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Special Edition | #DaughtersOf | Walk and Talk with Michelle Coltrane Aug 28, 2023

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Join Morgan and Vanessa in a first-ever #daugthersof Walk and Talk. Morgan and Vanessa talked with Michelle Coltrane about the wisdom and self-care secrets her iconic mother Alice passed down to her and what her mother's spiritual journey taught her about being her authentic self.

Special Edition | Sisterhood Saturday | August 5, 2023 Aug 08, 2023

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Our Sisterhood Saturday calls are a time for all of us to celebrate and support one another. Listen in as we open up the lines to hear what's on the hearts and minds of Black women nationwide.

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Salute a Sister Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

“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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 20 | Zilpha Elaw Jun 30, 2023

Show notes

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 19 | Gloria Richardson Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

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:

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 18 | Rosa Parks Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 17 | Myrlie Evers-Williams Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 16 | Wilma Rudolph Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 15 | Oshun Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

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

21 PLEASURE PRINCIPLES | Day 14 | Bessie Springfield Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

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

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