Resting and responding - or how this time of global social distancing is like having a concussion

I was forced to take a long break from everything normal last spring. Before the two concussions that knocked me out for five months, I had never truly felt my brain as a muscle. As a bodyworker and dancer, I have studied the nervous system. I learned about it on a conceptual level and was beginning to understand the experience of nervous system regulation — what it feels like to be safe, what it feels like to be frozen or wanting to flee. Healing from a brain injury taught me so much more about what it means to respond to these messages. What is ‘normal,’ really? What does it mean to pause, to change?

Having resources to pause is a privilege. So many cannot pause right now, either because of lack of essential support (money, food, shelter) or because they are stepping up again and again to the frontlines, often without a safety net or appropriate protection. The labors of care continue to be under-compensated and largely unseen. The ill and disabled are indispensable. Disability justice advocates have long been sharing the wisdom of slowing down, seeking alternative and essential adjustments to the inhumane capitalist norms.

After I hit my head (both times!), a community came together to support me. The generous economic, social and environmental support I received was necessary. I learned that I could not have a concussion and just keep going on my own. I was lucky to be living in a rent-free situation in which I could…