Healing Amidst Injustice & Broken Systems

In the worlds of therapy and personal growth, it’s easy to internalize the idea that if something feels off—if you’re tense, burnt out, or dysregulated—it must be because you haven’t healed enough yet. Or that there is something individually “wrong” with you that needs fixing.

I believe these perspective are harmful ones that neglect and lack the very real nuances, wondrous complexities, and devastating realities that we are living within and amongst.

We don’t heal in an isolated container. We heal in relationship to the world around us. Our nervous systems are in relationship with the systems we live within. Symptoms can be signals from our bodies, souls, and psyches that carry information about how safe or unsafe we feel inside of those systems. 

…wise, intelligent signals to pay attention to.

We Heal Inside of Systems

Every single one of us is shaped by the environments we live in—our families, friendships, partnerships, romances, and larger cultural and societal systems we move through every day. Your body and your nervous system are both holding your personal history and responding to systemic realities.

Patriarchy.
Systemic racism.
Queerphobia.
Homophobia.
Transphobia.
Ableism.
Being neurodivergent in this society.

These are not abstract ideas. They are lived realities by many of us that shape how safe—or unsafe—our bodies feel in the world.

They influence:

• How much stress you may feel on a daily basis

• How visible or invisible you feel in this world on a daily basis

• How much effort it may take just to exist in this culture

• What your nervous system learns to expect by interacting with society, culture, and beyond

Your nervous system carries information from both your life and the world around you. Your nervous system is designed to scan your environment for cues of safety and cues of non-safety, and to adjust accordingly. The more unsafe we feel, the more work our nervous systems are doing to try to keep us safe and alive.

…So, Your Symptoms Make Sense

When you feel:

• Anxious

• Overwhelmed

• Burnt out

• Hypervigilant

• Shut down

• Exhausted after a long day

• Mentally unclear or foggy

It may mean that your body is doing exactly what it was designed to do: scan for threats and evidence of safety.

From a somatic perspective, symptoms are not random or broken—they are adaptive responses to how we are relating with life around us.

Your body is always asking:
Am I safe here?

And when the answer is uncertain—or consistently “not fully”—your system can adapt through the above symptoms.

You’re Carrying More Than Just Your Own Experience

Additionally, not everything you’re experiencing belongs only to you. Your nervous system is also responding to and picking up on the feelings, energies, and emotions of the greater world around you.

When this isn’t known or acknowledged, it can be easy to internalize one’s anxiety as:

• “Something must be wrong with me”

• “I need to fix this”

• “I should be further along by now”

But your body may simply be responding wisely to the conditions it’s living in—noticing, perceiving, and picking up on the felt experience of those around you.

Healing Admist Injustice

Healing is not about becoming so regulated that nothing affects you. And it’s not about becoming more tolerant of what should not be tolerated. Healing is about something much more honest and human: Being able to expand your capacity to stay connected with yourself in, amidst, and through stressful moments.

It’s about:

• Not abandoning yourself when things are hard

• Being able to feel what you feel without shutting down or spiraling

• Having access to choice in how you respond

• Building a sense of inner safety and self-trust

• Having access to safe touch, gentle movement, and soothing sound from other people to help you co-regulate

Somatic work is powerful—and it has limits. It cannot dismantle harmful systems. It cannot remove every external stressor. But it can support you in a meaningful way.

Somatic work can help you:

• Stay connected to yourself

• Feel more grounded and supported in your body

• Build self-trust and inner safety

• Access choice in how you respond

• Expand your capacity to rest, feel, and move through life

• Expand your capacity to experience more pleasure, connection, and aliveness

It can give you the ability to be with yourself and feel the fullness of life—even when the world around you is complex, overwhelming, or unjust.

Both Things Are True

We need f*cking systems change and healing, change, possibilities, choice, and miracles are everywhere.

These are not opposing ideas.

You don’t have to choose between acknowledging systemic harm and supporting your own healing.

You are allowed to hold both.

And! you don’t have to navigate that alone. You’re not meant to. We need each other. We need community. We need the medicine of co-regulation.

You deserve support that:

• Honors your experiences

• Respects the reality of the systems you live within

• And helps you feel more grounded, connected, and resourced in your body

If you’re ready to feel more supported in your body—without blaming yourself for the world you live in—
you can book a therapy consultation here or book a somatic coaching consultation here.

With care,
Heather