What do you want? What do you value? What do you long for? What is yearning to heal? What do you want to be… — Staci K. Haines

Sometimes people who are more focused on their internal lives will stay internal and not attend to their lives in the world. Sometimes those very focused on social equity or their work will focus exclusively there, not attending to and including themselves personally. We have capacity and need for all of these. We are individuals with particular paths. And, we are people in families, communities, and part of the broader social and economic landscape. A full human life crosses all of these. Healing trauma crosses all of these, too. (7: Arc Circle One-Vision and Longing)

These twenty-five years into somatics, trauma healing, and social justice work, I have seen over and over again that there is a draw and pull toward life deep within our somas. As we un-numb, allow more aliveness, relearn to feel ourselves and others, this draw increases. By becoming more embodied, we are invited toward more life, even when the road to healing and getting there may be difficult and take courage. I see so often a deep and powerful move toward transformation and harmony within us. We can purposefully heed it, and use our courage to follow it. We can nourish it through our attention (individually and collectively), our practices, and our gratitude. (4: The Impact of Trauma and Oppression)

Individual and social experiences of trauma are discussed as separate experiences, but they are not, in essence, separate. Traumatic experiences are always happening within a social context and shaped by social conditions. They are nearly always perpetuating the "rules of engagement" of our social conditions. (4: The Impact of Trauma and Oppression)