Dear Friends,

I hope you are well and taking lots of rest!

First of all, as our world is in the midst of change, continuing human atrocities, and the uprising of truth, and as a white person leading this community of self-care, I realize that when I offer resources, my experiences through my journal posts and discussion, that this is through my lens as a white person, and may not be helpful or relevant to BIPOC (Black Indigenous Person of Color) in this community. I do not ever want to be hurtful. My intention is not to leave BIPOC members out as I work to be anti-racist, but I realize that I may be doing just that with my perspective. I have made and will make many mistakes along the way. I am always open to any and all feedback if you would like to offer it. 

That said, the self-care practices offered here in this community are for all women, regardless of race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, religion. I am adding an extensive inclusion statement to my website to make this exceedingly clear. I am paying for and learning from BIPOC-led programs. I am also revamping the 10-week self care course I intend to offer so that it is a practice of liberation on every level, to the best of my ability. Until #BlackLivesMatter, no one is ever free.

White supremacy and racism has harmed black and brown people for over 400 years and has been baked into the very bones of our American society. The characteristics of white supremacy are also the underlying basis of the self-care blocks that I have seen women friends and course members face in the years that I have taken up facilitating self-care practice.

This article highlights the characteristics of white supremacy (click here), all of which I have embodied unconsciously and so thoroughly. I am in the process of breaking it all down, and am starting to feel the inklings of freedom.

The article showed me how much my own personal dysfunction comes out of adhering to these damaging rules of perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, worship of the written word, paternalism (patriarchy), either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, progress is bigger and more, objectivity and a right to comfort.

I agree with one of my teachers, Gracy Obuchowicz who says,

“I’ve come to believe our self-care problems are not individual problems but rather societal ones that stem from a passed down system of white supremacy. Sure, our childhoods may have something to do with it but our parents and grandparents and their parents have all been raised in this society. We’ve taught each other the dysfunctional practices of perfectionism, materialism, inability to hear criticism, denial of emotions, and subjection of others for our own means. As a result, we’ve created a world that is dangerous and toxic to anyone who isn’t white, failed to cultivate our emotional and spiritual lives, and as a result we are filled with delusion and when we dig deeper, self-hatred.

I share all of this because working for an antiracist world is completely the right thing to do. Until #blacklivesmatter, none of our lives matter.

However, I also share it because I believe that our spiritual liberation as white people is tied up in the liberation of black and brown people in our world. Until we address the trauma of white supremacy (in the world and in ourselves) we will continue in a fog of perfectionism, dehumanizing ourselves by ignoring or belittling the atrocities that happen everyday, and miss the connection, creativity and beauty we could experience by creating liberation for all.”

Standing with the Black community,

with care,

~ Lizabeth