"We Are All Connected"
an interview with wellness thought leader, Raja yoga guide, writer, and artist, Felicia Savage Friedman
Today, I’m excited to share an interview with wellness thought leader, Raja yoga guide, writer & multi-media artist, Felicia Savage Friedman. I’d love your suggestions of other writers, artists, practitioners, and wise humans I might feature here. You can just reply to this newsletter with ideas. ✨✨
Felicia Savage Friedman is one of the most vibrant humans I’ve ever encountered. I’ve admired Felicia and her multi-faceted work as a wellness leader, yoga guide, artist, and writer for many years, and she was one of the first people I thought of interviewing for this newsletter because she truly lives out its theme of being where you are. Felicia is deeply present and real. She is brilliant but has no pretension. She has a beaming smile that stretches across the room to welcome you in. She exudes joy but not in a performative, surfacey way; rather, in an I’ve been through the valleys and choose to embrace joy kind of way. She is, in short, a beacon of light.
Felicia has transformed the wellness world in Pittsburgh, and she builds engaged, loving communities wherever she goes. When I saw Felicia last fall, I was excited to learn that she will be publishing her first book soon, a poem-picture book titled We Are All Connected. I cannot wait for this book, and I’m very excited to share Felicia’s wisdom and work with you all today.
What are your mindfulness practices?
I use thoughtful instead of mindful because I feel it has been overused…
My thoughtful practices include my organizations, The Cussin’ Yogini Art and YogaRoots On Location: AntiRacist Raja Yoga 8-limbed Path YTT and their anti-oppressive practices (anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalism, anti-racism).
I also practice everyday embodied movement practices, including the Niyamas: purity, contentment, self-study, self-discipline, and surrender to one’s higher power, and Yamas: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation, non-possessiveness.
I give my trainers a thoughtful, anti-oppressive cost of living pay rate, reasonable check-ins (not therapy, just folxs sharing their accurate location in body, time, and space) that are personal built-in time during our business meetings. In workshops, I give folks hourly biology breaks, time to eat food, honoring their bodies with a vow to leave the meeting and go to the bathroom when they first feel the urge. I encourage folxs to freely share any “access needs” that I may address to assist with their being fully present with us, as well as speaking truth with discernment and virtual work preferences in understanding how oppression workspaces have historically operated.
How often do you practice mindfulness, and when/where?
Daily, moment to moment, I practice being thoughtful and intentionally curious about my motives. When I notice that I haven’t been as thoughtful or intentional as I may have wanted, I forgive myself, apologize, and vow to do better next time, which is a compassionate practice for myself and a practice that I extend to others.
What do you do when a mindfulness practice doesn’t seem to be working?
I will always try my breath awareness practice of simply noticing my breath, not changing anything. I have several thoughtful practices that are effective for managing any anxiety that I may be experiencing, for example, driving on the highway. I usually leave at least 30 minutes earlier than I planned to lower any driving anxiety. It works so well. And when I still experience anxiety while driving, I’ll usually have some music playing depending on my mood. Good driving music is: Christian gospels, 1970’s Funk banks like Cameo, Parliament Funkadelic, and R&B music such as The Commodores, Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire.
I use intentional movements as a strategy to manage emotional hurts. When my heart hurts, I feel physical discomfort and pain, managing others' violent thoughts or actions toward me. I genuinely enjoy listening to the Jewish Niguns, especially fond of many prayers, especially Haskiveinu Adonai and Avinu Malkeinu. I have many jazz favorites: “Lovely Lady” by The Breaker Brothers, Winelight (the whole album) by Grover Washington, Jr., and Sean Jones’s precious song “What We Have.”
I dance and do yoga daily by integrating movement into my chores, such as exaggerated moments to do the laundry and clean the kitchen and bathroom.
What is your writing practice like? Do you have any writing rituals?
Daily, I write poetry and random thoughts. Plus, I love to write using my calligraphy pens and metallic markers. I taught the joy of cursive writing to 4th graders (I am an elementary education teacher, and I taught my children cursive while I homeschooled them, Cleveland for 8 years and Maya for 4 years) when they had taken cursive writing out of the curriculum.
I write when the mood moves me. And I write to reflect on different situations I’ve experienced to move the feelings through my body. I also write poetry and prose to heal traumatic rememberings. I purposely write to tell my story about my life choices and consequences. My favorite space and place to write is anywhere that I feel so moved: airplane flight, at the ocean, at home in bed, or on the balcony with warmth and humidity.
What kind of writing are you working on?
I’m writing several books. The first is a children/adult poem picture book and workbook called We Are All Connected, We Are The StarDust Crew!
The second book is a memoir titled, Our HairStories: An Anthology of Reflections of our lives through our hair journeys and MyEdges/My Life. This project is motivated by my hair journey as a Black woman surviving oppression. My hair is the most vulnerable space of my physical body – it’s the part of my body that I’ve had the most shame around given the white supremacist beauty standards and the long-lasting repercussions of trying to acclimate to them.
The project is a double-sided book, one side featuring “My Edges, My Life” and the other side featuring “Our HairStories: Tails From Our Edges.” It is through my art-based healing journey that I realized this isn’t just about me. We all have a hairstory that impacts our access to humanity as external commentary of our hair becomes internal commentary about ourselves.This project culminates in a book tour centering community building via intimate conversations about one another’s hairstory. The Edges project shows us maturing and loving ourselves through oppressive ways of knowing and being.
I’m also writing a book of poetry titled Unconditional Loving. This book explores what loving looks, feels, smells, sounds, taste, and intuits like. It’s intimate and vulnerable, and at times messy.
My husband, Martin, and I are also working on our book, and my daughter, Maya, and I are working on our intimate podcast and book series about our mother-daughter relationship.
What helps you when you get stuck with your writing?
I don’t get stuck. I just notice when I want to write and when I don’t. Honoring my healthy boundaries without being too rigid and purposeful is a practice. Writing doesn’t come easy to me, and I am finding that I have different voices that come through me during different moods. I have engaged in a practice of acceptance instead of being hyper-critical of myself and my writing process. I am a Virgo sun sign, which means we can be deeply critical of ourselves and others. Moments of drought come with moments and seasons of plenty. As I write this moment is a time of plenty.
Do you see your writing and mindfulness practices as connected?
My first book is titled We Are All Connected, We Are The StarDust Crew! Everything in this life is connected on this planet and in this universe. My thoughtful practices are ways that honor my humanity as well as honoring others - living as much as I recognize - a considerate life.
How do you see your mindfulness and antiracist liberatory organizing work as related?
My unconditional love practice is my foundational understanding of what it means to be truly human and live a thoughtfully humane existence, including all my creative endeavors. Then, I layer my inherent joy practices of enjoying being with people and being curious about their thoughts and actions, as well as my Raja Yoga 8-Limbed Path vows and promises to myself and others. The next layer is my anti-racist practice, which intersects with all of the anti-oppression soulwork I do.
Prompt from Felicia
Set your space up intentionally with essential oil or the smell of lemon, orange, or lavender. My favorites are oregano, eucalyptus globulous, frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, and bergamot.
Make your space comfortable and play music of your choice, or you may choose silence or environmental sounds (brown, black, and white noise). Whatever suits you, explore, see what works for you, and be curious.
6 manipulations of the spine (lateral-side to side, forward bend, and little baby back bend (cat/cow in yoga) and set your back upright.
Then, gently twist from one side to the other, noticing your intentional transitions with all of these movements, exhale when you are transitioning, inhale when you rest in the space. Twist after coordinating with breathing shape, extend, inhale, and bring to the center.
Seated pose, then a back against the wall restorative pose, to notice your breathing. No changes, just noticing.
For over 30 years, Felicia Savage Friedman has transformed lives with embodied antiracist organizing through Raja Yoga. Standing firm on the belief that we are all bound and dehumanized by systems of oppression, she envisions a humankind where we have dismantled these systems of oppression and humanely rebuilt new systems together.
A wellness thought leader and yoga guide, her integrative practice ranges from individual to corporate wellness, centered in communities of accountability. She is the Founder and CEO of YogaRoots On Location, LLC® and its 200-hour Certified Registered AntiRacist Raja Yoga School and have been practicing yoga for over 30 years. As a wellness thought leader and yoga guide, she uses integrative practices focusing on individual and collective wellness that is centered in communities of accountability. Her vulnerable practice invites breath, meditation, movement, and discussion as a platform to navigate trauma.
You can find her on IG @thecussinyogini and learn more at her website: thecussinyogini.com.
I recommend that you sign up for the YogaRoots On Location newsletter HERE, which will bring you updates on their rich variety of offerings. You can also find meditations by Felicia and other programming at the Youtube channel for YogaRoots On Location. Links for two recent meditations I loved are HERE and HERE. ✨✨
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Be Where You Are is a newsletter about how to use writing and mindfulness to stop and live more fully where you are. If you have ideas to share for future newsletters, you can reply to this email or email me at emilymohnslate@gmail.com. You can also find me on Instagram or Facebook or find more info at my website. Thank you for reading!⚡⚡