Skill in Action
Yogis in Service. Inc. and the Mindful Counseling Advanced Certificate Program at the University at Buffalo, SUNY Present:
Michelle C. Johnson
She will be leading two, LIVE, online workshops that integrate Social Justice and Embodiment. Her work is internationally recognized and life changing.
Michelle is the founder of Skill in Action; she is a social justice warrior, author, dismantling racism trainer, empath, yoga teacher and practitioner, and an intuitive healer. With over 20 years of experience leading dismantling racism work and working with clients as a licensed clinical social worker, Michelle has a deep understanding of how trauma impacts the mind, body, spirit, and heart. Her awareness of the world through her own experience as a Black woman allows her to know, first-hand, how privilege and power operate.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has worked in several non-profits and served as an elected official and on many non-profit boards of directors. Michelle has led Dismantling Racism Trainings with large corporations, small non-profits, and community groups, including the ACLU-WA, Duke University, Google, This American Life, The Center for Equity and Inclusion, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Church, Lululemon, and many others. She published the first edition of Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017, Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief in July 2021, and a 2nd edition of Skill in Action in November 2021. Michelle teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide and is on the faculty of Off the Mat, Into the World. She was a Tedx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019, and she has been interviewed on several podcasts in which she explores the premise and foundation of Skill in Action, along with creating ritual in justice spaces, our divine connection with nature and Spirit, and how we as a culture can heal. Recently, she created her own podcast, Finding Refuge, which explores collective grief and liberation and serves as a reminder about all the ways we can find refuge during unsettling and uncertain times and of the resilience and joy that comes from allowing ourselves to find refuge.
Michelle leads courageously from the heart with compassion and a commitment to address the heartbreak dominant culture causes for many because of the harm it creates. She inspires change that allows people to stand in their humanity and wholeness in a world that fragments most of us. Whether in an anti-oppression training, yoga space, individual or group intuitive healing session, the heart, healing and wholeness are at the center of how Michelle approaches all of her work in the world. There are a myriad of ways to work with Michelle, and she hopes to support you on your healing journey and path towards wholeness in whatever capacity allows you to live your fullest life.
Skill in Action: The Intersection of Justice and Yoga
Wednesday, March 16th from 5:30-8:30PM EST
Skill in Action: The Intersection of Justice and Yoga
Live, interactive, online- $25, Register Here
Skill in Action is a workshop designed to explore patterns of oppression, power and privilege, and to respond to the current cultural challenges through practices of self-study, contemplation and collective action.
It can be difficult to remain centered amidst the chaos of a culture that continues to divide and conquer. Contemplative practices, including meditation and yoga, allow us to work with sensation, toxic thought patterns, cultural conditioning, overwhelm, and anxiety through mindfulness and thoughtful care. In this workshop, we will deepen our understanding of the principles of justice and yoga; the workings of white supremacy, power and privilege, oppression and identity, suffering and liberation, and loving kindness. We will discuss spiritual bypassing and how to lean into discomfort with an open heart, unconstricted, and how to create inclusive and liberatory spaces on and off the mat. We will practice asana (postures), meditation, mindfulness, pranayama (breathing), chanting and mantra work to sharpen our goals and visions for our work to change the world. We will create concrete plans to put our goals into action.
Embodied Social Justice and Action: Clarifying our Right Role and Response
Saturday April 16th from 9:30AM-1PM
Embodied Social Justice and Action: Clarifying our Right Role and Response.
Live, interactive, online- $25, Register Here
The Embodied Social Justice workshop will guide you through a process designed to discover how to embody values centered on creating conditions for justice and liberation. We will explore social location, right role and relationship, and what it means to take action from an embodied place. This workshop will include embodiment practices, journaling and reflection, and small and large group conversations. You will leave the workshop with a clearer sense of how to be most skillful in response to the current cultural and political context at this time.
