Many years ago, my friend Tiya Caniel, a guest teacher in my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training, shared a question that has resurfaced and been present with me lately.

 

The question is, if you were not limited by identities, constructs, and narratives, who would you be?

 

What a powerful prompt.

 

Especially now. 

 

To give more context, Tiya asked this question as we explored the chakra system, the energy centers in the body. The question isn’t a bypass to the reality that our identities, constructs, and narratives shape us. The question was a breath of fresh air. It was an invitation to connect with our imaginations. It was a dream practice. It was a liberation practice. It was a gift. 

 

It feels important now to ask ourselves who we are. Who we are outside of what we’ve been told or who we’ve been shaped to be. Who we are outside of our conditioning and conditioned response. Who we are beyond the narrative of this social, political, and cultural storyline riddled with chaos and destruction. I know, for sure, that we are something more than what is unfolding in the earthly realm right now. And I think it is essential we remember this even as everything falls apart. Maybe the most crucial time to remember who we are beyond this realm is when everything is cracking, crumbling, and disintegrating. Through the dismantling, we can figure out who we are at our core and, more importantly, who we want to become. 

 

Beyond my own embodied identities, the constructs I’ve inherited, and the narratives I have internalized from systems designed to make me feel less than whole and holy, I am Michelle Cassandra—the name my mother gave me. I am Black. The kind of Blackness that tells the truth and manifests according to and aligned with my highest self. I am generative. I am a manifesting generator (at least according to the human design.) I am expansive. I am light. I am the sun. I am a healer. I am whole. Ancestral technologies weave themselves through my bones and sinew. I trust myself. I trust the Universe. I am liberated. I am in connection with everything. I am nature. I am earth, water, fire, and air. I am the cosmos. I am more than words can describe. 

 

Now, it’s your turn. Who are you? 

 

Once you have completed this contemplation, sit with the following question: Who are we as a collective?

 

Why is it essential for us to remember who we are? 

 

If we dare to dream as a collective beyond identities, constructs, and narratives, our conditioning and conditioned response, our shaping, and what we’ve been told about who we are, we will mantle something that systems of supremacy cannot destroy. We will create something untouchable by hierarchies. We will return to nature and our true nature, align ourselves in expansive ways and bring about balance in our world now and in the future. It really is the only way forward.

 

So, get to it. See to it.

If you want to dream with me, join me for my upcoming virtual and in-person offerings. I would love to see and share space with you.

 

Yoga is an ancient practice designed to support us in meeting whatever might arise, moment to moment.

 

Our day will begin with a heart-opening asana practice led by J Miles. The morning offering will be a donation-based practice open to all. Together, we will move our bodies in ways that will aid both physically and spiritually opening to the possibility of heart-led change.

 

In the afternoon session, Michelle will lead us through an exploration of how we can engage in spiritual practice to meet the uncertainty life presents and the challenging times we are experiencing because of social unrest, climate change, collective loss, and the unsettling times in which we find ourselves now. This immersion will explore how we might engage in spiritual practice to invite more ease into our and other’s lives so we can cultivate a sense of collective ease and peace. 

 

The Gathering: A Community of Practice is designed to meet the crisis of these times. If you seek something to do now to respond to this time's general tumult and uncertainty, join this offering.

 

The Gathering is a space for community committed to a caring, just world is essential.

The Gathering is for people who feel dysregulated and activated, concerned for our future, and believe opportunity can arise out of crisis.

 

The Gathering is for anyone who knows we are not okay and what is happening on our planet is not okay.

 

The Gathering begins with a three-day intensive, March 19-21, 2025, where we will build a sacred container, connect across lines of difference, and explore the themes of accountability and liberation. Then, we will meet in race-based affinity groups (BIPOC/PGM and white-bodied) monthly for two hours, each gathering from April to August (see dates and times below.) Our time will conclude with a session on September 25, 2025.

 

Join Michelle C. Johnson and Amy Burtaine for bee magic to celebrate the turning of seasons.

 

Amy and Michelle, authors of The Wisdom of the Hive, are bee lovers and tenders, activists, and people who are deeply committed to healing work that supports bringing individuals, the collective, and our entire ecosystem back into balance. As each season gives way to another, they want to share wisdom from the honeybees with you.

 

At this time on our planet, when many things seem to be on fire, literally and figuratively, we must be creative in responding to all that is burning, churning, crumbling, and being dismantled. Systems of oppression make us feel limited in our response to the magnitude of what we are up against. Yet, we have the power to dream and vision outside of systems of oppression such as white supremacy, the cishet patriarchy, capitalism, ableism, and all systems meant to further fracture us from ourselves and one another. In fact, we must learn to dream outside of the constraints of systems that thrive on upholding a hierarchy of bodies and keep us disconnected from our true nature, individually and collectively. The process of dreaming during dream time as we slumber allows us to come up with divine solutions for problems that previously seemed impenetrable, such as the systems of oppression and climate chaos we are experiencing at this time. Bringing our dreams into waking life allows us to implement these solutions. 

 

A Sadhana is a dedicated practice. Many are structured as 40-day sadhana because 40 days is said to be long enough for us to break samskaras—patterns, and create new practices and behaviors. A sadhana can be a consistent practice of meditation, mantra, movement, self-study or pranayama, or a mixture of these practices. The Finding Refuge Sadhana provides a combination of mantra, pranayama, movement, meditation and self-study through journaling prompts and reflection.

 

The Finding Refuge Sadhana is designed to guide you through becoming present and exploring heartbreak, grief, resilience, connection with ancestors, and the medicine you can bring forth at this time. This Sadhana is a tool meant to support you in healing and deepening your spiritual practice and it is a resource that beckons you to present with the heart-brokenheartedness and open heartedness. 

 

Join Michelle every Wednesday either in person or online for meditation, asana, pranayama and more at Lotus Yoga Studio. She will be teaching a weekly class on Wednesdays from 9-10am ET and you can join her.