|
An archive of all past Queerly Embodied emails is now available. Simply scroll down to “Archive” on my website. This newsletter contains more information about my new T4T meditation series, with links to two practices for trans and gender expansive folx. To my trans and gender expansive community: I’m taking deep breaths with you in this moment. Our communities are holding so much right now. If you’re noticing yourself struggling to hold complex feelings, or feel like you are constantly on edge and hypervigilant, you make sense. Your nervous system’s response makes sense given the current political climate. And, you are not alone. If you’ve tuned into queer and trans resistance movements, you’ve likely heard some version of the phrase “Trans folx have always existed.” This speaks to the ability of the trans community to exist and survive despite repeated attempts at erasure, the presence of trans joy amid grief and loss, and the acknowledgement that we are not alone. We have ancestors. Connecting to our ancestors, whether in our own family’s lineage or ancestors within our trans community, is a balm during difficult times. It helps us engage with something greater than ourselves, reminds us we are not alone, and transforms the focus of queer and trans suffering and oppression into something deeper and more resonant: queer and trans joy, community, and possibility. In the book Trans Sex, Lucie Fielding writes:
“… queer lineage is queer futurity, which is to say that embedded in the queer and trans body, and passed between them intergenerational, is what José Esteban Muñoz called the ‘ideality’ of queerness, namely, ‘the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with possibility’ that ‘can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future.’”
But of course, the gap between knowing there are trans folx who came before us, and somatically feeling their presence, can sometimes feel like a big one. In order to bridge that gap and to somatically feel the presence of our ancestors, I’ve provided two practices below that guide you through how to tap into the presence of an ancestor and embody their support, their wisdom, and their joy. Before continuing I want to acknowledge that ancestral practices are rooted in indigenous healing and medicine. Western psychotherapy has appropriated many of these practices, and it’s important to honor the roots of the practices I talk about in the following paragraphs. I’ve uploaded two different meditations on my SoundCloud page for connecting to and embodying trans ancestors. Meditation one is for folx who can see images in their head and find visualization-based meditations accessible. Meditation two is for folx with aphantasia, are sight impaired, or find visual-based meditations inaccessible. Both are free to access and are shareable. Meditation One: Visualizing and embodying a trans ancestor Meditation Two: Embodying a trans ancestor with a physical representation I will be posting new meditations regularly, so save and share this page with anyone in your community that may benefit. In solidarity,
Eula If you received this email as a forward and would like to sign up for Queerly Embodied, use this link.
|
