Finding Refuge

During her childhood, her family traveled throughout India, devoted to a colorful yogic life. Rohini got to experience an upbringing that was centered around a love for their community.  Her days were filled with meditation, chanting, yoga, and cleansing the body in an effort to grow as a spiritual being.  As she traveled throughout India, staying in different temples and volunteering at...

Tina Strawn (she/they) is a joy and liberation advocate, activist, author of "Are We Free Yet? The Black, Queer Guide to Divorcing America" (Row House Publishing, January 2023). Tina is the owner and host of the Speaking of Racism podcast. The heart of her work is founding and leading Legacy Trips, immersive antiracism experiences where participants visit historical locations such as Montgomery an...

This is the final episode of Season 2. It features me talking about the reason why I decided to take a sabbatical and make space for REST.  I recorded this prior to the supreme court's further attack on our civil rights and the planet, so there is no mention of the most recent traumas and horrors happening in our country and world. This episode focuses on rest as a practice and the reality th...

Tristan Katz (they/them) is a writer, digital strategist, and equity-inclusion facilitator based on the ancestral land of the Cowlitz and Clackamas peoples and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Siletz Indians, now known as Portland, OR.  Tristan offers justice-focused marketing programs for yoga and wellness professionals, along with workshops and trainings centered around queer iden...

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...

Tanisha Hubbard-Hood, or Tan (they/them/she), is a caregiver, solo-parent, movement instructor, Yoga student and aspiring activist. While the physical practice of yoga is what drew them to the mat, it was the calling of something deeper that led to the decision to complete a YTT. The introduction of the 8-limbed path during training was the starting point of their curiosity of the intersection of...

Madison Page was the founder of Core to Coeur, a curated marketplace and community for taking and teaching movement, wellness, and fitness classes over live video. Birthed from a virtual Pilates business built on Squarespace in 2017, C2C grew into a larger movement to democratize wellness for all people. Madison's expertise is in building impact-driven businesses, community building, content marke...

Octavia Raheem has received national attention for her work training yoga teachers and diversifying the yoga and wellness industry. Trained and mentored by exemplary teachers, Dr. Gail Parker, Tracee Stanley, Chanti Tacoronte- Perez, Octavia’s work as a yoga professional focuses on practical tools to teach individuals how to manage stress, anxiety, and fatigue through restorative yoga, Yoga Nidra,...

Jacoby Ballard is a social justice educator and yoga teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah. He leads workshops and trainings around the country on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a yoga teacher with 20 years of experience, he leads workshops, retreats, teacher trainings, teaches at conferences, and runs the Resonance mentorship program for certified yoga teachers to find their niche and calling.&nb...

Reggie's yoga and meditation journey was born of curiosity; forged in adversity and has become a lesson in surrender to the miracles that exist in commitment to personal peace and wellbeing.   Adopting yogic discipline has saved his life and he is committed to sharing these practices far and wide to help others - regardless of their race, identity, orientation or economic status.  He has...

Wambui Njuguna-Räisänen is a Kenyan-American based in Finland, passionate about making wellness through yoga and meditation seamlessly engaged in equity and justice so that more people of the global majority can live well and thrive. Wambui is deeply inspired by spiritual teachers and communities that seek ways to apply the insights from our various practices and teachings to situations of social,...

Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings. Her work in this lifetime is to facilitate infinite, unstoppable ancestral love in practice. Her poetic work in response to the needs of her cherished communities has held space for multitudes in mourning and movement. Alexis’s co-edited volume Revolutionary Moth...

Meryl Arnett is a mama, meditation teacher, the creator of The Mindful Minute podcast, and the head of meditation for Shoreline meditation app. Her passion is introducing mindfulness in ways that are accessible to all of us. Meryl's meditation classes have been featured on CNN Headline News, WXIA-TV and Atlanta Magazine, and her podcast has been named a Top 10 meditation podcast. She has been teac...

Lama Rod Owens is an author, activist, and authorized Lama (Buddhist Teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Rod is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Lama Rod is visiting teacher with Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), a visiting teacher with Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Brooklyn Zen Center. Lama Rod has been a faculty memb...

Anjuli is a Pakistani American licensed marriage and family therapist, specializing in trauma, recovery, resilience, building and cultivating joy. She has 15 years of practice working with immigrant south Asian, middle Eastern Muslim, and LGBTQ plus populations. Sherin received her B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Mary Washington University and her M.A. from CIIS. She has trained and mentor...

Adriana Adelé, she/they, is a yoga facilitator and an advocate for collective well-being who studies and shares yoga as a practice of liberation. Through yoga, Adriana holds space for intentional movement, deep rest, Black holistic well-being, disruption of toxic dominant narratives, discernment in action, learning/unlearning, embodiment and affirmation of our eternal divine wholeness as individua...

Ashley Williams, MS, C-IAYT  is a Yoga Therapist and Mindfulness Educator with 12 years experience in the fields of education, behavioral and mental health and community programming in Richmond, VA.  As a builder and weaver, she bridges mindfulness, diversity, wellness and inclusion on micro and macro-levels to achieve equitable, socially stable and conscious spaces for individual and co...

Shakira practices a natural dance called Rhythmic Bloom to recreate what it means to flow through her life’s journey. During her undergraduate studies, she awakened to the systemic rules of wellness, boosting her interest in alternative healing methods that support the whole person. The catalyst to her embodiment of wellness sparked during her training to become a Licensed Massage and Bodywork The...

Jivana Heyman, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s the author of the book, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body (Shambhala Publications 2019), as well as the forthcoming book, Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassio...

Named one of the “35 Under 35 in Wellness to Watch” by Wanderlust, Shannon Algeo is a celebrated speaker, writer, life coach, Yoga Nidra and meditation teacher. His popular podcast SoulFeed features interviews with iconic cultural and spiritual leaders like Deepak Chopra, Caroline Myss, Marianne Williamson, Danielle LaPorte, and many more. In his coaching practice, Algeo works with clients to heal...

Oneika Mays (LMT, E-RYT) transitioned to yoga and meditation from a 20 year career in corporate retail leadership over 10 years ago. Oneika used that experience to support social justice non-profits and teach meditation and yoga inside jails. Today, she is the first Mindfulness Coach at Rikers Island Correctional Facility.  At Rikers she works one-on-one with community members in a therapeuti...

What an amazing first season of Finding Refuge!! Thank you to all who listened, reached out, shared episodes, and went into their hearts to create a pathway for healing.  This episode is quite late. I wasn’t quite sure how to end Season 1. My friend and comrade, Tristan Katz , agreed to have a conversation with me about what’s been on my mind lately. This is a juicy conversation, and I hope y...

Kiesha, a full-time yoga teacher and trainer, has a respected and well-deserved reputation in the national yoga community. She is Co-Director of the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color™ and a member of the board of directors for Amplify and Activate, a nonprofit community that focuses on yoga as a form of self-care and social justice.  In addition to teaching through her own I Am Yoga organizatio...

This episode is a magical interview with my friend Seán Johnson.  Seán is a musician, storyteller, teacher-trainer, and sacred space-holder who has been teaching Yoga for the last 24 years. He is the founder of Wild Lotus Yoga in his native New Orleans, and Soul School, an online interdisciplinary spiritual immersion and Yoga teacher training program that focuses on teaching Yoga with skill a...

Syd Yang (they/them) is a mixed race/Taiwanese American queer/non-binary healer, intuitive counselor and writer who weaves together magic, possibility and intention as an energy healer in the world through their practice, Blue Jaguar Healing Arts. As someone who lives with depression and anxiety, and has recovered from severe eating disorders, Syd's work finds its resonance in the stories we each...