Let’s Experience: Embodying Grief, Eradicating Inequality
“Grief and love are sisters, woven together from the beginning. Their kinship reminds us that there is no love that does not contain loss and no loss that is not a reminder of the love we carry for what we once held close.” ~ Francis Weller, “The Wild Edge of Sorrow”
“Embodied grief” is a body-based transformative methodology and part of the Radical Loss framework under development by Malkia Devich Cyril. Embodied grief is rooted in the principles and practices of the generative somatics for social justice framework innovated by Staci K Haines, emergent strategy methods developed by adrienne maree brown, data learned about the grieving brain, buddhist and ancestral practices, and the approaches of community organizing and cultural strategy for social change.
Unprocessed grief gets stored in the body and can cause physical and psychic harm, focusing our nervous systems on survival and making connection and the full range of emotions difficult to access. Embodied grief is rooted in the idea that grief is a natural response to loss, and loss is a natural part of the cycle of change. But, inequality and trauma make loss disproportionate and disrupt the essential grieving process. Grief is a necessary element of change. For us to change as individuals and as communities and nations, we must remove barriers to our grief and practice grief in new ways.
In this time of mass loss, healing-centered grief activist and poet Malkia Devich Cyril will introduce the Reimagine community to somatic-based practices of embodied and accompanied grief that can support healing centered action during this 90-minute workshop. Together, participants will grow their awareness of grief in the body, practice centering in grief, generate grief commitments, and explore embodied approaches to finding meaning and joy.
Malkia Devich Cyril is a transformative grief worker and movement strategist as well as a writer, public speaker and award winning activist on issues of collective grief, Black liberation, and narrative power. As the founding and former director of the Youth Media Council and Media Justice, Malkia spearheaded national grassroots efforts for abolition and access in a digital age, and galvanized communities of color for an open Internet and media accountability. After two decades of media justice leadership, and in an era of devastating mass loss, Devich-Cyril is currently incubating their Radical Loss Project at Mia Birdsong’s culture change lab, Next River. Malkia is a 2022 - 2024 Leading Edge Fellow, Founder-in-Residence at MediaJustice, and Strategist in Residence at Narrative Initiative currently writing a book on the radical possibilities of Black grief. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, SF Chronicle
About Reimagine and the Series "The Pursuit of Justice: From Inequity to Integrity”
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and–at our own pace– actively channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth. www.letsreimagine.org
Building a more just and equitable society is an act of service and an act of love. In our communities and across the globe, taking steps to end violence, discrimination, poverty, food insecurity, homelessness, healthcare disparities, and other injustices not only can help repair a broken world, but can also help reduce despair, improve our wellbeing, and appreciate the humanity that connects all of us.
In this three-part series, palliative care providers, spiritual leaders, writers, filmmakers, and activists will share stories of grief and loss, and how their struggles with systemic and structural inequities have transformed their personal and professional lives. Register now and reimagine a world in which we all take steps to restore wholeness and set things right.
