What Happens When You Start Doing Decolonial Work in Your Body (Not Just Your Mind)

For years, I approached anti-oppressive practice like a puzzle to solve.

If I could just read the right books, learn the right language, understand the right frameworks — I'd get there.

But my body knew something my mind hadn't caught up to yet: this isn't intellectual work. It's relational. It's somatic. It's lived.

A Personal Journey

Early in my practice, despite years of study and training, I often felt stuck, especially in moments where race or colonial histories arose in session. Especially as someone who walks in two worlds and was trained to not disclose a lot about my personal life, it was hard for me to navigate!  My mind "understood" the concepts, but my body tensed, my breath shortened, or I found myself eager to quickly move on. Over time, I learned that these physical responses weren't just anxiety; they were invitations from my nervous system to engage at a deeper level. Decolonial work moved from theory to practice when I began to listen to, sense, and respond to my body’s wisdom in real time.

What Somatic Decolonial Work Feels Like

Somatic decolonial work is the practice of noticing where colonial trauma and oppression live in your body—whether it’s a gripping in the chest, a hesitation in the voice, or a pulling away of energy. It feels like grounding yourself in the moment, breathing into discomfort instead of moving away, and allowing your body to guide the pace and depth of engagement. Sometimes it feels messy—emotions rising powerful and unbidden, resistance emerging—but also deeply freeing as layers of conditioned responses begin to soften.

A Simple Practice to Try

Next time you feel tension or discomfort during discussion or reflection on race or colonial histories, pause and bring your attention to your body. Take a slow, mindful breath into the area of tension. Try to notice what sensations arise without judgment—tightness, heat, heaviness, or perhaps numbness. Allow yourself to stay with these sensations for a minute or two, as if you were meeting an old friend. This practice can help you begin to translate intellectual understanding into embodied presence.

The Difference Between Knowing and Embodying

Cognitively knowing about decolonial theory is important, but embodiment is where the transformation actually happens. To embody means to carry the teachings in your posture, your voice, your interactions—allowing anti-colonial values to be reflected not just in your words but your entire being. Embodiment invites relationality and presence: what we hold in our bodies shapes how we show up in relation to others, especially clients carrying trauma and resilience.

 When you start to shift how oppression lives in your body, everything else starts to change.