Somatic Practices, Othering, and the Work of Coming Home

“To be othered is to be denied the fullness of one’s humanity. It’s about reminding people, either by the barriers we put up in social spaces or the barriers to opportunities to advance our well-being, about saying through words or actions, that ‘you’re not one of us,’” writes Wizdom Powell.

To navigate dominant culture, many of us learn to code-switch, to assimilate, to leave certain parts of ourselves at the door. The voice we use in the boardroom is not the voice we use at home. Over time, these pieces of self left behind accumulate.

This, coupled with the daily “you’re not one of us” that hangs in the background of many majority-white spaces, shapes not only how we are seen and treated, but also how we begin to see ourselves.

The survival response to this kind of othering often involves distance: distance from others, distance between our whole selves and our “acceptable” selves, distance from our feelings, distance from our own bodies.

For those who must always be alert, careful, and performing to counter assumptions, feeling can feel dangerous — a luxury not afforded. Fear, shame, numbness, sadness, regret — all get pushed down, because to feel them might mean to collapse in a world where strength is demanded.

And yet there is a cost. We cannot selectively numb our emotions. In shutting down the pain, we also mute the joy. In holding shame at bay, we also lose access to love. Over time, we lose not only the connection to our bodies but also the deep trust in ourselves that is essential if we are to flourish as our whole, joyous selves.

Somatic Practice: finding our way back

Somatic practices invite us back into relationship with our bodies. They remind us that rest, feeling, and trust are not indulgences but intentional acts of resistance in a culture that asks us to fragment. They create space for us to notice what is here — the ache, the exhaustion, but also the longing and the hope.

To feel is to reclaim. To rest is to resist. To trust our bodies is to reassert our humanity.

Addressing the challenges of this world cannot come only from linear problem-solving or intellectual grit. It also requires body wisdom — the non-linear, emergent intelligence that surfaces when we are attuned. This is the deeper work of how we live, relate, and organise: not by abandoning the body to survive, but by turning toward it to thrive.

So I invite you to ask yourself:

🌿 When was the last time you tuned into your bodily wisdom?

🌿 When was the last time you thanked your body for all it does for you?

🌿 How would it be to know, in your bones, that you were always home?

This is the work of somatic practice: to return to ourselves — whole, connected, and capable of joy — even in a world that insists on our fragmentation.