ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Rashid Hughes seeks to bridge the worlds of contemplative practice and collective care. He is a proud graduate of the Howard University Department of Music and the Howard University School of Divinity. Rashid is a certified Mindfulness Teacher, a certified Yoga Instructor, a Restorative Justice Facilitator, and currently in training to become a Fire Pujari. All of Rashid’s perspectives flow from the two wisdom traditions of contemplative and restorative practices.
In 2019, Rashid co-founded the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community, a community in Washington, DC that inspires Black, Indigneous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to live with love and courage in the face of systemic inequities and ongoing racial-violence. Out of his unwavering love for community care and healing, Rashid facilitates weekly mindfulness sessions to support BIPOC in living with joy, while also understanding and resolving the impact of trauma on their bodies and lives. Due to his interest in challenging the ideas and systems that uphold a culture of patriarchy today, he also facilitates mindfulness sessions for BIPOC masculine & male identifying people who are particularly committed to addressing issues of masculinity and the culture of patriarchy.
As a Restorative Justice Facilitator, Rashid holds the title of Restorative Justice Program Specialist at the non-profit SchoolTalk Inc. in Washington, DC. In that role, he collaborates with DC schools to create restorative spaces for youth to envision healing-centered approaches to school discipline, accountability and community building. When school classrooms went virtual in 2020, Rashid launched SchoolTalk’s Our School Our Voice initiative, a citywide collaboration between SchoolTalk and four schools in the District of Columbia. Our School Our Voice is student-designed, student-led, and rooted in Rashid’s vision of creating peer groups for students to engage with other students from different communities and elevate their voices.
In 2020, during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rashid created a contemplative practice, R.E.S.T.-A Practice for the Tired & Weary, to provide practical means for people to find clarity and confidence in the midst of such devastating and uncertain times.
In 2021, Rashid expanded the R.E.S.T. practice into a 5-Week Online Course & Practice Group. In collaboration with the Garrison Institute’s Fellowship Forum, Rashid joined Dr. Angel Acosta in conversation around the intersections of the R.E.S.T. practice, liberation and contemplative practice with a particular focus on how this practice is an antidote to the systems of capitalism and white supremacy.
Rashid’s writings have been published by Mindful Magazine, Lion’s Roar Magazine, and his first peer reviewed essay on R.E.S.T. was featured in the Journal for Contemplative Inquiry's volume, Transcendent Wisdom and Transformative Action: Reflections from Black Contemplatives, a “special edition focusing on the insights and wisdom of Black contemplative practitioners, researchers, scholars, educators and artists. Today, Rashid is devoting his time to a new interest, exploring the role of ceremony and contemplative practice in creating the conditions for a more just and caring world.
In this special episode, we discuss:
Freedom and liberation
Fear as a path to clarity
Purpose
Spiritual practice
Authenticity
Reclamation
Shared reality
Consuming chaos
R.E.S.T
A modern wisdom goddess
Connect with Rashid on his website or on Instagram @justbeandbreathe.
Podcast music by Charles Kurtz
