The Practices We Make w/ Amina

Welcome back to The Practices We Make, our interview series uplifting the artists, teachers, and culture-bearers shaping practice inside House of the Lorde.

For this third installment, we highlight Amina of Embody Divergence, who will be guiding folks through a series of gatherings called Unmasking Lab.

How do you introduce yourself these days?

Amina, Embody Divergence

My Practice is

coming back to the body, over and over again

Who are the lineages, teachers, or communities that show how you move?

So many! Disability justice, black feminist practice, somatics, my neurodivergent mama.

What are your current curiosities?

how to slowly unravel the system from the inside

Do you have a ritual, playlist, or grounding practice that holds you while you create or teach?

I like to stim, and I have a go-to simple stretch routine that helps me ground. I recently took a class with Po' where she invited us to shake our bodies for 2 minutes straight and it felt like a load was lifted off of me, so I've been doing that too recently.

What drew you to House of the Lorde?

I first heard about the space through Rahila, whose art and way of being I respect a lot. I came to one of her classes and immediately felt that this was a place I wanted to be in more often.

What do you hope folks feel or discover when they learn from or witness your work here?

I hope the space I create here invites us to imagine and embody freer, fuller, more powerful ways of being. I hope it releases whatever is holding you back from turning off the fluorescent lights at work, asking for someone to repeat themselves because you didn't understand, or moving your body how you want to. I hope it weaves a web of like-minded folks so that if and when the outside world is too dangerous to do any of those things, we can call on each other for support. And I hope that over time, that web weaves a world that allows our unmasked selves to move freely and without fear.

What does Black feminist practice mean to you?

For me, it's the courage to fully feel what is here, now. As a white person, my ancestors have been avoiding feeling for a long time. Whiteness is a kind of numbness that forces the task of feeling onto those with less power. In doing so, it maintains a status quo of domination, and it keeps all of us disconnected from our full aliveness. In this moment, I am feeling guided by the works of Audre Lorde, Prentis Hemphill, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and others to reveal the workings of this in myself and others, especially the white folks I am in community with.

What is bringing you joy or laughter lately?

The neurodivergent youth I work with are always making me laugh and opening up fresh perspectives. I've been incorporating more music-making into our sessions lately which has been a joy. One of my students pulls up their hood and waggles their tongue aggressively instead of speaking when they disagree with something I say, which I find intriguing.

How are you tending to yourself in this season?

February in Chicago is tough. I joined a virtual hibernation space called "the Winter Cave" held by Sojourner Zenobia that has been getting me through with cozy community and spiritual sustenance.

What future or world are you imagining through your work?

A world where it's ok to unmask.

Is there anything else that you want to share with the House of the Lorde community?

I'm grateful to be here!

Sitting with Amina’s practice has felt like not only an opportunity to learn more about returning to the body, but also an invitation to notice what we are ready to unmask, together.

We are grateful to host Amina and this evolving practice.

Join us March 21 or April 25 for an Unmasking Lab.

Join an Unmasking Lab