1️⃣ First Blog:  Perle Noire Reflection

Perle Noire is a rare find. She is genuinely composed, poignant, con-FI-dent, and assured. She knows herself and, most importantly, believes in herself. This assurance and security is evident both in her words and in her bodily maneuvers. When I met Perle Noire, I actually had no idea who she was. I had no idea I needed to know her. I had no idea she would have me lingering on her words and reconsidering my own relationship with my body. 

My 41 year old body currently resembles that of a blob. It is a structure composed of lumps and bumps and humps with no particular shape. I used to blame this on pregnancy, but my daughter is now 3 so that is no longer the best excuse. It's not accurate.  My body is a reflection of the many transitions I find myself in, ranging from divorce to relocation to sudden mommyhood (yes I'm still postpartum) to poverty to the point where I didn’t know how I was going to feed my daughter. Right before meeting Perle Noire, I was on the verge of admitting my truth. I stopped taking moments to care for myself and was laying in layers and layers of unworthiness and sadness. I stopped walking for pleasure. I stopped taking the time to indulge in meals made of fresh, colorful, fibrous ingredients. And I stopped dancing. At one time, I would shake this meat every chance I got. Yes, mommyhood is overwhelming and somewhere in the transition to this new role, it actually swallowed me whole.

Yet something was missing. I couldn't figure out how to recalibrate. Enter Perle Noire. Perle Noire is a force. I think she might say that she is a force ushered in and supported by the ancestral spirit of Josephine Baker. She is a movement artist in the tradition of burlesque. She is a sexual healer. And Pearle Noire is a teaser and a pleasure seeker. Most importantly, she might say, she is a healer. She trains others to love, heal, and save themselves through both the embodying and releasing of sexually influenced hip rolling, pelvis thrusting, and vigorous moaning.  

When I first encountered her, Perle shared her story of healing freely and unapologetically.  She charted how and why she became a legend and she challenges herself and others.  Sitting perched on her chaise, freshly lined bald head, with a red lip, and wearing a silky number,  she asked questions. “How do you honor yourself?”  “What do you wear to make you feel good about yourself?”  But the question that had (and still has) me spinning was, “How do you celebrate your freedom? Your liberation?”  

Follow me. I am free. I am free in my mind, body, and spirit. I am free and thus have power and will of my own choosing. My freedom allows me to bask in the joy of having fully functioning limbs. It allows me to choose how to glorify this body. I am the ability to not only move this body  but dress it, adorn it, and bathe it in flowery smell goods. Most importantly my liberation affords me the privilege to sit in gratitude. I am so grateful that this body was the vessel for Baby Zahara’s entrance into this world. I am grateful that even in this shapeless state my organs are functioning properly. And maybe more importantly, my shame of this body is null and void. I am free. Instead of dwelling in my imperfections, I am being, as the woke folks say, my ancestor’s wildest dreams.

So, Perle Noire and I ask you, how do you honor your freedom? 

2️⃣ Second blog: Liana Naima Reflection

Liana Naima is light. She embodies the feelings of warmth, ease, refreshment, refinement, and peace. I entered the conversation with Liana charged with intense emotions.  I entered this conversation after a toe-to-toe with my mom, after exploding on some customer service representatives, after witnessing two young women of color fighting on 125th St. and during a nasty and unforeseen separation from my husband that led me to move from one country to another in order to escape a legal system. I was holding resentment, anger, disbelief and was ready to explode. But instead I intentionally held that overflow in. I knew I would walk through a den of peace and assurance with Liana. I didn't know her, but I had witnessed her before. I had watched her lead over 30 women through a breathing meditation, during the first 6 months of the pandemic. I experienced her create a protective bubble filled with grace, calm, and serenity in 2020 while the world was shifting unexpectedly around us. It was an act of pure love and care.

I'm sharing these little nuggets partly to inform your listening experience but also so that it is clear that Liana is an expert in harnessing energy and providing love based solutions. My biggest takeaways from her are 1) the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of Black women are always correct and should be valued and 2) your breath is the key to rootedness and healing.  Liana shares a deeply personal journey around the healing of her body and the steps and spiritual resources she utilized. I was struck that someone who has been through so much in her short lifetime still has space to contribute to the healing of others. She still has space for kindness, and joy, and laughter, and jokes. She still has an abundance of space for and is dedicated to the humanity of women of color… our ability to thrive, to love, and be loved. It’s touching and powerful.

As you journey through your days, stop and breathe. Let your breath be the physical embodiment and remembrance of spirit. Breathe out the stress, worry, loneliness, and breathe in, with confidence, the crisp air filled with renewal and gratitude. The breath is the source of all things needed to keep you protected, clear, and exceedingly well.

Take-a-listen!!

3️⃣ Third Blog: Soma 

Soma is the master of stealing a moment. It is a concept I have yet to fully understand and practice. I am too busy being busy and don't know how to stop. I'm busy doing silly things like washing dishes, changing pull-ups, finding foods and snacks, sweeping, and other household-related things that I've found essential to creating an aesthetic peace in my home. But completing these tasks depletes rather than replenishes me and I’m left trying to figure out steps to fulfillment. Discouragement sets in and I stop enacting tender acts.

Soma, however, reminded me of the importance of creating a moment. The moment can be easy, simple, and brief. Taking a 3 to 5 minute moment aids in building a larger practice, a ritual.  (I must also say that my (movement, wink!) therapist recommends the 3 to 5 minute moment. She calls it a pause.) With this, my new endeavor, or practice, is to pause and take a moment. Soma tells us it’s simple. It’s an extra 5 minutes in the shower, while taking deep breaths. I like to add a mini gratitude list during this shower moment. I verbalize affirmations–that I am appreciative that I woke up that morning and that all of my basics work. I can see, hear, and walk.  

Soma reminds us of the importance of taking a moment. It doesn't have to be long but it does need to occur… a deep breath on a subway train, a walk through your favorite tree-lined street, or a moment of thanks recognizing you are exactly where you should be.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bianca Mońa is a lover of the arts. As an artist, curator, educator, and advocate, she has initiated a number of projects at institutions such as Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY) and The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC), and Market Photo Workshop (Johannesburg, SA). All of her artistic endeavors center on a greater understanding of contemporary Africa and her Diaspora. In addition, she is particularly keen on investigative projects that tackle the living history of regular citizens who negotiate grand topics such as gender, heritage, and social-economic placement. As an oral historian and sound artist she had received commissions from The Laundromat Project and Initiatives of Change USA.