After the 2016 election, I felt like my protesting wasn’t making a difference. I told a friend I needed to do something uplifting and immediately saw an online post from someone who was feeling suicidal. I knew this was a chance to focus on grounding and community instead of anger and fear. At the time, I hadn’t posted my face on social media, made a group, or gone live. But I made a post asking if anyone wanted a meditation group. Overnight, I received more than 100 yeses!

I made a group and went live within a week, and for almost 18 months, I went live weekly combining activism and meditation. As the group grew to more than 1,000 people (mostly white women), I ended up spending more time teaching antiracism than anything else. I used my background as a community builder, change maker, and art/meditation teacher to create my first course on anti-oppression as my own business, instead of doing it as part of a job for someone else.

Now I coach others to let go of blame, shame, and guilt so it's easier to learn and take meaningful action. After 25+ years of teaching the dynamics of race, oppression, privilege, power, and equality, I know that when you deal with your emotions first, learning the facts and doing something different are so much easier.

Self-care is critical to sustaining social justice, and that’s why I teach social equity as a habit. Habits use less physical and mental energy, give you room to make mistakes, allow incremental steps, and expand your comfort zone so that anti-oppression becomes your go-to way of thinking, being, and doing.