This session will invite folks into their own stories of false refrains that pervade their lives after experiencing the stuck refrains of a mixed Asian person in visual and embodied memoir. Weaving trust amongst the attendees with community singing and tending our embodied experience with body-breath practices to settle and notice discomfort, Conie and Rie guide participants in small group discussions that open compassionate reflection on the false refrains in our lives (what binds us?) and then create more space for it to be transformed with a more truthful refrain (what liberates us?).

This form of storytelling, one person making way for all, shifts the culture of a single prevalent story by inviting the stories of others to complexify and add nuance to the overall story. Engaging community singing invites those gathered to be part of something larger right away and to engage their own truth with what the songs are expressing, something we’re often asked to do passively. Practicing somatic engagement and noticing before, during, and after, bring us back into the wisdom of our bodies in a culture that frequently asks us to only bring our minds.