Teen and Young Adult Rainbow Family
Mondays 2-3:30pm EDT/11-12:30pm PDT
June 29, July 6, 13, 20 • Online via Zoom
Ages 15-25
Mindfulness and LGBTQIA+ Identity
A Contemplative 4-week Course for Queer-Identified Teens and Young Adults
This course weaves iBme’s relational approach with periods of guided meditation, embodied practices, teaching/talks, and group sharing. Together, we will co-create spaces of support and connection where we listen to each other, love each other, and explore how we take care of ourselves and one another. We will have the opportunity to reflect on the particular realities we are facing at this time with tools and skills of mindfulness practice. Each gathering will offer a chance to tap into our inner resources of wisdom, connection, and presence in different forms, knowing there are many ways to meditate and that mindfulness means something distinct to each of us.
As LGBTQIA+ people, we recollect the power of community to know that we are not alone. In this practice group, we will be nourished by one another’s courage and authenticity in showing up just as we are. We will foster a sense of belonging that we may not always feel in the world; we will celebrate our queer resiliency and queer magic; we will polish one another’s gemstones so that we are all able to sparkle more brightly, to reflect each other more clearly, and to let our radiance shine!
Teachers
Nina Bryce
Nina [She/Her] is a mindfulness facilitator rooted in multiple lineages of meditative practice. With contexts such as her Jewish-Buddhist upbringing, queer mindfulness practice spaces, social justice work and activism, and her studies at Harvard Divinity School, Nina loves exploring human spirituality in its many forms. She finds mindfulness to be a powerful approach to this exploration, and seeks to support people in coming home to themselves through embodied presence, including both stillness and movement. Nina holds a Master of Divinity, and her professional training as an M.Div. includes facilitation of multifaith contemplative practice, interfaith hospital chaplaincy, and leading mindfulness programs in secular settings. Her meditation teaching has been most formed by the Insight Meditation and Plum Village traditions, and she is also trained as a yoga teacher in Vinyasa and Kundalini yoga. She completed the iBme Teacher Training in 2018, and has been involved with iBme teen and college retreats since 2014. She loves iBme because of the deep sense of belonging and the joy.
Bea Anderson
Bea, Youth Advocate and Community Educator began her contemplative study and practice in the Spring of 2001. Rooted in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh teachings of engaged Buddhism and the Tiep Hein Vietnamese Zen tradition, Beatrice believes “that what happens to one of us, happens to us all. We are all interconnected, and we are all co-responsible” (Thich Nhat Hanh). As an artist and educator, facilitating learning environments in self discovery and self empowerment for youth of all ages, her 16 years of supporting youth development in New York (upstate and downstate), California, Haiti and Jamaica bring a vision that calls forth social transformation centralizing the voices of the youth in the foreground of one the greatest humanitarian efforts; the liberation of the hearts and minds of us all from our co-created human conditioning. Beatrice is motivated to learn and exchange with teens, other educators, administration, social workers, and families to effectively create spaces that fully acknowledge and embody illuminating practices that recognize the brilliance and wisdom of our future generation(s). Beatrice serves as the co-founder of the Love Circle Sangha, a whole community practicing and studying the dharma in solidarity to uproot and decolonize systems of internal and external oppression. The sangha is a recognized sitting group in the Thich Naht Hanh lineage and shares in community at the Brooklyn Zen Center, in Park Slope Brooklyn.
Jihan Mcdonald
Jihan [They/Them] is a transformational facilitator, intuitive healer, creative writer, and nonbinary Black womxn from the Chochenyo land colonized as Oakland, CA. Their work in the world is rooted in their passion to contribute to the evolution of human beings into humane beings. Jihan holds an M.A. in Social Transformation and certificates in life coaching and stress & trauma release. Jihan loves working with iBME teens youth because of their courageous commitment to being their best selves.
Cost and Accessibility
The sliding scale for this 4-class Contemplative course is $40 – $150.
If your family earns $75,000 or more per year, then we request that you pay the full price. If your family earns less than $75,000/year, you may self-select an amount to pay. If you are in true economic hardship (e.g, recently lost job, health situation, etc.) we are offering the discounted rate of $40. If you cannot afford the discounted fee please email registrar@ibme.com and we’ll make it work for you. No teen will be turned away for lack of funds.
Application Deadline
June 15, 12pm ET/9am PT
Cost
$150 suggested tuition for families making over $75,000 a year • $40 – $150 sliding scale
Duration
90-minute sessions, 4 times
Ages
15-25