Mark Walsh, the proprietor of The Embodiment Conference, was recently challenged by cultural somaticist Tada Hozumi in an Open Letter, penned by Hozumi in lieu of accepting the invitation to speak at the Conference. Hozumi proposed that Walsh look more closely at the exclusionary economy of his ambitious project — specifically, at how it centers white men as the heroes of the somatic techniques that colonialism handed them. The letter, dignified and sincere, offered a concise and workable framing of a fraught issue. Walsh did not respond directly, but on his personal Facebook shitposted about being oppressed by “c*ntery” of social justice “twats.”

Those familiar with this aspect of Walsh’s online persona were not surprised. He has openly risen to market dominance in the online somatasphere as a kind of Black Belt culture warrior, a Jordan Peterson in a jock-strap. In this bonus episode, Matthew reviews some of Walsh’s past online hits as a case study of how the wellness world can confuse acting out for freedom, somatic dominance for discipline, and allow charismatic men to weaponize unhealed wounds in the name of authenticity.

Show Notes

Open Letter to Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference

The Embodiment Conference and “somafascism”: commentary from Ben Spatz

Mark Walsh to 2020 TEC invited presenter (the audio is from 2019)

Statement: We need to divest from Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference

Yes, Mr. Walsh, there are Black people in Hungary. One of them was born there, in 1980, and is now an MP.

Mark Walsh documentation

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