What do you think?
Rate this book
The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing, and Social Justice
An essential tool for healers, therapists, activists, and trauma survivors who are interested in a justice-centered approach to somatic transformation The Politics of Trauma offers somatics with a social analysis. This book is for therapists and social activists who understand that trauma healing is not just for individuals—and that social change is not just for movement builders. Just as health practitioners need to consider the societal factors underlying trauma, so too must activists understand the physical and mental impacts of trauma on their own lives and the lives of the communities with whom they organize. Trauma healing and social change are, at their best, interdependent. Somatics has proven to be particularly effective in addressing trauma, but in practice it typically focuses solely on the individual, failing to integrate the social conditions that create trauma in the first place. Staci K. Haines, somatic innovator and cofounder of generative somatics, invites readers to look beyond individual experiences of body and mind to examine the social, political, and economic roots of trauma—including racism, environmental degradation, sexism, and poverty. Haines helps readers identify, understand, and address these sources of trauma to help us bridge individual healing with social transformation.
449 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 19, 2019
335 people are currently reading
6156 people want to read
About the author
Staci Haines
4 books37 followersStaci K. Haines is a national leader in the field of Somatics, specializing in social leadership. Staci has worked extensively with organizational leaders, including corporate executives, non-profits, and social entrepreneurs.
She is a senior teacher at Strozzi Institute and the Co-Director of Methodology, having studied and worked with SI since 1995.
She is the founder of generative somatics, a nonprofit ally organization of SI, bringing Somatics to social and environmental change leaders. She is also the originator of Somatics and Trauma, and leads courses teaching psychologists, social leaders, and other practitioners to effectively transform the impact of individual and social trauma and violence. Staci is the author of Healing Sex (Cleis 1999, 2007), a how-to book offering a somatic approach to recovery from sexual trauma and developing healthy sexual and intimate relationships. She also released Healing Sex (SIR Productions 2004), representing diverse men and women healing from the impact of sexual trauma. Staci is the Founder of generationFIVE, a community leadership organization whose mission is to end the sexual abuse of children within five generations.
She is a senior teacher at Strozzi Institute and the Co-Director of Methodology, having studied and worked with SI since 1995.
She is the founder of generative somatics, a nonprofit ally organization of SI, bringing Somatics to social and environmental change leaders. She is also the originator of Somatics and Trauma, and leads courses teaching psychologists, social leaders, and other practitioners to effectively transform the impact of individual and social trauma and violence. Staci is the author of Healing Sex (Cleis 1999, 2007), a how-to book offering a somatic approach to recovery from sexual trauma and developing healthy sexual and intimate relationships. She also released Healing Sex (SIR Productions 2004), representing diverse men and women healing from the impact of sexual trauma. Staci is the Founder of generationFIVE, a community leadership organization whose mission is to end the sexual abuse of children within five generations.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 8, 2024
As a trauma and addiction focused therapist.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
It’s not a perfect text.
The negative reviews all have valid points.
But the GOOD in it WAY outweighs the bad.
It’s bloated and choppy in the middle, and I think it could use a rewrite in a second addition.
As such, it seems as if some of the other reviewers may not have finished it.
But the last 3rd of the book REALLY shines.
So if you pick it up.
Sick it out.
The book is essentially about SYSTEMIC TRAUMA i.e. the deleterious psychophysiological effects of: acute and chronic exposure to racism and systems of white supremacy, sexism in patriarchy and rape culture, homophobia and heteronormativity, ableism in able bodied culture, colonialism, consumerism, individualism and environmental degradation in advanced capitalism.
And.
How SOMATIC healing arts (therapy, training, and embodiment) can inform social justice, and conversely, how a SOCIAL SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS can inform SOMATIC THERAPY.
SOMATICS
SOMATIC conventionally refers to anything related to the body or its physical sensations, movements, or functions.
Within the culture of the healing arts, including psychotherapy, SOMATIC refers more specifically to the way we experience, store and process emotions and trauma in our bodies.
From this perspective, DISSOCIATION refers to a (partial or total) lack of EMBODIED awareness of the viscerally felt, emotional and relational aspects of our experiences, both as they emerge in the here and now, and as they reside in our bodies as tension, resistance, and blockages.
SOMATIC THERAPY is all about finding ways to become and stay EMBODIED, as opposed to reflexively retreating from difficult feelings, into our thinking minds, and dominating our emotions and bodies with internalized oppressive narratives and injunctions.
SOMATIC THERAPY is about learning to recognize and allow our feelings to circulate and freely flow through our bodies, as opposed to gripping up, and armoring against, and resisting our EMBODIED felt experiences.
SOMATIC THERAPY is also about and allowing past tensions and SOMATICALLY held traumas (stored in our bodies) to DISCHARGE (dissipate), as apposed to accumulate in the form of life sapping tension, rigidity, reactivity etc.
SOMATIC DEFINITION OF TRAUMA
According Staci K. Haines (the author) “trauma is an experience, series of experiences, and/or impacts from social conditions, that break or betray our inherent need of safety, belonging, and dignity. They are experiences that result in us having to vie between these inherent needs, often setting one against the other.”
SOMATIC IMPACT OF OPPRESSION
Haines asserts that “a core tenant of somatics is that human dignity, safety, and belonging can be eroded by trauma and oppression.
Haines asserts that reclaiming our bodies and our EMBODIED awareness is absolutely germane to social change. Conversely, Haines asserts that becoming DISSOCIATED from our felt experiences enables, maintains and promotes the SYSTEMIC trauma that is KILLING the planet, and keeping marginalized people in permanent violent subjugation.
Haines argues that, our culture of capitalism and colonial domination is RATIONALIZED via internalized narratives of racism, particularly and capitalism that view white, able bodied, athletic, heterosexual men as the most rational, effective and productive people, and everyone else as only valued based on their apparent nearness to that standard, or in their ability to serve the elite.
Haines additionally argues that when we lack compassion, or when we view the earth and other beings as resources to exploit, or when oppression and conflict escalates to violence, it is (at least in part) due to a disconnection with our embodied core vital essence.
Haines also argues that non SOMATICALLY and SOCIAL-SYSTEMICALLY informed PSYCHOTHERAPY can promote this type of DISSOCIATION by adopting the medical model, focusing exclusively the cognitive and behavioral, and ignoring the emotional and SOMATIC, and by focusing on the individual, outside of the SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC context.
The medical model views the individual (or more precisely, organismic systems within the individual) in isolation as the primary unit.
Haines asserts that conventional psychotherapy, however well intended, and otherwise laudable, can be a mechanism in the apparatus of domination in that it EASES THE TENSION OF RACIST LATE CAPITALISM for MIDDLE CLASS AND ABOVE (mostly) WHITE PEOPLE.
Haines argues that a political education that addresses the trauma of oppression and its impact on healing is not typically included in our education as therapists, and (most often) needs to be sought outside (and in addition to) our formal training.
Haines further argues that therapy that is depoliticized and focused primarily on the individual (outsode of oppressive social conditions), and the intellectual (as opposed to EMBODIED), may sooth the PAIN of collective suffering and environmental collapse, without acknowledging or actually doing ANYTHING about the ACTUAL PROBLEM.
As such, Haines further argues that we (therapists, healers etc.) need to practice caution with interventions that reinforce individualism, classism and external southing.
SOMATO-SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS
Haines posits that a SOCIAL-SYSTEMICALLY informed model looks at the EMBODIED individual in relationship to their partners, families, the dominant race, culture, echolocation paradigm and society at large.
A SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC analysis asks questions like:
Who is systemically denied opportunity, land, benefits, and resources and then blamed for it?
Who suffers for the system?
Who pays with their labor?
What types of bodies are valued?
Who wins and who loses?
Who decides?
Who does all of this impact your embodied sense of safety and wellbeing?
More succinctly, a SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC analysis looks at POWER, POSITION and RELATIONSHIP as absolutely critical to our ability to thrive and be well.
POWER OVER
Haines differentiates between POWER OVER (relationships of dominance) and POWER WITH (relationships of political organization, community, cooperation and empowerment).
Haines asserts that we need to abandon the will to POWER OVER, and cultivate/organize communities of people who find POWER WITH each other, in solidarity with all living beings.
WELL-BEING
Haines is critical of the fact that the goal self care is frequently represented as an unending, unchanging state of wellbeing and pointedly asks “how is that desirable let alone possible?”
Haines observes that mindfulness and yoga are being used to ease the stresses of capitalism and the traumas of racism, homophobia, sexism, war, and environmental degradation.
Haines counters that meditating, mindfulness and SOMATICS help us to more powerfully engage us in social change, and can serve to organize and build a movement that is sustainable, and even HEALING to engage in (as opposed to the BURNOUT fast track of traditional activism).
Great book.
CRUCIAL READ
5/5 STARS ⭐️
I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
It’s not a perfect text.
The negative reviews all have valid points.
But the GOOD in it WAY outweighs the bad.
It’s bloated and choppy in the middle, and I think it could use a rewrite in a second addition.
As such, it seems as if some of the other reviewers may not have finished it.
But the last 3rd of the book REALLY shines.
So if you pick it up.
Sick it out.
The book is essentially about SYSTEMIC TRAUMA i.e. the deleterious psychophysiological effects of: acute and chronic exposure to racism and systems of white supremacy, sexism in patriarchy and rape culture, homophobia and heteronormativity, ableism in able bodied culture, colonialism, consumerism, individualism and environmental degradation in advanced capitalism.
And.
How SOMATIC healing arts (therapy, training, and embodiment) can inform social justice, and conversely, how a SOCIAL SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS can inform SOMATIC THERAPY.
SOMATICS
SOMATIC conventionally refers to anything related to the body or its physical sensations, movements, or functions.
Within the culture of the healing arts, including psychotherapy, SOMATIC refers more specifically to the way we experience, store and process emotions and trauma in our bodies.
From this perspective, DISSOCIATION refers to a (partial or total) lack of EMBODIED awareness of the viscerally felt, emotional and relational aspects of our experiences, both as they emerge in the here and now, and as they reside in our bodies as tension, resistance, and blockages.
SOMATIC THERAPY is all about finding ways to become and stay EMBODIED, as opposed to reflexively retreating from difficult feelings, into our thinking minds, and dominating our emotions and bodies with internalized oppressive narratives and injunctions.
SOMATIC THERAPY is about learning to recognize and allow our feelings to circulate and freely flow through our bodies, as opposed to gripping up, and armoring against, and resisting our EMBODIED felt experiences.
SOMATIC THERAPY is also about and allowing past tensions and SOMATICALLY held traumas (stored in our bodies) to DISCHARGE (dissipate), as apposed to accumulate in the form of life sapping tension, rigidity, reactivity etc.
SOMATIC DEFINITION OF TRAUMA
According Staci K. Haines (the author) “trauma is an experience, series of experiences, and/or impacts from social conditions, that break or betray our inherent need of safety, belonging, and dignity. They are experiences that result in us having to vie between these inherent needs, often setting one against the other.”
SOMATIC IMPACT OF OPPRESSION
Haines asserts that “a core tenant of somatics is that human dignity, safety, and belonging can be eroded by trauma and oppression.
Haines asserts that reclaiming our bodies and our EMBODIED awareness is absolutely germane to social change. Conversely, Haines asserts that becoming DISSOCIATED from our felt experiences enables, maintains and promotes the SYSTEMIC trauma that is KILLING the planet, and keeping marginalized people in permanent violent subjugation.
Haines argues that, our culture of capitalism and colonial domination is RATIONALIZED via internalized narratives of racism, particularly and capitalism that view white, able bodied, athletic, heterosexual men as the most rational, effective and productive people, and everyone else as only valued based on their apparent nearness to that standard, or in their ability to serve the elite.
Haines additionally argues that when we lack compassion, or when we view the earth and other beings as resources to exploit, or when oppression and conflict escalates to violence, it is (at least in part) due to a disconnection with our embodied core vital essence.
Haines also argues that non SOMATICALLY and SOCIAL-SYSTEMICALLY informed PSYCHOTHERAPY can promote this type of DISSOCIATION by adopting the medical model, focusing exclusively the cognitive and behavioral, and ignoring the emotional and SOMATIC, and by focusing on the individual, outside of the SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC context.
The medical model views the individual (or more precisely, organismic systems within the individual) in isolation as the primary unit.
Haines asserts that conventional psychotherapy, however well intended, and otherwise laudable, can be a mechanism in the apparatus of domination in that it EASES THE TENSION OF RACIST LATE CAPITALISM for MIDDLE CLASS AND ABOVE (mostly) WHITE PEOPLE.
Haines argues that a political education that addresses the trauma of oppression and its impact on healing is not typically included in our education as therapists, and (most often) needs to be sought outside (and in addition to) our formal training.
Haines further argues that therapy that is depoliticized and focused primarily on the individual (outsode of oppressive social conditions), and the intellectual (as opposed to EMBODIED), may sooth the PAIN of collective suffering and environmental collapse, without acknowledging or actually doing ANYTHING about the ACTUAL PROBLEM.
As such, Haines further argues that we (therapists, healers etc.) need to practice caution with interventions that reinforce individualism, classism and external southing.
SOMATO-SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS
Haines posits that a SOCIAL-SYSTEMICALLY informed model looks at the EMBODIED individual in relationship to their partners, families, the dominant race, culture, echolocation paradigm and society at large.
A SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC analysis asks questions like:
Who is systemically denied opportunity, land, benefits, and resources and then blamed for it?
Who suffers for the system?
Who pays with their labor?
What types of bodies are valued?
Who wins and who loses?
Who decides?
Who does all of this impact your embodied sense of safety and wellbeing?
More succinctly, a SOCIAL-SYSTEMIC analysis looks at POWER, POSITION and RELATIONSHIP as absolutely critical to our ability to thrive and be well.
POWER OVER
Haines differentiates between POWER OVER (relationships of dominance) and POWER WITH (relationships of political organization, community, cooperation and empowerment).
Haines asserts that we need to abandon the will to POWER OVER, and cultivate/organize communities of people who find POWER WITH each other, in solidarity with all living beings.
WELL-BEING
Haines is critical of the fact that the goal self care is frequently represented as an unending, unchanging state of wellbeing and pointedly asks “how is that desirable let alone possible?”
Haines observes that mindfulness and yoga are being used to ease the stresses of capitalism and the traumas of racism, homophobia, sexism, war, and environmental degradation.
Haines counters that meditating, mindfulness and SOMATICS help us to more powerfully engage us in social change, and can serve to organize and build a movement that is sustainable, and even HEALING to engage in (as opposed to the BURNOUT fast track of traditional activism).
Great book.
CRUCIAL READ
5/5 STARS ⭐️
July 20, 2021
3.5 - I'm really glad that I read this book when I did, just before I start working with a somatic practitioner, because I feel more equipped to go into my first session with intentions, commitments, and a clearer sense of how this work can impact me. This book isn't really about offering strategies to use at home, but it is an introductory text to politicized somatics. That means it takes into account the need for systems change and the traumatic impact of oppression. Every book on trauma and healing should have this lens, but most don't.
Like other reviewers, I had concerns about language Haines used to describe trans people (e.g. "transgendered," "women and trans women") and felt like the chapter at the end of the book on "an intersectional analysis" was both insufficient and all over the place. It may have been better to just include a reading list at the end, or to recruit organizers/academics with more expertise to write these sections. As someone who has worked to address sexual violence through community-based solutions for many years, I take particular issue with the data used in the section on patriarchy: I would have liked to see these stats broken down by race and data on police sexual violence and intimate partner violence included, but more concerning: the data on "commercial child sexual exploitation" has been disproven repeatedly (12-14 is NOT the average age of entry into the sex trades, and the 325,000 "children at risk" number is literally made up). I can't begin to express how upset I was to see the phrase "victims of prostitution." If there's ever a second edition of this book, I'd suggest replacing this chapter with a set of reading lists compiled by those with more expertise in each issue area.
Still, I really deeply appreciate Haines' intervention, calling for organizers and healers to integrate each others' analysis into our work. I appreciate her question, which I read as throwing shade at The Body Keeps the Score and all the other popular trauma books/practitioners that lack an analysis of systemic oppression: "Will our growing understanding of embodied practice, trauma healing, and neuroplasticity be used to serve equity and sustainability, or be left to individualism, a 'mindful' military, and moneymaking?" I also appreciated the definitions Haines offered of trauma and systemic trauma. The section on centered accountability, over-accountability, and under-accountability is also incredibly useful for my work and my healing.
Two more things I found really valuable in this book were the personal stories from practitioners and the concept of "somatic opening." The latter helped me understand why my first 1,000 attempts at meditation led nowhere; we really do need a certain set of conditions before healing and transformation work can begin, and our social conditions are constantly working against us.
Like other reviewers, I had concerns about language Haines used to describe trans people (e.g. "transgendered," "women and trans women") and felt like the chapter at the end of the book on "an intersectional analysis" was both insufficient and all over the place. It may have been better to just include a reading list at the end, or to recruit organizers/academics with more expertise to write these sections. As someone who has worked to address sexual violence through community-based solutions for many years, I take particular issue with the data used in the section on patriarchy: I would have liked to see these stats broken down by race and data on police sexual violence and intimate partner violence included, but more concerning: the data on "commercial child sexual exploitation" has been disproven repeatedly (12-14 is NOT the average age of entry into the sex trades, and the 325,000 "children at risk" number is literally made up). I can't begin to express how upset I was to see the phrase "victims of prostitution." If there's ever a second edition of this book, I'd suggest replacing this chapter with a set of reading lists compiled by those with more expertise in each issue area.
Still, I really deeply appreciate Haines' intervention, calling for organizers and healers to integrate each others' analysis into our work. I appreciate her question, which I read as throwing shade at The Body Keeps the Score and all the other popular trauma books/practitioners that lack an analysis of systemic oppression: "Will our growing understanding of embodied practice, trauma healing, and neuroplasticity be used to serve equity and sustainability, or be left to individualism, a 'mindful' military, and moneymaking?" I also appreciated the definitions Haines offered of trauma and systemic trauma. The section on centered accountability, over-accountability, and under-accountability is also incredibly useful for my work and my healing.
Two more things I found really valuable in this book were the personal stories from practitioners and the concept of "somatic opening." The latter helped me understand why my first 1,000 attempts at meditation led nowhere; we really do need a certain set of conditions before healing and transformation work can begin, and our social conditions are constantly working against us.
October 3, 2022
This is the first book I've read that has a strong focus exclusively on somatics, and in fact, while I've read many other books about trauma this is the first thing I've read that had a strong focus on somatics.
I was hoping to find something that is more concrete, practical, and useful - either for myself as a person who has survived trauma - or for me to use in my practice as a therapist - or at the very least to have in my library to refer to others down the line.
Instead, it used a lot of metaphorical language that lends it strongly to misunderstanding and miscommunication, making me hesitant to draw anything substantial from the text. Perhaps if you have a more substantial background in somatics this would be less of an issue for you.
Even though it's a 400+ page book, it's a very quick read.
I really wanted to love this book due to my interest in the politics of healing from trauma. Maybe a re-read will be due in a few years to see if it becomes more relevant over time.
I was hoping to find something that is more concrete, practical, and useful - either for myself as a person who has survived trauma - or for me to use in my practice as a therapist - or at the very least to have in my library to refer to others down the line.
Instead, it used a lot of metaphorical language that lends it strongly to misunderstanding and miscommunication, making me hesitant to draw anything substantial from the text. Perhaps if you have a more substantial background in somatics this would be less of an issue for you.
Even though it's a 400+ page book, it's a very quick read.
I really wanted to love this book due to my interest in the politics of healing from trauma. Maybe a re-read will be due in a few years to see if it becomes more relevant over time.
September 26, 2019
I was so excited by the premise and so disappointed by the execution.
Poor formatting choices that annoyed me on a personal level, but more importantly -- inadvertently ended up misgendering all trans people on at least one page. I read an advanced review copy so hopefully some of those formatting concerns will be addressed before the final version is released.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem. Poor understanding of certain concepts led to the author misrepresenting them when she tried to explain them in non-academic terms (the history of white supremacy; a male supremacy section that ignores the existence of trans men).
I'm still not totally certain about what somatics means, but at this point I'd prefer trying to learn more about all of these ideas somewhere else.
DNF after about 60 pages.
Poor formatting choices that annoyed me on a personal level, but more importantly -- inadvertently ended up misgendering all trans people on at least one page. I read an advanced review copy so hopefully some of those formatting concerns will be addressed before the final version is released.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem. Poor understanding of certain concepts led to the author misrepresenting them when she tried to explain them in non-academic terms (the history of white supremacy; a male supremacy section that ignores the existence of trans men).
I'm still not totally certain about what somatics means, but at this point I'd prefer trying to learn more about all of these ideas somewhere else.
DNF after about 60 pages.
January 23, 2023
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by the intersectoral analysis provided by this book. The overall theme being trama healing and social justice are interdependent. There is so much I appreciate about this book since it is one of the few trauma healing books that reference capitalism as a cause for the trauma and oppression experienced, however I remain critical.
Although I appreciate the intersectoral analysis, I believe a more material analysis would make the arguments the author proposes more concrete. She does not provide a direct solution or pathway to systemic change despite the anti-capitalist rhetoric. Because the book is calling for action, a call to heal and organize for a better world, it would have been useful to say what system we should be fighting for.
Despite this, the books emphasis on our personal responsibility as organizers to heal from our trauma and oppression in order to fight for social and economic justice to the best of our abilities and the personal responsibility of mental health workers to consider social and economic conditions in their work is invaluable and often unmentioned.
This book lays a good foundation for others to build upon. As we fight for working class liberation across the globe it is important to keep in mind we have immense trauma to not only prevent but heal from individually and collectively. We deserve to be free from not only the physical conditions capitalism creates, but the mental unrest it creates as well. I long for a day where this generational cycle of physical violence, trauma, oppression, and psychological unrest is broken. We can only do this by healing our wounds and fighting for a better world. Fighting for socialism.
Although I appreciate the intersectoral analysis, I believe a more material analysis would make the arguments the author proposes more concrete. She does not provide a direct solution or pathway to systemic change despite the anti-capitalist rhetoric. Because the book is calling for action, a call to heal and organize for a better world, it would have been useful to say what system we should be fighting for.
Despite this, the books emphasis on our personal responsibility as organizers to heal from our trauma and oppression in order to fight for social and economic justice to the best of our abilities and the personal responsibility of mental health workers to consider social and economic conditions in their work is invaluable and often unmentioned.
This book lays a good foundation for others to build upon. As we fight for working class liberation across the globe it is important to keep in mind we have immense trauma to not only prevent but heal from individually and collectively. We deserve to be free from not only the physical conditions capitalism creates, but the mental unrest it creates as well. I long for a day where this generational cycle of physical violence, trauma, oppression, and psychological unrest is broken. We can only do this by healing our wounds and fighting for a better world. Fighting for socialism.
March 22, 2022
Incredible wisdom on how to heal from individual trauma and that caused and upheld by the historical and current oppressive systems. Anyone would benefit from reading this book - for personal healing and understanding/participating in healing of community members - but more importantly, this wisdom needs to be held by therapists, teachers, leaders, and healers! Can only imagine how much more sustainably, peacefully, and joyfully we'd each be living if we were helped through our pain with this intersectional, trauma-informed, and body-based lens.
July 16, 2025
Very somatic which isn’t really my style but I jived with some of the activities!! Super expansive in what it covers as well! Very human <3
December 31, 2022
If you are any type of healer, organizer, social work student, social worker, movement instructor... this should be required reading.
September 21, 2025
DNF, for now. I’m interested in the premise of this book— integrating a social-cultural analysis with a holistic approach to healing trauma— but the writing just isn’t grabbing me. It’s not connecting the dots in a way I’d find interesting, enlightening, or useful.
So far, a lot of high-level definitions and naming of classic radical lefty positions without going deeper, and “case examples” that are too vaguely described to add meaning. I need more specifics, more nitty gritty. Might return later; we’ll see.
So far, a lot of high-level definitions and naming of classic radical lefty positions without going deeper, and “case examples” that are too vaguely described to add meaning. I need more specifics, more nitty gritty. Might return later; we’ll see.
May 31, 2022
I wish I'd read it earlier.
May 31, 2023
Phenomenal Book!
August 6, 2024
i think there was a lot of talking and not a lot of defining what we're on about or how to actually use/practice any of the advice
August 29, 2020
What an immensely valuable and important book! At a time when the traumatizing effects of the oppressive uses of power cry out daily for deeper understanding and response, this book could not be more vital. Staci Haines, a leading teacher and organizer in the area of Somatics and trauma, poses and addresses crucial questions related to the politics of trauma: What are the social and political forces operating in the U.S. that keep producing trauma and that are left unchanged by a focus only on individual healing? How can activists organize, confront, and transform these societal forces if the impact of trauma in their own personal lives has not been acknowledged and healed? The Politics of Trauma underscores the urgent need to address trauma holistically, through individual healing, but also through systemic transformation to uproot fundamental causes of trauma, such as racial, economic, (hetero)sexist, and environmental exploitation and injustice.
But it goes much further. It provides a pragmatic, detailed guide for embodied transformation that is both personal and systemic. The book is full of practices and processes that support movement through cycles of individual and organizational healing. And the effectiveness of these processes is powerfully demonstrated in moving personal stories of transformation that follow each chapter and that the author, herself, tells throughout. In all, this book maps a practical direction toward achievable personal and systemic embodiment that is ever more aligned with integrity, resilience, vision, and longing. It is a rare and essential offering to survivors of trauma, activists, those in healing and teaching professions, and all who care deeply about a more just and vibrant society and world.
But it goes much further. It provides a pragmatic, detailed guide for embodied transformation that is both personal and systemic. The book is full of practices and processes that support movement through cycles of individual and organizational healing. And the effectiveness of these processes is powerfully demonstrated in moving personal stories of transformation that follow each chapter and that the author, herself, tells throughout. In all, this book maps a practical direction toward achievable personal and systemic embodiment that is ever more aligned with integrity, resilience, vision, and longing. It is a rare and essential offering to survivors of trauma, activists, those in healing and teaching professions, and all who care deeply about a more just and vibrant society and world.
March 18, 2025
I had hope that The Politics of Trauma would be impactful, but I didn’t expect to have nearly every page highlighted, dog-eared, or scribbled on.
To be honest, I judged this book by its cover and title—which felt fitting at first—but the last 3rd of the book felt completely worth the read. I’ll admit, some of the soma work felt a little woowoo for me, but the core message is solid: trauma is not just personal; it’s systemic, and our healing is deeply connected to the healing of our communities. This book IS a slow burn at the start, lying out all the necessary parts, but once it picks up, it becomes an incredibly powerful read.
Staci K. Haines doesn’t just present theories—she offers a roadmap for healing that is both deeply personal and undeniably political. Her work beautifully connects individual trauma with collective liberation, showing how healing isn’t just an internal process but a practice that reshapes the world around us.
One line that stuck with me: "Our actions, where we place our love, time, and resources, are what we help build. For ourselves, for others, and for the future." It’s such a simple yet profound reminder that healing isn’t passive—it’s a choice, a commitment, and a form of activism.
I also really appreciated how this book uses so many quotes and stories, showing that the work of healing is inherently communal. Haines doesn’t just share her perspective—she challenges and makes space for others’ voices, weaving them throughout the narrative. It felt like the book itself was living out the idea of shared healing.
This book isn’t just a tool; it’s an invitation to show up differently—for ourselves, for our communities, and for the futures we’re trying to create. I would argue it's worth the read!
To be honest, I judged this book by its cover and title—which felt fitting at first—but the last 3rd of the book felt completely worth the read. I’ll admit, some of the soma work felt a little woowoo for me, but the core message is solid: trauma is not just personal; it’s systemic, and our healing is deeply connected to the healing of our communities. This book IS a slow burn at the start, lying out all the necessary parts, but once it picks up, it becomes an incredibly powerful read.
Staci K. Haines doesn’t just present theories—she offers a roadmap for healing that is both deeply personal and undeniably political. Her work beautifully connects individual trauma with collective liberation, showing how healing isn’t just an internal process but a practice that reshapes the world around us.
One line that stuck with me: "Our actions, where we place our love, time, and resources, are what we help build. For ourselves, for others, and for the future." It’s such a simple yet profound reminder that healing isn’t passive—it’s a choice, a commitment, and a form of activism.
I also really appreciated how this book uses so many quotes and stories, showing that the work of healing is inherently communal. Haines doesn’t just share her perspective—she challenges and makes space for others’ voices, weaving them throughout the narrative. It felt like the book itself was living out the idea of shared healing.
This book isn’t just a tool; it’s an invitation to show up differently—for ourselves, for our communities, and for the futures we’re trying to create. I would argue it's worth the read!
January 18, 2024
3 1/2 stars. Great subject matter but I was hoping for more personal practical tips for n how to somatically heal. The first part of the book started strong but it started to feel like a way to sell consultant services. That said, I feel like I got a better understanding of power over vs. power with. I do a lot of outreach to small business owners and I really believe that the only way for a small business to survive is to seek community support from various sources. I have to be honest that most people I meet aren’t going to be emotionally vulnerable. And until people can feel safe to reveal some trauma it is unlikely to heal. I plan on being more mindful of what goes on in my body, particularly breathing so I know how to manage my own soma. I figure that is the best place to start.
November 13, 2019
I received a copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.
It's likely that I'm just not the demographic for this book. The author spends a lot of time defining words, but not giving concrete examples of what to do with this information or how to use this approach for healing and change. Both of those words appear a lot, but I kept thinking 'but what does that look like in action?' or 'how do you do that?' as I read.
Some ideas feel simplified or compressed to be more understandable. Sometimes I felt like I didn't quite understand what I was reading, but that could be on me for not being more familiar with somatics, or soma as the author refers to it.
It's likely that I'm just not the demographic for this book. The author spends a lot of time defining words, but not giving concrete examples of what to do with this information or how to use this approach for healing and change. Both of those words appear a lot, but I kept thinking 'but what does that look like in action?' or 'how do you do that?' as I read.
Some ideas feel simplified or compressed to be more understandable. Sometimes I felt like I didn't quite understand what I was reading, but that could be on me for not being more familiar with somatics, or soma as the author refers to it.
April 16, 2022
After you strip away 100s of pages worth of word salad you have little more than a Wikipedia entry.
September 20, 2020
I came to The Politics of Trauma having done a few somatics sessions with an amazing practitioner, and curious to learn more about the theory behind it. This book is one I'll keep coming back to again and again, knowing that it will speak different things to me at different moments of my life. The work Staci Haines, generative somatics, and communities beyond have done to bring this body of work into the world is a remarkable gift.
Credible, accessible healing practice grounded in understandings of the connection between systemic oppression, struggles for justice, and healing, and centered on the bodymind (soma) - I've been looking for this ever since I learned what trauma was and realized I had experienced it.
This book is so complete. Of course there is always more to be done, said, lived - but the theory and practice laid out in the book are unto themselves. The stories of somatics practitioners woven throughout are powerful and illustrative.
Credible, accessible healing practice grounded in understandings of the connection between systemic oppression, struggles for justice, and healing, and centered on the bodymind (soma) - I've been looking for this ever since I learned what trauma was and realized I had experienced it.
This book is so complete. Of course there is always more to be done, said, lived - but the theory and practice laid out in the book are unto themselves. The stories of somatics practitioners woven throughout are powerful and illustrative.
September 24, 2023
This book provides an excellent framework for understanding and explaining the context of how trauma is organized currently in the world. This book has been profoundly useful for consolidating my understanding of somatic embodiment, trauma and political economy, and how these operate together. How it is that political ideology shapes our postures. How it is that we might get confused about how to address a social problem that is much larger than ourselves - and what we can do about it.
It is worth noting that this book is not a primer on somatics, nor is it a treatment manual. A reader might likely benefit from some understanding of somatics before diving into this book.
In my purview, this book takes complex political and contextual concepts and roots them in the body. It offers a map of how we can understand our bodies in this way, as well as grow and thrive as a result.
It is worth noting that this book is not a primer on somatics, nor is it a treatment manual. A reader might likely benefit from some understanding of somatics before diving into this book.
In my purview, this book takes complex political and contextual concepts and roots them in the body. It offers a map of how we can understand our bodies in this way, as well as grow and thrive as a result.
February 22, 2020
I loved this book. It’s the content I’ve been craving for at least a decade. As I’ve done my own work, it’s illuminating to me how much of it matches up with this modality- my intuitive self was finding this way even without a generative somatics practitioner available to me. To me, this means the gs framework is indeed “on to something.” I’m particularly inspired by the connections to larger social systems and what this book, these tools, these frameworks could mean for marginalized communities and social change. This felt to me like a taste- and I’m looking forward to learning more in what ways I can. I urge anyone with a foundation of trauma awareness to read this book and integrate these practices and theories, and particularly those who are working for social change.
July 31, 2020
This book was a powerful read for me--both personally and professionally. I'm trained as a psychotherapist and the healing modalities I learned commonly talked about trauma as an individual tragedy disconnected from the world at large. It was all very individualistic. While that's true, it always felt like something was missing. And with this book I found what that was. Haines offers a vision of healing that's rooted in systems change, which was novel, refreshing, and clearly well thought out. It helped me connect dots that's going to make me a more powerful healer and practitioner, and I'm really glad she took time to write it. The stories and voices she includes are really powerful and essential for this historical moment.
July 4, 2024
This was really intense and thorough intersectional read about trauma caused by oppressive systems, whether these were historical or current, and how it lives in individuals and communities. It really opened my mind to how you can't have individual and collective healing without social justice as well. I enjoyed the deep dive into the role of institutions and systems of power and how they manifest in the body. One thing is clear, we need to overhaul our current system of society stat. This is my first big intro to somatics, so found it to be more academic than practical. So, if you add this to your TBR, read this as an introductory text, but make sure you read all of the trigger warnings first.
August 27, 2020
The Politics of Trauma synthesizes the ways that we are shaped by many forces - from the personal to the spiritual and everything in between (family, communities, institutions, social and political structures, landscape). So often when talking about healing, social inequity and oppression get left out. We're supposed to heal as individuals with individual problems, rather than seeing the ways that we are part of collectives and are "shaped" by forces greater than us, like white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. I consider this book an essential and timely read for anyone interested in deep-rooted collective transformation.
July 18, 2023
Useful for those who are beginning somatic work with a professional perhaps, but for those of us who are clinicians already educated about trauma and the way it is stored in the body, this book did not provide many practical applications for clinical work at all. I understand the somatic work the author practices is intricate and complex and that further training is needed to integrate it responsibly, but my, I think reasonable, expectation was that in the over 400 pages of the book I would come away with a handful of practical skills. The book became repetitive and at times read like an advertisement for her services. That said, I agree with much of her approach to trauma recovery.
August 13, 2024
This is an incredibly important topic, so I was very excited to read this book. Unfortunately this excitement didn't hold. It took me an extremely long time reading this (almost a year) because I got so bored and the texts dragged on and on and I lost focus. It might be that this book doesn't really get to the point or that it's not very engagingly written. In any case, there was some good content in here but it was a little hidden and a lot of other stuff and repititions around that I could have lived without.
I still loved the idea of this book and hope there will be many more books etc. focusing on the same idea.
I still loved the idea of this book and hope there will be many more books etc. focusing on the same idea.
April 22, 2024
DNF but I read almost all the way through part 3, plus the appendix about Power Over, so I'm taking credit for having read this one!! It's just too much word salad, honestly, and not enough really practical tips. I don't even think I understand what somatics are after reading this and knew I needed to stop reading it when a different book explained somatics to me (with practical application/exercise) in like five pages. I appreciate what the intention of this book was but didn't quite hit for me.
Read
June 30, 2024My thoughts of this are mixed. I don’t think I could give it a star review because some parts are good and important, while others are meandering and unhelpful. I don’t think the author accomplished their goal with this, and could’ve used some outside perspective to help them focus. This lacked a lot of important information about political determinants of health, and focused quite a lot on personal stories. Perhaps focusing on personal stories should’ve been the focus. I appreciate what the author was trying to do and offer, but overall I struggled to keep my attention on this.
October 22, 2025
This book is a feat on so many levels. Not only does it seek to untangle the complexities of our present day political landscape through an intersectional lens, but it also weaves in somatic work and trauma-informed knowledge into how all of those complexities impact us on a day-to-day basis. Politics in itself is a complex topic. Somatics, in itself, is a complex topic. To weave them together within 400 or so pages is an incredible accomplishment. I wish everyone could read this book, and if they did I think the world would be a much more healed place.
July 9, 2025
This is the first book that I read by a somatic practitioner that began to show how somatic healing can make social activism more effective. This has to be the future. I don't see us humans managing to curb our own destructiveness without deep individual healing combined with political organizing: neither one is even halfway enough without the other. Thank you Staci Haines for pretty much launching this entire field.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews