Through the Women’s Empowerment & Self-Healing Project, we-the Caravan womyn and community womyn-shared and examined our stories in the context of living in a racist, classist, and patriarchichal society. We healed collectively through running and participating in self-healing circles. We released past traumas, and shared our stories through painting and poetry. We also healed and connected through the power of dance and songs. This journey was all about REMEMBERING. We shared and reclaimed our ancestral ways of healing!
About the philosophy of the healing circles and the emotional release work:
A Healing Circle is based on the political analysis of the systems of oppression that impact our lives like racism, classism (capitalism), patriarchy (and its progeny sexism, heterosexism, etc), and how we have internalized the hurt, anger, oppression inflicted on us, our people, our families and loved ones and our ancestors. This is an anti-violence group! We mediate. We create relatedness. We analyze (racism, capitalism, sexism) in our society and in our interactions. We share our histories and the history of circle work. We get introduced to “energetic” work. We have communal lunches. We delve into emotional release work, the structure and role it has, and why it is important. We all do emotional release work (including facilitators). Everyone takes turns. Emotional release is when we work the energy, hurt, trauma that is stored in our bodies and “empty” it by vomiting, shaking, laughing, crying, etc. All these tools are natural and innate to us. We use them when we are children, but as we grow up we are taught to become repressed, silenced, subdued. This healing work provides with an opportunity to break free from all the oppression that lives inside of us, and then move into action to liberate our own communities.
