Illuminating Our True Nature: Yogic Practices for Personal and Collective Healing

Michelle’s fifth book explores yoga philosophy, specifically the five root causes of suffering, known as the five kleshas. In this wise, practical guide, Michelle Cassandra Johnson offers a path toward developing a deeper understanding of these patterns and practices for personal and collective healing and transformation. 

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Featured
Oracular Readings
Jul 21
Oracular Readings

Since ancient times, people from various cultures and lineages have engaged the oracles to receive divine communication and guidance. Once a month, on or around the full moon from July to December 2024, I will serve as a medium to the oracles to access answers to questions you might have about relationships, career, life path, lineage, family, and whatever it is you seek to know.

Finding Refuge Sadhana
Aug 1
Finding Refuge Sadhana

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. 

Telling the Bees: A Monthly Grief Ritual
Sep 27
Telling the Bees: A Monthly Grief Ritual

As part of bee folklore, there was a practice that involved telling bees about important life events—births, marriages, deaths, and other life transitions. It is believed that this practice of telling the bees is connected with bees being psychopomps, beings who could guide souls to the afterlife and other realms. This tradition uplifts the importance of ceremony, storytelling, and ritual as it relates to engaging with the bees and natural world to support us in our mourning and grief process.

Illuminating Our True Nature Gathering and Practice
Nov 6
Illuminating Our True Nature Gathering and Practice

The world is spinning fast, and in the spinning, it can feel difficult to remember the truth of who we are at times.

Join me for a practice based on my latest book, Illuminating Our True Nature: Yogic Practices for Personal and Collective Healing. The practice will include meditation, pranayama, mudra, mantra, and movement practice to come back to who you are as an individual and who we are as a collective.

 

transverse

A divination deck to respond to grief & loss

 

Transverse Deck

Transverse Travel Deck

Press

 
Press
Collective Trauma and Recovery

Episode 11 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Michelle Cassandra Johnson come on to the podcast to talk about trauma, spirituality and the whitewashing of yoga.

For the full podcast, check out the episode here.

In this episode, we cover... 

  1. The differences and complexities of individual trauma and collective trauma.

  2. Practical tips for introducing mindfulness to alleviate trauma.

  3. The issues with Western Yoga: appropriated, whitewashed and capitalistic.

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Being of Service, Grief, and Our Spiritual Callings. A Conversation with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

Our first podcast of the year is with the delightful Michelle Cassandra Johnson, and I was lucky enough to get to ask her so many questions. We had a nuanced conversation regarding being of service to the world, how we hold space for grief, and the tension between the spiritual call to be quiet and the noise we experience in our lives.

Take a listen to all her wisdom.

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Illuminating Our True Nature with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

In this conversation, Michelle and Anjali discuss:

  • Kleshas as an inquiry: Michelle’s new book on kleshas

  • What does healing mean when the world is ablaze?

  • Our collective nervous systems

  • Michelle’s writing as a practice of reclamation and re-connection

  • Her go to rituals during the writing process

  • Role of community care and collective

  • How does she practice care as a space holder?

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Overcome the Obstacles to Personal Healing and Contribute to the Healing of the World

Ever notice the ways we can create suffering for ourselves and others? Author Michelle Cassandra Johnson shares tools to navigate the obstacles that create suffering.  We can facilitate positive change not only within ourselves but also within our communities and the broader world.

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Suffering and our True Nature

Michelle Cassandra Johnson explores the kleshas—the five afflictions that cause suffering—within the framework of modern challenges ranging from racial injustice to climate change. Through personal stories, insights on yoga philosophy, and practical advice, Michelle offers a roadmap for understanding and addressing the root causes of suffering both individually and collectively. This conversation will inspire yoga practitioners and activists alike to engage deeply with their practice and strive for personal and social transformation.

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Illuminating Our True Nature with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

What are the lessons you’re tired of learning? In yoga philosophy, the kleshas are patterns that create suffering, and exploring them can help us find peace and ease in our personal lives and within the collective. In this conversation, Tracee Stanley is joined by author, activist, spiritual teacher and practitioner, racial equity consultant and trainer, and intuitive healer Michelle Cassandra Johnson, whose new book, Illuminating Our True Nature: Yogic Practices for Personal & Collective Healing is a guide for turning towards—instead of away from—our suffering, not only to better understand why we suffer but also to also open up pathways to freedom. 

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