We come together to honour our African/Black Ancestors during Black History Month in the UK . We come home to our bodies, our minds to honour, heal and celebrate. We come home to remember the evolution of human life – our motherland -Africa
Coming Home is a reminder that racial healing and justice is part of every day life. We have gathered Buddhist and Mindfulness teachers of Afrikan descent from South Africa, UK and USA to honour our ancestors, our heritage and our contributions which has contributed to the culture, wisdom, wealth and development of countries around the world.
Each event is different, hosting different guests, themes which relate to our everyday living and will include meditation, talks, prayers, music and opportunities for you to engage in.
This session with Ralph Steele (USA), Nobantu Mpotolu (SA) and Dr Erica Ennis (UK) reminds us that we need to heal our minds and reconstruct our thinking – a route that takes us towards racial healing and justice. Daily we can transform anger, fear, prejudice, hate, grief and oppression. We can shape of our thinking, speech, and action as we reconnect with ourselves and one another.
Please offer donations for the time and commitment of the teachers. Use the link to donate in advance: paypal.me/BaTDANA
Ralph Steele, M.A., L.M.F.T., S.E.P., I.S.P., grew up in a Gullah speaking community in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. He is a Vietnam Veteran. In 2000 he completed a four year teacher training program with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was instrumental in establishing people-of-color retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, and Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. He has practiced, as an ordained monk, in the monasteries of Myanmar and Thailand with masters of Buddhist Psychology.
For the past forty-five years he has studied with Tibetan masters Ven. Kalu Rinpoche and Lobsang Lhalungpa, and worked on H.H. The Dalai Lama’s meditation team at a conference in San Francisco, as well as Zen and Hindu meditation masters. For thirty-two years he was the director of Life Transition Therapy, Inc a clinic offering meditation-based treatment for trauma, in Santa Fe, N.M. He is the founder and guiding teacher of Life Transition Meditation Center, offering online meditation classes and meditation-based trauma healing courses. Ralph is the author of “Tending The Fire: The Path of War and Meditation” – www.info@lifetransition.com
Nobantu Mpotulo has been a Buddhist Practitioner for 17 years, she believes that through allowing and embracing uncertainties to run their course we develop a capacity to abide in the madness of this world. This helps her not to be too triggered and nor to be reactive. Her courage in facing the madness of this world comes from a quote by Victor Frankl ‘Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom’. Nobantu completed a two year Community Dharma Leadership program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, U.S.A, and is accredited as a coach through International Coach Federation as a Professional Certified Coach. In the 90s Nobantu facilitated Truth and Reconciliation Workshops for both victims and perpetrators of violence in South Africa. She facilitates Leadership Development Workshops for UN Peace Keeping managers and leaders focusing on managing and leading with courage through the stressful situations, she also facilitates and leads self-care modules for USAID leaders based in challenging countries. Nobantu is a facilitator of peace circles. She uses Enneagram to help her clients integrate heart, head, intuition and their souls. She is an accredited Enneagram Teacher and Coach. Nobantu incorporates mindfulness in her everyday life, she uses this in mundane activities such as washing dishes and sweeping the floors. She also finds amazing benefits in integrating Mindfulness in leadership development.
Dr Erica McInnis is Director and Principal Clinical Psychologist with Nubia Clinical Psychology Training and Consultancy. Dr McInnis has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has over 15 years experience for the National Health Service (NHS).
Nubia Wellness and Healing specialises in African Centred approaches (Black Psychology) to improving emotional well-being in adults and children. She gained a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2016 to further her knowledge of African Centred approaches and put this knowledge to action. She is involved Emotional Emancipation Circles for healing and resilience building of people of African ancestry, facilitating training courses in African centred counselling and psychotherapy and providing African centred therapy in addition to other approaches.