30 Black Women Healing & Gettin Free
In the wake of the latest uprisings for racial justice, I felt called to step up and support Black liberation in my own way. I believe in the power of our personal transformation as an integral piece of collective liberation. In the midst of demands for change, and a simultaneous global pandemic, I decided to create a scholarship fund to make my holistic healing services accessible, specifically for Black women experiencing financial burden.
The inspiration for this project was sparked by one of my clients, Meg Miller, who graciously offered to sponsor a Black woman participating in my Chakra Yoga Course. It was a brilliant idea and led me to welcome others to do the same by creating The Black Women’s Healing Fund.
When I think about the magic of Black women, I consider the barriers standing in the way of us fully realizing our power. Misogynoir is the unique intersection of oppression Black women experience based on their race and gender. This multilayered discrimination burdens Black women with the need to heal, rest, and dream far beyond the limitations of systemic and internalized oppression to become self-actualized.
The impacts of misogynoir are visible early on via criminalization in schools, disproportionate rates of sexual trauma in adolescence and beyond, and continue into adulthood with the pay gap Black women experience, barriers to funding their business ideas, health care disparities, poor maternity care and high rates of infant mortality, and unfortunately the list goes on. All of this contributes to a burden Black women shoulder financially and emotionally. This is why it's crucial we create space and contribute resources for Black women healing.
Many people were looking for ways to contribute to racial justice and find their role amidst the largest civil rights movement in the U.S. One powerful way to get involved is to redistribute wealth, and health is wealth. Contributing to Black women healing is a powerful way to transcend allyship, and be a co-liberator. When you donate to support one of the most marginalized, and simultaneously deeply magical, groups of people to heal — you are helping heal the world.
I set a goal of raising $3,000 to offer 30 Black women scholarships. Within 3 days I had surpassed my goal and raised $3,300! I received over 60 applications from Black women across the world interested in participating in the program.
The group kicked off on September 24th 2020 for a seven week journey of holistic healing.
We co-created a community of dope, powerful, badass women. Survivors. Cycle breakers healing generational trauma. Queer and straight folks. Black and biracial women. Fat, skinny, curvy, thick baddies and everythang in between. Healers, those seeking healing, and folks ready to empower their community with the tools to heal.
Many of the participants shared a longing to heal alongside fellow Black women, and it was a perfect moment in time for us to come together to support one another through uncertain times amidst a global pandemic and uprisings for racial justice. I know that when we heal ourselves, we help heal the world. Our rest is a form of resistance, and the more that we embody the values of justice and transformation that we wish for in the world, within ourselves and our communities, the closer we get to collective liberation.
In my Chakra Yoga Course, we uncover how past stress and traumas are impacting one's personality, emotional and physical health. In the course, we identify the areas of one’s life that need a little extra love and provide tools for healing and transformation including yoga, plant based nutrition, chakra education, meditation, open discussion, supportive community, and more.
We focused on one chakra per week. On Thursday evenings, we spent 1.5 hours together as a large group. In that session, I facilitated chakra education about the energy center of the week, answered questions, and guided us through a yoga and meditation practice to embody the lessons we explored. I also offered small group discussions throughout the week for participants to connect with one another more intimately and reflect on their personal experiences with the concepts they were learning.
Over the seven weeks diving into the chakras, we discussed rest and (re)connection to land for root chakra healing, and honoring our ancestors crown chakra activation. Black speculative imagination and prophetic visioning for our third eye chakra. Decolonizing our sexuality and self-pleasure to experience sensual and sexual liberation for the sacral chakra. We explored how the dynamics of privilege, power and oppression impact our solar plexus chakra and feelings of self-worth and empowerment. How racialized trauma is stored in the body, and somatic practices to release that trauma holistically. We discussed abolition and transformative justice as heart healing practices. It was SO powerful!!
I’ll let testimonials from the participants speak for me:
This course was life-changing. I have struggled to find a Black yoga space and this filled that void. The ability to connect with Black women and femmes around the world was exciting and unique and felt like a collective diasproric embrace! To be able to heal and explore ourselves together is a revolutionary act. 🖤✊🏽 - Bri Carpenter
Brialle is so incredibly kind, thoughtful and knowledgeable about what she does. I’m grateful to have been able to learn from her and the other wonderful femmes in this program. This program has helped me to develop the courage to deal with my shadow self and do the work. I was so inspired by the journeys of all the other participants and witnessing their growth helped me to believe in myself and my potential heal. Prior to this program I only thought of food as a means to losing weight of comforting myself from negative emotions, but Brialle taught me the healing power of plant based eating in a spiritual-emotional sense and I will carry this with me for the rest of my life. - Talia Sharpp
Before I started this course, my mental health was deteriorating. I felt so alone and felt that I had lost a part of myself. Throughout the duration of this course, I discovered how much hidden trauma and pain I had. This course allowed me to tap into that pain and heal. Forgive myself for the mistakes I’ve made, trauma I’ve endured, and others that have wronged me. Also teaching me so many valuable self-care practices of which I now incorporate into my daily life such as breathing exercises, meditating, and journaling. This journey has been truly magical, and I am extremely honored to be a part of such a life changing experience. Even though I was continents away, the wonderful women in this course made me feel as though I was with them every step of the way. I am truly proud to call myself a Black woman, and now belonging to a community of Black women, no matter how far away, are there for eachother. - Kirsten Dupont
I have spent the last week just expressing my gratitude for this experience in my art. I am so grateful to have had such a revolutionary, revalidation of my source and spirit. I learnt thatbi am accountable for my own inner peace, for cultivating that peace and that my journey towards peace is not a passive one. I have found community in black women in a way that I have never known, I have been able to bare the darkest, most vulnerable parts of myself with out fear of judgment or gaslighting. That is transformational. I have learnt to stop and listen to my spirit. I am also learning that all of this learning is contiouous and I am so excited to take this journey and meet myself agina and again in the darkness and the light. I amd so humbles by the support, I have experienced. I am so thankful to Brialle and the detailed thought, passion, magic and resources she has supported us with that have not only helped me, but are a continuous improvement checklist that I can use to keep calling myself to myself. Ngiyabonga. - Sindile Mkhabela
What I learned about myself throughout this course is that there will always be trials and tribulations throughout life but it is about the tools that we acquire on the way that help us heal. When stress or anxiety arise in my life I'm able to sit and really tap into where it's coming from. Whether I need to ground into my root chakra or expand into my 3rd eye chakra, I have so many options from journaling prompts to yoga flows to come back to. When this course came to an end it was such a bittersweet moment because the past 7 weeks I had gotten so much insight from not only Brialle but 30 other Black women and femmes as well. It was an experience that really reminded me that we are similar in our struggles and the things we often feel so alone about throughout life. During our sessions I felt heard, held, and supported. - Faith Martin
In addressing my solar plexus, I had to examine when it was that I learned to believe that nice things were not meant for me. That I had to shrink myself to make others more comfortable with me. That I couldn’t ask for more out of fear that I’d lose what little I already had. That I had to be palatable to men and white america to be worthy of protection. That showing my pain was weak. The violent process of “assimilation” asks us to live through the confines of white supremacy and capitalism while robbing us of the energy to invest in OURSELVES. Your words are ringing in my ears and I question who benefits from my strength...
Addressing the root chakra made me proud of how far I’ve come in creating security for myself. I feel like a pyramid. It’s giving me the compassion to engage with the houseless population in a meaningful way. It’s allowed me to see why I’m so frugal with money and resources and paved the way for generosity. I don’t need to hoard.
As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and assault in my adulthood, I’ve struggled to feel seen outside of my sexual value. I’ve been a sexual object since the age of five. Before therapy, I believed there was something inherently dirty about me. Something that attracted the worst type of people. being a queer scorpio, I’m increasingly aware of how this region operates in my life. The relationship is healthy and pleasure-based, and your leadership in addressing the sacral chakra is giving me the tools to address it each day in a spiritual and physical way. I can ask for what I'd like to feel. I can nurture this part of myself. In fact, in order to stay aligned, I must.” - K.J.
More praises from participants:
“This felt historic! And I got to be on the frontlines of this incredible experience.” - Cecile
“I have deepened trust and intimacy with Black women as a result of this course.” - Chanel Bebe
“You’ve inspired me to operate in my magic, and you connected me to some really amazing women from across the world!!” -Heather Carter
“You can really tell that you designed this course with a lot of love, everything was very intentional. From the syllabus, the yoga poses, even to the discussion groups – the group felt so aligned”
“I’m SO grateful for this space. I’m emotional about how thankful I am for a space to be seen, heard, and witnessed. This is so necessary!”
“By listening to you and other ladies share their stories, it provoked me to make some changes that I didn’t even expect or realize needed changing – like confronting the person that sexually assaulted me – I literally felt so relieved, the energy I had stored from it was gone!”
“The discussions were eye opening. Being able to discuss the chakra lessons and the yoga flow. Being able to be transparent about what you are going through. It meant a lot.”
“Brialle, you are such a gift to this world. You are a lovely soul who is incredibly kind, thoughtful, knowledgeable and skilled in your craft. I admire you and I am grateful to have been able to witness your magic by participating in this program. thank you so much for supporting my growth 💜”
“Thank you so much for allowing me to partake in this journey healing through the chakras. I've always had a little knowledge of what the chakras were about but after this course I am very confident in being able to identify what chakra I might need to tend to throughout my life. It was a wonderful experience being able to experience other black women healing as well. I'm feeling hopeful of the future and know I will always have support from this loving group moving forward.”
“This program changed The way I connect with myself. It has given me more room to make decisions, to set boundaries, more room to see the beauty & Divine within me.”
“I am eternally thankful for this affirmation of personal development. I am thankful for the community that made me feel seen and valued. I am thankful that no one promised to lead me to the promise land but I have learnt that the promise land is within myself. I am grateful for the ways that this was facilitated with intention, kindness and respect.”
When asked what changes participants noticed in themselves over the course, they shared:
“I noticed that I was walking with more certainty. I felt the energy shifts in the universe clearer. I was grounded and actually able to understand why I reacted to things certain ways and I was able to truly just be introspective without doubting or judging myself.”
“I was able to feel more comfortable sharing vulnerable feelings and intimate details of my life with other people.”
I felt more grounded and whole. Less anxiety too!
I found myself reaching Into my personal tool kit during times of stress and finding an abundance of resources, breathing techniques, meditation, yoga, whether I’m under or over active when it comes to balancing my chakras.
I have found myself being more dedicated to growth, more open to receiving guidance from Source and I have seen myself become more personally accountable for myself and my growth.
My soul and heart became so much lighter. Things that used to bother me don’t anymore .
I'm starting to love myself more and put myself first in so many aspects of life. I have a lot more knowledge of where my feelings and emotions are stemming from and how to lovingly bring light to the places in me that need healing.
I noticed that I started to make more connections to my intuition and spirituality.
I noticed I began to value routine. I looked forward to getting home from work and doing yoga and having some time. I began to become more aware of my breathing and balance.
I have more space to think before reacting
This course complimented my own studies of the 4 lower chakras really well. It felt affirming to be in a space with black femmes discussing the chakra system. I was more vulnerable and also receptive to the many messages our chakras help us download.
Thank you to our individual donors that made this possible and to our sponsors Pacifica, Self Ceremony, and Liforme that allowed me to offer abundant giveaways to participants throughout the course. I am SO grateful for your generosity!
Donate to The Black Women’s Healing Fund and support the next cohort of Black women getting free, for free. May every dollar that you contribute return to you tenfold!
Are you a Black woman ready to heal holistically? If finances are a barrier to you receiving the support you need, join the waitlist for my chakra yoga course and apply for a scholarship here. This 7 week journey of self-discovery and self-healing includes yoga, plant based nutrition, chakra education, open discussion, meditation, and more.
