[Music in the video above provided royalty-free from bensound.com]
Liberation = Personal Healing + Social Healing
As a sex, love, and relationship coach, I help people engage in the deep work of personal liberation from years of shame and oppressive social conditioning so they can experience expansive pleasure, realize their worthiness to have what they want in sex and love, and enjoy deeper intimacy with others.
But this personal work MUST be accompanied by social, collective healing as well, such as political activism that can change the cultural and social environments that we live in and create more liberty and equality for all.
As we dismantle sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ageism, and all the other ways that we judge, objectify, and devalue one another based on the bodies we are in and the way we experience those bodies, the less trauma and internalized self-disgust and shame we will need to heal from.
Afraid, frustrated, and pissed off
Being a political activist can be exhausting.
We are often motivated to become politically active because of uncomfortable feelings: we are afraid of what may happen if we don't. We are frustrated. We are pissed off. And if we've been at it for a long time, we may also feel despair and hopelessness that the time and energy that we invest in change will actually make a difference. We may feel intense hatred toward our oppressors.
These are completely valid emotions to experience in response to the many injustices that we are confronted with every single day. Some of them are absolutely necessary and extremely effective at motivating us to take action.
But, they aren't exactly "high-vibration" emotions.
That is, they are the emotions of survival, rather than creation. And when we are in survival mode, our energy is more easily drained. We are more prone to illness. We are more susceptible to overwhelm and emotional paralysis.
What this means is that we need to learn how to make activism FEEL GOOD, and incorporate pleasurable emotions into the process of creating change.
In today's video, I offer three ways to do exactly that:
- Engage your 5 senses in something pleasurable to create a sense of safety and centeredness in your body before and after engaging in political activism activities
- Meditate on the high-vibration emotions you'll feel when your efforts actually create the changes you desire
- Learn to embrace the growing pains of becoming a better ally with gratitude
I also highly recommend reading Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown for insightful and inspiring essays on the intersection of pleasure, oppression, activism, and freedom.