Change is muscular and our individual and collective rewiring towards liberation and healing happens in our bodies as much as our minds and within our communities. This season, Spirithouse-South, Inc. and Forward Justice’s Transformative Justice Project has leaned on local artists and healers to engage our community in programming based not only in our bodies and our relationships to ourselves, but also in how we move together through the waves of transformation towards the world we want to manifest and embody.
African Movement Class
In April, Empower Dance Studio hosted our group for a wellness session featuring an African dance and movement class. Saky led us through beginner stretches, movements and breathing exercises to help open our bodies and hearts before the dance lesson began. African drummers provided a powerful backdrop of live music for the session and we learned chants and songs to accompany our dancing through our shared voices and movements. Saky led us through the dance in small groups, and each group mastered a specific move that contributed to the overall choreography and movement of the entire class. Together we became grounded in the connection between drumming, movement, spirit and collective work. We are grateful to Empower Dance studio for helping facilitate this safe space of community, learning, healing, and self-expression.
Farm tour and sweat lodge healing
At the beginning of May, Hector Lopez and Phoebe Gooding hosted us at Hawk’s Nest Healing Gardens for a tour of the land and a sweat lodge healing practice. Hector explained their approach to living with the land and all of its creatures through relationships of reciprocity rather than extraction. Hawk’s Nest is deeply rooted in principles of food sovereignty and self determination as a path towards liberation and the gardens serve as a safe and healthy space for community connections, dialogue, and collective dreaming. Hector and Phoebe showed us practices, such as permaculture, building with what is already there, vermiculture, water conservation, and how they built an elegant and completely fragrance-free compost toilet using pine trees from the land itself. Our visit at Hawk’s Nest with Hector and Phoebe showed us in practice that a more honest, reciprocal, and healing way is possible and we’re so grateful to them for their wisdom and collaboration.
Songmatics workshop
At the end of May, our beloved Teddy (IG @keepitzoee), a practicing opera singer, led us in a wellness session in songmatics that combined singing and somatic practices to build safety and empowerment with our present bodies and abilities. With their gentle and genuine presence and their powerful voice, Teddy first guided us through a meditation grounded in the magic, power, and meaning of the voices that live in each of our bodies and the importance of our art in this world, not only for our survival but also for our thriving. Then he led us through a variety of exercises where we learned to harness and feel our unique voices and unite them in song with those of others in the room. Our friends at Radical Movement Studio hosted us in their vibrant book- and plant-filled space, tucked in the heart of Durham’s downtown.
Mental Health Workshop series
In May, to mark Mental Health Awareness Month, Forward Justice and Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) began hosting a series of workshops for USSW members on mental health for the Black community. Each session was made up of a multigenerational audience and provided folks a safe space to discuss and explore the issues affecting them most- from grief and stress, to healing generational trauma and working through difficult family dynamics. The series is led by Anthony Smith, Ph.D, the Executive Director & Founder of Alase Center for Enrichment. Dr. Smith is a Licensed Psychologist and Certified Health Services Provider in North Carolina who has been involved in the mental health field for over 25 years. He previously served on the faculty at the Duke University Medical School as a professor of Behavioral Science and has also worked in a Federal and State prison, a Veterans Affairs hospital and University Counseling Center. His unique skill set provided the perfect backdrop for attendees to begin difficult conversations, find comfort in community and start the important journey of healing, self-discovery and unlocking their own genius.
This is only the beginning as we’ll be unfolding more events in the coming months. Learn more about our collaborative transformative justice work on our website, keep up with us and our events on social media (@spirithouse_inc and @forwardjustice on IG, and Forward_Justice on TikTok), and sign up for email updates to hear about upcoming happenings and how you can join us.