We Begin Here

A compassionate, practice-based guide for for white readers ready to move from defensiveness and shame into embodied understanding, healing inherited patterns, and more connected ways of living This is not a book about having the right answers. What if the work of understanding whiteness and meeting racism more honestly began not in your thinking, but in your body? Somewhere between silence and saying the wrong thing, many white readers find themselves frozen. Reckoning with whiteness is not just an intellectual exercise. It is lived, felt, and practiced. Drawing on the teachings of peace activist and Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh and the Plum Village tradition, Jassy Denison invites readers into a grounded exploration of race and racial harm rooted in attention rather than urgency. Through personal story, body-based reflection, and contemplative exercises, readers are guided to face discomfort, work with shame and reactivity, and show up more skillfully in conversations about race and justice. Readers will find: simple, repeatable practices for working with fear and reactivity guided meditations to stay present with discomfort without shutting down reflections that surface inherited patterns and conditioned response invitations to reconnect with the body as a source of clarity and grounding support for building more honest, connected relationships a clear, accessible entry point into anti-racist practice that does not rely on shame or performative pressure This is an offering designed not just for insight, but for practice—supporting readers in shifting how they live and relate, from the inside out. What if the place you feel most uncertain is also the place you can begin?