Ancestral Hands: A Practice in Rest
*This event is a part of a three part Somatic Nourishment series centring Black African Diasporic women and gender expansive beings: Sat/Feb14: Fire & Spirit: Somatic Movement & Dance | Sun/Feb 22: Self-Expression & Creativity. (Attend separately or all three)
What if rest is your medicine? What if your own hands, guided by ancestral wisdom, could offer the care you've been seeking?
In this gentle, spacious practice, you're invited to slow down, to soften, to let yourself be held. Through guided somatic supportive touch, somatic awareness, and spaciousness for your ancestral wisdom and cultural connections, we journey together into the deep quietude where healing happens. You'll be supported to create your own nurturing nest, to invite energetic blessings into your hands, and to offer tenderness and care through gentle touch practices—you might place a hand on your heart, touch your face, or cradle your head.
This is rest as remembering and reclamation—a returning home to your body, to your ancestral / energetic wisdom that lives in your bones. Rooted in African Diasporic healing traditions, this offering honours the understanding that rest is resistance, that touch is medicine, and that your body holds ancient wisdom waiting to be remembered.
Throughout, you'll have the opportunity to:
Connect with ancestors / energetic wisdom as guides who hold capacity for your healing
Practice gentle, guided somatic supportive touch that honours your body's boundaries
Journey through your body from skin to bone, awakening ancestral wisdom
Create your nurturing nest—a container where your nervous system can truly land
Allow organic movement to emerge from stillness, if and when it calls
Explore optional creative integration through drawing or journaling
Who This Practice Welcomes
This practice is a part of a series centring Black African Diasporic women and gender expansive beings, offering sacred space for those living at the intersections of anti-Black racism and gender-based oppression. You may be called here to rest and restore, to be held, to remember you are not alone. You might come because you're exhausted, tending to tender places in your heart, or curious about ancestral connection and somatic touch practices.
No previous experience with somatic practices required. This practice can be done lying down, seated, or in any configuration that supports your comfort. Resting is welcomed—it's the point. You only need to be willing to be present with yourself, exactly as you are.
For questions about accessibility or to discuss how this practice can honour your specific needs, please reach out to Camille at [email protected]
What to Expect:
Duration: 2 hours
Format: Virtual (Zoom link provided upon registration)
How the practice unfolds:
Introduction and Orientation to the practice
Opening and acknowledgement. We'll acknowledge the land, honour the elements, spirits & energetic support.(Camera's will be on for this portion only and then will become optional for the duration of our time.)
Embodied Somatic Practice: Ancestral Hands — Guided: somatic explorations, imagery, supportive somatic touch, gentle movement and/stillness
Integration— meditation/reflection, drawing, journaling, and space for optional sharing
Closing — Gratitude and goodbyes
What to Prepare:
A private space where you can move freely for the duration
Room to lie down, sit, stand, and move
Yoga mat or place to lie down
As many blankets, towels and pillows to build your 'nest' and for body support
Soft weighted objects (optional)
Heating pads or heat packs (optional)
Comfortable clothing that invites movement
Something to hydrate yourself with
A clear glass of water and a white candle (or candle alternative)
Drawing paper and coloured pencils/markers/crayons
Journal or paper and pen
Your Facilitator
Camille Djokoto (they/them) is a Somatic Therapist, Somatic Movement and Dance Practitioner, Somatic Coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner™. As an African Diasporic being, neuroexpansive™, artist and facilitator, they bring 40+ years of dance and movement experience with 14 years of healing work in mental health through somatic and embodied practices. Their approach is relational, experiential, and embodied—guided by ancestral wisdom they celebrate collective liberation, embodied resilience, and diasporic healing.
Camille's work centres lived experience and autonomy, offering invitations and options. They create space for participants to discover authentic movements and organic experiences honouring that each person carries their own embodied history and wisdom.
Instagram: @camilledjokoto.therapy
Website: camille-djokoto.com
Important Note:
Virtual wait room opens at 10:45 AM. We begin at 11:00 AM. Since I'm holding both facilitation and tech, arrivals after 11:00 AM may experience a wait until after our Opening ceremony, when I'm able to welcome you in.
Group Size: This will run with any number - up to a limit of 25 participants.
Price: PWYC $0-$35 CAD
No Recordings: This experience will not be recorded.
Refunds: No refunds are provided for missed events. All refunds are subject to service fee charges.
A note of invitation: Please don't let a lack of materials keep you from joining. You are welcome exactly as you are, with whatever you have available. The medicine of this practice lives in your intention and presence, not in perfect preparation.