by shena j. young, PsyD
W.W. Norton and Company
11/14/2023, paperback
SKU: 9781324019831
Body rites as a holistic healing journey, anchored in the practice of decolonizing healing and reclaiming body sovereignty, reaches back into indigenous roots and land-based healing. It centers remembering as a means of survival.
This workbook is the first of its kind: a resource of rituals divided into four healing journeys for Black women, femmes, and nonbinary survivors of sexual assault. The experiential workbook moves beyond prescriptive self-help models by providing a gentle guide and liaison to explore the impact of sexual trauma on the mind, body, heart, and spirit. It is an invitation to heal holistically, drawing upon psychophysiology, lived body wisdom, trauma-informed embodiment practices, kinship and ancestral connections, and African spiritual practices. Most urgently, this book is a series of intimate conversations with your "self"; and remembrance that healing lives at the core of your intuition.
Reviews:
"This is an essential resource for sexual abuse survivors.... Young centers her advice in a robust journaling practice that seamlessly marries somatic and emotional self-investigation, and her methodology is grounded in African spirituality practice as well as an in-depth understanding of physiology and psychology, making for a wise and broad-minded approach." -- Publishers Weekly
"Body rites is an incredibly grounding, sensitive, and informative guide to helping those who've experienced sexual assault feel reconnected to their bodies. dr young does a masterful job of fostering a sense of safety and warmth as she walks beside readers on the journey of healing. The book breaks down scientific and psychological terms in accessible and relevant ways, and is a radical and needed departure from other texts in this space. Many will be able to see themselves and be helped by her offering.--Joy Harden Bradford, PhD, licensed psychologist, founder of Therapy for Black Girls, and author of Sisterhood Heals
About the Author:
shena j, young, PsyD, is a licensed body centered psychologist-healer, artist, and Iyalorisa. She owns a private practice, embodied truth healing & psychological services, rooted in Los Angeles, California, where she offers mind-body-heart-spirit care in healing from sexual, racial, intergenerational, and ancestral traumas.
Dr. shena's work has been featured in Bustle, Huffington Post, Lily by The Washington Post, Therapy for Black Girls, and she has consulted for The Body: A Home for Love, Black Girl in OM, Loveland Foundation, and Me Too movement communities.