Summary of Resmaa Menakem's My Grandmother's Hands

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Our bodies are different from our cognitive brains, and they contain a form of knowledge that is different from our reasoning. This knowledge is typically experienced as a felt sense of constriction or expansion, pain or ease, energy or numbness.
#2 The brain is where we live, fear, hope, and react. It is where we constrict and relax. And what the body most cares about are safety and survival. When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon, it overwhelms the body and can create trauma.
#3 Trauma is not a weakness, but a highly effective tool of safety and survival. It is a protective response to a perceived threat that may be accurate or entirely imaginary. It can cause us to react to present events in ways that seem wildly inappropriate, overly charged, or out of proportion.
#4 Overreactions are the body’s attempt to complete a protective action that was thwarted or overridden during a traumatic situation. These can become embedded in the body as standard ways of surviving and protecting themselves.

Sujets

• Préjudice

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669355281
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Resmaa Menakem's My Grandmothers Hands
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Our bodies are different from our cognitive brains, and they contain a form of knowledge that is different from our reasoning. This knowledge is typically experienced as a felt sense of constriction or expansion, pain or ease, energy or numbness.

#2

The brain is where we live, fear, hope, and react. It is where we constrict and relax. And what the body most cares about are safety and survival. When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon, it overwhelms the body and can create trauma.

#3

Trauma is not a weakness, but a highly effective tool of safety and survival. It is a protective response to a perceived threat that may be accurate or entirely imaginary. It can cause us to react to present events in ways that seem wildly inappropriate, overly charged, or out of proportion.

#4

Overreactions are the body’s attempt to complete a protective action that was thwarted or overridden during a traumatic situation. These can become embedded in the body as standard ways of surviving and protecting themselves.

#5

The book is about the body, and how it relates to trauma. It explores the internalized and embedded trauma that is likely present in African American bodies, and how this can be healed.

#6

The body is where we experience most of our pain and joy, and it is where we process most of what happens to us. It is also where we heal and grow.

#7

We all carry trauma around the myth of race in America. It can be the result of a specific and deeply painful event, or it can be the body’s response to a long sequence of smaller wounds. It can be anything unfamiliar or anything that the body doesn’t understand.

#8

The bodies of Black and white Americans are deeply affected by trauma. The bodies of police officers are also deeply affected by trauma, but their origins and nature are quite different.

#9

I am not a philosopher or literary stylist. I am a healer and trauma therapist. My focus is on mending psyches, souls, bodies, and relationships, and I try to do so for virtually all of my patients.

#10

The three types of trauma are physical, psychological, and racialized. The trauma in white bodies is passed down from parent to child for perhaps a thousand years. The trauma in African American bodies is often more severe, but also more recent.

#11

Clean pain is the pain of acceptance, and it allows our bodies to grow through our difficulties. It enables us to engage our integrity and tap into our body’s inherent resilience and coherence.

#12

I am a therapist who specializes in trauma work, and I’ve published a book that helps couples mend and deepen their relationships. I also host a radio show with US Congressman Keith Ellison on KMOJ-FM in Minneapolis.

#13

I want to create more safety for myself and others, by healing from white-body-supremacy trauma. I want to be free of racialized trauma, and I want to pass on that safety and security to future generations.

#14

Ground yourself in your body. Notice the outline of your skin and the slight pressure of the air around it. Experience the firmer pressure of the chair, bed, or couch beneath you, or the ground or floor beneath your feet.

#15

White-body supremacy lives in our bodies, and we will never overcome it through discussion or training alone. We must look to the body and the experience of trauma to heal.

#16

The fifth commandment is annihilate, which is when the lizard brain senses a threat is extreme and the body’s total destruction is imminent. It usually looks like sudden, extreme rage.

#17

The white body sees itself as fragile and vulnerable, and it looks to police bodies for its protection and safety. The Black body sees the white body as privileged, controlling, and dangerous.

#18

When you do any of the activities in this book, it's possible your body will react in an unusual way. You may start shaking or tingling, laugh or cry, or feel hot or cold. These are all normal reactions. They don't mean you're weird or crazy.

#19

Find a quiet, private spot. Spend three to four minutes there alone. Turn your head and slowly look around in all directions, especially behind you. Orient yourself in the surrounding space. When you are done scanning your environment, face forward once again and return your attention to your body.

#20

You can also practice moving your attention through your body from your head to your toes, one more time. Feel into each spot where you sense constriction. Stay with each of these for one to two seconds. Then, feel into each spot where you sense softness.

#21

To heal from the trauma of white-body supremacy, you must learn to settle your body when you’re under stress. This will help you tolerate discomfort and fully engage in the situation.

#22

You’ll learn about the Black body, the white body, and the police body in the chapters to come. You’ll also learn about the history of each one and how they got to be the way they are today.

#23

Because of white-body supremacy, Black and police bodies see each other as dangerous and needing to be controlled, while the white body sees itself as fragile and vulnerable.

#24

Trauma can also spread between bodies, like a contagious disease.