This book felt halfway in between regular non fiction and self help and did this perfectly.

In this book the author uses his own life experiences to make you reflect at your own. And when he explained in the intro he'd be doing that I was a bit hesitant to be honest if that would make sense. But it worked really well. During the book I felt that through reading about his life, I could look at my own with the same kind of lens. These examples of his thoughts helped a whole lot for this. I'm very autistic and when people explain me things to think on or reflect they usually feel very abstract and I would be feeling extremely lost. Many therapy sessions I've had in my life I just listened to and felt very confused how to apply this to myself and my own life. But with the author of this book sharing his own experiences and how he reflects on those suddenly the tips became more tangible and I understood them.

In this book the author uses the BOLD ADDRESSING assessment. This model of looking at people from all angles and uses that to be aware of all parts of yourself. This he also gives a full example for with him as model and it was very interesting to see that. Then when doing this assessment myself I felt like I learned quite a lot about myself. Suddenly a lot of sore spots I was pushing away came to the forefront and I was forced to acknowledge them. Not fun to do, but important nonetheless and I learned a lot.

I loved the way the book was organized as well. It had a few shorter chapters at the beginning explaining all sides of the word "somacultural liberation" and then one long chapter in chapter 6 going deep into it how this could be achieved in your life. The explanations in the earlier chapters were well done and I would easily follow what I needed to know. The long chapter on the liberation on your own life had a lot of things to try out and learn from that I feel like really helped me look at myself in more detail.

Concluding this was a very interesting book that I learned a lot about myself form.

"Take a breath with me and know that returning to ourselves is a pleasurable experience, and pleasure heals."

Kuhn is a two-spirit Indigiqueer, sexually fluid, mixed-race member of the Poarch Creek people (he, him pronouns but welcomes others with good faith-she, they). He is a psychotherapist with a focus on sex therapy. I think this provides a great primer for those who would like to learn more about queer theory and indigenous studies. Kuhn provides personal anecdotes as well as indigenous history. Kuhn also provides exercises for readers to complete on their own, with journal prompts and longer activities such as the "Bold Addressing,' "Growth Work," "Fab Five Values," and "Four Spaces".

Though this is a short read, it can sometimes read as quite academic so it did take me a bit to read through it. However, I am glad I read it and am hopeful in continuing my education on consent ideology, decolonized sexuality, sexual sovereignty, two-spirit communities, and more.

Somacultural liberation is a book that took up less space than it was supposed to.

Kuhn gives us plenty of stories and tools that could be useful (and some of them really were useful to me!), but, also, the first fifth of the book feels like a prolonged prologue, the book carefully explaining all its terms (that if you're familiar with queer theory you already know), holding the readers hand until the end.

It would've been a better workshop than a book; I'm not sure writing is where Kuhn shines, and perhaps Kuhn's dynamic works better in person (which I believe in, as he's a therapist).

I'd expected this to be some sort of a manifesto-esque book, but it falls more into the self-help genre, even if I don't think Kuhn would enjoy that.