Team - Freedom Together

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We Are Your Community

Rarely if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.

- bell hooks

Lead Teachers

Heku Sa Shekem

Lead Teacher

Heku Sa Shekem

Lead Teacher

Hanif “Heku” Sa Shekem is the founder of Infinity Within, a transformational wellness program designed to bring one back to the awareness of Self. He offers a well-rounded approach to achieving inner peace and outer exuberance through his philosophy of bio-individuality, personal empowerment, holistic nutrition, intentional movement, mindfulness meditation, and stress reduction workshops. The guiding principle of Infinity Within is “Man Know Thyself”, inspired by the ancient Kemetians/Egyptians to embrace a lifestyle that promoted harmony in every facet of their daily lives. Currently, Heku offers healing opportunities through culturally specific journeys, genealogical mapping, storytelling, drumming and mindful awareness to multigenerational people of the African diaspora who suffer from the impact of intergenerational and ancestral traumas. He’s a teacher trainer for a mindfulness program designed by & for the BIPOC population. Heku is also a contemplative practitioner specializing in mental and behavioral health for high-acuity populations. As a facilitator in a virtual intensive outpatient program, he leads weekly telehealth group sessions, integrating psychotherapy with holistic practices. His expertise includes yoga, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and somatic techniques, offering immersive experiences to promote emotional resilience and healthy coping skills. With a commitment to compassionate care, Heku helps individuals navigate challenges and build tools for lasting mental and emotional well-being. Heku’s philosophy is that we’re all in this together, and that if the outer world is to be transformed, the process must begin within.

Uz Afzal

Lead Teacher

Uz Afzal

Lead Teacher

Uz is a South Asian author, speaker and mindfulness teacher, trained in the Plum Village tradition and in secular mindfulness and located in the UK. Uz is a lead trainer at the UK mental health charity, Mind, where she was part of a team that developed a ground-breaking Radical Self-Care course. Uz leads workshops on mindfulness, inclusion and EDI in a range of contexts and is known for her enthusiastic approach. She is particularly interested in welcoming all the intersecting aspects of people’s identities into mindfulness courses and to bringing creativity into her offerings as a way of uplifting marginalised communities and building connection, care and inclusiveness. As a former Trustee of the Mindfulness Network, sitting on the EDI board, Uz played an important role in contributing to the inclusive nature of the International Conference on Mindfulness in Bangor last year.

Tereza Gomes

Lead Teacher

Tereza Gomes

Lead Teacher

Tereza (she/her) has been teaching mindfulness for over 20 years. Her retreat in Sri Lanka with Godwin Samararatna , a retreat with Ayang Rinpoche in Bodhgaya, India, and teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1998 was a defining time for her. She has facilitated mindfulness workshops for health, social service professionals, therapists , educators, and others. As a supervisor for Master`s Students at the University of Manitoba and an instructor at the University of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Institute she teaches and mentors students in the practice and understanding of mindfulness. “I came into the world as a contemplative and was deeply influenced by a Catholic nun who was a mystic when I was a child.” She carries the essence of other wisdom traditions and is passionate about engaging the body through movement and the expressive arts . She has a Masters degree in Psychology, a Masters degree in Counseling and is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher through the Awareness Training Institute & The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Tereza is of Indian ancestry and has taught mindfulness to therapists and families in India.

Other methodologies include somatic experiencing, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, adult learning theory, and emergent strategy.

The journey to Freedom Begins here today.

Rosamaría Segura

Lead Teacher

Rosamaría Segura

Lead Teacher

Rosamaría is passionate about sharing mindfulness practices in communities with limited exposure to meditation and wellness modalities. She teaches in both Spanish and English in non-profit organizations, public schools, and people dedicated to socio-economic and environmental justice in Southern California, USA and refugee shelters in Tijuana, Mexico.Rosamaría has trained under the guidance of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, Trudy Goodman, etal. She completed the Buddhist Introduction to Chaplaincy Training at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, and Inelda’s End of Life Doula Training. She continues studying under the guidance of Jokai Blackwell Roshi. In addition to her spiritual practice, she brings decades of career experience and dedication through community organizing to protect civil rights of immigrants and refugees and promote worker rights and equitable healthcare access for all. Rosamaría holds an MA in Geography, BA in Cultural Geography and Urban Analysis, and an AA in Human Services and Psychology.

Regent Brown

Lead Teacher

Regent Brown

Lead Teacher

I am Regent Brown, a Black and Native American, disabled, gender expansive woman, who has been practicing contemplative practices in and out the workplace for almost 20 years. My career has been anchored in Human Resources through various industries, and I branched out to coaching and consulting to be able to focus my skills on supporting those who are curious and ready to remove barriers to full potential within their organizations and build thriving company cultures. Through use of my mindfulness training in work environments, I have been able to expand my personal practice weaving together my ancestral healing training and mindfulness to support my quest to flourish wholly in a society that does not want me to thrive. My personal story has had many twists including surviving cancer (twice), relocating during the pandemic, and being married for over a decade. These twists have only deepened my passion for practices that are fueled by awareness and accountability and support me showing up as my best self. I support my community and clients as a coach, circle keeper, trainer, healer, facilitator, and participant in interdependent community wellness. As a graduate of the first Freedom Together, Mindfulness Teacher Training Program, I am a part of a bountiful group of BIPOC meditation teachers working to weave mindfulness practices through their libratory work, relationships, and communities. To balance a busy work life, I am invested in my own wellness. This includes manifesting joy through activities like karaoke, visiting goats, traveling to photograph sunsets, gardening, playing with cats and discovering small parks while walking my 7 year old Corgi mix pup, Perkelsnertz.

Guangping Chu

Lead Teacher

Guangping Chu

Lead Teacher

Guangping Chu (all pronouns) loves to play with kids and trees. A recovering public school teacher, she is a radical educator and accomplice to unschooling, helping make space for kids to play, be free, connect with more than human worlds, and nourish their spiritual roots. They are also a steward of multiple mindfulness meditation communities centering QTBIPOC and community organizers. Guangping’s healing journey includes uprooting patriarchy and toxic masculinity, making reparations for intergenerational wealth, navigating chronic illness, learning their ancestral language(s), and being silly, to name a few threads. He is a queer, mixed race, Chinese American heritage Buddhist and ordained member of Tiếp Hiện, in the Vietnamese Plum Village tradition.

Guest Faculty

Bonnie Duran

Professor Emeritus in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington

Bonnie Duran

Professor Emeritus in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington

Bonnie Duran met the Dharma in 1982 when she sat a month at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and learned Vipassana in Bodh Gaya India. Since then, she has taken teachings from many western teachers including Marcia Rose, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield, as well as Thai, Burmese, and Tibetan Monastic teachers. Bonnie is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS)/Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) retreat teacher-training program. She is now a core-teacher of the SRMC Dedicated Practitioners Program and is on the SRMC Guiding Teachers Council. Bonnie teaches long and short retreats at IMS, Spirit Rock and in other communities, and is also involved in Native American spiritual practices and traditions. Bonnie was introduced to the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition through her partner and is now happily studying and practicing in that tradition as well. She is a contributor to Hilda Gutiérrez Baldoquin book, Dharma, Color and Culture: New Voices in Western Buddhism and has written for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tricycle, and the Turning Wheel. Dr. Duran is a Professor Emeritus in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington and is also faculty at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. Her academic work is primarily with Tribal, Urban Indian and International Indigenous communities.

Dzung X. Vo, MD

Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh

Dzung X. Vo, MD

Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh

Dzung X. Vo, MD, (pronouns: he/him; how to pronounce) is a second generation Vietnamese American Canadian who grew up in a Vietnamese Buddhist family. His root teacher is Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. Dzung was ordained as a lay member of the Order of Interbeing by Thích Nhất Hạnh in 2013 at Deer Park Monastery, California, with the Dharma name, Chân Tấn Uyển, True Garden of Diligence. He is also a pediatrician specializing in Adolescent Medicine, founding Director of the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness, and a Clinical Associate Professor and Division Head for the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dzung is the author of The Mindful Teen: Powerful Skills to Help You Handle Stress One Moment at a Time.

Jeanne Corrigal

guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community

Jeanne Corrigal

guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community

Jeanne Corrigal is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and a graduate of the 2017-2021 IMS teacher training program. She deeply appreciates metta and nature based practices. She has been practicing since 1999, and is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner and Community Dharma Leader Programs. Jeanne is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy (IFOT), is a certified MBSR teacher, and she has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She is Métis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee. Jeanne Corrigal is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and a graduate of the 2017-2021 IMS teacher training program. She deeply appreciates metta and nature based practices. She is certified with Indigenous Focusing Oriented Trauma Therapy, is a certified MBSR teacher, and has trained with Mindful Schools and Somatic Experiencing. She is Métis, and one of her first teachers in loving presence was Cree Elder Jim Settee.

Lama Rod Owens

author, activist, & authorized Lama (Buddhist Teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism

Lama Rod Owens

author, activist, & authorized Lama (Buddhist Teacher) in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism

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. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School where he focused on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. He is the author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger, and a co-author of Radical Dharma, Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, which explores race in the context of American Buddhist communities. Lama Rod has been a teacher with the Daishin Zen Buddhist Temple, the Urban Yoga Foundation, Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme), a visiting teacher with Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Brooklyn Zen Center. He has been a faculty member for the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s professional education program in mindfulness for educators and has served as a guest faculty member for the school’s course Mindfulness for Educators. Lama Rod has been published and featured in several publications including Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Spirit Magazine. He has offered talks, retreats, and workshops for many organizations and universities including New York University, Yale University, Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Tufts University, University of Vermont, and Boston College. Lama Rod can be reached at www.lamarod.com.

Pawan Bareja, PhD

Change Facilitator, and Practitioner of Vipassana meditation.

Pawan Bareja, PhD

Change Facilitator, and Practitioner of Vipassana meditation.

Pawan Bareja, PhD has practiced Vipassana meditation since 2001. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Teacher Training, a Buddhist Ritual Minister and a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock. She has taught classes and daylongs on healing trauma using mindfulness at Spirit Rock, San Francisco Insight, EBMC, and Esalen. In her private practice as Trauma Resolution Practitioner, Pawan works with a diverse population of clients and teaches mindfulness meditation. For the past 18 years, Pawan has been a senior assistant at Somatic Experiencing trauma healing trainings and has traveled to India to teach this work to professional care providers.

Building an amazing Community To Freedom

Dr. Larry Ward

Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's

Dr. Larry Ward

Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's

Dr. Larry Ward (pronouns- he/him) is a senior teacher in Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition, author of the book America's Racial Karma, and co-author with his wife Peggy of Love's Garden, A Guide To Mindful Relationships. Dr. Ward brings twenty five years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his work as director of the Lotus Institute and as an advisor to the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Drucker School of Management. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation. Larry is a knowledgeable, charismatic and inspirational teacher, offering insights with personal stories and resounding clarity that express his dharma name, “True Great Sound.”

Fresh “Lev” White

certified coach and Founder of Affirmative Acts Consulting

Fresh “Lev” White

certified coach and Founder of Affirmative Acts Consulting

Fresh “Lev” White is a love and compassion activist. He offers mindfulness, mediation, and diversity trainings as tools for shifting towards more authentic, conscious, and passionate living. He teaches and writes about how unconditional love and self-compassion are the ultimate gateways to honoring and understanding others; thus, healing our communities and our planet. Lev is spiritually grounded in nature, the East Bay Meditation Center, Kehilla Synagogue, Spirit Rock Meditation Center and beyond. He credits his ability to reach and connect with diverse audiences to his years growing up in and around diverse communities in New York, D.C., and San Francisco. Lev aka Fresh is contributor to Real World Mindfulness for Beginners; Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices; and Trans Bodies; Trans Selves. Visit Lev’s website here: https://affirmativeacts.org/

Cathy-Mae

Global Facilitator in Women and Racial Justice

Cathy-Mae

Global Facilitator in Women and Racial Justice

Cathy-Mae Karelse Ph.D turns grand plans for the development of equity, diversity and inclusion into practical strategies and programs that deliver results. She has 20+ years of expertise in systems change and works with corporates, governments, higher education institutions, communities, and global programs to establish policies, processes and social strategies of belonging, engagement, wellbeing, and growth. As a facilitator, trainer and change maker, Cathy-Mae leverages difference to create sustainable transformation across sectors, institutions, and societies. By working with multiple, diverse stakeholders, she mobilizes community and/or company values, knowledges and talents for collective wellness, innovation and thriving. She works in ‘snowy peak’ contexts and addresses hard issues of belonging in ways that build forward-facing institutions that lead in areas of anti-discrimination, innovation and inclusive futures. Dr Karelse also has expertise in equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging, individual and social wellbeing, project and people development, internal and external stakeholder engagement and networking, coaching, learning, programme design, implementation, and audit. As part of a global team, Cathy-Mae has worked on gender and racial justice across four continents. As an action learner, she has completed a doctoral thesis from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London with a cross-disciplinary focus on critical social change. Forthcoming 2023 book: Disrupting White Mindfulness: Race and Racism in the Wellbeing Industry, MUP.

Kaira Jewel Lingo

Dharma teacher

Kaira Jewel Lingo

Dharma teacher

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in spirituality and social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption from Parallax Press. Her teachings and writings can be found at www.kairajewel.com.

Ofosu

Meditation Teacher and Musician

Ofosu

Meditation Teacher and Musician

Ofosu Jones-Quartey is a meditation teacher and musician from the Washington DC area. He has been teaching mindfulness and meditation to young people and adults since 2004. He is currently the male voice on the Balance meditation app and he teaches meditation and mindfulness classes and retreats around the country. Ofosu has taught and led retreats at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, The Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, Brooklyn Zen Center, Cleveland Insight and more. He has lead mindfulness workshops for both educators and students at multiple schools around the country. Ofosu is also an accomplished hip hop artist and author. Performing under the name “Born I” he recently released an album entitled "In This Moment" and has performed at the Kennedy Center in support of the project. His live events are considered a hip-hop and meditation experience and he is a member of the DC Chapter of the Recording Academy. In November of 2022, Ofosu released a children’s book “Love Your Amazing Self”, a collection of lyrical meditations for young people and families via Storey Publishing. Ofosu’s philosophy is that everyone is deserving of their own love and compassion and that inner work is the way in which we begin to change the world for the better. All of the work he does in the world is meant to support this idea. Ofosu currently lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife and their four children. "As someone who has suffered from anxiety,depression, intrusive thoughts and more, the practice of mindfulness and meditation, beginning with being present and kind to one's own self, continues to save my life every day." - Ofosu Jones-Quartey

Founding Steering Committee

*Denotes Guest faculty

Dawa Tarchin Phillips *

International Meditation Teacher and Mindful Leadership Expert

Dawa Tarchin Phillips *

International Meditation Teacher and Mindful Leadership Expert

Dawa is an international mindfulness and meditation teacher and a non-sectarian Buddhist practitioner for over thirty years, and an authorized lama of the Kagyu School of Vajrayana Buddhism. He has done groundbreaking research with MIT, Harvard, Yale, UCSB, and the U.S. Office of Education on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, and is a contributing author for Mindful magazine, Tricycle magazine, and Lion’s Roar.

Jay Hawkins

mindfulness meditation

Jay Hawkins

mindfulness meditation

Jay is a creative, healing circle facilitator, community-based researcher, fitness trainer, and equity consultant. As a project manager, Jay has led dozens of behavioral health and racial equity focused initiatives across early education, behavioral health, and community-based sectors. Currently, Jay directs a multi-site mindful parenting program that serves 1,500 families and school-based providers in wards 7 & 8 in Washington, DC.

Margarita Loinaz, MD *

Meditation Teacher

Margarita Loinaz, MD *

Meditation Teacher

Margarita is a retired public health physician and prior clinical faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a meditation teacher within the Tibetan and Theravada traditions and trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts under Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. In the 1990's she was instrumental in the efforts to make meditation centers more inclusive and co-organized the first People of Color Retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 1999. She is originally from the Dominican Republic.

Vimalasara Mason-John M.A., hon. PhD, *

Author and co-founder of Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery MBAR.

Vimalasara Mason-John M.A., hon. PhD, *

Author and co-founder of Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery MBAR.

Vimalasara is an award winning author of 10 books, including Detox Your Heart, Meditations for Emotional Trauma, I'm Still Your Negro: An Homage to James Baldwin, and the New Voices talk Black Liberation, Buddhism and Beyond. They are African British Canadian, based in Vancouver, and are the co-founder of Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery MBAR, an 8 week in person, 4 week online mindfulness course.

Tere Abdala

Meditation Teacher | InsightLA

Tere Abdala

Meditation Teacher | InsightLA

For the past 9 years, Tere returned to the business world as the president of a large multinational company in Mexico City, incorporating the benefits of mindfulness even in the corporate world.Tere is an authorized Spirit Rock teacher and facilitates mindfulness groups in both Spanish and English. Her heart is set on sharing the Dharma in the world in novel ways accessible to larger communities and the less privileged.

Gaylon Ferguson, PhD *

Author of Natural Wakefulness and Natural Bravery

Gaylon Ferguson, PhD *

Author of Natural Wakefulness and Natural Bravery

Gaylon received his doctorate in cultural anthropology from Stanford University, taught for fifteen years at Naropa University and has led group meditation retreats since 1976. He is African American, based in the United States and has also spent time in Nigeria as a student and practitioner of Yoruba spirituality.

Satyani K.L. McPherson *

Founder of Kozmique Light Meditations

Satyani K.L. McPherson *

Founder of Kozmique Light Meditations

Satyani K.L. McPherson, Founder of Kozmique Light Meditations, is an Awareness Mentor who facilitates introspective self-care practices, trainings, and retreats for individuals, corporations, conferences, and schools, including her alma mater, Wellesley College. She is a founding board member of mindfulness organizations serving communities of color and incarcerated citizens, and is certified to teach meditation, mindful movement, and naturopathic reiki. Through indigenous awareness practices, Sister Satyani passionately supports self-empowerment of people striving to evolve while living more consciously as awareness in action. Born in Harlem, NY where her meditation and yoga practices began in 1985; Satyani identifies as human; her ancestors are African, Hawaiian, English, Chinese, and Choctaw. She enjoys music, dance, yoga, meditation, nondual teachings, international travel, nature, and life with her beloved husband in the Washington, DC Metro Area. May we open our heart/minds, as the infinite potentiality of our true nature, aware presence. Kozmique Light Meditations

Email:SatyaniMcPherson@gmail.com

Marisela Gomez *

Professor of Social Work at York University in Canada.

Marisela Gomez *

Professor of Social Work at York University in Canada.

Marisela Gomez MD PHD. Meditation teacher in Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, co-founder Village of Love and Resistance; (if we increase the bio content this can be added: co-leads Baltimore and Beyond Mindfulness Community and BIPOC sangha Garrison Institute; author Race, Class, Power and Organizing in East Baltimore.)

Uz Afzal *

Author, Speaker and Mindfulness Teacher

Uz Afzal *

Author, Speaker and Mindfulness Teacher

Uz is a South Asian author, speaker and mindfulness teacher, trained in the Plum Village tradition and in secular mindfulness and located in the UK. She is known for her enthusiastic approach and has enjoyed leading mindfulness sessions at the Women of the World Festival and popular walking meditations at the V&A Museum in London. She is a Trustee of the Mindfulness Network and sits on the EDI board looking at ways to broaden the reach of mindfulness and make it more inclusive.

Stewards

*Denotes Guest Faculty

Joy Anderson

Director of Operations

Joy Anderson

Director of Operations

Co-ED of Finance Joy is a nonprofit management and racial equity strategist, who has spent nearly two decades exploring the intersection of race, ethnicity, culture, and health. She is committed to driving real and lasting change through concerted multidisciplinary approaches rooted in community, organizational, societal, and policy change. Her nonprofit footprint includes serving in the capacity of chief executive officer, founding director, consultant, treasurer, and committee chair. As a lifelong learner, she maintains specialist certifications in diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as health services administration and health education.

Heather Goltz

Director of Programs

Heather Goltz

Director of Programs

Trailblazers

Singhashri Gazmuri

Curriculum Consultant

Singhashri Gazmuri

Curriculum Consultant

Singhashri is a queer, Latinx-American dharma teacher and writer, secular mindfulness teacher, trainer, and supervisor, strategic planner, facilitator, and coach. They teach mindfulness and compassion as a means to awakening to love, beauty and truth, and have committed their life to supporting collective liberation for all and the joy and freedom found there. They teach at various retreat and urban centres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and support a number of projects and people to create greater diversity and inclusion within Buddhist sanghas and the secular mindfulness field. They currently live in London with their partner.

Renata Moreira

Project Manager

Renata Moreira

Project Manager

Renata is a leader in executive coaching, strategic communications, and trainings for organizations and individuals working to liberate themselves & their communities. They/she is a former nonprofit executive director, co-founder of 2 social justice and arts organizations, and recovering academic. Renata's interdisciplinary toolbox includes trauma-informed mindfulness, decolonial leadership coaching, and spiritual & expressive arts practices. Renata was born and raised in Brazil, is of Xucuru-Kariri Indigenous and Portuguese ancestry, and is based in Huchiun, unceded Lisjan/Ohlone territory with their daughter.

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Viveka Chen*

Principal Consultant co-Lab Collective LLC

Viveka Chen*

Principal Consultant co-Lab Collective LLC

Ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1997, Viveka (she/they) teaches Buddhism and meditation grounded in an intersectional race and gender justice analysis that disrupts the colonization of dharma teachings. Viveka is committed to exploring liberatory practices that are embodied, strengths-based, sensitive to trauma and inviting of joy and healing. As an integral expression of their dharma life, they have worked for 30 years social, racial, gender, economic, environmental and healing justice as a leadership and somatic coach, a facilitator, trainer and organizational development consultant. The child of Chinese immigrants, Viveka lives on Ramaytush Ohlone land (San Francisco) with life partner René Perez.

Bea Anderson

Head of Faculty

Bea Anderson

Head of Faculty

B. born on Turtle Island to parents of Black Choctaw and Jamaican Maroon lineage, serves as the Head of Faculty for Freedom Together and Founding Director for Song Of the Spirit Institute. A Black and Indigenous led education and advocacy network, that centers the sustainability, health and well being of Indigenous peoples and lands across the globe. B.’s background as an organizer, liberatory educator over 30 years, a somatic trauma therapy practitioner and social impact entrepreneur, shape their pedagogy in mindfulness education. Their spiritual development in the dharma formally began in 2007, spanning across the Mahayana and Theravada schools of Buddhism as a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism, Tiếp Hiện/Vietnamese Zen lineage of Thích Nhất Hạnh, Soto Zen and the Insight tradition. In 2016 became aborisha or student of Ifa, a West African earth based faith rooted in awareness, a reverence for nature and honoring of one's ancestors.