Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.
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In the Beginning
True wellness is about the cultivation of the self, the whole self: body, mind, heart and Spirit. That cultivation started for me in a conscious way when I arrived on my first yoga mat just after college at Stanford University, where I received my B.A. in African and African-American Studies. I went from a generous period of self-discovery and relative freedom to working non-stop as an elementary school teacher for Oakland Unified School District and as a dancer in San Francisco-based Robert Moses’ Kin on the weekends. I was drawn to yoga classes that blended the overtly physical and flowing Ashtanga tradition with the precise, alignment-based yoga practice taught by B.K.S. Iyengar. After a long day with children, the rhythmic linking of breath with movement had the effect of quieting my over-stimulated mind. In dance class and rehearsals, I began to dance with more fluidity and less pain. I felt more lucid and peaceful. Through mindfulness meditation, I observed myself and “my stuff” with more clarity, and began to unearth with compassion many personal obstacles on the path to wellness.
These embodied contemplative practices were integral components in my self-care toolkit during the completion of my Master of Fine Arts in Acting at The American Conservatory of Theater in San Francisco. By then, yoga had become a true soul mate. It is my medicine, and my most devoted and nurturing lover, too. When you love something or someone, the instinct to protect it is strong and urgent. And I am a fierce protectress and advocate for wellbeing.
Peeling Back the Layers
Over the years, I have discovered that the biggest obstacles to my thriving are not finding the right yoga pose or exercise fad to do, nor the right corporate-influenced diet to eat. Rather, the heart of holistic wellness lies in becoming aware of the emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically and psychically violent obstacles set along my path by the very culture I swim in everyday. This culture, cultivated so uniquely on American shores, is one with a deeply entrenched value gap and caste system delineating a hierarchy of human superiority that corrupts the most wholesome of intentions to a fault. It is a culture that plants the belief that an individual’s value is based primarily on achievement, performance, productivity and aesthetics. For a long time, this same culture seductively seemed to demand every ounce of my physical and emotional output with little in return. During a period lacking self-awareness, these beliefs turned into words and actions, and those culminated in a smoldering personal burnout. Feeling fragmented and disconnected from the truth of my wholeness, I scarcely had time to breathe. Until I just did. I stopped to breathe and prioritized doing so. I breathed and moved like it was job until it became a deeply entrenched and joyful habit. My life, my way of maneuvering in the world, my dance, my acting, my teaching, my travel, my relationship to myself, to others, and what is happening around me, this integration of all the elements that make me me, this is the yoga.
At Present
Today I speak, share stories as a performing artist, facilitate workshops, and train teachers to teach yoga and mindfulness because I believe these to be among the most effective tools for cultivating wellness in toxic stress-filled modern life. As 2020 has demonstrated clearly, it is critical to prioritize having accessible tools, namely the ones we carry via our bodies, minds and hearts as resources to soothe, reconnect and reground, to manage the unpredictable yet consistent challenges of life, particularly when they are experienced in disproportionate ways depending on how you socially identify. My mission is to support harnessing those resources to measurably impact the wellness outcomes for BIPOC communities, Black women, vulnerable and invisible populations through yoga, mindfulness, retreats, and wellness coaching for individuals and organizations. The practices and discussions I facilitate will invigorate your body, cultivate serenity in your heart, and transform your mind into an ally. Then together we can turn our healing into collective wellbeing and the embodiment of social justice in our world.
CONTACT CRYSTAL
Contact Crystal using the form below.
