This February marks the 46th official nationwide celebration of Black History Month in the U.S. This is a great time to check out educational programs in your area, whether at schools, libraries, museums, or other places. You can also bring an appreciation of Black histories into your mindfulness practice.
The official theme for Black History Month this year is Black Health and Wellness. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.”
This theme points to just how expansive the meanings of wellness and of mindfulness really are within the vibrant variety of human cultures. The ways that one community cultivates awareness, compassion, and healing of self and others will often be unfamiliar to a different community—yet we can recognize, learn about, and respect one another’s traditions of well-being.
Many Black mindfulness teachers share about their communities’ legacies of care and healing, including…
