Opening to Freedom:
Embodied Practice for White Folks in Racial Justice Movements

A nine-month Embodiment Intensive
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Why this program now?

This political moment is what practice is for. Practice helps us deepen our roots, widen into community, feel our depth of experience, and move towards our longings and visions for the future. When we gather for practice and political commitment, we resource and ready ourselves to continue the work for liberation, building strong Black, Brown, and working-class-led movements and ending white supremacy.

This year-long program emerges from over five years of bringing somatics to white racial justice organizers. The focus is on building community around our shared commitments to end white supremacy in our lifetimes and to actually practice a positive white anti-racist community. We will go deeper together. Deeper in practice, in relationship, and in our capacity to hold the complexity and urgency of this political moment as accountable, relaxed, and dignified white people—with love and rigor. 

Who offers this program?

Embodying Racial Justice (ERJ) facilitates online and in-person programs to support social movement practitioners interested in learning more about their bodies, their responses under pressure, and their capacity to work with other white people and people of color toward racial justice.

Dara Silverman is the lead teacher, as part of a skilled team of teachers including Michael Strom, Rachel Plattus, and Lu Aya (song-leader). Each teacher will mentor a small group of participants.

The program overall has an advisory group of BIPOC and white embodiment practitioners and racial justice organizers. 

Who is the program for?

The program is for white people currently deeply engaged in political work. This is broadly defined and can include organizing, base-building , education, crisis work, mutual aid, healing, and more. Previous cohorts included bodyworkers,  educators, therapists, organizers, artists and more. Deepa Iyer’s social change ecosystem map identifies many roles political and movement folks may occupy.

What will participants get from this program?

This course combines neuroscience, physical movement, song, connection to nature as well as practical and theoretical grounding materials into a unique curriculum specialized for changemakers.

Curriculum focuses on building individual and group embodiment and bringing somatic practice and principles into yourself, your life, and your anti-racist work. The curriculum is not focused on learning to teach somatics.

More details available in Frequently Asked Questions here.

The course includes:

  • Coaching

    Personalized Support

    Group coaching  each month – Sixmonthly small group coaching sessions  with members of the teaching team

    1-1 coaching each month – Six individual coaching sessions with one of the teachers

  • Training

    Connection to the Somatic lineage from the Strozzi Institute and Generative Somatics

    Retreats – Three in-person retreats spread across the year, for 12 days of training and practice 

    Monthly methodology calls – To continue your learning virtually

  • Networking

    Long-term relationships with peers who are in  a shared political commitment with you

    Optional weekly virtual practice sessions 

    Access to a peer-to-peer messaging group to stay connected during and after the course

  • Practices & Tools

    Practice that deepens your somatic awareness and ability to be present, open, and connected

    Personal Commitment – We’ll support you to create a written commitment statement, related objectives and action items that will guide you through the program. 

    Tools – You’ll receive worksheets, resources, songs and reading you can use in your work right away.

  • An Optional Practitioner Track

    For advanced students

    Advanced students can opt into a practitioner track. The prerequisites are to  have either:

    Completed 16+ days on the mat in this lineage before enrollment in Opening to Freedom (this can be from ERJ courses or other courses in this lineage)

This course will give participants in the practitioner track the opportunity to be assessed in the following competencies:

  • Lead and facilitate up to eight somatic practices (to be clear, participants will not become teachers during Opening to Freedom)

  • Apply  embodied anti-racist frameworks in individual and group work (including frameworks like under, over, and centered accountability; blend; sites of shaping; contradictions and conditioned tendencies through the lens of white supremacy)

  • Ability to assess the shape of groups, what they need, and how to blend and move them towards their next steps

  • Make grounded assessments of individual and collective shapes

  • Support individuals and groups to begin to understand their shaping, build their somatic awareness, and begin to make new, more aligned choices in response

Each practitioner track participant will be assessed and will receive instructions from a teacher about their readiness to lead practices upon completion of Opening to Freedom. Participation does not guarantees that every participant will be assessed as ready to lead. 

Prerequisites: 

 While it is not required, we recommend folks attend a four-day somatic intensive prior to joining the year-long program. This supports shared practice for you and the group. You can see the full calendar here. 

At the level of personal embodiment and transformation, we promise that this course will support you to develop the following: 

  • Transformation

    Movement from old shape to new shape in current political conditions

  • Congruence

    Aligning embodiment, words, and actions with your longings in the world as well as the ability to bring those into the rooms you're in 

  • Community

    Relationships and peers who are in it with you.

  • Practice

    Deepening in your somatic practice.

Details

  • The first two retreats will be held in the Northeast and the final retreat will be in the Midwest. Locations are forthcoming.

  • Retreat 1: July 9-12, 2026

    Retreat 2: September 23-28, 2026
    Retreat 3: Nov 12-Nov 15, 2026

  • We anticipate welcoming a group of up to 24  participants and 4 teachers.

  • This course is offered on a sliding scale. The true cost of this program is $12,000 per participant. All prices include room and meals for each course. We support participants in carpooling to the training site.

    Organizational: $7,000-$20,000: For participants with organizational sponsorship, the registration tier is based on each organization’s annual budget. 

    • $20,000 per registrant if the budget is above $30 million 

    • $16,000 per registrant if the budget is between $20-$30 million 

    • $14,000 per registrant if the budget is between $10 - $20 million

    • $10,000 per registrant if the budget is between $5 - $10 million

    • $7,000 per registrant if the budget is below $5 million

    Individual: $4,000-$20,000+ for participants who are registering as without organizational sponsorship, the registration is based on personal capacity. 

    • Builder $16,000-$20,000+- for those who have generational or inherited wealth and want to off-set the costs of the program for other participants

    • Sustainer $12,001-$15,999: for those who have generational or inherited wealth

    • Supporter $10,000-$12,000: for those who have a regular income and additional support, either from other employment or alternative sources, and have funds to support other projects beyond paying their rent or mortgage ($12,000 is the true cost to cover the costs of running a course)

    • Capacity $8,000-$9,999: for those who have a regular income and are comfortably paying their rent or mortgage

    • Grounded $6,000-$7,999: for those who are paying their mortgage or rent

    • Equity $4,000-$5,999: for those who are challenged to make ends meet

    Please note that we allocate a specific number of registrations at each tier for each course. That way, Embodying Racial Justice can cover the costs associated with running the course. The specifics vary for each course, and one sample breakdown of the slots available at each tier is: 

    • 1- Builder- $16,000-$20,000+

    • 2 - Sustainer  $12,001-$16,000

    • 3 - Organizational $6,000-$16,000

    • 6 - Supporter (this is the true cost to ERJ per course participant) $10,000-$12,000

    • 4 - Capacity $8,000-$9,999

    • 3 - Grounded  $6,000-$7,999

    • 3 - Equity $4,000-$5,999

    This infographic provides more details on the sliding-scale tiers for consideration. 

    Offering a sliding-scale registration system allows the widest range of participants to pay at a level that is meaningful to them and within their means. Some forms of embodied work are inaccessible to people across income levels and class backgrounds. At ERJ,, our commitment is to making somatics as accessible as possible for the sake of growing our movements for justice. 

    All of this only works if everyone pays at the level they are able - not at a level lower than what they can pay. Together, we can achieve financial balance by each paying in line with our abilities. 

    The registration fee pays facilitators a living wage, supports the redistribution of funds to local Black and Indigenous groups as well as Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity, and includes the organizing and administrative support associated with the course. This also includes all meals and snacks during the course.

    We want to make this work financially for as many people as possible, and we want to be in dialogue with you about what will support you to participate. Please contact us if you would like to discuss finances.

  • "In supervision, we took time to feel into the formation of getting my back before I headed into a noncompliance training I was leading later in the week. Leaning, receiving the sensation of support, my heels flattened on the earth, and I felt something wider than any of us individually come in. Resourced with all of this, the training I led was through-the-roof grounded, joyful, and able to transform the anxiety in the room to strategic choices that made the action healing. The friendships I’ve built and the resiliency I’ve gained by practicing with ERJ have made it more possible for me to be a balm of coming together in the midst of so much falling apart."

    —Celia, Trainings for Change, Troy, NY 

  • “Engaging conflict directly and practicing ways of responding generatively is not something we do often or well as people with white privilege, so this retreat offered a desperately needed antidote to our patterns of under-accountability. Getting to practice being brave, messy, and caring in a container that's committed to both individual healing and developing disciplined, collective anti-racist praxis among white people has helped me become a more committed organizer, leader and community member."

    —E., Community Organizer 

  • "When I was first exposed to somatics, I was a little scared. I felt nervous talking about bodies. So if you are nervous I’ve been there. But the somatics courses are totally worth it. I see somatics as an investment in myself and my leadership. It helps me show up, meet this political moment, and be the parent I want to be."

    —T., Teacher

  • "For Queer and trans folks and folks with multiple marginalized identities, feeling into our bodies can be a scary experience. Even though there can be fear and vulnerability, feeling more deeply is worth it because it brings us into contact with our deepest longings and with the reality that another world is possible."

    –W., Trans Youth Worker

More Information

A list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) is here.

Have more Questions? We’d love to answer them. If you’d like to set up a one-on-one to talk about the program, please contact Embodying Racial Justice or book a time to talk with Dara directly.

Apply Now