A Special Chacruna Institute Gathering
Wednesday, March 24th at 12:00-2:00PM PST
Join us for this FREE event HERE.
With Participation From:
Bia Labate
Erica Morton Magill
Grace Cepe
Liana Gillooly
Tonya Abernathy
Claudia Cuentas
Reema Datta
Glauber Loures de Assis
Darron Smith
Wells Jones
We invite you to be with us in a sacred pause. In this art-filled, musically-adorned, heartfelt space we will gather in community and connection to collectively mourn all we’ve lost in this challenging year. We will also celebrate our kinship as we begin the process of interconnected healing and emergence.
This event marks a little more than one year since public health mandates began, and since Breonna Taylor’s life was taken. In that time hundreds of thousands have lost their breath, tragically and needlessly at the hands of police, and at the mercilessness of a virus. Many of us have also lost our livelihoods, our familial and social connections, our homes: the well of pain has been deep.
We are co-creating this gathering as a space to speak to our multifaceted grief, to witness each other in that grief, and move through it together. We who have our breath in 2021, let us make meaning together. Let us unite our breath — our voices, moans, stories, songs and wails— using our collective breath to start to heal this aching social body.
The event will include participation from guest artists, speakers, musicians, and poets, and will also hold space for the creation of a community altar, public sharing, and ceremony. We invite you to contribute to our community altar by sending us a photograph, note, drawing, art piece or altar item that represents someone or something you’ve lost and are honoring. You can email your submissions to [email protected] by 12pm PST on Tuesday March 23rd. Please keep in mind that submissions will be shared publicly. If you do not submit beforehand, you will have the opportunity to share notes in the community chat during the gathering, and to light a candle alongside us (BYO candle).
Speakers
Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (https://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-la.org). She is Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is also co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-two books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles.
Erica Morton Magill is a writer, yoga student and teacher. She trained as a social scientist in medical anthropology at UC Berkeley where she received her BA. For over ten years Erica worked with The Art of Yoga Project, a non-profit bringing yoga and meditation to incarcerated and at-risk teenage girls in the San Francisco Bay Area. She composed the organization’s guidebook on teaching trauma-informed yoga and crafted an extensive curriculum, designed to offer contemplative practices in prisons and schools. She’s a co-founder of The Social Imaginary, a non-profit dedicated to fostering the conditions for a more connected, equitable and interdependent social landscape through meaningful gatherings and experiences. Erica currently co-owns and operates Lost Angels Yoga Club (LAYC), a yoga school based in Los Angeles yet unbound by geographical borders. She co-authors the bi-weekly LAYC Almanac which explores rhythmic, vital living at the liminal, sometimes crusty edges where moon cycles, movement, tarot, psychedelics, science, breath, art and the occult meet. She is currently working towards her MA in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS University of London. https://layoga.club/
Grace Cepe is part of the Chacruna Chronicles editorial team and serves as the Communications Associate for MAPS. She has a B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). At UCSC, Grace was a research assistant for the social psychology department’s Sexual and Gender Diversity Laboratory, instructor’s assistant for the Introduction to Psychology course, and residential counselor intern for at-risk youth. Before joining MAPS and the Chacruna Chronicles editorial team, Grace was a volunteer with Chacruna, MAPS, and the San Francisco Psychedelic Society, and has been an activist with Decriminalize Santa Cruz.Since attending MAPS’ Psychedelic Science Conference in 2017, Grace’s interests in psychedelics evolved from a primary focus on the clinical applications of psychedelics and into Indigenous ways of life and ceremonial uses, human rights, social justice, and increasing inclusivity and diversity in the field of psychedelics. Outside of her psychedelic work, Grace loves getting involved with her community, spending time in nature, hip-hop and salsa dancing, and getting lost in a good book.
Liana Sananda Gillooly is a lifelong advocate for social justice, drug policy reform, ending war, and environmental protection. Liana has worked as a gallerist, art curator, event producer, and held management positions at Greenpeace and Essential Living Foods. Before joining MAPS, she worked as Outreach & Partnerships Manager for a prominent cannabis investment and market research firm, The Arcview Group, where she helped grow the accredited investor network, advocated for legalization, and supported the work of Marijuana Policy Project. It was through her experience witnessing the exponential growth of the cannabis industry that she became inspired to co-found the non-profit North Star, working to integrate psychedelic wisdom into emerging industry surrounding the field of psychedelics, and Auryn Project, non-profit incubator for organizations building equitable, affordable, and accessible psychedelic medicine for all. She is a movement builder deeply committed to collective liberation, and works to build “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible” by intersecting with movements in humane tech, regenerative ecology, indigenous protection, and purpose driven economics. She enjoys building connection with change-makers, and wrangling the resources needed to transform our world. She has been a featured speaker at numerous events, lobbied Congress, lectured MBA students, given a TedX talk, and is a member of the Summit and TED communities. She a trained death midwife, vipassana meditator, and immersive artist.
Tonya Abernathy has been a singer and a musician her whole life. Ever since she remembers she has inspired small and large communities into song and healing. She has the ability to make walls and bodies sing and attune to the vibration of love and joy. Tonya is always exploring ways to make medicine with sound, both vocally and vibrationally. Tonya is also a death doula and has been committed to studying and practicing for many years the art of death and dying. Both, her passion for music, and healing, run deep on both sides of her family. Tonya obtained her Death Doula certification with Going with Grace in 2018. She also has had the great fortune over the last decade to sing alongside beautiful and talented musicians like Taina Asili and Climbing Poetree, to mention just a few.
Claudia Cuentas (MA. SEP. MFTI) is a Peruvian musician, singer songwriter, family therapist, researcher and educator, specializing in the art of healing trauma, trauma resolution, cultural identity and decolonization of healing. She is trained in Drama Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, Somatic Experiencing and Trauma informed Care. She also has extensive studies in Indigenous ways of healing, from her native Aymara and Quechua lineages. Claudia has completed parts A and B of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) MDMA Therapy Training Program. She participates in ongoing trainings and education on the intersectionality of art therapy, healing trauma, plant medicine science and indigenous knowledge. She is also a recording artist and the founder of the Canta Colibri Project. www.claudiacuentas.com
Reema Datta is an Indian-American teacher, speaker, humanitarian, and author. She founded Yatri Yoga in 2015 to share her family lineage and offer yoga as a holistic practice, with a focus on emotional well-being. Reema first learned yoga and Ayurveda from her parents and grandparents. She carries certificates in Ashtanga Yoga, Tibetan Yoga, and is a certified Ayurvedic therapist. Her book, Sacred Sanskrit Words for Yoga, Chant and Meditation, co-written with Leza Lowitz, and mantra albums are available on Amazon.com and iTunes. Reema leads kirtans, yoga workshops, and a 300-hour Yoga Alliance registered Yatri Yoga teacher training program. www.yatriyoga.com
Glauber Loures de Assis is a postdoctoral fellow at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where he also earned a Ph.D. in sociology. He is also Research Associate at the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) and co-founder of the Center of Sociology Studies Antônio Augusto Pereira Prates (CESAP). He has developed research on Santo Daime groups from Brazil and Europe and has also studied the sociology of religion from a wider perspective. His main interests include the ayahuasca religions, New Religious Movements (NRMs), the internationalization of the Brazilian religions, and drug use in contemporary society. He is Associate Director of Chacruna Latinoamérica in Brazil.
Darron T. Smith is a NCCPA-certified physician assistant and faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of Memphis. His areas of research and scholarship examine US-based systems of racial oppression and systemic inequality found in all domains across society including healthcare, the family (transracial adoption), healthcare disparities, religion, sport, culture and politics. Dr. Smith’s current research and practice intertwine the study of neurosociology, race-based trauma and mental illness by looking at the impact of neurofeedback versus MDMA-assisted psychotherapy on brainwave activity in individuals with racial trauma (PTSD) using EEG technology. He is featured in the CBS Sports Documentary, “The Black 14: Wyoming Football 1969,” as well as the Loki Mulholland film on transracial adoption, “Black, White & Us: Love is Not Enough.” He is the author of When Race, Religion & Sports Collide: Black Athletes at BYU and Beyond. Dr. Smith is a member of Chacruna’s Racial Equity and Access Committee.
Wells Jones is a musician and poet, who famously played with Sun Ra and his Arkestra. He bestows wisdom and light wherever he roams. He currently resides in Maui where he tunes into and reflects the soundscapes of the island.
Join us at our upcoming conference on April 24-25, Sacred Plants in the Americas II: https://chacruna.net/sacred-plants-americas-2-conference/
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