Embodied Study for Our Collective Liberation
What it is:
At its foundation, Embodied Study affirms that when we each share our beautiful offerings—that which we alone can offer—we practice collective liberation. As Ella Baker once said “Give light and people will find the way.” What does it look like for you to find your light? To not be so distracted by everything outside of yourself, but to rather pay attention to what you notice. To see that you are beautiful as you are. And to share that beauty with the universe.
Embodied Study affirms that the life of the mind can (and should!) be pleasurable, sustainable, embodied, beautiful, playful, liberatory, and more!
Embodied Study for Our Collective Liberation is a year-long cohort/container that Miyuki Baker, PhD has been convening since 2023.
It has been a space of deep emergence, where we ACTUALLY FEEL OUR BODIES and our CONNECTION TO EACH OTHER to do our research so that we can live better with theory, rather than trying to gain mastery.
A space that is sensuous and joyful, and that is indebted to the radical love black feminist thinkers (bell hooks, June Jordan, Combahee River Collective, and Fannie Lou Hamer, to name a few) and their co-conspirators have always insisted as the way to eradicate all systems of oppression.
While Miyuki shares embodied study methods that they learned and developed over the past 20 years, the purpose of the container is for participants to find their own embodied study methods, and to experience a deep sense of belonging through collective study.
The Embodied Study methods we practice are often influenced by and in study of Black feminist thought:
tracing portraits of thinkers while listening to them talk/sing
making Visual Theory Maps, collages and zines
choreopoems (Ntozake Shange)
In addition to gathering 2-4x/month (for 1-2 hours each), there are Care Partners that connect weekly, as well as additional time to get one-on-one support from Miyuki.
In preparing for the launch of these cohorts, I spoke with 4 beautiful beings who resonated with my vision (above) to see who my audience was. Olivia Hunte, El Ambrose, Cori Wong, and Yaa Addae: thank you for entrusting me with your words! I created the following questions based on their thoughts and words.
Are you…
a lover of learning, interested in living and practicing theory?
experimental and playful?
excited about life and all of its many wonders?
sensual, a lover of nature, food, tea, and the sacred?
ready to clarify and share your Beautiful Offerings—that which you alone can offer the universe?
Do you crave time to…
heal?
not think about anything at all and to simply be?
follow your curiosities beyond the pressures of Racial Capitalism?
slip back into yourself and see where your ideas lead you as a way that is actively tied to your growth as an individual as well as the growth of the collective?
be more fully grounded in your body, moving, feeling, listening?
Do you wish that studying could be…
easeful, sustainable, fun, sacred, embodied, and tied to our collective liberation?
a container to be who you’ve always known yourself to be?
with others who are actively co-creating a different kind of world?
Embodied Study for Our Collective Liberation 2026
*Check out the open house recording from 2023 + slides from 2024*
APPLY FOR 2026 COHORT HERE (Due 2/23/26)
This container was created to begin answering the questions above together in an intimate cohort of like-minded people.
Meet Your Instructor
Miyuki Baker
I am Dr. Miyuki Baker, a non-binary, mixed race Zainichi Korean American artist, activist & scholar living in Huichin (AKA Oakland, CA) who has been connecting people, ideas, and movements with Beautiful Scholarship for the past 15 years through my zines, illustrated theory atlases, graphic note-taking, and most importantly, in my approach to the life of the mind. I am a lifelong learner, curious, playful, and obsessed with multi-sensorial everyday pleasures of the erotic like eating delicious home-cooked food, making/sharing music with friends, and napping under redwood trees.
I am a parent to a 6-year-old; an Asian co-conspirator of the Church of Black Feminist Thought; and have a PhD from Berkeley in Performance Studies where I first started teaching Embodied Study for Our Collective Liberation!
I am fiercely committed to our collective liberation, which I credit Fannie Lou Hamer (“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free”) and the Combahee River Collective ( “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression”) for teaching me why. Convening spaces for Embodied Study is how I connect my gifts with this wider purpose. It is how I practice finding alignment with my values of living at the intersection of scholarship, social justice, and making art!
(Photo credit: Kristen Murakoshi)
Testimonials
“I wanted to learn embodied methods that I could use in my practice. . .but I think I learnt how simple it can be. And how effective just being yourself is. That that in itself is a major gift, being the vessel and allowing your own body to be used for whatever idea you are inspired to share - our beautiful offering is ourselves.”
“Embodied Study really became a moment of hope in my life even as I had hard times…I always left feeling fulfilled. And I loved learning all the possible methods to teach and express differently. But the most valuable part of this container was being together, learning together, the vulnerability and care.”
“What Miyuki facilitated helped me connect to a kinship of people who want to practice living in beautiful and liberatory ways.”
“Miyuki offered a lot of support in their facilitation by inviting, interweaving & embracing different forms of expression, play, movement, giving/receiving & studying. We joyfully experimented with these practices throughout our group sessions. The office hours were also really supportive & Miyuki offered affirmation for my personal practices/wonderings/wanderings. All together, Beautiful Scholarship was like being in a spacious cocoon of creativity with a group of lovely, gentle beings — a space to alchemize & transform together, rather than feeling stuck, isolated or alone. Yes to collective creativity portals!”
“I loved the Beautiful Scholarship Portal with Miyuki! We had the chance to be creative, playful, and beautiful, while reimagining and redefining what scholarship can look like. I love Miyuki’s both grounded and playful facilitation, as well as the beautiful visuals they create to inspire and embody beautiful scholarship. This is a wonderful opportunity to tap into your beautiful self!”
“Beautiful Scholarship with Miyuki was delightful. As an academically trained scholar, it was relieving and also productively challenging to be invited into an embodied, relational, sensorially rich engagement with knowledge/creativity/scholarship.
Grateful for this gift!”
Frequently Asked Questions
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In my years of teaching in universities and beyond, I have found that a standard semester is not enough time to really dive deep. Giving us a full year allows us to build together and understand our own patterns throughout 12 moon cycles.
As sol from the first cohort put it when we met for 8 months, “I appreciated the 8 month length! I’d love to explore/create more containers that stretch over 8 months (or more); this pace feels aligned with how I move/process/be.” For my 2nd cohort, I offered a full year, and it felt luxurious to move through four seasons with the participants.
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Yes, and I encourage it! In part, I created the program I wish I had when I was getting my PhD. But if you're at all concerned about juggling your multiple commitments, let's chat.
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No :) You can let it emerge as we practice embodied study together.
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$180/month for Black, Indigenous and People of Color who consider this work to be reclaiming ancestral lifeways stolen by colonization, enslavement & genocide. You can also pay $2000 at once, saving $160. (Limited spots available at this tier)
$280/month for people with under $30,000/year income or access to wealth. You can also pay $3100 at once, saving $260.
$380/month for people with $30,000 – $70,000/year income or access to wealth. You can also pay $4200 at once, saving $360.
$580/month for people with over $70,000/year income or folks from the global North, folks who identify as middle or upper class, people who have access to savings, investments, or inheritance. You can also pay $6500 at once, saving $460.Take $150 off of whatever tier you apply before 12/14!
(Thank you to Kate Morales and Sarita Doe for their languaging around costs)
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Weekly starting 3/5/26 except for seasonal breaks of 2-3 weeks. The rhythm will alternate between:
1st week: an embodied study practice offered by me or participant
2nd week: an echo session where we’ll get to practice what was introduced the week prior using a text brought by a participant
There are also additional opportunities to join me to chat one-on-one, as well as in pairs (Care Partners) weekly.
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At this time no, but subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll find out about my annual Embodied Study Free School month & any other in-person offerings.
