Sacred Activist Collective: Moving What We Carry

Sacred Activist Collective: a space for justice-hearted souls to root, gather and rise

We are a community of justice-hearted souls who care deeply, for the Earth, for each other, and for a liberated world.

We honour our interconnection with all life: land and lineage, breath and body, ancestors and animals, soil and stars. We gather to remember our sacred responsibility and our collective power to create the world we long for.

We host free online gatherings every two weeks, with an intention to lighten the weight of the world with practices that strengthen our bodymind, deepen our connections, and awaken our personal and collective power. Our spaces follow a living rhythm:

🌱 Root: Create space within your bodymind to release tension, process emotion, and return to your centre through embodied, creative, and restorative practices.
🌀 Gather: Come together in community to witness and be witnessed, share truth, and remember that our struggles and hopes are carried more lightly when held collectively.
🔥 Rise: Anchor into your inner and collective power, reclaim your agency, and practice the liberatory ways of being that move us toward a freer world.

You might call yourself a social activist, environmentalist, advocate, artist, change-maker, Earth-warrior, ally or you might not. No matter how you define or show your care for the world, this space is for you, because you need collective care too.

ROOT: Moving What We Carry 

A somatic movement and journalling release for activists, advocates, and anyone who feels the weight of this world.

Despite all of the attempts to kill the human spirit, physically and metaphorically, the tides are changing. The fact this very group exists. The thousands of people protesting and putting their bodies, often in harm's way, around the world. Ordinary folk standing up, time and time again, refusing to be made silent or small.

And yet, if you are paying attention, it is impossible not to feel a plethora of emotions. The genocide in Palestine continues. Illegal oil-driven wars rage on. The Earth herself is burning. In the United States, ICE agents are shooting people in the street, in cars, on their way to work, people who were often not even the intended target, their names barely making the news before the next one takes their place. Across Europe, the far-right is rising in plain sight: tens of thousands taking to the streets in Germany against a resurgent AfD, nationalist marches targeting mosques in Poland, the same old machinery of hate finding new footholds in new places.

Joy, happiness and hope mixed with grief, rage and numbness. These emotions are all valid and you are allowed to feel them.

Humans feel and our bodies can help us transmute that. Emotions shows us that we care so deeply. Movement can help to express that. Gentle somatic movement can help us navigate the waves. 

If our emotions are suppressed and/or our body has forgotten how to express itself, it can weigh heavy. This gathering is a space to gently move whatever you’re feeling through the body. 

Through movement, witnessing one another and expressing ourselves in written form, we will create space for whatever you need to express so it can be transmuted into the fuel you need to continue showing up for yourself, family, community and world, in all the ways you do.

How we’ll flow together:

• Opening prayer, breath, grounding
• Gentle somatic movement based practice to access and release safely through the body
• Time to journal, and write down anything you notice
• Sharing circle exploring how releasing emotions through movement helps support our nervous system
• Closing prayer

This is for you if:

• You see the change happening in the world and want to move through it
• You are witnessing violence and injustice and it is affecting your body and nervous system
• You believe being together with other humans can help you
• You want to be witnessed and witness others

What You’ll Need:

• Be in a private and comfortable space where you have the option to move
• Wear something you can move easily in
• Bring a prop to dance with: this could be an item of clothing, something dear to you or an item in your home
• Bring a journal and a pen
• Have a blanket close by and light a candle if you feel called to
• Have an openness to engage in somatic practices using movement however honour what your body is feeling on the night
• Invite your full, feeling, messy, raw, unfiltered, caring, soft and fiery self to be present

In this space, we ask that you commit to:

• Showing up exactly as you are. Your humanity with its grief, sorrow, rage, inspiration, joy, hope and everything in between is welcome.
• Being respectful and reflective about opinions, perspectives and lived experiences that are different to yours.

Join the Sacred Activist Collective on Whatsapp by clicking this link to stay informed of our free offerings and connect with the community.

This space is held by Gemma Armes

Hi, I'm Gemma :) 

I am someone who grew up working class experiencing abuse and trauma, someone who decided to turn that pain into love. I spent years in the system doing what “I was supposed to” and now I am looking at ways to challenge that: to bring joy to myself and others. I am an Empowerment Coach (MOE), Facilitator (Psychedelic Society) and Trainee Dance Movement Psychotherapist (ADMP). I am acutely aware of my whiteness and learning how to be an ally. Among other things, I am someone who does not care for injustice, I am very creative and resourceful and I love being fun and silly. If it's helpful to know, I am currently seeking a neurodivergent diagnosis, to help understand how I am in the world.

Reach out on Instagram or email if you want to chat, collaborate, have questions or just want to say hi to a kindred-spirit :) 

Instagram & TikTok: @gemmagwenarmes @_sober_rave_

Website: www.gemmagwenarmes.com (currently not in use)

Email: gemmagwenarmes@gmail.com