Mind, Body, Spirit: How Holistic Health Serves as Reparations

Guest article contribution by Flow Breathwork Facilitator Teddie V. Hill

Did you know that reparations can take many forms, including the gift of health and wellness? Imagine a world where every community thrives with health, peace, and prosperity. By bringing holistic healing practices to underserved neighborhoods, we can create a road toward life-changing healing, reduce healthcare costs, and build stronger, safer communities.

The disparities in health and wellness resources between BIPOC communities and their white counterparts are very vast and include (but are not limited to) general knowledge of what the healing arts are, costs for wellness programs, stigmas around mental health, lack of cultural competency within current healing spaces, and lack of safe spaces that are easily accessible for those who live in these communities.

To pay reparations is to make amends for a wrong, but there’s a lot that people still get wrong about this concept. A common misconception about reparations is that it is always centered around money, which is far from the truth. Many people glaze over how reparations can also include wellness & healing trauma. Reparations aren’t just about “paying for slavery” or a form of charity as some still believe. Reparations help to heal and address a wide variety of ongoing issues in our society including mass incarceration, health and economic disparities, and segregation. While monetary investments play a major role in acknowledging historical injustices, one of the best forms of reparations is offering safe spaces for BIPOC communities that include mental health support, emotional healing and wellness, and nervous system regulation.

What do reparations look like when we consider helping our BIPOC neighbors to heal? When we create reparations in the form of healing spaces, we create spaces where people feel loved, supported, and safe to express their vulnerability. The benefits of creating healing spaces in underserved communities:

They help bring support to individuals who need help managing stress and healing depression and anxiety - some of the root causes of heart conditions, high blood pressure, and stroke.
These safe spaces guide us to heal our emotions and let go of years of emotional pain, anger, rage, sadness, and hopelessness. Through healing our emotions, we heal our physical body which can include unexplained aches and pains, improve immune functions, reduce risks of chronic diseases, and increase longevity.
They help guide us through clearing decades of generational trauma that was passed down to us from those who came before us. The more unhealed trauma our mothers held in their wombs, the more dysregulated we are born. And the unhealed trauma becomes ours to heal.
They help to guide us through reprogramming our minds and reframing our thinking. Sometimes, it isn’t just about throwing money at a problem and hoping it will fix itself. For example, more money doesn’t help a person with a scarcity mindset. The person who fears scarcity must first reframe how they view themselves, recognize how to go about finding solutions to build a healthier relationship with money, and understand how to hold larger sums of it. Lifelong change can only happen when we challenge our current beliefs and behaviors and then reframe our thinking. Healing spaces help us to learn how to help ourselves.

The ripple effect and how everyone wins when healing is created within underserved communities:

Fewer ER visits: Individuals are less likely to visit the emergency room when living near healing spaces because they learn how to manage their physical health, mental health, and stress. Early prevention decreases the likelihood of chronic diseases later down the line. This saves time, money, and resources for taxpayers, healthcare professionals, and legislators.
More productive workers across the board: When employees feel that their physical & emotional well-being is taken care of, they are more likely to show up for work, work at a higher level of productivity, and continuously find joy in their work.
Decrease in violent occurrences and crime: When healing is easily accessible, individuals can address the root causes of anger, pain, conflict and address ongoing trauma. The skill of conflict resolution can develop and individuals can be guided to come up with creative solutions to life’s problems.
Intergenerational benefits: When parents and future parents heal themselves and learn how to live a healthier lifestyle, children directly benefit from the knowledge and teachings that are passed on to them. When children experience happier and more whole parents, they perform better in all areas of life. Thus, creating more healed and healthier generations.

What we can do to support the growth of community healing: Whether you are a healing arts practitioner, community leader, service provider, employer, volunteer, or someone who loves your community and generally wants to see it flourish, here are some things you can do to help: Create a safe space for healing within an underserved community, have more conversations surrounding mental health stigmas, take a cultural competency class, connect with BIPOC individuals who offer healing services like yoga, meditation, breath work, somatic movement, and nutrition classes and ask them how you can support them. This doesn’t always mean giving them money. You can help them find spaces to offer more of their services, help them get grants to offer their services for free, share their services with your colleagues and loved ones, etc. Investing in healing spaces for underserved communities not only reduces strain on our current healthcare system, but also develops stronger, safer, and more resilient neighborhoods - serving as a vital role in reparations. Don't forget, that whenever a BIPOC community wins, everyone wins.

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