Black Feminist Breathing Chorus

$150

Black Feminist Breathing Chorus

UPDATE: Cohort number one has completed the 21 day practice. Let's close out together. See the details in our closing email (or here) and on the course page.

If you want to sign up for the JUNE cohort follow this link.

WELCOME to the Black Feminist Breathing Meditation Chorus. For 21 days in 2014 we chanted together all over the world. It led to a retreat, art exhibition and now the Black Feminist Breathing Oracle Deck. This REBOOT is an encouragement to our communities to #keepbreathing.

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Sponsor 1 Practice

Our first meditation chorus so loved the 21 Day practice that they requested options to sponsor a practice. If you would like to sponsor the 21 Day Black Feminist Breathing Meditation Chorus use the link below.

sponsor 1 practice

Details

How does it work?
Each evening we post the next meditation recording and ancestor's collage. Participants can stream the audio/video or download it for their practice. All 21 Meditations (with and without Alexis's voice during the chanting portion) will be downloadable by the end of the 21 days. We intend to all practice during the same 24hr period, between 8pm and 8pm the following day. (We are excited to be in the same vibration, but of course you can meditate on your own schedule.). All participants who complete the meditation chorus process will also be invited to participate in a live workshop with Alexis.

A Gift...

Just for visiting enjoy the Toni Cade Bambara mantra practice.

MANTRA:
"The most effective way to do it is to do it."

(gift located at the bottom of this page)

ALEXIS’S TESTIMONY

Historically, I have been “BAD” at meditating. I turned to meditation as a practice of renewal but I kept falling asleep even during guided meditations. I found that chanting words in languages I didn’t know felt disconnected and appropriative to me. So, as a gift to myself for my 30th birthday, I began to chant the words that were sacred to me - the words of the revolutionary Black ancestors who have informed my practice of Black feminism.

Through a daily practice of chanting I was able to reprogram my breathing, over-write the oppressive messages that I have internalized from the dominant society and fill my consciousness, and subconscious with the words of those people who dedicated their lives to my freedom.

Another Gift

Chanting and meditating together in the words and vibration of our Black Feminist Ancestors is an opportunity for collective upliftment and centering at this time. It is a gift we can give to ourselves and one another.

Join our email list to experience our meditation in honor of Essex Hemphill who said "I love myself enough to be who I am."

TESTIMONIALS

“I found The Black Feminist Breathing Chorus the summer my kid and I were sleeping in my friend’s mama’s extra room. No bed, we squeezed in together on a green leather couch every night. It was easy to cry and feel shame in those months about how I’d failed—I often did—but the moments that I sat on the floor and closed my eyes and listened to a powerful Black woman channeling powerful Black women, I was able to see that in myself too. And I’m so grateful."

Essence London, Black Feminist Poet

“The Black Feminist Breathing chorus helped to anchor me as I worked on several artistic projects. It continually reminded me that my Black feminist ancestors are always with me, AND that it is important to listen to light beams like Alexis when they offer a space of sanctuary.”

Renina Jarmon, Founder of Black Girls Are From the Future

The Mobile Homecoming mantra, "The Heart Beats Constantly" was THE thing that got me through the biggest loss of my life. While dealing with grief and my straight family of origin I had a touchstone to accompany me."

BLU Participant

"The Black Feminist Breathing Chorus is a healing resource I come back to time and again, when I am asked to facilitate trainings and spaces. I bring this work with me and evangelize it. Even my mentees have been using the meditation during the isolating moments."

SCZ, Revolutionary Educator and Cultural Alchemist

The History

The original Black Feminist Breathing Chorus was a free 21 day experience of visual and sonic immersion in healing meditations brought to you by the Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind (aka Sista Docta Alexis Pauline Gumbs).

The meditation series ended on June 12th 2014, Alexis's birthday. It included music compositions created by Sangodare and Collages created by Alexis of each of the ancestors. These visual and aural creations supported our focused energy. The music and our chants were guided by Alexis’s introduction of each ancestor and mantra and then accompanied by her voice with ours in repetition of the mantra which each participant (ostensibly) repeated along with her every day for the 21 days.
(continues on right)

(continued)
We also had a retreat in Magnolia, MS at the amazing Black-woman-owned Flowering Lotus meditation retreat center. A group of Black Feminists gathered and practiced in a beautiful reclaimed plantation era mansion and enjoyed delicious meals provided by the retreat center staff.

People continue to use the mantras to infuse their homes, workouts, early mornings, commutes and in-between times with the unstoppable power of Black Feminist LOVE!!!

We were also excited about how educators, community workers, facilitators and others used these meditations in their classrooms, workshops and trainings.

In Durham we often gather on the birthdays or ascension days of these visionary ancestors to breathe and chant and dance. These sacred texts have become a part of our intergenerational community's collective scripture. We are always excited when we hear it from the stage or over the airwaves in the voices of one of the participants.

Many people became sustainers of the Black Feminist Breathing Chorus to help us continue and spread the work both financially and with other energetic resources. We are forever grateful. And the work continues...

Toni Cade Bambara

Play the video (BELOW) and recite the mantra with Alexis.

Mantra
"The most effective way to do it is to do it."

Collage
created by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Music
created by Sangodare

Meditate with us Here & Now

"The most effective way to do it is to do it."

Press play on the image to begin. Click the button below to join for the 21 Day Meditation Chorus.

Enroll in 21 Day Breathing Chorus

Thank You!

Thank you for breathing with me! In the past, now and in the eternal future! You are all up and through my Black Feminist Heart!!!!

Love,

Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind
Mobile Homecoming Trust!

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ