Thawing Freeze Cycles

How is your body and energy? If you’ve been seeing what I have been seeing, you may also been in great need of this Friday’s free gathering for activists- Heal and Build Power. We’ll be launching the month’s theme, Thawing Freeze Cycles.

Sometimes when I write these emails I feel like I am speaking to two very different groups: people who are only seeing mainstream Western news outlets, and people who are actually seeing the videos coming out of Palestine and university encampments and tuned into outlets like Al Jazeera and Breakthrough News. The past six months I have been deeply disturbed by news outlets publishing blatant propaganda, including The New York Times, CNN, and many others.

Tuesday at Columbia University, the press was pushed out before NYPD violently raided campus with hundreds of riot cops. I saw a video of a cop push a student down concrete stairs, and slamming a student’s head on the concrete, alongside reports that EMTs were locked in a building and prevented from providing care.

Wednesday morning I woke to videos of a mob of 200 zionists attacking UCLA student protestors with bats, pepper spray and fireworks, given free reign for HOURS by LAPD and UCLA campus security and injuring over 100 students and faculty. Protestors reported that police were onsite, stood in a line and did nothing to intervene. Students and community members watching the live feed on social media were calling the police and for medical help, and were hung up on. An NPR headline reads “Protests at UCLA turn violent as schools tear down encampments, arrest students;” misleading is an understatement. These are just a few of the countless examples I could give of police and Zionist violence across the US and widespread media distortion.

Meanwhile in Palestine, a ground invasion of Rafah is imminent, where 1.2 million displaced civilians are sheltering. The Biden Administration just approved another $14 billion dollars to fund this massacre. Last week a mass grave was found at Nasser Hospital with over 390 bodies, including children, people with their hands ziptied, and people with medical tubes still attached and evidence of torture.

Our May theme is Thawing Freeze Cycles, and one day in I can already feel how essential this is— Because collapsed and drained is where oppressors want us. These acts of terror are meant to traumatize not just those directly impacted, but all of us who dare to raise our voices for justice.

This will be the theme for all group journeys, everything I create for Instagram, Tiktok and Insight Timer, AND a special new 1on1 offering, see below. Today we’ll just cover a few basics…

• What is a Freeze Cycle

  • Physical signs: breath holding/ shallow breath, clenching jaw & glutes, sitting very still, curled up in a ball, stuck, shrinking, low energy, slow thoughts/ speech, drained though rested

  • A protection state we can go to when fight/flight is unavailable

  • Can be a whiplash response after expanding through fears

  • Protection states exist on a continuum, not just the most “extreme” state

• Working with Freeze Cycles

  • Especially for extended cycles, gentle, incremental thawing is essential-- simple practices, even for a minute or a few breaths woven into your day

  • Longer practices offer deeper transformation, great way to launch with additional group/ 1on1 support

  • Key practices: protect, expand, clear energy, resource & connect

  • As always, I’ll offer a blend of tools: somatic, breath, movement, visualizations, bodyscans, and more...

• The first things I do when I realize I’m freezing

  • Create a sense of protection/ comfort— favorite music, tarot card pull, wrapping my arms around myself, cozy sweatshirt

  • Drink water

  • Open mouth breaths— seated or lying down, 3-5 gentle breaths into the belly

  • Try to physically expand my body— stretch out my arms, posture, etc

  • Open the senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, touch

May we continue to expand through our fears and into our full power.