Guided Mindfulness: Ancestral Practice

There are many ways to address the idea of the ancestor. For this practice, ancestors are those individuals, either by love or by blood, have played and continue to play a role in how we live, work, and even rest. The beauty of this practice is that it is not important to name a specific individual. The goal is to remember that, because of them, we have been able to traverse the complexities of our lives, delve into the research that drives us, and/or understand something more about what makes us who we are, all due to pathways opened by those who came before us. This practice can be done lying down or sitting comfortably in a chair. Try to, for the next 20 minutes, to avoid any distractions. Remember to breathe. Note that this journey, sometimes no matter how often it is done, is a beautiful, and sometimes emotional journey. That is the way of ancestor love.

Stefani Renee Briggs

Stephanie Briggs (she/her/hers) is the owner of Be.Still.Move. (www.bestillmove.com), a program of creative, arts-based contemplative practices. For seven years, she has provided contemplative practices for AAC&U’s undergraduate STEM programs: Keystroke, TIDES, and Reframing Institutional Transformation for Non-Tenure Track Faculty Institutes. She has created workshops for the USGS, STEM Women of...

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