Nourishing Ourselves through Somatic Practices: A Community Session for Queer, Trans, & Non-Binary Folks
what is the offering?
This community session is an opportunity for queer, trans, and non-binary folks to gather and nourish ourselves by engaging in somatic (body-centered) practices.
I will facilitate a few guided experiential practices to support us in embracing ourselves as we are in the present moment and to explore our bodies as sources of joy, strength, and aliveness. We will play with visualizations, gestures, sensory awareness, and self-touch (in areas such as our heads, arms, and legs). It will be up to you to opt in, opt out, or modify any aspect of our exploration as is best for you. What I offer during the session will simply be invitations and you are encouraged to exercise your autonomy and prioritize choice in how you participate.
The intention of this community session is to offer an explicitly affirming container within which queer, trans, and non-binary folks can tune into and contact the dignity, worth, and sense of belonging that lives within our bodies. This session centers queer, trans, and non-binary folks within an intersectional framework that recognizes that our lived experiences, access to power and privilege, and vulnerability to subjugation, harm, and lethal violence are informed by our race, class, ability, immigration status, age, and religion (among other identity markers), both in the present and historically. In our bodies, we carry the injuries and wounds of racism, white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, misogyny, patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, heteronormativity, antisemitism, classism, ableism, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression and domination. I invite you to bring your full humanity to this community container; your sadness, fear, rage, grief, pain, disorientation, disconnection, and other emotional experiences and feelings are valid and welcome.
who is this for?
This session is open to and inclusive of a broad spectrum of identities within the queer, trans, and non-binary umbrella including, but not limited to, genderfluid, questioning, two spirit, lesbian, agender...and many more!
Individuals ages 18+ are invited to join from any geographical location no matter where you are on your journey of cultivating a relationship with your own body — no previous experience with somatics is necessary or expected! I do recommend bringing an open mind, a curious spirit, a compassionate heart, and a gentle
touch 💜.
when & where is this?
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 from 5pm-6:30pm EST (1.5 hours) via Zoom! Closed captioning will be provided via the Zoom interface. One day prior to the session, I will provide a Zoom meeting link via email to individuals who have completed the registration form and submitted payment.
To safeguard your privacy, I will not be recording this session and I will not be disclosing your name beyond the setting of the session.
how can i sign up? what is the cost?
Signing up for the community session is a two-step process. First, you need to complete a registration form, and second, you will need to submit payment. Registration is open until Tuesday, November 24.
The session is available on a sliding scale ($15-$45) with a suggested contribution of $30 (USD). I invite you to choose your option with integrity; please assess your payment capacity during this time in an honest and self-loving manner. If $15 is currently out of financial reach for you, please contact me at mariana@somaticphilly.com upon submitting the registration form.
As part of my commitment [as a white practitioner] to Black healing and liberation, this community session will also raise money to support therapy by and for Black queer and trans folks. Specifically, the net proceeds of this session will be invested in a scholarship fund at Endeavoring Wellness, which is a practice run by Okichie Davis. This fund enables Black queer and trans folks in PA and NJ to receive low-cost therapy with Okichie Davis, who is a Black queer therapist. There will be an opportunity to contribute to this scholarship fund on the registration form.
who is the facilitator?
My name is Mariana Pardes, I am a somatic practitioner, and the name of my practice is Somatic Support Philly. About 5 years ago, I was introduced to somatic therapy (as a client) and it was a radical shift for me to incorporate my body into the conversation. Up to that point, my default pattern of relating to my body was to override it or ignore it. Somatic therapy enabled me to practice coming into loving connection with my own body and access sources of guidance, strength, and nourishment I was not aware of. By learning how to attune to my body, I have discovered new possibilities for how I experience myself, relate to others, and show up in/for social movements and community organizing for justice and liberation. And the work is ongoing — every day, I have to re-commit to the journey.
In terms of my positionality, I am a queer, sensitive (HSP), able-bodied, neurotypical, cisgender woman in my 40s who inhabits a white body; I was born in South America and raised in the U.S. within an Ashkenazi Jewish-Argentine immigrant family of Polish and Russian ancestry. Learn more about me here.
This session will also offer queer, trans, and non-binary folks a chance to get a feel for me as a somatic practitioner. If my approach to holding space and facilitating somatic practices resonates with you, this session will include an invitation to explore 1:1 sessions and/or offer input on the creation of an ongoing group program with other queer, trans, and non-binary folks.
