We are living through a time when our individual lives cannot be separated from the collective life. The grief we carry, the stress we feel, the uncertainty we navigate, and the longing we have for healing are shaped not only by our personal stories but by the larger systems, histories, and conditions that hold us all. As yoga teachers and healing practitioners, we are invited to understand healing not only as an individual journey but as a collective practice rooted in relationship, justice, and belonging.

In this advanced studies workshop, we will explore the intersections of the medical system, racial trauma, and collective trauma through the lens of yoga, embodiment, and spiritual practice. Together, we will examine how systems of care have both nurtured and harmed communities, how trauma is carried within bodies and across generations, and how our identities and social locations shape our experiences of health, suffering, and healing.

Rather than approaching trauma as something to be fixed, we will explore what it means to companion ourselves and others with greater presence, compassion, and discernment. Through contemplative practice, embodied inquiry, discussion, and reflection, we will consider how yoga can become a practice that restores our capacity to belong—to ourselves, to one another, to the earth, and to something larger than ourselves.

Throughout our time together, we will explore questions such as:

• What happens to the body, mind, and spirit when trauma is not only personal but collective?
• How have racism and systemic inequities shaped our experiences of health, healing, and the medical system?
• What does it mean to teach yoga in ways that acknowledge the realities of trauma without reducing people to their wounds?
• How can embodied practice cultivate resilience, deepen consciousness, and strengthen our capacity to remain present with suffering without becoming overwhelmed by it?
• What practices help us remember our interconnectedness in a world that so often teaches separation?
• Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of racial and collective trauma, an expanded awareness of the social conditions that shape healing, and embodied practices that support compassionate, justice-centered teaching and sustainable care for themselves and those they serve.

Tuition: $222

**In Person Location: Soul of Yoga Institute (located a few miles east of the main studio) 701 Garden View Ct, Encinitas, CA 92024

**Online Attendance:  Login details will be provided after registration

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. She approaches her life and work from a place of knowing we are, can, and must heal individually and collectively. Michelle facilitates workshops and immersions, leads retreats and transformative experiences nationwide, and offers an array of healing services for individuals and groups. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she
has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, and published by Sounds True, was released. Her upcoming book, You Are Protected, published by St. Martin’s Essentials, comes out in September 2026.

Michelle was a TEDx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019 and has been interviewed on several podcasts in which she explores the premise and foundation of Skill in Action, along with embodied approaches to racial equity work, creating ritual in justice spaces, our divine connection with nature and Spirit, and how we as a culture can heal.

Michelle leads courageously from the heart with compassion and a commitment to address the heartbreak dominant culture causes for many because of the harm it creates. She inspires change that allows people to stand in their humanity and wholeness in a world that fragments most of us. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.