Decolonizing the Body - by Kelsey Blackwell (Paperback)

About the Book

Decolonizing the Body explores the traumatic physical and emotional effects of colonization and systemic racism on the body and mind. Written by a woman of color for women of color, it offers body-centered somatic practices to free women from internalized oppression, so they can reclaim confidence, dignity, and self-worth.

Book Synopsis

Powerful, body-based practices to help you reclaim confidence, dignity, and self-worth.

As a woman of color, you are more likely to experience oppression, discrimination, and physical or sexual violence in your lifetime. In addition, your family may have experienced generational trauma and systemic racism going back for centuries. This old and new trauma can manifest in both the mind and body. However, there are ways you can free yourself from this trauma, build confidence in yourself and your abilities, and restore your powerful sense of self.

Written by a woman of color for women of color, Decolonizing the Body offers proven-effective somatic, body-centered practices to help you heal from systemic oppression, trust the profound wisdom of your own body, and reconnect with your true self. And by slowing down, cultivating a daily ritual, and setting strong boundaries, you can reclaim your inherent dignity and worth--as well as those aspects of yourself that you may have cast aside in an effort to survive.

With this empowering guide, you'll discover:

• How bodies are colonized through systems of oppression
• Why slowing down is essential for healing
• How to listen to what your body needs
• How to create a space for ritual in your daily life
• How to strengthen feelings of capability
• How to cultivate community--starting with yourself

To decolonize the body is to become whole again, and to come home again. Let this book be your guide on this crucial journey.

Review Quotes

"This book is filled with so many moments of wisdom and joy. It is a gentle beckoning to one's sensing, one's feeling, one's freedom. Naming the lies of internalized colonization and the truths of interdependence, unconditional dignity, and more, Kelsey weaves an invitation. Importantly, this book is written by and for women of color. And those of us who are white have so much to gain from reading it, too."
--Staci K. Haines, author of The Politics of Trauma, and cofounder of generative somatics and generationFIVE

--Staci K. Haines

"Decolonizing the Body is beautifully written, instructive, and inspiring. In accessible but flowing language, Kelsey Blackwell starts by reminding us that the body never lies. She helps us remember how to hear its signals, and even more importantly, provides a practical guide to freeing ourselves from the boxes that patriarchy, racism, and capitalism try to force us into."
--Rinku Sen, social justice strategist, and author of Stir It Up--Rinku Sen

"Decolonizing the Body feels like a delicious exhale--an irresistible unclenching that paves way for the heart's gentle opening, making our collective healing and liberation possible from within."
--Michelle MiJung Kim, award-winning author of The Wake Up, and CEO and cofounder of Awaken--Michelle MiJung Kim

"Decolonizing the Body is a vital offering to women of color seeking a somatic approach to community healing. Practical, earthy, and wise, Blackwell invites us to do the inner work, and is a trustworthy guide for our time."
--Ruth King, author of Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out--Ruth King

"If Decolonizing the Body strives toward understanding the complexities of individualism and interdependence, I believe there is an independence that comes with humanity. In indigenous belief systems, community brings harmony. So, our gifts come with a deeper understanding of ourselves as individuals, divinely endowed, calling us to interwoven harmony and interdependence with all living organisms birthed on Mother Earth."
--Therese Taylor-Stinson, author of Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman--Therese Taylor-Stinson

"In Decolonizing the Body, Kelsey provides a deeply needed antidote, balm, and guide to BIPOC women seeking an embodied path away from the imprints of dominance and internalized forces of oppression. Her very words--clear, planted, compassionate, and wise--serve as an ancestral gift, a lantern that rekindles our own within, helping to reset our nervous systems and restore us to our birthrights. This book is a sacred text."
--Colleen (Coke) Tani, MSW, MFA, MDiv, spiritual director, writer, dancer, certified InterPlay leader, and teaching mentor--Colleen (Coke) Tani, MSW, MFA, MDiv

"Kelsey Blackwell's beautiful book invites us to attend with kindness to our individual and social bodies as a pathway to insight, healing, and confidence. She reflects on the imprints of racism that live in our bodies, and she offers journaling and body-based mindfulness practices that support our transformation toward freedom in this world of suffering and injustice. Her buoyant style inspires us to not give up, but to discover true joy in the challenge."
--Arawana Hayashi, cocreator of Social Presencing Theater with the Presencing Institute, and author of Social Presencing Theater--Arawana Hayashi

"Kelsey's critical, political, and inviting approach to decolonization and embodiment is a key to self-acceptance in a world that teaches us to reject who we inherently are. Participating in Kelsey's Decolonizing the Body course shifted my own practices, and this book is a careful, nuanced summary of wisdom that has the power to change the way we approach both individual and collective healing."
--Jezz Chung, multidisciplinary artist; and author of the upcoming book, This Way to Change--Jezz Chung

"Reading Kelsey Blackwell's book, Decolonizing the Body, with tears of joy in my heart for all the people who will take their own healing journey because of her gifts--for words, for somatic healing, for honoring our ancestors. We are being given an opportunity to remember, reclaim, release, and relate to ourselves and one another with embodied authenticity and unparalleled freedom. Thank you for your heart, your withness, and your example, Kelsey."
--Kira Lynne Allen, certified InterPlay leader, and author of Write This Second--Kira Lynne Allen

"Through simply relatable stories, clear guidance for remembrance, and kind invitations, Kelsey weaves an embodied way forward--amidst and beyond our systematic programming--into the love and wisdom that already lives within us."
--Chetna Mehta, artist, facilitator, and founder of Mosaiceye--Chetna Mehta

About the Author

Kelsey Blackwell is a cultural somatics practitioner and writer dedicated to supporting women of color to trust and follow the guidance of the body so we may powerfully radiate our worth, dignity, and wisdom in a world which sorely needs this brilliance. As a facilitator, coach, and guest speaker, she has brought abolitionist-embodied practices to such diverse groups as riders on Bay Area Rapid Transit trains to students at Stanford University. She works one-on-one with clients, as well as leads the eight-week group program, Decolonizing the Body. Kelsey is author of the viral article, Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People, published by The Arrow Journal. She is certified InterPlay Leader, Strozzi Somatic Coach, and holds a master's degree in publishing from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In addition to being impactful, Kelsey believes working toward personal and collective liberation must also bring joy. She lives in San Francisco, CA.

Foreword writer Christena Cleveland, PhD, is a social psychologist, public theologian, and activist. She is author of God Is a Black Woman, and founder of the Center for Justice + Renewal, which helps justice advocates sharpen their understanding of the social realities that maintain injustice while also stimulating the soul's enormous capacity to resist and transform those realities.