Practice:
Thought Party (“mindfulness of thinking”) and Group Journaling
What if your voice is the medicine that the world desperately needs? Join Jamia Wilson (movement builder, storyteller, and executive director of the Feminist Press) and Lisa Weinert (publishing expert, yoga teacher and founder of Narrative Healing) in a session to help us bring awareness to the stories we unconsciously tell and shift our narratives to find our power.
This session will start with a mindful contemplation practice, guided by series host Kate Johnson, to increase your awareness of your story without being trapped by it. A discussion on harnessing the power of the story to inspire healing in individuals and community will follow. Then put these skills into practice with facilitated journaling prompts and opportunities for sharing and discussion with incredible guests.
About Compassionate Action
How can we cultivate the power within us to balance the power between us? Join meditation teacher Kate Johnson, co-creator and host of Compassionate Action, a series of interactive evenings with artists, changemakers, culture creators, and healers who leverage the power of spirit to fuel their transformative work in the world. Each session will include a conversation, a meditation, and an activity to integrate the learnings. You will have a chance to strengthen your skills to access the clarity, connection, and courage needed to effect change in challenging times. We hope you will leave fortified, inspired, and more skilled to turn your wise intentions into compassionate action.
About the Speakers
Jamia Wilson is many things: An activist. A feminist. A storyteller. A mediamaker. But more than anything, she is a natural-born thought leader. As Executive Director and Publisher of Feminist Press at the City University of New York, the former Women, Action, and the Media Executive Director, TED Prize Storyteller, and former Vice President of Programs at The Women’s Media Center, Jamia has been a powerful force in the social justice movement for nearly a decade. As a leading voice on feminist and women’s rights issues, her work and words have appeared in and on several outlets such as New York Magazine, The Today Show, and The Washington Post. She is also a staff writer for Rookie and has contributed to several books such as Madonna and Me: Women Writers on the Queen of Pop and I Still Believe Anita Hill. Jamia is currently writing a book about Beyonce and feminism. It’s no surprise she was named in Refinery29’s “17 Faces of the Future of Feminism.”
Jamia has spoken alongside feminist greats like Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda. A true next generation leader, she has graced the stage at events such as TED Women, Netroots Nation, and Facing Race, and she travels across the United States and beyond to college campuses to talk about race, feminism, spirituality, leadership, and more.
Lisa Weinert is passionate about the power of storytelling to heal and transform lives. For the past 15 years, she has worked with hundreds of award-winning and bestselling authors as an editor, publicist, and literary coach, including Dani Shapiro, Oliver Sacks, Andrew Solomon, and Mary Gaitskill. Alongside her publishing career, she has been a committed yoga student and teacher, with specialities in restorative, therapeutic and trauma-informed yoga. She believes yoga and writing go hand in hand—each unlock the stories we carry. She is the founder of Narrative Healing, a program that combines meditation, yoga, and writing to help writers (re)connect to their bodies, and feel empowered to launch their work into the world. She offers personalized holistic literary coaching, as well as group workshops, courses, immersions through the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Wesleyan University, and The Authors Guild.
Kate Johnson works at the intersections of spiritual practice, social action, and creativity. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation in the Western Insight/Theravada tradition since her early twenties and is empowered to teach through Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School at Fordham University and an MA in performance studies from NYU.
Kate is a core faculty member of MIT’s Presencing Institute and has trained hundreds of leaders and changemakers in Social Presencing Theater, a mindfulness and dance improvisation methodology used to inform strategic planning and systems change in our complex world.