To perpetuate the narrative that girls need tools or “fixing” is to turn a blind eye to the very structures that oppress them. Instead of asking, “what about tools for girls?,” we should encourage adults and teachers to ask a different question. When I coach professionals on how to be culturally responsive and trauma-informed with …
Learn how positive experiences in the body have the power to system-override negative ones. “Trauma is in the body, not the event.” When a gazelle encounters a lion, what does she do? She runs! She processes the threat, which triggers a physiological response—heart pounding, breath quickening, muscles tensing, adrenaline and cortisol flooding the bloodstream. Her …
You already know what things make you feel well. The work is overcoming what gets in the way. When I walked into GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness pop-up shop, on Nantucket Island, I noticed something: While the African mudcloth pillows, dried sage, and rose quartz were plucked directly from my African American and Native American heritage, …
