Resmaa Menakem: Dance, Joy, Ancestry, and the Quaking of America

Subscribe to Next Economy Now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you find podcasts.

Today’s guest is a leading voice in the conversation of racialized trauma. Resmaa Menakem is a therapist, trauma specialist, and the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. His forthcoming book, The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning was released on April 12th, 2022.

In our eye-opening conversation with Resmaa, we find out what made rapper Nipsey Hussle one of the most profound philosophers of his time and how Resmaa is learning to cultivate joy in the face of white supremacy. He explains the functions of the vagus nerve and the psoas muscle and how natural primordial movement has been constricted by the standardization of the white body. White body supremacy is still rearing its ugly head whichever way you look. 

Tune in to hear about the value of movement exploration, ancestral connections, and communal knowledge, and get up to speed with what it means to be anti-racist in the world today.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Why Resmaa Menakem considers Nipsey Hussle to be a philosopher.

  • Why Resmaa believes people need to break away from structures and do what they love.

  • The thwarting concept of white supremacy and how Resmaa cultivates joy in defiance of it.

  • How natural primordial movement has been constricted by the standardization of the white body and why it’s important to explore movement in trauma therapy.

  • The value of communal knowledge over individual knowledge. 

  • The structures that bypass spring-loaded energy to maintain white comfort.

  • The futility of land acknowledgment conversations, and what ritual means to Resmaa. 

  • The importance of ancestral connections and the disconnect in white culture.

  • How white body supremacy reared its head amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

  • The structural racism on both the left and right, and the purpose of The Quaking of America.  

---

Tweetables:

“In Black culture, we have a lot of knowledge that white supremacy says is invalid.” — @ResmaaMenakem

“When I see black bodies on the come-up, it fills me with so much joy because it is literally the energy of creation busting through concrete.” — @ResmaaMenakem

“Do what you love because eventually, the world will catch up.” — @ResmaaMenakem

“We are a part of creation, not apart from creation.” — @ResmaaMenakem

“There’s no such thing as ‘not racist’. Either you’re doing everything you can to usher in a living embodied anti-racist culture, or you’re complicit by saying [and] doing nothing.” — @ResmaaMenakem

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Resmaa Menakem — https://www.resmaa.com/

Resmaa Menakem on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/resmaamenakem/

Resmaa Menakem on Twitter — https://twitter.com/ResmaaMenakem

Resmaa Menakem on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/resmaamenakem

The Quaking of America — https://www.sourcebooksellersonline.com/the-quaking-of-america-an-embodied-guide-to-naviga.html

My Grandmother’s Hands https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942094470

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 300+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts by visiting: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy
Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/