Has the stress of current events such as the quarantine and the deaths of African Americans by the hands of police officers taken its toll on your mind and body? One of the first things that stress does to you is to take you out of the present moment. Come back to yourself with this grounding and centering meditation.

Camille Nesibindi Weanquoi is a freelance dancer, teacher, choreographer, and mentor who hails from Bronx, New York. Camille is trained in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, and West-African Dance. Camille is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and Winston Salem State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She has had the privilege to study under Kim Grier, Imani Faye, B.J. Sullivan, Dmitry Povolotsky, Duane Cyrus, and other influential teaching artists. Camille is currently in training to become a certified Dunham Technique Instructor and teaches diaspora dance forms along with others styles of dance throughout the Baltimore area.Find our more by visiting her website: http://camilleweanquoi.com/

My name is Dr. Shacunda Rodgers, and I am a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, where I treat teens and adults in individual, couples, and family therapy. For the nearly 15 years that I have been a psychologist, I have been teaching and practicing mindfulness for the last 14 of them. I have found that mindfulness, with regular practice, brings not only a sense of being centered and balanced, but also helps with being more kind and compassionate—toward one's own self as well as others. It also strengthens your ability to “show up” and be more present in day-to-day life. As a long term benefit, mindfulness has a way of making sunny days feel brighter, and also strengthens your capacity to weather and endure those darker days as well. Because of the amount of growth I have seen in my patients who have adopted mindfulness practice, as well as the immense benefit I have experienced personally through the use of mindfulness, I decided to extend this work and share it with others beyond the walls of my therapy office. I wanted to focus my efforts toward one specific group, African-American women—1) because I am one (!), and 2) because I wanted to use this as a vehicle to serve and bring healing to an often underrepresented group in therapy. And that is how Melanin Meets Mindfulness was born! My desire is to use mindfulness as a vehicle for establishing a sense of community and sisterhood, as we help one another move toward becoming the best versions of ourselves. https://www.melaninmeetsmindfulness.com/

My name is Olori Oyadele Ogunsina & I am an Egungun (Ancestral), Orisa & Ifa (Iyanifa) priestess with over 20 yrs of priesthood. Not only am I a priestess, but I am also a healer, diviner, medium, entrepreneur, activist & author. Currently, I have an ile (spiritual home) based in Baltimore, MD with plenty of godchildren & clients from all over the world. I am also one of the Elders of Dawtas of the Moon (www.dawtasofthemoon.org) which is a sisterhood for Black women to come together to heal, educate, & heal through magick! Both myself, my ile & DOTM have been featured in the "Atlantic Magazine," the "Baltimore Sun" & "Washington Post" newspapers, WJZ Tv (Channel 13 News) as well as being featured on many social media platforms speaking about Afrikan Spirituality from a Isese Agbaye perspective (traditional Ifa'Orisa practice). For more information, I may be reached via my website: www.itsolori.com Fb: Olori Oyadele Ogunsina IG: afri_bohemian_snob YouTube: Olori Oyadele "Keep working your mojo so magick can happen!" 💜

What are healthy boundaries and why are they important for our self-care? Learn why setting boundaries is important for our overall health, and relationships with the people in our lives.

In a conversation with Dr. AJ, we are shown the reasons why our health is impacted by our behavior, how self-care plays a major role in our ability to break recurring cycles, and learn how to heal ourselves. Paris Adkins-Jackson is a community-based multidisciplinary researcher whose work seeks to increase quality of life for under-served communities through mixed method research, development of instruments (surveys and assessments) and technology, and the implementation and evaluation of innovative programs. She is recipient of numerous accolades, including recognition in 2016 by the United States White House as an HBCU All-Star. She currently serves as the Graduate Student Council Co-Lead as a member of the Morgan State Graduate Student Association. She has been a college instructor for 10 years in the areas of Anthropology and Dance and shares her expertise in quantitative methodology in various formats. Her dissertation research involved the development of a conceptual framework of self-care for Black women and the psychometric examination of an existing self-care assessment to evaluate its culturally-responsiveness. She will present this research in the GRIND conference special presentation titled, “Black Women & Self-Care”. Paris Adkins-Jackson has earned a BA in Journalism, an MA in Cultural Anthropology, a MPH in Applied Biostatistics & Epidemiology, and as of May 2018, she earned a PhD in Psychometrics from Morgan State University. She is the founder and CEO of Asante Wellness, LLC, a research and data analysis company.

Divayogi and Amanda Morgan-Henry, LCSW-C have a conversation about the importance of creating a safe space for women, and how it applies to their self-care plan. Visit Amanda's website: www.amandamorganhenry.com "I offer one-hour coaching about specific spaces. Clients can leave with a specific plan to approach a specific space. They can reach out to me at amanda@amandamorganhenry.com" -Amanda