Rahma Muhammad Mian

I am a somatic healer, reiki practitioner, yoga teacher, and undergrad educator. My trauma and chronic pain focused body and breathwork practice is grounded in my Vipassana and Brahmavihara practice, and my somatic training was in Ihsaas, a trauma-informed, somatic healing programme designed primarily for Muslim women. With a background in journalism, media development and strategy, I have also taught science, technology and society, and critical media and cultural studies to undergraduates in Social Sciences and Liberal Arts programs at universities in Karachi, Pakistan for about 8 years incorporating mindfulness practices and theory in my pedagogy and syllabi.

For my PhD research project, I am fundamentally interested in what well futures look like. I want to explore what constitutes decolonial trauma healing in a time of heightened racial, sexual and gender violence, and earth destruction. In particular, I propose to research and analyze the social, political, and ethical implications and impact of trauma healing somatic modalities, research, and discourses in North America. Using decolonial theory, critical race theory, feminism, queer theory, and indigenous theory and perspectives on interbeing, trauma, and healing, I want to examine the underlying logics behind the research, curriculum, practice and impact of trauma healing through decolonial somatic therapy modalities and organizations that work with activists and use somatics for healing, social and climate justice, and collective liberation. I am especially interested in the centering of interbeing and spirituality in trauma healing by these organizations, among indigenous communities, and in the grounded politics of American social justice activists and movements working for transformative justice. In my own experience working with feminist and queer activists in Pakistan, I have found locating healing work in faith, land-based practices, and collective liberation to be most effective.