The Sounds True Foundation wants to share with you stories of people whose lives we are impacting through our efforts to create equitable access to transformational tools and teachings. Together, we are creating a ripple effect in our communities. Through your support, Mindful Champions—people who are committed to sharing wisdom-based teachings to communities that normally wouldn’t get access—receive 100% scholarships to The Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP).
Meet three of our Mindful Champions impacting their communities today.
Jasmine splits her time between the US and Guadeloupe, a department of France in the Caribbean. Her plan is to bring mindfulness meditation teachings to the English-speaking Caribbean, specifically to single moms who cannot afford to take meditation classes. Currently, she is working on starting a donation-based sangha with CommUnity Zone, an organization dedicated to connecting people with health and human services, as well as other community initiatives, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. All donations will go toward the community that supported Jasmine when she first moved there.
The MMTCP has taken me to new depths that I did not anticipate would happen. I was seeing myself as so much more evolved, and I got into the MMTCP and it showed me that my evolution is a continuous process. It changed how I saw myself fundamentally and how I saw the world.
John volunteers his time in his community of Wilmington, Delaware. He teaches young people at the Urban Bike Project to build and repair bicycles, where he also teaches meditation classes during their two-week summer camp. He is also the meditation teacher at The Warehouse, a space designed by teens for teens that provides youth resources and opportunities, including mindfulness and meditation.
I want to teach people how to deal with depression, anxiety, and panic associated with being a minority in America. My focus is on the BIPOC communities, specifically African American communities in the US. This is a stressed-out community. There’s probably only one Black therapist for every 2,000 people in my community.
Monique teaches yoga and stress reduction classes at Bronx Community College, where the majority of students are between 18 and 27 years old—as well as first-generation immigrants. “They’re trying to figure out how to have a life that is purposeful, meaningful, and healthy,” she says. “I teach them how to see themselves with compassion, how to be kind to themselves where there’s trauma. I want them to be successful despite their disadvantages, and I hope my teaching facilitates that.” In addition to her work with youth, she also teaches at Kripalu, leading a BIPOC teacher training.
I feel lucky to be in the room and in conversations about how people can access mindfulness.