HJL Protest Regulating & Support

At Healing Justice Ldn we hold that the survival and sustainability of oppressed peoples is resistance. We take this moment to resource and replenish ourselves to stay in the struggle for liberation and to show up in solidarity as our best selves. This is permission if you need it to put down guilt anywhere you are holding it to take this moment for you. 

Everything we share here is an invitation. As we ground, settle, and regulate, there are only two things we ask you to hold:

1. Consent — please be super consensual with your body and if anything we are inviting you to do doesn’t feel right or appropriate, please adapt to what your body needs or opt out. Let your body guide you, be moved by what is moving you. 

2. Comfort — please move in the direction of what feels good, if something doesn’t feel comfortable, or pleasant in your body, please adapt it or opt out 

It’s important here that we continue to reinforce our own agency by listening to what we need and let ourselves get attended to. By working consensually we reinforce a cycle of listening, being met and start to build more trust and safety in our own body and selves. 

Finally there is no wrong way of doing things. This is permission if you need it, to let go of shame. The techniques are not precious and we choose practice over perfection. Also, a reminder that our body is physiologically designed to be in our favour, to protect and safeguard us. So it will not let you experience something you are not capable of holding and it is always guiding you to what’s appropriate. The feelings of overwhelm, distress, shutting down, numbing and anxiety that we are feeling are appropriate to the threat and context of oppression we are experiencing. Your feelings or even lack of feeling/numbness is your body supporting you. 

Here we share a few short techniques to help us feel a bit more  anchored and supported. All of them are things you can do throughout the protest or after to support you to settle. Please use any or all that feel right for you. 

If you have limited range in mobility or injuries, or it feels uncomfortable, you can approach any of these techniques as visualisation. Visualising the technique is just as powerful. 

Intention Setting

Send this practice to someone/think of someone. 

Let go of something, feeling, thought that is no longer serving you.

Allow something, feeling, thought that you want.

Grounding 

Firstly, take a moment to find your root, your feet, or your base. Root in. Push into the ground. Let the earth rise up and hold you. Let it rise up to support you. Take a moment to observe your body and call in your ancestors, call in any one who you want to move, protect and guide you today. We stand on the shoulders of giants, the fact that we are here is testimony to our generational resilience. Take a moment to call in any support you want. 

Orienting (tool from Lumos Transforms) 

Orienting helps us relocate ourselves through our body. It’s a very easy and simple technique to do and helps the body contextualise and down regulate. 

Gently start to look around and start to list, you can say out loud or internally.

• What are the things you see around you? 
• What are the things you hear around you? 
• What are the things you smell around you? 
• What are the things you feel around you and inside of you? 
• What are the things you taste? 

If you feel numb or disembodied, this is a technique great to do.

Breathing

4x 4 breath

Nostril breathing

Fire breath option if deep breathing is not available/painful

Support 

Next we move to feeling support/ held. You can close your eyes, lower your gaze or rest your gaze somewhere.

• Next do some gentle work with your chest and back, the back is where we feel support and the chest is where we feel connection. This is a great space to bring love and attention to. 
• When we feel overwhelmed, distressed, unsafe or unsupported. We can often brace in the chest, protecting our heart.

Shoulder rolls 

Gently and slowly release our shoulders, drop off anything you don’t need by rolling back the shoulder, slow and gentle rolls. Visualise dropping off anything you are carrying here, and want to let go, (2mins) 

Releasing Bracing 

Gently take the pad of your fingers, the soft part and gentle tap, or massage below your collarbone, with the warmth and tenderness of your fingers start to release and relax constriction and bracing. (1min)

Heart and Courage

The hands and arms are associated with the heart, and the heart is a place where we can source courage, so take a moment to open and strengthen your heart space, to return to the heart of things. Our most radical space. 

Arm Squeezes 

Place one hand on the opposite shoulder and squeeze down, slowly along the arm. Switch arms and gently do the same to the opposite arm, the slower the better.  (x 2)

Arm Sweeps

Once you’ve done both arms, you can do some arms sweeps along each arm. Gently. Slowly. (x 3) 

This is also a reminder for our body that it is a boundary, container especially when we feel overwhelm.

Voice and Unity

To help us protest loud and unite in our voices.

Back of the Neck Release 

Take a deep breath, and exhale your chin to chest. Then inhale with your head down to your right shoulder very gently. Exhale back to centre. Inhale to the left shoulder. Do this three times. Very gently with our necks. Then finally very slowly inhale your head back up. (x 3)

Release Jaw Drop your jaw, (you can hover your hands over your mouth if you are feeling conscious). Then gently massage/tap the sides of your face and jaw. 

Hum

Just to bring the voice into your whole body, like a sonic massage, do three hums. (x 3) 

Shake / Tap it out (Woudou’)

Shake out your legs, arms, head, any body part you want. Equally gently tapping these areas to shift and bring movement here is great. Shaking and tapping it out to leave anything you don’t need to carry on the ground.

Just take a moment now to let the shake settle. Drink some water and stay as hydrated as possible throughout the day, especially after protesting.

Feedback

After a protest – gather with a friend or friends, family, comrades and allies, and use this template to run through this together, support each other to collectively and communally settle. 

When able to try to soak, bathe in Epsom/Pink/Himalayan Salt for at least 10mins, with water above the kidneys at least. Or use a warm cloth to wipe down your body head to toe. 

Let’s go!

Healing Justice Ldn