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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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. 

Michelle Cassandra Johnson thinks a lot about yoga and social justice. Does yoga have to be political? Can yoga create safety when the world feels unsafe? How can yoga take us from feeling activated to being activists?

In today’s episode, host Shay Beider speaks with Michelle about the collective grief experienced by people and how this can be linked to cultural trauma. She shares ways people can work through grief by tapping into their spirituality and focusing on breath and meditation. Michelle also explains how her work as a therapist has allowed her to embrace empathy and create space to heal from trauma. Michelle shares what healing means to her and the importance of yoga to connect with our inherent wholeness.

This episode of the Embodied Astrology podcast is offered with love, following April 16’s full moon in Libra which was trine with Saturn and square to Pluto.

In our conversation we explore Michelle’s chart and talk about the work of maintaining connections between our spiritual selves and our human bodies. Michelle shares from her experience as an energy worker and healer, intuitive, witch, activist and guide around how to anchor in our heart’s wisdom in times of stress and overwhelm; how to build resilience and connection in relational spaces; and how to navigate and attend to the wounds and dislocation of white supremacy culture.

How can we heal from the individual and collective grief we experience from the suffering on this planet? Author and teacher Michelle Cassandra Johnson shares spiritual tools that support us in experiencing our grief. We can take action with an open heart in heartbreaking times.

This weeks guest is author, Dismantling Racism Trainer, Yoga teacher, and licensed clinical social worker, Michelle C. Johnson. In this discussion we dive into her most recent book, 'Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief' to talk about how we can best embrace our grieving process and learn how to stop numbing out intense experiences. This is a powerful conversation perfect for this time of year when we are encouraged to let go of things that no longer serve us. If you want to keep in touch with Michelle's work the links will be down below, complete with her 'Finding Refuge' Podcast and links to her books.

We’re so grateful to Michelle Cassandra Johnson for talking with us about her work and for being such a leading figure in calling for yoga practitioners to use what is learned in practice, to work towards a someday socially just world. Unionize Yoga’s very own, Alayna Gerald, interviews Michelle. We hope you enjoy this special interview.

In this episode of The Werk podcast, Michelle shares about:

• The awareness that comes with awakening and how this relates to social justice.

• Why embodiment is the key to healing racism.

• If White bodied folks don’t have the resiliency to do this work, what will it take?

• Rest as a necessary tool for activism.

• The work that White bodied people have to do.

• The work that the BIPOC community has to do.

• The practice of remembering and how we can have grace and compassion for those who are remembering.

In the podcast, Michelle shares that what's needed in this moment isn’t to get back to normal or to get back to work or to get back being busy and productive. What's needed is to acknowledge what we’ve gone through and what has been lost. We must feel in order to heal.

In this episode of the Chitheads podcast, Michelle speaks on the topics of stewarding grief, acknowledging brokenheartedness to begin healing, presence of the heart and finding refuge, spiritual practices to bring you back home to the body and into the collective body, and so much more.

Tune in to hear Michelle speak about how her newest book was guided by Spirit, responding to heartbreak, remembering your roots, and bringing forth your medicine, some stories of personal grief, integrating grief into healing work , why we’re resistant to grief, and more.

Tune in to hear about Michelle’s career path and what led her to the work she does today, her experience as a dismantling racism trainer and how she brings this into yoga and wellness spaces, how she works with rituals to stay connected to her intuition, what it looks like to operate as an entrepreneur with many different offerings, all things money and abundance in social change work, and more!

Michelle went DEEP in this conversation to offer thoughts on why she doesn't buy into dominant culture's definition of "productivity,” how collective grief is connected to freedom and liberation, her practice for staying grounded in a noisy world, and more.

THIS is the yoga we’ve been waiting for. Michelle C. Johnson, author, yoga teacher, social justice activist, licensed clinical social worker, and Dismantling Racism trainer, gets into deep conversation with Aurora + Kelly about the intersections of yoga and justice, embodiment, liberation, and spiritual bypassing.

Michelle speaks about why yoga teachers have a responsibility to investigate white supremacy, racism and oppression, why we are uniquely positioned as yoga practitioners to do the work of dismantling racism, how yoga philosophy calls us to create justice and liberation for all, and more.