You Are Protected: A Live Workshop

You Are Protected is a live, three-hour wellness workshop at The New York Center for Holistic Learning in New York, New York, led by Michelle C. Johnson and Oneika Mays. It brings together mindfulness, meditation, spiritual practice and energetic protection for people who spend much of their lives giving to others: caregivers, healers, teachers, activists and community members.

The workshop begins from a plain observation. Uncertainty, grief, ongoing crises and the constant pull on our attention can leave us overwhelmed, disconnected and depleted, and stress and trauma affect the body, mind and spirit. Johnson and Mays offer spiritual practices as a daily way to work with that, by cultivating inner resources, energetic boundaries and spiritual support.

What to Expect

The session runs from 2:00 to 5:00 pm Eastern Time. Michelle and Oneika guide the group through simple practices designed to strengthen awareness, deepen self-trust, regulate the nervous system and cultivate compassion. The aim is a more intentional relationship with your own energy and spiritual resources.

The workshop draws on Johnson's book You Are Protected: Invoking Spiritual Support to Sustain Your Energy and Mays's book Sit With Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation. It is especially recommended for those in helping roles, as a way to stay engaged in caring for others without losing energetic protection or boundaries.

About Michelle C. Johnson

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher and director, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. Her work centers on healing from individual and collective trauma, returning to wholeness, and aligning mind, body, spirit and heart. She has worked for over two decades as a clinical social worker, and she teaches yoga. In this workshop she brings that clinical background to how trauma and stress affect the body and mind, and to the practices we can learn to protect and renew ourselves.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary and a Master's in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has worked in several non-profits and served as an elected official in North Carolina from 2011 to 2016. Her Dismantling Racism trainings have been led with corporations, non-profits and community groups, including Duke University, Kripalu, Yoga Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

About Oneika Mays

Oneika Mays is the author of Sit With Me: A No-BS Journey to Mindfulness and Meditation. In this workshop she shares mindfulness and meditation practices alongside Johnson.

The Place

The workshop takes place at The New York Center for Holistic Learning in New York City.

Before You Go

Workshop participants receive a copy of both books, You Are Protected by Michelle C. Johnson and Sit With Me by Oneika Mays.