74. Returning Home to Our Bodies: Somatic Practice & Undoing Ableism with Abigail Rose Clarke

“If I don't feel like I fit in to these linear and binary systems, it's because I don't. It's because they're not actually reflective of my true nature.” In our lives, each of us will have experienced some challenges within our bodies, whether related to injury, stress, the pressure of expected ‘norms’, disability, illness, pain, or simply aging. Our relationships to our bodies often reflect internalized oppressive systems that keep us disconnected. Abigail Rose Clarke, a somatic facilitator, tells us the ways she’s come to view our connection to nature and relationship to our bodies as prime ways to push back against systems that were not built for us.

In this episode we discuss:

• navigating disability in an ableist world
• healing after a car accident and navigating the medical industrial complex
• practices for grounding and remembering you are part of nature
• the fallacy of hierarchy
• dealing with emotional resistance
• healing an eating disorder
• the book writing process

Abigail Rose Clarke is a somatic facilitator who currently lives in Western Massachusetts. Using somatics and mindfulness, Clarke teaches people to use the inherent wisdom of their bodies to be in direct conversation with creativity and aliveness, as a way to dismantle oppressive systems and build generative and deeply relational futures. Clarke has worked with people ranging from CEOs and board directors to schoolteachers and parents. She holds a weekly somatic learning space called Anchor Community, and is also the creator of The Somatic Tarot, a method of engaging with the archetype Tarot in ways that are rooted in liberatory practices. Her work is enormously influenced by her study and practice of Embodyoga®, of which she is a senior teacher, as well as her background in kinesiology and psychology.

Links:

• Abigail’s website: abigailroseclarke.com
• Abigail’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abigail.rose.clarke/
• Returning Home to Our Bodies (book) https://www.abigailroseclarke.com/books

People Mentioned: Patty Townsend https://www.embodyoga.com/

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen https://www.bodymindcentering.com/about/bonnie-bainbridge-cohen/

Nothing to see here (netflix show) https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/nothing_to_see_here

Andrea Gibson https://andreagibson.org/

Sessions & Information about the host: ⁠⁠JazmineRussell.com⁠⁠

Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.