GirlTrek's Black History Bootcamp

“Everybody say Blessed." We did it y’all! We walked for 21 days, journeying through 21 Pleasure Principles. We pray that over the past 21 episodes, you have learned the liberation stories of our people and that you have been transformed in ways that make you feel more alive. Now it’s time to Claim the Victory. What better way to do that than to hear from you, our GirlTrek sisterhood, on the first day of Sisterhood Saturday this summer. Hear from women across the country sharing brave testimonies, powerful shifts, and healing moments that have occurred on this season of Black History Bootcamp. This is not the end. It’s just the beginning. Keep walking, sister. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Zilpha Elaw    Tantalizing Trivia  One of 22 children, she was born in 1790 in Pennsylvania to free Black parents.  Her mother passed away when Zilpha was just 12 years old. Her father passed away two years later. She was sent to live in the home of a Quaker family.  Soon after she would attend a camp meeting held by the Methodist society. She embraced the teachings and became an active member of the Methodist church.  On her sister's deathbed, she had a prophecy that Zilpha would be a preacher. She rejected this message, until years later, when she fell deathly ill and in her sickness had her own prophecy of the same vision.  She was 29 years old when she preached her first sermon.  At the age of 56 she published “Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels and Labours of Mrs. Elaw.” The book documented her personal travels from around the world preaching.  In Britain, where she lived for more than a decade, she entered into one of the first interracial marriages with a her second husband, a white man. While living in England she had a chapel built in London to further her ministry.  She was considered to be one of the most “outspoken” women of her time.   Mirror Work: Assume a posture of prayer. Whatever feels most natural to you. You can kneel, lay, or fold yourself over in a child pose and let all of the weight you are carrying drip down onto the floor. Take three deep breaths from this place,  with each exhale, repeat quietly to yourself, “I am listening.”  Now take three more deep breaths. What do you hear? Take a few minutes to write. Don’t overthink or censure yourself. Just write.      Affirmation: My words have power. I use them to speak life.  I am walking into the greatest vision I have for myself.  I see a future that is expansive and bright.  Prophesy Over Your Life:  A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment: Create or update your vision board with 2-3 images that speak to you about the life that you dream of living.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Gloria Richardson Tantalizing Trivia   She was a Civil Rights activist who led The Cambridge Movement in the 1960s. Honored for her leadership, she sat on stage at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She grew up in Baltimore but was from a prominent family - of landowners, lawyers, and politicians - from the eastern shore of Maryland, who were free before the Civil War.  Gloria's father, John Hayes, died of a heart attack due to segregation which required him to drive further for medical attention - this was a turning point in her life. She attended Howard University and started social activism against segregation. During her early activism, Richardson was arrested three times.  In 1961, SNCC and The Freedom Rides came to her hometown of Cambridge, Maryland. She and her two daughters got involved in the movement.    In 1962, Richardson was asked to help organize the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC), the first adult-led affiliate of SNCC. She was a passionate and fiery spokesperson who never minced words and always spoke truth to power as one of the only female leaders of a civil rights organization.   She was brave: rather than asking for civil rights, she asked for economic rights, and she publicly questioned nonviolence as a tactic.  The students – including her daughter – were committed to nonviolence and were attacked by mobs of armed white people. Subsequent freedom walks and sit-ins included armed black men who surrounded the students for protection; clashes escalated. During protests in 1963, Richardson was photographed pushing aside the bayonet and rifle of a National Guardsman; the picture went viral in the media, and she became an icon of the movement    She signed a peace treaty with Robert F. Kennedy and local officials after an uprising in Maryland for civil rights.    Mirror Work:  Look at yourself and repeat 2 Timothy 1:7: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Affirmations: I have the power to change my life.  This will pass. It won’t last.  I’m worthy of love and happiness. Fear Not: A Playlist  Self-Care Shopping List:  Sign up for a self-defense class; if you have a daughter, sign her up too. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Rosa Parks    Tantalizing Trivia  Her future husband took her on a first date to a rally for the “Scottsboro Boys”, nine Black men who were wrongly accused of rape. From that rally she became compelled to activism.  She was educated on civil disobedience during her days at the famed Highlander School in Tennessee under the guidance of the legendary Septima Clark. Later she attended a leadership training run by the famed Ella Baker.  She was a staunch supporter of the labor movement and managed the office of E. D. Nixon the director of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and President of the NAACP. Rosa Parks became the secretary of the NAACP in Alabama in 1948.  She functioned as an investigator for the NAACP and helped for the Committee for Equal Justice. She was also the youth advisor.  She learned “daily stretching” from her mother as a child and would later in her 50’s develop a daily  yoga practice that she shared with her nieces and nephews.   In the mid 90’s she was attacked by an assailant in her home. When the media began reporting this as a failing of the Black community, she pushed back hard by offering that the attack was endemic of the systematic problems she spent her life working on and not that of Black people.  She lived to be 92 years old. Flags across the country flew at half-staff on the day of Park’s funeral.    Mirror Work: Find a quiet place to sit. Get comfortable. Let the chair do the work of holding you. Plan to be here for 10 minutes. In that time observe your breath without judgment. Is it shallow? Is it deep? What areas of your body does it flow too? Where could you use more breath? Breathe deeply into those spaces. Luxuriate in the fact that you do not  have to stand, do not have to move. You have been given this moment to sit still and just be. Thank God for that.  Affirmation: I can sit and rest. No need to rush.  I am where God wants to be. I am open to where God wants to take me.  I give grace freely. I receive grace daily.  Give Grace:  A Playlist  In Her Own Words:  “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”  “Each person must live their life as a model for others.”  “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free…so other people would also be free.”  “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Myrlie Evers-Williams Tantalizing Trivia  Raised by her grandmother, and an aunt, two respected school teachers in Vicksburg, MS.  They encouraged education so in 1950 she attended Alcorn A&M where she pledged Delta Sigma Theta sorority and on her first day of school met and fell in love with Medgar Evers - they got married a year later on Christmas Eve.  The young couple became prominent leaders in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, Medgar, serving as the NAACP’s first Field Secretary in Mississippi; together they fought for voting rights, equal justice and the end of segregation.  The Evers Family became a target of the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council. She said “Medgar was the love of my life.” and “the fear of losing one another was real.” In 1962, their home in Jackson, Mississippi, was firebombed; in 1963 her husband was brutally murdered in their driveway; and the murderer was exonerated and walked free, because of an all white jury in Mississippi; Protests, vigils and calls for freedom were widespread.  The world mourned with Myrlie Evers and her three beautiful children; The world watched her lay to rest an American hero, martyr and civil rights activists - who also served as a sergeant in World War II - in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.  A photo of her and her son grieving became the cover of Life Magazine; millions watched her tears flow; the image was later distributed by the NAACP to provoke the moral consciousness of a nation. As a widow, she moved her children to Claremont, California, went back to college, she made two bids for U.S. Congress and wrote a book called For Us, the Living, telling her family’s story in Mississippi and wrote an autobiography called Watch Me Fly.  She became chairperson of the NAACP’s board of directors, was named Woman of the Year by Ms Magazine, The National Freedom Award and in 2013 delivered the invocation at the inauguration of the first Black president of the US, Barack Obama. She went on to marry Walter Williams, a union organizer and moved to Oregon and committed herself to living a good life.  She never gave up the fight for justice for her family, and 30 years later in 1993, under a new judge, she pressed for conviction of the murderer - requiring her to exhume Medgar’s body for new evidence - and won the case, sending the murderer to jail for the last 8 years of his life.  Her legendary life was played by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie Ghosts of Mississippi and was featured in several other films, including the 2022 film Till.  She said she’s never lived a day of her 90 years without love, and has bravely battled hate.    Mirror Work:  Say goodbye to someone you lost.  Affirmations: I feel my feelings.  I am grateful for true love. Grief is a part of healing.  I turn my grief into goodwill  I rest when I am hurting.  I seek help.  I'm grateful for each day. I honor the fallen with daily fulfillment and joy.    Grieve as Gratitude : A Playlist     Self-Care Shopping List:  Buy and deliver flowers for someone alive for you. Love very much.     “I come to you tonight with a broken heart. I am left without my husband, and my children without a father, but I am left with the strong determination to try to take up where he left off.” - Myrlie Evers-Williams, 24 hours after the murder of her husband.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: WIlma Rudoplh    Tantalizing Trivia    She was the 20th of 22 children and weighed 4.5 pounds at birth. Her early health challenges included pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio.  As an Olympic champion, and the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics,, she was among the most highly visible black women in America and abroad.  Her welcome home parade became one of the first integrated events in the state of Tennessee.  She was an active participant in the civil rights movement, participating in lunch counter protests that led to the desegregation of public facilities in Tennessee.  Her post-track and field career included graduating from Tennessee State University, becoming a teacher, a national broadcaster, a nonprofit leader, a Goodwill Ambassador in West Africa, and a coach.  She once dated boxing legend Muhammad Ali.  Her death, at the age of 54, was early and untimely, from brain and throat cancer.    Mirror Work Find a scar on your body that reminds you that it’s possible to heal. Maybe it’s not visible to the naked eye. Run your fingers over the spot. Recall the site of injury. Remember the pain or discomfort that you experience in the moment of harm. Now, run your fingers over the spot again. Marvel at the miracle of your body putting itself back together again. Thank the scar for the work that your body did at the site to heal.    Affirmation: My scars are scared spots of healing. They remind me that this too shall pass.  I am worthy of my time. I spend it taking care of myself.  I don’t settle for the care in front of me. I seek what I need and don’t stop until I find it.    Chase the Care You Need: A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment:  Set aside an hour of time next week. Plan to sit down with a good meal and your favorite cup of tea or coffee. Put on some comfy clothes and settle into your favorite spot. Ready now? Good. Pull out your calendar and your phone and take the time to make any doctor's appointments that you have been putting off. Research naturopaths. Find a good masseuse or acupuncturist. Call your insurance and check your health coverage (yeah, we know, but that’s why we said, sit down with a good meal. This might take some of your time, but don’t worry you're worth it.) Make sure you understand what benefits you have and what care is available to you.    Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Oshun    Tantalizing Trivia   Oshun is a goddess deity, or orisha, of the Yoruba religion of West Africa. There are equivalent goddess figures in multiple cultures including as Oxum in Brazil and Ochun in Cuba. Tradition holds that Oshun comes from Osogbo, Nigeria. That city is considered sacred, and it is believed to be fiercely protected by the water goddess. The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, a forest that contains several shrines and artwork in honor of Oshun; it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. Every year Oshun devotees and other people of the Yoruba religious tradition go to the Oshun River to pay homage at the Oshun festival.  One of the youngest Orisha’s and one of the most adored in the Yoruba religion. She is the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. She exudes sensuality and all the qualities associated with fresh, flowing river water.  She is a teacher of both magic and mysticism. She is the granter of wishes and all of your heart’s desires.  Mirror Work: Drop into a Goddess squat and allow your hips, chest and heart to open to your divine power.. Instructions:  From a standing position with the feet 3 feet apart, bend the elbows at shoulder height and turn the palms facing each other. Turn the feet out 45 degrees facing the corners of the room, and as you exhale bend the knees over the toes squatting down. Press the hips forward, press the knees back. Drop the shoulders down and back and press the chest toward the front of the room. Keep the arms active, as if they were holding a big ball over your head. Look straight ahead with the chin parallel to the floor. Breathe and hold 3-6 breaths While breathing repeat the affirmations below.  Affirmation:  I am at the center of creation, the river of life flows through me.  I give birth to new ideas each day, I nurture them with care.  I am divine.  Activate the Divine:  A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment: Before bed pamper yourself with this 30-minute divine feminine flow to reconnect to the goddess energy inside of you.    Self-Care Shopping List:  Create an ancestor altar. Everything that you need is detailed here in this simple article.  “The divine feminine is a spiritual concept that there exists a feminine counterpart to the patriarchal and masculine worship structures that have long dominated organized religions. The divine feminine extends well beyond one belief system, and instead can be used as a spiritual lens to balance our perspective.” - Emily Torres    Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Bessie Springfield   Tantalizing Trivia   First Black woman to ride across the United States solo.  At 16, taught herself to ride her first motorcycle, a 1928 Indian Scout.  At 19, started her adventure across the American South at the height of the Jim Crow Era - on a Harley-Davidson.  One of the few civilian motorcycle dispatch riders during World War II. Married six times.  Over the course of her life, drove all 48 continental states and long-distance rides in Europe, Brazil and Haiti Inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Lived to be 81 years old     Mirror Work: Your life is abundant, where will you go? What will you do?  Let’s plan it. Your next adventure.  Relax your face. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in an inspiring place. Is it on a sailboat? A crystal blue sea? The Great Wall of China? A dirt road at sunset? A silent retreat at an ashram? Imagine yourself there. See the surroundings in your minds eye. Here the sounds. Feel and taste the air. You are there. Now open your eyes, look at yourself, and make a silent promise to go.  Affirmation: I deserve to enjoy life.  I embrace living in the moment.  I'm packed and ready to go.  I am free and open to adventure.  Adrenaline is Alchemy: A Playlist    Self-Care Shopping List:  Download the AirBnB app. Rather than searching  “Stays” select “Experiences”.   Type in your state, and voila! Pick a local adventure.  Don’t wait, book it before you close the app.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Emma Dupree    Tantalizing Trivia:  She was an herbalist and traditional healer who grew up on the Tar River in North Carolina. Her pioneering work serves as the basis for much of today’s herbal medicine movement.  She was known for her “garden grown pharmacy” and grew everything from  sassafras, white mint, double tansy, rabbit tobacco, maypop, mullein, catnip, horseradish, silkweed and other plants from which she made tonics, teas, salves and dried preparations.  She believed her gifts and understanding of herbs to be a gift directly from God and used the bible to guide her decision making.  She lived to be 99 years old and received the North Carolina lifetime achievement award, heritage award and the North Carolina Folklore Society for her significant contributions to her community.    Mirror Work: Imagine that your ancestors stored the secrets of their survival in your DNA. Imagine the secrets pulsating through your body. Now quietly ask them, what do you have to tell me? Say to them, “It’s ok to share now. I am listening. I am paying attention. I hear you.” What was said? Spend five minutes journaling  Affirmation: The intelligent wisdom that guarantees that the sun rises everyday, also lives in me. Each day I rise into its warm embrace and with that rising I am healed.  Pull at the Roots:  A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment:  In her own words. Watch Emma Dupree share the wisdom of her work with us in an archival interview that is sure to inspire.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Parental Advisory Pleasure Muse: Lil Kim    Tantalizing Trivia: She is the original “Queen Bee”, also known as the Queen of Rap and The First Lady of Rap.  At 14, because of a tumultuous relationship with her father, she left home and started living on the streets; later she would drop out of high school for a short time, before enrolling  in the same school where fellow rappers, Nas and Foxy Brown were attending. By 19 she was a starring member in the rap group, Junior Mafia, the next year she went solo, with the highest debut of any female rap artist at the time.  In 2005, she was convicted on perjury charges regarding a 2001 shooting outside a New York radio station. She eventually served one year in prison.  Her entire career has been steeped in controversy. Some say her highly sexualized image and lyrics are seen as manifestations of the sexist, misogynistic ideologies embedded in rap culture. Others consider her a feminist, sec-positive icon who has empowered women to step into their sexual power and own a new image for themselves.    Mirror Work: Make yourself the object of your own desire.  Enjoy a post-shower love-fest of your body. Standing in the mirror,  admire all of your dips, dimples and curves. See the sexiness in your survival, in your suppleness, in your self-love and adoration.  Affirmation: I am proud to be a sexual being. I safely explore and embrace my sexual desires without guilt or shame.  Banish Shame:  A Playlist    Self-Care Shopping List: Good books to get you started on your journey to banishing shame.  Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk About Sexuality and Intimacy, By Tricia Rose  Stolen Women: Reclaiming our Sexuality, Taking Back Our Lives, By Dr. Gail Wyatt  When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, By Joan Morgan    “The streets made me. They stay at me. There's nothing that's gonna take away from my legacy. I'm sorry. It is what it is. I'm dying this way. With the crown on my head, nobody can take nothing away from me. It is what it is. I am who I am. Bottom line.” - Lil Kim  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Naomi Sims   Tantalizing Trivia: Naomi Sims is the first Black supermodel in history - certainly, the first Black cover girl to land the featured cover photo in major magazines like Life and Cosmo in the 1960s and 1970s With a dark complexion, a thin body, and standing 5’ 10 she says she was not considered beautiful to others as a teenager. She thought otherwise. She created a master plan to break into the racist modeling industry. When no agency would sign her, she represented herself and booked an advertising job and then - with that success - helped launch a brand new agency, Wilhelmina. It became the most prestigious agency in America. At the height of the Black Power Movement, Naomi Sims became the very face of the “Black is Beautiful” ethos. Sims went from modeling to mogul when she earned a cool 5 million in the 80s through a cosmetic and wig line developed expressly for Black women.   Mirror Work: Without changing, notice your posture. What is it saying? Now turn on the playlist and dance to the pro-Black anthems. Notice your posture now.   Affirmation:  [Say it loud.]  I’m Black and I’m proud.   Stand Tall: A Playlist   Self-Care Shopping List: Book a deep tissue massage to release any knots or tension. Invest in a standing desk so that you don’t have to hunch at work.  Treat yourself to a new pair of heels so you can stunt on 'em like Naomi. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Sharon Schaffer    Tantalizing Trivia  She is the first Black woman to become a professional surfer and some of her work was featured in the opening of the Smithsonian African-American History Museum.  She was a pioneer as a stunt double in Hollywood. As an actress she toured the country playing Harriet Tubman.  She is an activist who has used her platform to organize other surfers into paddle-out protests to bring awareness to social justice issues.    Mirror Work: It’s time for you to claim what’s yours. Stand tall in the mirror and call-out, “I got it!” Look yourself in the eyes. Are you convinced? Now say it with more authority, whatever wave is washing up next, whatever emotions are washing into your body, trust yourself. Look back into the mirror, into your eyes, and say louder, “I got it!”  Repeat three times or as many times as you need until you believe it’s true.  Affirmation: I am prepared for whatever comes my way. I got it!  Wade in the Water:  A Playlist  Alchemy Assignment:  Watch - Wade in the Water: A Journey into Black Surfing and Aquatic Culture.  Read: Black Surfers Reclaim Their Place on the Wave    Self-Care Shopping List: Do you dream of learning to swim? GirlTrek will support the first 10 women who email marketing@girltrek.org with the subject title “Swim Lessons” with two months of swim classes in your area to help you get started.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Mary McLeod Bethune   Tantalizing Trivia   Mary McLeod Bethune was not satisfied until Black girls were educated and free.  Born in South Carolina to parents of enslaved Africans, she was the 15th of 17 children. She worked the cotton fields with her mother and each afternoon, walked 5 miles to school to learn to read. Even then, she said she knew there was a calling on her life, a divine mission. She said, “For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.” She started early. She went to Bible school in Chicago, served in a Christian mission and started outreach to prisoners.  Of her mento there, she said, ““I was so impressed with her fearlessness, her amazing touch in every respect, an energy that seemed inexhaustible and her mighty power to command respect and admiration from her students and all who knew her. She handled her domain with the art of a master.”  She moved to Florida to start a school. She raised money by making sweet potato pies, ice cream and fried fish and the students made ink for pens from elderberry juice and pencils from burned wood. That one room school house turned into Bethune-Cookman University, but she served as president for 20 years. She said, “I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a loving God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve."  She rode that wave of victory to global prominence as “The First Lady” of the Black Planet; founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, established the “Black Cabinet” as national advisor to president Franklin D. Roosevelt and the only Black woman to help charter the United Nations Unveiled in 1974, today, there is a 17 ft bronze statue of Bethune in a public park in Washington, D.C. It is the first monument to honor an African-American or a woman on the national mall.  Affirmations Inhale, satisfaction smells sweet; Exhale, everything is working for my good I speak words that result in satisfactory experiences.  I rest satisfied with what I can do now to make the world better.  I live a life that is steeped in satisfying moments.  I will follow my bliss and surf my satisfaction. I will notice when I feel the charge of alignment in my soul and I will say yes! More of this.  Gratitude satisfies the soul.      Mirror Work: See yourself as a surfer. …waiting on your board for the next big wave. Your feet can’t touch the ground and you’re far from the shore. Relax. Play. Smile. Dangle your feet in the living water. Your wave is coming. Your purpose today is to catch it. …a surge of satisfaction. This is soul work. Who or what is inspiring you to pop up? Which wave is calling you today? Wait for it. Not that one. Not that one. Connect and feel. Not that one. Wait for it. That one!  Ride your own wave. The one that feels good and holds you steady. The wave of a good job, a rich experience, a nurturing relationship, a communal service.  Your wave is coming today. Ride it and feel the rapture of being fully alive and satisfied.    Prayer for Pleasure   Dear God,   Call me. Make it clear which wave I should ride. I want to be satisfied with this one precious life. I want the exhilaration of being snatched up in satisfaction. Help me to see me as you see me.  Give me the faith of my foremothers that life is good. Light my feet with the fire of purpose so that I can experience the rapture of being alive. Let  me surrender to divine destiny and awesome alignment.    Amen.    Surf your satisfaction: A playlist   Self-Care Shopping List: Buy a beautiful journal and pen. Put it by your bedside  Save the first page to write a Satisfaction List   “For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.” - Mary McLeod Bethune Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Toni Cade Bambara  Tantalizing Trivia:  Born Miltona Mirkin Cade, this author, activist, and professor, changed her name at the age of 6, to Toni. She then added Bambara to honor the West African ethnic group, Bambara.  Her anthology, “Black Woman”, was the first feminist collection to focus on Black women. It included works from her friends Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde and Alice Walker.  After the success of her two fiction books, Gorilla My Love and The Salt Eaters, she became a filmmaker, covering topics like the Philadelphia MOVE Bombing and the disappearance of over 40 children in Atlanta.  She believed strongly in clairvoyance, dream analysis, telepathy, and ancestral healing, and wrote about those themes in most of her work.  She died at 56 from colon cancer. Toni Morrison posthumously edited and published her last book, Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions.  Mirror Work: Do a two minute free write, completing the sentence, “The truth is, I…” There’s not right or wrong. Just let your truth, about whatever comes from your spirit, flow onto the paper. Now look at yourself in the mirror as you read it out loud. “The Truth is I…” Repeat three times. Look at yourself while you speak and honor the courage that it takes to face our truths head on.  Speak Your Truth: A Playlist  Self-Care Shopping List: Pick up The Salt Eaters for yourself and Gorilla My Love for your pre-teen or teen to read this Summer.  “The dream is real my friend, it’s the failure to realize it that’s the unreality.” - Toni Cade Bambara  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Queen Afua   Tantalizing Trivia   Born Helen Odel Robinson changed her name to Queen Afua She was raised in Harlem at the height of the Black Nationalist Movement and was a community organizer.  As a child, she suffered from asthma, allergies, eczema and debilitating cramps and at 15 years old, started a lifelong investigation, and practice of healing herself - she started  daily exercise, learning more about herbs and she changed her diet.  She experienced dramatic healing which led her on a spiritual quest, hearing directly from God, on several occasions, instructing her which plants and herbs to use for different ailments.  She tapped into ancient African traditions and combined those with her “impeccable listening” and intuition to launch her “Womb Healing Movement” that has helped over 1 million women.  She has become a wellness guru to generations of Black women including cultural leaders like Erykah Badu, India Arie, Jada Pinkett Smith, Iyanla Vanzant, Lauren London and Beverly Bond.  Queen Afua has written seven best-selling books that Center, African healing traditions and designed and led hundreds of workshops and retreats to heal Black women.    Mirror Work: Look at yourself naked in the mirror. Relax. Smile. Say thank you to your body. Put your hands on your womb with loving kindness and imagine the inheritance of Divine Femininity that flows through you from your mother’s womb and her mother’s womb. Say I am the daughter of ____ who is the daughter of ____.  Commit to listening to your womb. What is she telling you? What does she want you to shift in your life? How does she want you to heal yourself?   Awaken your womb: A Playlist    Self-Care Shopping List: Buy the book Heal Thyself or Sacred Woman by Queen Afua on Amazon. Visit www.queenafua.com for womb retreats and juice plans. Go to a local tea shop and learn about herbal healing. Invest in a quality tea blend. Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Dr. John Francis    Tantalizing Trivia   He gave up using motorized transportation and took a vow of silence that was intended to last one day. It lasted for 17 years.  He completed three college degrees, including a Phd while silent.  He walked across the United States and is referred to as the “Planet Walker”.  He was a pioneer of Black conservatism and environmentalism.    Mirror Work: While out on a walk find a patch of natural earth and take your shoes off. Look at your feet planted firmly on the ground. Imagine the healing powers of the universe shooting up through the arches of your feet. Feel stronger with each breath you take.    Watch: John in his own words, explain his journey in his TED talk,   Find Stillness: A Playlist    “You have to let go of the wanting to understand, you have to let go of wanting to possess the understanding and just be in that place.” - Dr. John Francis Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening Song Closing Song

Pleasure Muse: Alice Coachman    Tantalizing Trivia Alice Coachman was the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal.  She was born in segregated Georgia and as a child picked cotton and sold peaches, pecans and plums to help support her family She rejected  the patriarchy and segregationists, both telling her Black girls should not be athletes; Shout out to two women who encouraged her to become a runner - her fifth-grade teacher Cora Bailey, and her aunt, Carrie Spry. She ran barefoot on dirt roads to practice; Her stumbling block became her stepping stone and this kind of “no excuses” training made her the best athlete in Georgia in high school. She was recruited by Tuskegee and won national championships for track and field and in 1948, dazzled the world in the Olympic Games! King George VI of England put some respect on her name and the gold medal around her neck.   Mirror Work: Flex in the mirror. Yell “Game Time!” Start clapping.  And run out of the bathroom like you believe in yourself. LOL   Affirmation: I can do whatever I set my mind to.    Play Hard: A Playlist    Self Care Shopping List: Splurge on a good pair of sneakers for yourself. The brighter color the better.   Activity for Alchemy: Challenge a family member or neighbor to an old-school footrace. Ready? Set. Dust them fools.  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Alice Coltrane    Tantalizing Trivia   At 29 she became a widow with four children after her husband, famed jazz musician, John Coltran, passed away.  She founded an Ashram in the mountains of California and was an active healer, practicing energy work and laying of the hands.  She entered a two year mourning period after his death where she withdrew from friends, family and food. She referred to it as a necessary spiritual journey.  She professed to have divine revelations.    Mirror Work Sit or stand with your eyes closed. See yourself from within. See your image as God would see it, and honor what you see, by silently telling yourself, “I see the God in me.”    Affirmation I am fearfully and wonderfully made.    Bend Don’t Break: A Playlist    Self-Care Shopping List  A sound bowl or chimes to add to your home collection of healing tools.    Women have been held back and limited throughout the centuries. Creation could not have been rendered, not even considered, let alone be brought into manifestation without woman. She is principal, a powerful energy. She is first. - Alice Coltrane  Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Donna Summer    Tantalizing Trivia   Born to a working class family in Boston - her father was a butcher and her mother was a schoolteacher - her voice soared when she started singing solos in the AME church at 11 years old.  She dropped out of high school to move to New York City to join a blues rock band.   She landed a career-altering role in the musical Hair which debuted in Germany, where she lived and learned to speak fluent German.  She married an Austrian man and they had a daughter name Mimi.  She became known as the "Queen of Disco" with 32 chart singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and forever changed the face of music and her upbeat music ushered in a new dance called disco.    Mirror Work Look at yourself today and play “Love to Love You Baby” or “Hot Stuff” Make deep eye-contact with your finest self. Dance the entire song and try and break a sweat.    Affirmation With every step, I sway and play.    Dance Daily: A Playlist   Self-Care Shopping List Roller Skates: vintage roller skates are a great way to dance and exercise - and let’s face it, everyone likes a little wind in her hair.    If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.” -Emma Goldman Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song

Pleasure Muse: Dr. Sebi    Tantalizing Trivia He grew up in Honduras and got his foundation in herbalism from his grandmother.  He was arrested several times for practicing medicine without a license, but attracted a zealot following of believers who followed his lifestyle and diet advice.  Nipsey Hustle called him an underdog hero and champion of the truth.  He worked with Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, and Kendrick Lamar, just to name a few.  He pioneered a lot of the current popular health trends, including plant-based, fasting, knowing the PH balance of foods, and the healing benefits of sea moss.    Mirror Work: Gently massage your skin. Imagine that it is reflecting back to you everything that is inside. Notice where it is supple. Notice where it might be dehydrated. Notice your melanin. Give thanks that your body has the ability to process toxins and foods properly.    Affirmation: I tend to my body because it is a temple. I feed it food that is nourishing.    Release the Toxins: A Playlist    Self-Care Shopping List:  The next time you go grocery shopping. 2-3 Fruits or vegetables that you have never tried or rarely consume.   Didn’t catch the live recording of today’s episode? We don’t want you to miss out on getting the full experience. Check out the opening and closing songs below. Opening ⁠Song⁠ Closing ⁠Song