The Collective and Political Realms of the Body: Exploring Somatic Wisdom and Social Healing
Throughout history, rituals, music, dance and theatre have brought communities together to explore expanded states of consciousness and collective identity. These creative practices open the door to altered states of awareness, rich in metaphor and symbolism, allowing individuals and societies to traverse previously unconscious or unexplored inner landscapes. Working at the edge of consciousness acts as a catalyst for both personal and collective growth.
Somatic Practices and Accessing the Edge of Awareness
Somatic approaches such as focusing, authentic movement, somatic experiencing, breathwork and bioenergetics help people access and process sensations, emotions and memories that arise from this expanded awareness. However, working somatically often means confronting somatophobia — the fear and rejection of the body.
The Historical Roots of Somatophobia: The Mind-Body Split
The marginalization of the body (or soma) has deep roots in Western philosophy, especially the work of René Descartes. His privileging of rational thought during the scientific revolution contributed to the mind-body-spirit split, where:
Mind and matter were prioritised by science
Spirit and religion were reserved for the church
The Objectification of Life and Its Collective Impact
As a society, we are profoundly threatened by the return of messy emotion, mysterious intuition, unmeasurable paradox and the pleasure of the body. Science has objectified the soma to a functional machine which we can control and use to our advantage — much like we have done with our collective body, Mother Earth.
Furthermore, religion has long encouraged the transcendence of nature, matter, and body, creating a collective fear and shame which has led to the objectification of all life — human, soil, animal, air, and tree. Trauma and the objectification of the soma can encourage us to numb, separate and dissociate from life. ‘Re-membering’ the soma can reconnect us to the wider fabric of life — including the political, economic, historical, and cultural — helping us to heal and transform personally and collectively.
The Dominant Body Paradigm in Western Culture
The current Western ideal of the body is often defined as:
White
European
Cisgender male
Heterosexual
Able-bodied
Wealthy
Thin
This normative body ideal supports systems that privilege rationality, maleness, and whiteness as the standard for leadership and power. Those who are associated with the soma and feeling realms — such as women, transgender people, people of colour, disabled people, indigenous communities, and nature — are seen as sinful and irrational.
Somatic Wisdom as a Path to Social Justice and Healing
Somatic therapies that honour the body’s wisdom offer more than individual trauma healing — they invite a collective healing of the mind-body-spirit split. This healing fosters:
A deeper connection to self, others and the Earth
Radical self-agency and authenticity
Resistance to political hierarchies and oppressive orthodoxy
Embodiment: A Tool for Choice and Transformation
To go within to receive knowledge eradicates orthodoxy, encouraging radical self-agency, authenticity and belonging, which challenges political hierarchies. Embodiment enables choice, increases our ability to grow and develop in the here-and-now, and helps us become more individually and collectively whole.
Muscles have memory, and they are shaped by social conditions through our beliefs, resilience, survival strategies, habits, and actions. These can become automatic — however, bridging our awareness and capacity to feel into the soma helps us to sustainably shift to a new shape, a new paradigm and way of being.
🧡 Ready to explore somatic therapy and the healing potential of body-based wisdom?
If you’re curious about how creative and somatic practices can help you reconnect with yourself, challenge internalised oppression, and support personal or collective healing, I’d love to work with you.
📍 Book your free consultation here
or learn more about Somatic Breathwork Coaching here.
Counselling, Psychotherapy, Supervision & Breathwork in Huddersfield & Online UK
By Melissa Rose Spencer | Creative & Somatic Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Breathwork Coach in Huddersfield | Online UK & Internationally
References
HAINES, S., 2019. The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice. California, USA: North Atlantic Press.
HOFFMAN, P., 1952. Essays on Descartes. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
JOHNSON, W., 2012. Breathing through the Whole Body: The Buddha’s Instructions on Integrating Mind, Body and Breath. Kent, UK: Healing Arts Press.
MACY, J., 2021. World as Love, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Planetary Awakening. California, USA: Parallax Press.
MINDELL, A., 2007. Worldwork and the Politics of ‘’Dreaming’’ or Why ‘’Dreaming’’ is Crucial for World Process (online), Process Work Institute.