Finding Refuge

June 1, 2021
Yogi, Dismantling Racism trainer, and therapist Johnson's (Skill in Action, 2017) cathartic second book is a guide to healing collective grief written largely amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the concurrent social unrest of 2020. Drawing from her life experiences, Johnson creates user-friendly, meditative spiritual practices to assist readers in confronting grief head-on to bring healing and learning from it. In the process, she marries Hinduism and social justice to address shared trauma from dominant culture and effect transformation. Her writing touches on such diverse topics as systemic racism, inequities in healthcare, the interconnectedness of people, and beekeeping. Each chapter focuses on one of these topics and culminates in a directed practice to bring students to an awareness of their progress through restoration. Johnson's opening Shared Language glossary is essential, laying the groundwork for navigating the mystical and temporal paths she takes, while the honeycomb motif throughout the book echoes the communal nature of loss and life.

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June 21, 2021
Social worker and yoga teacher Johnson (Skill in Action) suggests uplifting methods for processing grief resulting from cultural trauma and systemic oppression. She writes with wisdom and clarity (“Spiritual practice is designed for us to see things as they are, which means we must see, sense, and feel collective suffering”), offering meditation and journaling exercises to help readers connect with a “loving Spirit.” Each chapter centers on a personally traumatic experience that caused her to feel “collective grief,” such as recognizing racial bias in the medical system after doctors presumptuously dismissed her mother’s mysterious ailments as a pinched nerve and delayed treating her spinal stenosis, and unpacks concepts such as spiritual bypassing (using one’s spiritual beliefs to avoid hard topics instead of confronting them) and understanding that one is constantly “deciding what our legacy will be with our actions, intentions, and beliefs.” She also recommends creating boundaries in order to maintain one’s “life force” and communicating with one’s ancestors by creating an altar or composing letters. Spiritualists interested in social justice will get much out of Johnson’s engaging stories, practical advice, and contemplative practices.