A Return To The Sacred Medicine of Darkness
As BIPOC, we are living in a culture and epoch, that is deathly afraid of the dark. This fear of darkness translates into a “neurosis of the unknown", a dread of uncertainty and terror towards intuition and mystery. As a consequence of being conditioned by such culture from the cradle to the grave, there is no way that our perceptions, those of our families and communities of color and culture have escaped the pervasive body of the fear of darkness.
The common thread that runs between each group is that they represent a mystery, an uncertainty, an ambiguity that frightens in its failure to be pinned down and reduced to something manageable, predictable and controllable.
During our time together, I will offer reflections on the DNA of resistance and it’s manifestation through spirituality, cultural artistry, and creative embodiment and with your help, attempt to excavate the deeply buried memory of darkness as sacred medicine.
About the Speaker:
Amana Brembry Johnson is a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) in Oakland, CA, and one of four co-creators and Guiding Teachers of EBMC’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership (STL) Training. As a mentor, Amana guides trainees from all over the world through the Mindfulness Meditation Training Certification Program (MMTCP), designed and developed by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Six decades of contemplative and ceremonial practices that thread through Christian Baptist, Buddhist, West African, Caribbean, Indigenous American and other spiritual and somatic based traditions, all contribute to the interdisciplinary approach to her teaching pedagogy and healing modalities. Amana’s life work emerges from the intersections of spirituality, social justice, somatic practices, intuitive creativity and collaboration. An accomplished visual artist, Amana creates imagery that exposes emotional and spiritual barriers of the heart as portals into kindness, compassion, self-love and intentional social action.