Collective Healing: Remediating Our Traumas Together
What started as rumors of a new virus outbreak quickly turned into one of recent history’s greatest collective traumas. Across the world, countless lives have been changed by this unseen entity we now know as Covid-19.
And just when we thought there was nothing else to add to the list, 2020 continued to throw curveballs, marking a year of drastic change. With the 2020 election, protests across the country, and the boiling over of years of racial inequality, many left feeling like 2020 had ripped countless holes in the fabric of our communities.
The question is – where do we go from here? How do we heal and use these experiences to better ourselves and our society?
Understanding Collective Trauma
Collective trauma is not a new concept, just a new description. Throughout history, collective traumas have occurred due to ongoing systemic inequalities in our society, typically due to identity.
Many in our society hold on to the idea that people who feel hurt should just “move on”. But it’s not that simple. “Moving on” doesn’t heal the wounds or create change in our society. All it does is place a temporary fix on a wound that needs extensive surgery to repair.
While it is a common belief that collective traumas serve as lessons that make our society better, many of them continue to plague our communities in profound ways. Now, it is up to us to find healthier ways to promote healing. One of the most promising avenues being collective healing.
What is Collective Healing?
Collective healing provides communities and individuals with an opportunity to organize in the midst of events that leave us feeling powerless. With so many of us in our respective communities experiencing similar fears, anger, frustration, and hurt, uniting together to acknowledge and process our feelings and discuss ways to heal from and resolve these collective traumas can be truly transformative.
Through collective healing, we can not only help ourselves heal, but we can help others by embracing togetherness and inclusivity in:
Spiritual practices
Meaningful work
Community connection
Service to others
By looking beyond ourselves into our communities and the world, we can embrace one another and help each other find healing, health and wellness, and overall better quality of life through empathy and interconnectivity.
Collective healing is more than embracing each other and building our communities. It is about empowering those in our communities to develop skills that can further facilitate healing across differences. It involves creating a safe space where folks can come together and build a better today and tomorrow, regardless of our yesterdays.
Collective health is much more than protecting our emotional health. It is encouraging and promoting physical health, financial security, and inclusion within the community.
Ways to Engage in Collective Healing
There are numerous organizations devoted to teaching and facilitating collective healing techniques. The Healing Foundation is one organization that supports healing across generations. There is also a group called Collective Healing that provides space for individuals or groups to practice in ways that work for them.
In addition to these resources, there are a number of experts in psychology who support collective healing strategies. Author, psychologist, and professor Jack Saul has written a well-received book called Collective Trauma, Collective Healing, which provides a framework for practitioners to create their own programs.
The Collective Trauma Summit is yet another resource to take advantage of, offering an online space for these experts and the community to come together and talk about the pressing issues we are facing. The summit’s guest speakers, poetry readings, and recorded events highlight how a collective mindset may be the key to moving our society forward.
You can also find space for collective healing in your community.
Connecting to the Collective
At Nalaverse, we are more than a virtual studio.
We are a group of individuals who have a shared mission and purpose – to redefine wellness through a lens of healing so that it is approachable and accessible to everyone. We care about our society and social justice. Our desire is to create a space where folks can come to release stress and what doesn’t serve them while restoring ourselves as needed and as a collective.
Our instructors come from all walks of life and we are proud to be active supporters of our team and our community. All of our classes are designed to be relatable and real. We do not require specialized equipment or a certain skill level in order to participate. All you need is an open heart and mind.
Nalaverse is a Black-owned and women-led space where we practice active allyship through self-introspection. We believe that there are many ways to come together to facilitate healing – in our studio and through our online breathwork, meditation, and yoga classes. No matter where you are or what you’re looking for, we can help you find healing.
Contact us to learn more about our classes and instructors, or check out our on-demand library today.
