On Reclaiming African-Centered Joy and Well-Being Through Mindfulness (In-Person)

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African-centered scholars have and continue to point to mindfulness and meditation as important practices for those of African ancestry to tend their inner landscapes and heal from the harm of systemic and internalized oppression. For Jenée Johnson, the Founder and Curator of The Right Within Experience, a mindfulness immersion program for people of African ancestry, mindfulness is a tool to cultivate a liberatory lifestyle of joy and well-being.

A leader in the mindfulness movement, Jenée’s work expands the scope of mindful practice to acknowledge its ancient African lineage and increase both its’ access and relevance to people of African ancestry. Her approach leans into meditation and heart science to help people of African ancestry reclaim humanity, joy, and self-love. These are the human rights and exalted emotions that are eroded in Black lives through consistent exposure to the trauma of racism. Her work promotes the healing and sovereignty for Black people and works to reframe the “victim vortex”, a diminished sense of being fostered by coloniality. A champion and accelerator of human flourishing, she teaches others to nourish themselves through daily rituals, rest, good food and nutrition, and helps them have the courage to face the grief of loss, to embrace the good, and to attune to the breath.

Join Jenée with filmmaker and activist Shakti Butler for a powerful conversation exploring mindfulness as a tool for Black Americans to reclaim joy, self-love, and well-being. 

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Jenée Johnson, Program Innovation Leader, Mindfulness, Trauma and Racial Healing, pioneered and leads the unique effort to bring mindfulness into public health practices and programs though the Trauma Informed Systems of Care Initiative in the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Her goal is to improve the organization’s ability to manage change, stay resilient, inspire growth, and become a mindful culture that leads and serves with compassion.

At her core Jenée is a champion and accelerator of human flourishing. Her work has been featured in various publications, including Mindful Magazine, where she is a regular contributor and where she has been recognized as a leader and agent of change in the mindfulness movement.

Jenée is the Founder and Curator of The Right Within Experience, a mindfulness immersion program that reclaims humanity, joy, and wellbeing for people of African ancestry through mindfulness practices. These are the human rights and exalted emotions that are eroded in Black lives through the consistent exposure to the trauma of racism. The Right Within Experience expands the scope of mindful practice to acknowledge its ancient African lineage and increase access and relevance to people of African ancestry. The program promotes healing and sovereignty for Black people and is curated for those on human missions of all kinds including community service, social justice, and entrepreneurship.

For 15 years, she served as the Director of the San Francisco Black Infant Health Program, a program which provides direct service to Black pregnant women and new mothers to address the health disparities in infant and maternal mortality.

Jenée Johnson is a professional co-active coach and certified trainer and practitioner in mindfulness and emotional intelligence based on the latest neuroscience. She is a HeartMath certified trainer, Emotional Emancipation Circles Facilitator (Association of Black Psychologists) and certified to teach Femme! A meditative movement and wellness modality for women. She is a keynote speaker, workshop curator, coach, and consultant with Sankofa Holistic Counseling Services in Oakland, and on the advisory board of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute.

Jenée is a native New Yorker with Caribbean and Southern roots. She resides in Oakland with her husband and young adult son. Learn more about Jenée at her website. 

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Shakti Butler, PhD, is a visionary, transformative, and collaborative educator. For three decades, she has been developing film, sharing curricula, keynotes, and learning labs geared towards building racial equity through healing and structural change. As Founder and President Emeritus of World Trust Educational Services Inc., she has produced five documentaries which have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people (one clip alone has been viewed over 30 million times) around the world. They are The Way Home: Women Talk about Race in America; Light in the Shadows: Staying at the Table when the Conversation Gets Hard; Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible; Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity; and most recently Healing Justice, Interrupting the Youth-to-Prison Pipeline. These films are designed for dialogue. She served as diversity consultant and adviser on the Disney animated film, Zootopia, which focuses on challenging bias and systemic inequity. World Trust’s clients span education, health, government, technology and faith-based organizations. Dr. Butler’s vision is of a world coming into wholeness, where transformative love and wisdom heal the human family from racism and separation.   

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Accessibility

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Recording Policy

This event will be recorded on our YouTube channel to view any time after the livestream and the link will be sent to all registered attendees. Ticket holders will have access to the livestream as well as the in-person event, so if guests are unable to attend live, they can still access the event. Portions of the audio will be released on our podcast. Only those watching live can participate in the chat and Q&A.

Refunding Policy

All tickets and donations for this event are nonrefundable.