Living In Liberation: Boundary Setting, Self-Care and Social Change

What happens when a collection of artists, musicians, and radical activists imagine self-defense as a revolutionary tool for social justice? What happens when someone envisions boundary setting, self-care and self-defense that not only keep individuals safe, but also help energize progressive social movements making them more vibrant and resilient? For the past twenty years, Cristien Storm has grappled with these questions as a self-defense instructor, a writer, musician, therapist, activist, survivor, partner, friend and community member. As a co- founder and former Executive Director of Seattle-based Home Alive, Cristien Storm developed self-defense programs that recognize the link between the concepts of self-defense and social change. Her new book outlines this innovative and radical approach to self-defense that challenges those practicing boundary setting and self-care to see themselves not simply as individuals but also as local, national, and global community members. Storm s first book Living in Liberation argues that responses to violence can and should embody boundary setting, self-care, and self-defense skills that interrupt victim-blaming, fear-based approaches and locate healing within the social context of community. This groundbreaking text roots boundary setting and self-care in larger visions of happier and healthier communities, all the while holding on to the complexities of individual safety and social justice.