An example of an embodied practice to notice and counter white supremacy in my body:
Today I noticed white supremacy in my head. I felt a furrowing of my brow and tension across my forehead while considering the power that white bodies have. Was this defensiveness? Discomfort? Guilt? Skepticism? This I do not know, but I do know the tension, the bracing.
Placing my hand over my forehead, I considered what that place represents in white culture: the Cartesian split between mind & body; the intellect; the center of reason/rationality…
Taking a deep breath, I consider what the forehead does biologically: the frontal lobe (the last area of the brain to mature); speech & language production; attention & concentration; reasoning & judgement; problem solving; regulation of emotions & moods; controlling social behaviors; impulse control…
Perhaps my frontal cortex is working hard in all these areas as I consider the white supremacy within me. Perhaps my frontal cortex is experiencing resistance in a very mind-over-matter, intellect-over-feeling sort of way (ways of thinking that are intertwined into white supremacy culture).
I take another deep breath and ask my forehead and frontal cortex to soften.