I walked away from my Western life to sleep on the floor of an ashram. Dissatisfaction had become a normal state of being. I was deeply embarrassed by this. As I canvassed my home I perused every object, and breathed its beauty. My thoughts were about how grateful I was to have a living museum in my house, what a treasure it was to live in a spiritual temple that I created. I was ashamed by my soul’s ambivalence, when it responded so what . Consciously, I counted each and every blessing. I...

In my culture, I was bestowed the title of Holy Mother . In traditional ceremony, my divined name is Mother of the Universe . I am a proud and powerful Mama, Big Mommy, Mommy and Mother. But, I need to talk about fathers. My Precious Little Daughter, was frequently the opening line to emails sent to me by my dad. Over a year ago my father, an African Medicine Man, realized that he only had a short time to live. He was desperate to get to my oldest son to perform ritual before joining the...

Alongside two elders and a colleague, we arrived at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Our intention was to facilitate the first Canadian/American collaboration to heal Historical Trauma. I vacillated between feeling immensely excited and powerfully emotional; what an honor to be a black woman surrounded by First Nation relatives on Native land. Our first great work was to enter the sacred ceremonial space for prayer and cleansing. As a tribal African woman, I...

As we endure the pain of lost loved ones, manage the anxiety of financial insecurity and potentially fret over becoming ill, it is a brilliant time for change in our country and around the world. There is a special kind of racist exclusion in America. When I took my young son to live in India, initially, he struggled everyday on the bus to school. There was a lot of hazing and bullying from older students. I remember him begging me to please take him to school in a rickshaw so that he didn’t...

In Honor of Black History Month 2k22 Please Enjoy the Following NEW Trainings: Facilitating a Full Expression of Resilience: BIPOC are resilient. In learning how trauma is formed and passed from one generation to the next in our communities, we will understand how to facilitate a full expression of resilience in vulnerable communities. This course takes a deep dive into the reality of flight or fight mode and how many people enduring oppression, discrimination and hate live with a constant...

Standing on top of Ogun Mountain, in the Sacred City of 41 Mountains, West Africa, I knew my life would forever change. The women from the royal house danced for me. The men drummed me into a trance. They called me by my African name as they welcomed me home. On the soil of my ancestors, the healing began. I am a black woman born in the 1970’s. Nine generations ago, my ancestors were on the continent of Africa inhabiting the Kingdom of Dahomey. We were thriving. Unbeknownst to most, we were...

The Model Minority Myth is a model that stems from various false beliefs about the Asian American culture. This term debunks the fact that Asian Americans are the thriving force within America culture, both in society and the workforce. These stereotypes coincide with the belief that Asian Americans are “the smartest” culture in industries of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The terms reveal that this culture is the leading force, and trumps other cultures. It is a...