My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts

by Resmaa Menakem

CHECK YOUR BODY’S CHECKPOINTS Your body has internal checkpoints—physical sensations that activate when something feels unfair, frightening, dangerous, or otherwise not right. These are signals from your soul nerve. They might alert you to something real, something perceived, something possible, or something imagined. (To your body, these are all identical.) These signals might include a tingle at the back of your neck, a sinking feeling in your belly, a tightness in your shoulders, or some other unpleasant sensation. You’ll know these sensations when you experience them. These checkpoints are your body’s early warning signals. They alert you when you are headed for a fight, flee, or freeze response. If you’re paying attention, when one of these signals goes off, you can stop what you’re doing and take steps to settle your body. This helps you avoid a fight, flee, or freeze response. It also gives you a chance to change the dynamic of the situation by leaving it, stepping back, or saying something like, “You know what? I’d like to do this differently.”