Mindfulness and Healing Justice

We believe that healing and contemplative practices are indispensable to movement building and the liberation of Black and Indigenous people, and all communities of color. Healing justice is not an add-on, but part of the foundational work that creates the conditions for deep personal and social transformation to occur. 

People impacted by systemic oppression must be supported to reclaim and reconnect to the power of mindfulness, spiritual practices, and ancestral cultural traditions in order to build the strength and leadership necessary for systemic change.

The Mindfulness and Healing Justice (MHJ) program builds power by redistributing resources to mindfulness and healing justice organizations, networks, and practitioners. 

Specifically, MHJ supports Black, Indigenous and people of color healers, teachers, practitioners, organizations, and spaces where mindfulness, healing and transformational practice are held and sustained in the service of building the long-term power and well-being of our communities.

 

Bobby Harris learning traditional Kente threading at the original home of kente cloth. Photo courtesy of Mass Liberation Project.

 

 

Visual notes from the Kataly retreat in April 2022

How MHJ supports the field:

  • Building and strengthening Black, Indigenous and people of color-led mindfulness and healing justice organizations working within communities most impacted by systemic oppression. We are prioritizing Black and Indigenous communities, working class communities impacted by incarceration, criminalization, and deportation, youth, and queer, trans and non-binary communities.
  • Deepening the leadership pipeline for mindfulness teachers and healing justice practitioners from Black, Indigenous and all communities of color, who are rooted in community and focused on the use of these practices as a tool for building power and collective liberation.
  • Land liberation, rematriation and capital projects aimed at creating Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led spaces for mindfulness, healing and transformative practice. We prioritize collective ownership and governance and geographic areas where there are fewer such spaces, including the South, Midwest, and rural areas.

Prentis Hemphill, CEO of the Embodiment Institute, reflects on the connections between organizing, healing, and power-building, and the need for collective transformation, during the webinar hosted by the MHJ team in 2021.

To hear more, listen to the full webinar.

Find a list of our
grantee partners in our grantee database.

The Mindfulness and Healing Justice Team