Coaches Rising 284 - Staci Haines: Creating a World of “Power-With”
Apr 15, 2026
Staci Haines, a somatics pioneer connecting trauma healing, leadership, and social justice. She explores politicized somatics and how social conditions shape bodies and institutions. She contrasts power-over with power-with and outlines practices to cultivate presence, hold complexity, and move inner work into sustained civic action. The conversation invites committing regular time to collective change and embodying a shared vision.
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Somatics Reveals Cultural Conditioning In The Body
- Somatic conditioning includes social norms so our bodies carry cultural patterns that shape behavior and leadership.
- Staci K. Haines explains that somatics helps people hold complexity without polarizing, revealing unseen social shaping beneath personal reactions.
Volunteer Hours Can Hit Tipping Points
- Mobilize small consistent commitments to scale social change: 3.5% participation is a proven tipping point.
- The Outer Work Project asks participants to volunteer 5–20 hours a month and connects them to aligned organizations.
Two Faces Of Polarization
- Polarization can be a survival strategy or a deliberate power tactic, and both require different responses.
- Staci differentiates emotional self-preservation polarization from systemic power-over polarization used to disempower groups politically.
