Special Events

meeting the moment skillfully with practice

with Michelle Johnson and J Miles

Saturday, March 8, 9:30AM - 4PM at Living Water Community Center

Yoga is an ancient practice designed to support us in meeting whatever might arise, moment to moment.

Our day will begin with a heart-opening asana practice led by J Miles. The morning offering will be a donation-based practice open to all. Together, we will move our bodies in ways that will aid both physically and spiritually opening to the possibility of heart-led change.

In the afternoon session, Michelle will lead us through an exploration of how we can engage in spiritual practice to meet the uncertainty life presents and the challenging times we are experiencing because of social unrest, climate change, collective loss, and the unsettling times in which we find ourselves now. This immersion will explore how we might engage in spiritual practice to invite more ease into our and other’s lives so we can cultivate a sense of collective ease and peace. 

Throughout our session, we will explore the following themes:

The Eight-Limbed Path of Yoga

The Importance of Practice

The Kleshas, Root Causes of Our Suffering

How to Hold Space For Your Own and Other’s Suffering

Our Interconnectedness and more!

 

The session will include: meditation, pranayama, asana, mudras, mantras, self-study and reflection, small group and large group discussion.

 

Flow of the Day:

9:30AM - 11AM Heart Opening Asana Flow, led by J Miles (donation based - open to all)

11AM - 12PM break for lunch

12PM - 4PM Meeting the Moment Skillfully with Practice, led by Michelle Johnson

In the spirit of both equity and accessibility, these sessions are being offered on the following sliding scale:

Not in Richmond? No worries! Get the link to attend the afternoon session live via Zoom!

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 five-time published author, and In May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, published by Sounds True and co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, comes out.

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.

 
 

J Miles is a father, Yogi, martial artist, body worker, retired breakdancer, community activist, and the son of a Baptist minister. He has been learning and studying eastern arts and philosophy for over two decades, but movement itself, coupled with creativity and exploration of movement through dance, has always been a constant source of curiosity and confidence. From learning how to headstand at five from his father, to walking on his hands and tumbling as an adolescent, to playing sports as a teen, to poppin’ and lockin’, J has always been moving.

This love of movement came together in the Brazilian art of Capoeira, which then led him to Hung Gar kung fu and his first real Teacher, who unknowingly led him to Yoga. J has a unique style of Yoga - influenced by various teachers and writings - but also unmistakably tempered by real life and humor, relying on the importance of breath as a guide and a source of strength. He strives to create for each person a fluid, sustainable and enjoyable practice - that hopefully will prove to be beneficial over a lifetime. And even as this ancient practice continues to evolve, the mantra continues to be “practice is effort toward steadiness of mind”.