Show Notes
There is a “false wall” often placed between contemplative life and political action—a story implying that inner peace and outer justice are separate vocations. This imaginary divide exhausts us. In a world facing converging crises, how do those dedicated to healing move beyond the limits of individualized work to support systemic transformation?
Join somatics experts and social change practitioners Nkem Ndefo and Staci K. Haines for a conversation introducing The Outer Work Project; an initiative dedicated to bridging trauma healing spaces with sustained social and climate justice movements. This episode explores how to move from personal healing as solely an inward practice into a rooted force for collective change.
Guests
Nkem Ndefo is an alchemist, disabled Black midwife, facilitator, coach, and strategist. She is the founder of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit, a model for embodied healing and liberatory change rooted in neuroscience and social justice. Her work spans the US, UK, and Palestine.
Staci K. Haines has been working at the intersections of personal and social transformation for over 30 years through politicized somatics, trauma healing, embodied leadership, and transformative justice. She is the co-founder of Generative Somatics and co-leads The Outer Work Project. She is the author of The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice.
Rae Abileah (facilitator) is a social change strategist, Jewish faith leader, and member of the SAND team. Her work spans Beautiful Trouble, The Nature Conservancy Agility Lab, and ALAS, weaving cultural connection, the arts, and frontline community leadership as pathways to healing and climate justice.
Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome & opening from SAND
00:03 — Rae opens: breathing, interdependence, and tending the whole amidst brokenness
00:07 — Nkem and Staci introduce themselves: lineage, the politic of suffering, and why this work
00:15 — The false wall: separating spiritual and political
00:16 — Case study: National Domestic Workers Alliance and embodied leadership
00:19 — Case study: LA County health system, anti-racism work, and the word "love"
00:25 — Burnout, overwhelm, and sustaining movement work from the inside out
00:35 — Consent, boundaries, and building a somatic culture in organizations
00:43 — Tearing down vs. building: holding contradictions without collapsing
00:48 — Visioning our yes: what a racially just feminist social democracy could feel like
00:50 — Legacy, small acts, and what we're building together
01:00 — Closing reflections: love as action and trusting our courage
Resources & Links
Nkem Ndefo
Lumos Transforms — website
The Resilience Toolkit
Lumos Transforms Community (global network)
Practicing Liberation — contributing author (North Atlantic Books, 2024)
Staci K. Haines
Website: StaciHaines.com
The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice — North Atlantic Books, 2019
Generative Somatics
The Outer Work Project
Strozzi Institute
Rae Abileah
CreateWell
Beautiful Trouble
ALAS — Ayudando Latinos a Soñar
Organizations & concepts referenced
National Domestic Workers Alliance — Staci's 7-year embodied leadership program with domestic worker organizers
Ai-jen Poo — founder of NDWA — referenced throughout the NDWA story
Movement Generation — Just Transitions zine — "From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring," referenced by Staci as an essential framework for a regenerative economy
Terry Tempest Williams — The Glorians (audiobook) — Rae references the passage "We cannot breathe" during the opening
generationFIVE — founded by Staci, committed to ending child sexual abuse within five generations using transformative justice approaches
SAND Events, Courses and Films
What Occupation Does to the Soul: A Global Reverberations of Palestinian Historical Trauma — June 26th, with Dr. Samah Jabr, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Dr. Jennifer Mullan
Decolonial Mental Health Practices — Four-
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