Lesson 1: Opening with the land

Definitions for Movement 2:

Benevolent Ancestors: Ancestors—human, more-than-human, blood, chosen, or cultural—whose actions and intentions support the healing, liberation, and thriving of those who come after them.

Intergenerational Trauma: Unprocessed pain, fear, shame, or survival patterns passed down through generations, stored in the body and nervous system. 

Decolonization: The ongoing process of dismantling colonial systems, narratives, and mindsets, while restoring Indigenous and ancestral ways of being, knowing, and relating to the land and one another.

Language and Sound: The spoken and sung expressions that carry the worldview, values, and memory of a people. Language shapes how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. Languages, sounds, and songs are beloved expressions of the body, earth, and cosmos.

Vagus Nerve: A key nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system connecting the brain, heart, lungs, and digestive system. It plays a central role in regulating our state of safety, connection, and rest, as well as our responses to stress—including fight, flight, freeze, and fawn patterns. When healthy and flexible, the vagus nerve helps the body shift between activation and relaxation with ease. It can be stimulated and strengthened through breath, vocalization, and movement—helping restore balance to the nervous system.

Clean Pain & Dirty Pain: A concept described by Resmaa Menakem. Clean Pain is the discomfort and vulnerability we experience when facing the truth, taking accountability, and engaging in the vulnerable work of growth and healing—it moves us forward and builds capacity. Dirty Pain is the suffering that arises when we avoid the truth, deny responsibility, or repeat harmful patterns—it keeps us stuck. Dirty Pain can become an unconscious addiction to suffering, while Clean Pain is the courageous choice that leads to liberation.