Banner art detail: Susan Thompson
Presenters: Rahil Rojiani & Guanping Chu
Date/Time:
June 2, 2021, 7:00-8:30 PM
UPDATED Workshop link: https://northeastern.zoom.us/
Description:
"Loving Our Shadows"
"These places of possibility within ourselves are dark because they are ancient and hidden; they have survived and grown strong through that darkness. Within these deep places, each of us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power." ~ Audre Lorde
The world has told us that our shadows do not belong. We have told ourselves that our shadows do not belong. So we struggle to hide our rage, our fear, and our shame, from the world and even from ourselves… often unsuccessfully. What could it mean to embrace these shadows? Could we imagine loving ourselves so fully that we can invite our shadows to sit beside us, be held, and receive the care and attention they’ve so long been asking for? What possibility, healing, and power might emerge? We’ll play with meditation, creative connection, and discussion to live out these questions. May this gentle trauma-informed exploration of our shadows help us get free, together.
Presenter Bios:
Rahil Rojiani (they/them) is a psychiatry resident at Cambridge Health Alliance, and a mindfulness facilitator and teacher through multiple secular and Buddhist lineages. They majored in Contemplative Studies at Brown University, and they have conducted mindfulness research in domains of neuroscience and addiction while at Yale University and a the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Worcester. They began teaching and facilitating meditation for healthcare professionals, community organizers, and people of color in New Haven as a medical student. A queer South Asian Ismaili Muslim, Rahil is dedicated to the intersection of social justice, contemplative practice, and somatic healing for collective liberation.
Rahil offers a People of Color Mindfulness Space weekly BY people of color, FOR all who identify as people of color (POC), indigenous, or non-white. We offer beginner-friendly mindfulness instruction, including teachings, guided meditations, and discussions. With a different topic each week, we explore how to ground in the body, work with our thoughts and emotions, and open our hearts to love and compassion. As we recuperate, explore our edges, and build community in the space, we support each other's growth and healing, learning to navigate today's world with more ease and wellbeing.
Guangping Chu (they/them) is a Boston public school teacher and mindfulness meditation facilitator. They have studied Political Science and Education as an undergraduate at Yale University and a graduate student at UMass Boston. Inside and outside of the classroom, Guangping aims to enact education as the practice of freedom. They practice Buddhist meditation, yoga, and cultural somatics, and they see these contemplative practices as integral to social justice and our collective liberation.
Click here for PDF workshop flyer
"Passageways: The Place of Possibility Within Us" is a 2021 Spring/Summer workshop series offered free of charge by the Transformative Action Project. TAP is an initiative of Violence Transformed and the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law. TAP is supported by funds from the Federal Victims of Crime Act of 1984. These VOCA funds are awarded by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance.