For those needing the reminder that chaos isn’t always bad. It can serve us, it can open up possibilities if we can manage to stay grounded and focused on it.
There’s a frenzy that happens in these moments. The pit, the churning in my own stomach is panic, realizing that somehow I carried on each day underestimating the determination and depravity we face, the cruelty. All I can say now is feel it. When you can and with others, face the fear of this unknown, this timeline unfolding. Shake and despair. And when you can, remember that we each and together are powerful, our commitment makes us more so. Our strategy is the path. Our action, our love. It’s not your panic that unnerves those opposed to freedom, but your dedication to what is bigger and more true than their fear.
There’s a frenzy that happens in these moments. The pit, the churning in my own stomach is panic, realizing that somehow I carried on each day underestimating the determination and depravity we face, the cruelty. All I can say now is feel it. When you can and with others, face the fear of this unknown, this timeline unfolding. Shake and despair. And when you can, remember that we each and together are powerful, our commitment makes us more so. Our strategy is the path. Our action, our love. It’s not your panic that unnerves those opposed to freedom, but your dedication to what is bigger and more true than their fear.
Are you healing or acclimating to conditions?
I’m really grateful for so many new (and old) followers on here! I’ve felt so filled up by the support and especially how the conversation on embodiment, emotions and freedom keeps growing. So I’m going to do what I’ve never done before and do an introductory post to welcome everyone here to this space that we’re creating. I’m Prentis! My name means student. I chose it intentionally as a reminder to remain a student, to stay curious and willing to change. I am Black, queer, southern. I’m a friend, someone’s love, someone’s baby, a sibling and a parent to a sunbeam. I believe that feeling is a portal to freedom. I want for all of us to have access to our fullest range of emotions, sensations, perception. I want us to be liberated from ways of being that try to pass our own suffering on to others. I want us all to feel the kind of love that wraps gently around you and encourages you to grow. I want us to be held in our grief and pain. I want us to come alive to the world around us, to belong here again. At times I am a person who worries about how much we are encouraged into reactivity and away from the extraordinary, miraculous experience it is to be alive. But then I remember what a teacher once told me, which is that, no matter what, life is always bigger! I believe that. You can engage with my musings on embodiment and liberation here, the trainings my team does at @the.embodiment.institute and my community of compasses on @findingourwaypodcast I am getting used to building community in this way, using my page as a place to come together. But I would love it if you shared something here about you and if you stayed to read about someone else too. ❤️ photo credit: @badgrammar_
Y’all. I had a conversation with @estherperelofficial this past month as a part of her Sessions training program for practitioners, therapists, coaches, etc. We had a conversation on boundaries, on individual and collective trauma, and on the potential of embodied practice to reveal us to ourselves and each other. It was exciting to chop it up with such a skilled therapist and reenter the therapeutic space to have conversations on liberation and the collective that I wish I’d had more of in school. The link to check out sessions is: https://sessions.estherperel.com/ . We’ll also drop it in the linktree. More info on our live conversation coming up in May! Oh and shout out @priyaparker for making this very special connection happen!
Y’all. I had a conversation with @estherperelofficial this past month as a part of her Sessions training program for practitioners, therapists, coaches, etc. We had a conversation on boundaries, on individual and collective trauma, and on the potential of embodied practice to reveal us to ourselves and each other. It was exciting to chop it up with such a skilled therapist and reenter the therapeutic space to have conversations on liberation and the collective that I wish I’d had more of in school. The link to check out sessions is: https://sessions.estherperel.com/ . We’ll also drop it in the linktree. More info on our live conversation coming up in May! Oh and shout out @priyaparker for making this very special connection happen!
Congratulations to all the authors that poured their soul and truth into these pieces. Thank you to @taranajaneen for just generally being so committed to our healing and to both you and @brenebrown for inviting me in. There really aren’t m(any) books like this one. Happy one year of it being published!
Congratulations to all the authors that poured their soul and truth into these pieces. Thank you to @taranajaneen for just generally being so committed to our healing and to both you and @brenebrown for inviting me in. There really aren’t m(any) books like this one. Happy one year of it being published!
Grief and rage for Buffalo and what whiteness needs to do. For places to start, check out @highfivehilary_ ‘s book ‘No Fascist USA’
More from my conversation with @estherperelofficial on politicized healing and embodiment. Repost from @estherperelofficial • I love the language I have found in somatic therapy — a form of healing that transcends spoken word and taps into the wisdom of the body, individual and collective. It’s that spark and common fascination that drew me to Prentis’ work. @prentishemphill is a therapist, somatics teacher and facilitator, political organizer, writer and the founder of The Embodiment Institute. They are dedicated to unearthing connections between healing, community accountability and our most inspired visions for social transformation. In this Session, we started by asking, what is the purpose of therapy at this moment? What are ways that somatics is applied to that therapeutic focus? We explore the ways that power shapes our experiences and social relationships. We discuss collective trauma and how the individual and communal experience is defined by a question of belonging, the delineation of “us and them” during the allocation of resources—and how these political decisions and maneuvers impact the body and collective response. If you’re interested in joining our clinical community and diving more deeply into these topics, learn more about Sessions through the link below.
In this powerful episode, I am joined by transformative grief activist, movement strategist, writer, and my friend, Malkia Devich Cyril (@culturejedi). Malkia shares stories and wisdom from their personal experience of loss, the possibility that emerges when we attend to our grief, and their insight about how we choose to grieve can determine how we can change the world. Listen to the full conversation with me and Malkia on #applepodcast or #spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. You can watch the full unedited visual episode at patreon.com/prentishemphill Links in my bio.
In the body and through feeling is a different kind of free. The only way to arrive to freedom is to ask: What do our bodies need to feel safe? What does agency and choice feel like to my skin? How do I soften and become porous enough to let you in?”
The meeting of kin. @the.embodiment.institute is cooking up something special with food genius, conjurer, @gabrielle_eitienne this summer. Black food, Black land, Black healing. Stay tuned.
The meeting of kin. @the.embodiment.institute is cooking up something special with food genius, conjurer, @gabrielle_eitienne this summer. Black food, Black land, Black healing. Stay tuned.
Embodiment asks the questions, “Who are you now and who are you trying to become?”
@findingourwaypodcast is back! The new season launches today and we’re so excited to share all the amazing conversations this season. Now is a great time to subscribe, relisten and share. Thank you, thank you all for the support and love you’ve shown us these past two seasons. Let’s keep growing! Repost from @findingourwaypodcast • Welcome back to season 3! In this episode, Prentis shares what our team has been up to in our time away and where we are heading this season. We hope you accept the invitation to explore the inner workings and intricacies of change. This season, we’ll be dropping episodes every two weeks to let our bodies experience and integrate these conversations from the precipice. We are grateful you’re on this journey with us. To support the podcast, please like, subscribe, write us a review on Apple podcast or join our Patreon! Episode one is up now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you partake in your podcasts. [Image Description] A picture of Prentis smiling sits in front of an orange background with a large teal circle. The words “Welcome Back. S3 Episode 1” glide into the frame. #podcasthost #applepodcast #podcasting #spotifypodcast #findingourwaypodcast #prentishemphill #blackpodcasts #embodiment
In this timely episode, I’m joined by the National Director of the Working Families Party, Maurice Mitchell (@MauriceWFP). Maurice educates us on the ideological differences between the left and right movements, reminds us of our power as a people, and inspires us to continue to conjure joyful and curious movements toward the world we dream of. Listen to the podcast on #Applepodcast #Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts. You can watch the full unedited visual episode on Patreon @prentishemphill
This is a gratitude post. The greatest lesson I’ve learned in the past four years is how much everything happens in community. I’ve been afraid of it in the past, if I’m honest. My greatest fear has been that I’ll be seen, that I’ll share what I really care about and I’ll be abandoned because of it. It’s happened before and it’s hurt. But the truth is, mostly, people have stayed and built with me. Even when I tried to run. Held my dreams sweetly and trusted me with theirs. I’m filled with gratitude for enduring relationship and the support I received on tour for What it Takes to Heal. It’s changed me. Thank you to each host who brought such smart, loving and challenging questions. @adriennemareebrown, @wesleylowery, @colearthurriley, @marclamonthill, @chasinggarza, @sonyareneetaylor, @charlenecarruthers, @culturejedi, @wkamaubell, @ijeomaoluo, @yesimsarahjones, and No’u Revilla. Gratitude to my team at TEI, @kashaho @wild_endeavors, @courtneyreneegrowing, @humminbirdd, @justin_shepherd, @sierra.june, @debasrisees, @cynthiaslin, Maria McCorvey, @ gravy_b, @dapper.nes, @osqui_tru, @alta1529, Jennifer Ianniello for making room for this and holding it down on the road. And thank you to my brilliant PR team, Chelsea and Takara of @blckaldr. You two are incredible. Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse for making it happen. My sister, @hayniescales, for being such a loving, steady and watchful presence. And thank you to all who showed up, who read, who watched, who are just finding out about it and supporting now. I cried happy tears every night on the road because of you. 💜 #whatittakestoheal
