“Each of us yearns to belong. Within each human body is this deep, raw, aching desire” writes author and psychotherapist Resmaa Menakem in My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies. Menakem calls attention to our vagus nerve — the unifying organ of our entire nervous system; a highly complex and sensitive organ that links the brain with the neck, heart, lungs and abdomen. This “soul nerve,” Menakem writes, does not connect to our thinking brain. Rather, the vagus nerve sends visceral messages through our body that we are safe or unsafe and transmits instinctive impulses to fight, flee or freeze — or relax, settle, and feel at home. “When you feel your heart opening or closing down; when you feel anxious in the pit of your stomach; when you sense that something wonderful or terrible is about to happen; when something feels right or wrong in your gut; when your heart sinks; when your spirit soars … all of these involve your soul nerve.”
Our ancestors of faith were unaware of the biomechanics of the soul nerve. Yet they developed and passed on practices like singing, humming, chanting, rocking and dancing that helped their bodies settle and sustained their connection as a community even in the midst of pain, confusion and suffering. Doing these practices together, Menakem reports, are powerfully grounding and soothing, satisfying our bodies’ yearning to connect and belong. You can find the rest of the commentary on our website. | 
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