to urge you, to the degree that your nervous system can experience the full spectrum of impact and you can find your way back again, to look, listen and feel the truth of what is happening in our world.  Let yourself be confronted and humbled, rage in the company of others, allow your heart to break and your tears flow, let yourself wonder what is your offering in all that is happening.  Whether it it be a song or prayer, hefty donations or taking to the streets, see how you can show up.  Your presence is powerful no matter who you are or what your situation is.  

And firstly the most important thing you can do is to educate yourself in order to use your power in right action.

To that end I am asking that people associated with the school take the time work through the book White Supremacy and Me by Layla F Saad https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/  because it is the nuts and bolts that we need in order to understand the language and concepts of white supremacy.  Without this understanding we will always be contributing to the problem.  It is accessible and is organized as a workbook that break things up into small chunks that are easy to fit into even the busiest day, and allow for reflection.  There are many other great resources that are easily accessible. 
I would like everyone to join me in gaining a working knowledge of these principles so that we can bring it into anything and everything that we do here from here on out.  My aim is to be learning and growing together and more importantly to stop perpetuating harm, harm that I myself have caused and allowed through my lack of understanding and maintaining what used to be status quo.

Please take a moment to appreciate the fact that People of Color have not only lived through the constant and horrific trauma but they have also taken the time to systematically research, conceptualize and organize  information with immense depth and potential for change. Realize that this process may feel very convicting, but confrontation and conviction is only one important phase of the process until we can accept our complicity, and in the end what we are presented with is an invitation for unity.  Despite just cause, this is not a war against us, it is we who have kept ourselves in inaction and ignorance, we who are the ones who have perpetuated a violent and oppressive us/ them world.  It is time to learn how to get on board and come together.

It is time for change, it is happening.  And only because brave people are risking stepping out.  Let’s get out of our comfort zones and do whatever we can to join or support them.  Extend your privilege to others, and then come inside and do all of your best self-care. 

In love and prayer and passion,
Aylee

Spring 2020

Photo credit for this delightful picture goes to Becky Soares, thank you Becky!  It inspires in me a prayer that you are all as safe and cozy as this sweet little hummingbird; that your needs are simple and simply remedied and your spirits are high.  Yet I know that our moods change from one hour to the next, that people are inextricably divided socioeconomically and in regard to work loads and, possibly,  serious life challenges. It is difficult to comprehend the vast differences in people's experiences, yea that it may be a little more obvious now, this is actually the case in all times.  

Like so many, in regards to the virus and our global response, I have experienced stages of grief; first shock, then loss and disappointment when friends were sick and with worries about my family; and also narcissistically because things I had looked forward to were being taken away one after the other.  I experienced anger, about inequities, misguided responses, my desire for stronger leadership and many more things.  I got busy, just like when someone dies and there is so much planning to do, even now I am in a second phase of that planning and replanning, perhaps these are my bargains. And I also feel settled into acceptance of the here and now once again, of "what is" from one day to the next. This is a state that I would like to arrive at again and again no matter what happens next in the world.

Today for the first time I hear the sounds of heavy construction outside my window.  Naturally people long for things to "go back to normal", or for things to have "changed for the better" as a result of all this; we reach for the future laden with expectation and volition.  

In Core Energetics we move through our personal reactions that come first in the form of our mask, the charade we keep up to appear the way we were taught is most acceptable. We work to open trapped energy that lurks beneath the mask and to accept and feel our unacceptable feelings, after which we may be able to experience ourselves from the center of our "hoop", knowing who we really are, and what is truly asked of us without our psychic projections.  From that grounded higher self place a new presence can unfold.  This is the pathway of transformation.  This is the presence I am craving.

As I feel  movement back into the world happening around me I feel not ready, unsteady, not just in myself and how to facilitate that, but in our larger systems.  I feel the deeper call to ground, no matter what is going on around me, to move with intention no matter what the leaders are endorsing or what any given day presents.  The current pandemic is probably only one situation in a long series of global issues to come, both organic and manufactured crisis' arising from corrupt governments and other areas of mismanagement that we all have played a role in, and which will continue to confront and upset the human status quo. I want to be emotionally prepared for this.

The best advice I have heard to date was from a humble man named Glenn Pinkham who runs a sweat lodge that I attend.  "Pray in your own way," he said, "give thanks over and over, it will carry us.  Walk around your house and yard blindfolded & barefoot so that you can learn to see with your feet...When you see the sun in the morning say hello to it, when you see it in the evening, say goodbye. Keep yourself balanced, always focus."  Thank you for this wonderful reminder Glenn.  May you all have a moment to feel the earth, perceive the guardians of the sky, to open your heart to death, pain, love, peace and hurt; to hunger, exhaustion, elation and fear; to whatever is within and around you.  May you find your solid presence in the midst of it all.  And may we meet again soon.
 

Bring In The New By Fixing The Old?

Hello once again and Happy Winter to you all. I often enjoy the months of January and February, a time of settling into the school year that required so much gathering and preparation in the preceding season.  

Speaking of the preceding season, let's ring in 2020 with some acknowledgements.  I know in general that many of us are overwhelmed and discouraged politically and culturally.  Basic survival has become more precarious for so many, rights and values are being challenged every day.  It will become a real test to see if we are willing to pay the price for human rights beyond what we have done in the past, and a challenge to even try to begin to understand how to do this. 

Yet I am also noticing that long -sought positive conversations and changes are beginning to shape our culture as well.  They may not be huge and dramatic, but they are changes worth noting.  Here are just a couple of recent news stories that got my attention: 

- Disney  signed a contract with Indigenous people in Norway before they made the movie Frozen 2. The contract affirms the studio's “desire to collaborate with the Sámi in an effort to ensure that the content of Frozen 2 is culturally sensitive, appropriate and respectful of the Sámi and their culture.”  

- On the popular CBS reality TV show Survivor, one of the cast members was repeatedly touched without consent by another cast member and the victim spoke up about it.  Despite CBS's attempt to address the situation, it was not immediately handled well, and was further complicated by the fact that it became part of the "gameplay" for cast members vying against each other for a million dollars.  But after an additional incident occurred the offender was removed from the show.  At the end of the season the first person affected was apologized to on the show and CBS acknowledged their mistakes and that the offender should have been removed immediately.  Overall, and not without mistakes, which I think is how truly integrated change is going to have to be crafted, CBS demonstrated a willingness to educate themselves and learn from the experience.   They have committed to make a real difference in the future.  

- This particular conversation still lacks depth, but it was exciting to hear that the democratic presidential contenders were asked about the need for reparations for descendants of enslaved men and women in our country.  On June 19th there will be a first-ever congressional hearing on the same.

- In January in Seattle, Town Hall is hosting a panel discussion exploring ways the city can best recognize its Indigenous roots and residents, and whether reparations should be a component of that process.

- And recently I was at an event at a newly renovated church where all genders of people stood together in the same bathroom line for 8 single WC's!

It is a bit of a non-sequitur, but I think these are all signs of a deep sea change that has been brought about by the shake up of status quo granted by our current president.  From the white middle class position of relative wealth we had taken human rights so far but still tolerate plenty of extreme prejudice right under our noses and ignore the way that we and our collective past continues to contribute to poverty in our country.  Perhaps now, as atrocities are increasing, we are beginning to realize the ongoing role of everyday people in this system, and that we have yet to clean up our history that has perpetuated and tolerated a vast array of social problems. 

Personally, and on behalf of SSBP, I too am learning in fits and starts about my own inability to see my role as a white person with innate privilege in American society, to see how I continue to contribute to oppression, to racism and other forms of prejudice.  I have so much growing to do, and I want this to come from my heart and not a mask of rhetoric and politically correct lingo.  I want to make the school a place where discussion and action can come in an honest and personal way for everyone. I know I need help with this, and it will take more space on the agenda for 2020. Fortunately the invitation of Core Energetics is to look at all of ourselves, our mask, our lower self and finally our higher self, I trust it as a container for this transformation.

Fortunately we have had a good year for the school.  We started our sixth cohort this fall and have 3 classes going strong.  Students are investing themselves more and getting more out of the program every year.  And my list of available practitioner's is growing.  It is such an honor to see this work become  available in the community, to see lives transformed and my goals  manifesting!

My blessings to all of you in whatever is to come.  Thank you so much for for your support,
Aylee

Upcoming Webinar July 18, 2019

Please join me live online at this new webinar through USABP!

The Body’s Cycle of Learning and the Use of Expression in Psychotherapy

A Clinical Approach To Addressing the Split in the Somatic Community

With Aylee Welch, LICSW

Since the birth of the field of psychology in the west practitioners have investigated the role of the body in creating and maintaining psychological difficulties and the patterns manifested in people’s lives.  For the last 90 years body-inclusive approaches to psychology have been fringe and controversial, but through persistence we are now seeing somatic psychotherapy become "cutting edge".  Yet many in the field today, even those without experience with what they are addressing, are disparaging of the history and practices of cathartic expression and the work that that brought us here.  

Outlining clinical details you can apply to each therapy session, this webinar explores the role of energy in the body and in the patterns of people’s lives and addresses important questions of the what, when, where, how and why regarding the use of expression in somatic work. This workshop will bring together essential understandings from both the provocative ways of working and the contemporary sciences of neurobiology and trauma theory.

$35. or free for USABP members. Register at: http://bit.ly/ayleeweb

Reichian Segments and Health!

Be sure to get the upcoming print edition of the journal Somatic Psychotherapy Today to read my new article: Moving Toward Freedom: Effecting Optimal Health through Reichian Inspired Exercises.  The article outlines a simple set of exercises based on Wilhelm Reich's "Segments" which are muscle groupings with accompanying plasmatic currents that work together to allow us to fully experience life.  These exercises are pleasurable and can be done before we even get out of bed in the morning! 

Release date June 15.  Order your copy now from:
https://www.somaticpsychotherapytoday.com/subscribe-to-somatic-psychotherapy-today-2/
Shared with permission from Somatic Psychotherapy Today Summer 2019, volume 9, number 2