After four years of seminary, full-time ministry, a high-risk pregnancy, parenting, and partnering, I had panic attacks in my office at church. I was numb and overwhelmed with ongoing violence against bodies that looked like mine. I was so exhausted that God's voice was lost in the fog weariness. Like many Black women I have spoken to, I believed that I had to ignore my body's needs to serve faithfully.

Miriam sang and danced. Hannah prayed with her whole self. Rachel weeps and refuses to be comforted. How can Black women reconnect with our bodies through play, lament, and maybe even pleasure so that we can better hear the voice of the Divine in us? Can listening to the wisdom of our fearfully and wonderfully made bodies change the ways that Black women love, work, and worship?

This project will invite Black women to share the depths and causes of their exhaustion so that they can recognize suppressed and silenced needs. After honoring stories, the women will have the opportunity to enter a space where they can "try on" different embodied practices - such as movement, lament, and contemplation to reconnect with the wisdom of bodies and say "yes" needs of their souls.