Are You There, Universe?

Amidst global conversations and direct actions surrounding racial justice and activism, Jaimie and Sunny reflect on the role mindfulness can have not just in processing painful feelings but in sustaining social justice movements. Touching on issues of burnout, allyship, and internalized oppression, this episode reveals the power of mindfulness to move us into action in response to subtler and subtler forms of violence.

This episode draws on the insights of the below texts and resources, though they are not explicitly cited throughout:

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Frierie

Methodology of the Oppressed by Chela Sandoval

Melancholy of Race by Anne Cheng

All About Love and The Will to Change by Bell Hooks

“Healing Collective Trauma” Interview with Thomas Hüble: https://youtu.be/mExBoPftp8I

“Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex from an Indigenous Perspective”: http://www.indigenousaction.org/accomplices-not-allies-abolishing-the-ally-industrial-complex/comment-page-1/ 

Two college friends from Duke University reconnect after 8 years over a mindfulness and meditation social experiment. Through this chance encounter they reminisce about the disappointments and revelations of their twenties that brought them to seek spiritual answers and renew their sense of empowerment and purpose.