A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "My Grandmother's Hands will change the direction of the movement for racial justice."— Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police. My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. Offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary. Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, is a therapist with decades of experience currently in private practice in Minneapolis, MN, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with bestselling authors Dr. David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

Summary of My Grandmother’s Hands - Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies - A Comprehensive Summary Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands is an excellent book dedicated to guiding readers down the path of healing intergenerational trauma brought on by white supremacy, which manifests itself as white-body supremacy. Trauma is inherent in this white-body supremacy, and affects folks of all races and backgrounds; however, the categories that Menakem primarily focuses on in his path to healing are Black bodies, White bodies, and the bodies of the American police. Menakem writes that trauma responses are that of the lizard brain – the lizard brain does not act reasonably, it acts on primal instincts – fight, flee, or freeze. This response works off of deep-seated biases that one would normally never think to act on.One of the things that is so remarkable about Menakem’s approach to the healing of intergenerational trauma is his insistence on the fact that the key to healing actually lies within our bodies, and not solely our minds. Menakem goes on to insist that, because trauma is not always individual, healing should not be either – but instead can be shared with communities and families. The title, My Grandmother’s Hands, is a tribute to Resmaa Menakem’s childhood memory of feeling his grandmother’s hands, which had been thick with callouses and scars from her days as a slave, picking cotton. To be continued... Here is a Preview of What You Will Get: ⁃ A Full Book Summary ⁃ An Analysis ⁃ Fun quizzes ⁃ Quiz Answers ⁃ Etc. Get a copy of this summary and learn about the book.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Our bodies are different from our cognitive brains, and they contain a form of knowledge that is different from our reasoning. This knowledge is typically experienced as a felt sense of constriction or expansion, pain or ease, energy or numbness. #2 The brain is where we live, fear, hope, and react. It is where we constrict and relax. And what the body most cares about are safety and survival. When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon, it overwhelms the body and can create trauma. #3 Trauma is not a weakness, but a highly effective tool of safety and survival. It is a protective response to a perceived threat that may be accurate or entirely imaginary. It can cause us to react to present events in ways that seem wildly inappropriate, overly charged, or out of proportion. #4 Overreactions are the body’s attempt to complete a protective action that was thwarted or overridden during a traumatic situation. These can become embedded in the body as standard ways of surviving and protecting themselves.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Our bodies are different from our cognitive brains, and they contain a form of knowledge that is different from our reasoning. This knowledge is typically experienced as a felt sense of constriction or expansion, pain or ease, energy or numbness. #2 The brain is where we live, fear, hope, and react. It is where we constrict and relax. And what the body most cares about are safety and survival. When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon, it overwhelms the body and can create trauma. #3 Trauma is not a weakness, but a highly effective tool of safety and survival. It is a protective response to a perceived threat that may be accurate or entirely imaginary. It can cause us to react to present events in ways that seem wildly inappropriate, overly charged, or out of proportion. #4 Overreactions are the body’s attempt to complete a protective action that was thwarted or overridden during a traumatic situation. These can become embedded in the body as standard ways of surviving and protecting themselves.

In The Stories from My Grandmother's Hands, children (ages three to eight) and caregivers will experience the beauty of the connection between generations. This beautifully illustrated book features different pigmentations, gender breadth, and ableness within the Black diaspora. As children and their caregivers read The Stories from My Grandmother's Hands, they will learn to value the gifts of their caregivers and grandmothers, and how they teach them to recognize energies in their own bodies, through cultural somatic practices. It is an interactive experience to be shared between generations. By reading these simple practices together, children learn that they and their people are not defective, and that things happened to their people before they got here. The Stories from My Grandmother's Hands is a toy box to help children create joy and manage the energetics of white-body supremacy.

A delightful message from a grandmother to her granddaughter who begins to see what it means to count her blessings.

The daughter of a Japanese woman and an American G.I. recounts her return to Japan in 1995 to tend to her dying grandmother and offers her thoughts on contemporary Japan, family relations, and human desire