Archive for category: News

When I began the Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA) program for social change activists at EBMC, I was completing my yoga instructor training, continuing my plant medicine studies, and had been practicing various forms of mindfulness and meditation. Specifically, I was engaged in a lot of self-study to learn more about how African histories and influences play an integral role in these spaces. Being involved with PiTA exposed me, for the first time, to the experience of studying mindfulness and meditation with a diverse group of other BIPOC practitioners. We celebrated one another, our cultural backgrounds, and explored how our identities inform our spaces and practices; we were living the lesson that there is no one way to meditate or practice mindfulness. 

It was during PiTA that I had a couple of experiences with breast cancer that hit closer to home. I saw that doctors were great at providing medical care to rid bodies of cancer, but that there could be a stronger mind, body, and spirit approach to the whole person in conventional cancer care treatment. Many times receiving holistic cancer care was not covered by health insurance, or the out-of-pocket fees were so expensive that it was out of reach for many – costing thousands of dollars. I recognized that many of the approaches being taught in holistic care were those I had found through my own research or learned at EBMC and were accessible to me because of the commitment to the practice of dana there. 

I knew that the teachings I received at EBMC offered something powerfully transformative for people who are diagnosed with a chronic illness, like breast cancer.  And, it offered an approach that did not deny pain or discomfort, but also made space to acknowledge gratitude in the process. EBMC taught me that an experience did not have to be one or the other – that you can be in discomfort and also be grateful. And that you can seek to remain balanced and positive in your approach to the stress, since uncertainty is a part of life.

 I remember talking one rainy day with someone who mentioned how terrible the weather was. I replied with my gratitude for the rain and for the way that it nourishes the earth and our bodies. This was an automatic response that had arisen from my practice in PiTA with mindfulness around everyday tasks. My approach to eating had changed too. Now, I was consciously chewing and experiencing the tastes and textures of my food and thanking the earth, the sun, the rain, and the people who made this food possible – from the farm workers to those who transport the foods and those who stock the shelves, etc. 

This way of experiencing the world has strengthened my foundation for building an integrative approach to self-care and has been integral to creating an affordable and accessible integrative self-care resource for others to access this kind of support. This year, I started “Our Breast Care,” a site that offers meditations, affirmations, guided imagery, and other evidence-based resources for people who have been affected by breast cancer. This site offers instruction in a wide range of mind-body practices. Using sound, art, breathwork, and movement meditations like qi gong, Our Breast Care focuses on integrative self-care in mind-body wellness, nutrition, sleep, exercise, and the environment. 

I am so grateful to EBMC, to PiTA, and especially to Mushim Ikeda, for generously offering an experience that continues to serve as an anchoring resource for me as I evolve in the work that I do. They have made it possible for me to share what I have learned with other BIPOC individuals who do not have access to these teachings as sources for support, resiliency, healing, and wellness.  My hope is that Our Breast Care can offer a source of support and community to anyone with breast cancer, at high-risk, and/or their loved ones.  And, I hope this inspires your generous giving to EBMC.

EBMC has always felt like a welcoming space, from Mushim’s Introduction to Meditation for People of Color in 2013, to Thursday POC Sangha nights ands beautiful New Year’s Eve community celebrations.  

What solidified EBMC as a home and community for spiritual friendship for me was a daylong event I attended called Visibilizing Our Invisible Wounds (for self-identified men of color) led by EBMC’s Men of Color Deep Refuge Group in 2018.  Not only did this workshop provide mindfulness tools to examine the wounds of my conditioning, but for the first time in my life, I found a group of other masculine-identified people of color who were on the same journey, many of whom modeled the vulnerability I desperately needed to heal.  For the first time, I shared my experiences being socialized as a boy, and how they had shaped my adult experience, realizing I had lost access to a tenderness that was buried deeply under my passive compliance with masculinity. I resonated with the stories of others because they were similar to mine, and I experienced a strength in vulnerability with the support of the group.  Even though many of us were meeting for the first time, we walked together in silence from EBMC to Oakland City Hall in unison, taking up space, and building community.  It was a powerful event, one I will never forget.

I still have a long way to go on this journey. I’m not sure there is an endpoint. But that day, I caught a glimpse of what freedom in a post-patriarchal world might look like, and I met a group of men, some of whom are now my closest friends, who showed me it was possible. Since then, I have served as a coordinator for the POC Sangha, and have been involved in smaller peer-led groups of men, inspired by Sarwang Parikh’s somatic therapy practice groups. I do this work because it supports my own healing journey, and because I want to share that spark of freedom with others.  

I’m grateful to EBMC for hosting the event that changed my life, as well as other events focused on men healing from toxic masculinity through mindfulness practices. With the support and generosity of our community, I hope to help the Center to keep those sparks going.