Purpose
A Mindfulness Teacher Program Designed for and by Black, Indigenous People of Color
“Interbe,” as defined by Thich Nhat Hanh
“To be” is to inter-be. The truth is that everything contains everything else. We cannot just be, we can only inter-be. We are a continuation of all life before us and all life after us. We belong to each other. We are responsible for everything that happens around us. Through the fruits of mindfulness, we can sustain a life of action and become instruments of peace, together.
History
Freedom Together, a mindfulness teacher training program for and by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) was collaboratively founded by leading members of the BIPOC mindfulness community from the United States, Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Its leadership and faculty are of African Descent, Asian, South East Asian, Indigenous and Latinx backgrounds. The program was developed by a dedicated Steering Committee composed of Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Vimalasara Mason-John, Margarita Loinaz, Jay Hawkins, Marisela Gomez, Renita Wong, Satyani Mc Pherson, Bonnie Duran, Tere Abdala, Gaylon Ferguson and Uz Afzal; and supported by Renata Moreira as Program Manager and Singhashri Gazmuri as the program’s curriculum consultant.
The Co-Executive Director is Joy Anderson.
Sincere appreciation goes to Kataly Foundation, Hemera Foundation and the individual and institutional supporters who strengthened our ability to bring this important project into reality by supporting its vision, mission and values. We aim to continue expanding our partnerships with aligned Foundations, institutions and donors. Please contact us if you are interested in finding out more details about our long terms goals and how to partner with Freedom Together.
Mission and Vision
Mission
Provide BIPOC trainees with high-quality and transformative teacher training to become internationally certified mindfulness teachers who offer culturally appropriate programs within their field(s) of interest.
Vision
Cultivating a thriving community of BIPOC mindfulness teachers who are impacting lives and advancing collective global liberation.
The values That Guide Us
We strive for Collective Liberation
We commit to centering wisdom, dignity, and resiliency of BIPOC individuals and communities. We continuously do our work to remain aware and empower each other to confront (the impact of) racism, colonialism and oppression in individuals, organizations, and our communities.
We advance Equity & Justice
We are committed to ensuring that all members of our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities have equitable access and opportunities to resources based on their needs to reach their full potential and thrive.
We Care for Community
We believe that real relationships require a commitment to authentic engagements and deep partnerships—built on a foundation of trust, justice and respect. We work to match intent and impact in interactions, proactively resolve conflicts across differences in productive and mindful ways.
We promote Self Care & Balance
Our success depends upon our creativity, imagination, and sense of the possible. These require rest and work-life balance. As a species on this planet, we strive for balance with nature. As an organization, we strive for balance between regional and global needs, and between board members, faculty, and staff.
We act with Compassion & Kindness
We move towards the path of awakened heart/mind and least harm towards ourselves, others, and the planet. We deeply value interbeing, intersectionality, and the interconnectedness of humanity.
We work in Collaboration
We believe in mindful, non-hierarchical relationships and value collaboration and collective action over individual success. We understand that leadership is a collaborative endeavor where all viewpoints are welcome.
We Celebrate Authenticity
We value and celebrate the differences among and within all Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities and embody “beginners’ mind,” as lifetime learners. We embrace different cultural practices and cultivate a workplace where all can authentically show up in their multiple, multicultural identities.
We celebrate Decolonial Leadership
Colonialism-based organizational cultures are built around dividing, controlling, and exploiting. We strive to decolonize our leadership practices and culture by building a new paradigm of connection, deep relationships and belonging among our team, teachers, trainees and supporters. Our leaders work to undo cycles of abuse and allow plenty of space for healing and mindful collaborations.
Why BIPOC Mindfulness? Why now?
Currently, in the United States, all accredited mindfulness teacher training programs are founded and operated by non-BIPOC teachers. This is a critical issue that needs to be corrected. Freedom Together aims to meet the dire need in the mindfulness field for Black Indigenous and POC teachers that deeply understand – from lived experience – the challenges BIPOC people face around the world (e.g. direct or implicit violence, marginalization, economic disparity and other inequities, exploitation, etc).
We do recognize the many mindfulness teacher training programs across the globe that have integrated cultural sensitivity and competency topics into their curriculum, and also see the need for a program that stands apart from the norm by being founded, led, advised, designed and operated exclusively by leaders and teachers of color.
This will allow BIPOC-led program to meet the needs of teachers and communities of color and specifically develop teachers of color with an ingrained understanding for their limitless potential for leadership and their ability to be self determined in a field that is almost exclusively dominated by white mainstream culture.
We recognize that besides state of the art mindfulness teacher training, mindfulness teachers of color also need training in what it means to think outside of mainstream culture, set up their own programs, serve their own constituencies and build their own economies. Therefore, this program will not only help to create great BIPOC-identified teachers, but also contribute to building a mindfulness ecosystem away from the grip of dominant mainstream culture.
Additionally, most respected mindfulness training programs are centered around one or two well-known teachers, while Freedom Together is centered in and around community. Teachers work collaboratively to bring forth a program that models a different kind of knowledge, experience, and skill sharing—less hierarchical and more collegial in alignment with the cultural practices of most non-white non-colonial cultures. We are proud to be the 1st global program fully designed and led BY Black, Indigenous, Asian, POC mindfulness teachers and leaders FOR aspiring BIPOC mindfulness teachers.
What does BIPOC mean?
The acronym BIPOC is a limited and evolving one. We have selected to use it at this time to signal that this project was entirely conceived and developed by & for folks from the Global Majority – Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, mixed ethnicities, indigenous to the global south, and others members who have been racialized as ‘ethnic minorities’ despite the fact that our people are the majority (80%) of this world’s population.
Regional and National Definitions
More often than not, People of Color (POC) has often been used in scholarship and organizing to encompass all non-white people. Yet different nations, regions, and communities may call for a more nuanced definition of the term or an alternative acronym to reflect their cultural realities without centering U.S. based terms. BAME, for instance, is an acronym most often used in the UK and stands for Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic.
Freedom Together, however, is based out of California, United States, where the term BIPOC is widely used to highlight the unique relationship to whiteness that Indigenous and Black (African Americans) people have. At Freedom Together, we center relationships among BIPOC folks and aim to build authentic and lasting solidarity among all Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in order to undo Native invisibility, anti-Blackness, dismantle white supremacy and advance liberation and justice. And we do acknowledge the actual acronym is limited.
Limitations: Potentially, by lumping all these groups of rich cultures and peoples histories together, the “BIPOC” acronym may imply that all non-white people have similar experiences as people of color. Hence it fails to articulate the differential ways that racialized people experience race, racism, and colonialism. We are also aware that scholarship and discourse of race, racism, and colonialism in most nations is very different than in the U.S. We honor such reality and are committed to keep expanding definitions to honor peoples’ histories across the globe and regional understandings of their experience.