My life & my work are influenced by many. The Directory of Dopeness is a tribute to some of these forces of nature.
Below you will find people, organizations & books that have changed it & become legacy holders within the work that I live & share.
This is not a complete list. It will change as I do.
I reside on, work within & was born on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone people. Respecting the history of place matters greatly to me.
Ayla in her own words, "As intuitive reader, mentor, healer, yoga teacher & womb keeper, I bring over a decade of experience supporting people in becoming more energetically aligned and connected to themselves. My style weaves the practical, mystical, somatic and spiritual. My approach is nervous system informed - while weaving the oracular and elemental consciousness that exists in all of Life."
"MFA is a community space, an awe inspiring retail shop providing powerful tools & a temple chalice of divine creative energy."
"Ancestral Medicine is an organization that encourages the embodiment of animist values and practices in ways that are culturally healing, non-dogmatic, and accessible to people of diverse means, ancestries, and geographies.
We offer online courses, training in ancestral healing practices, and opportunities for international learning and ritual participation."
Reverend Brig Feltus, BMSc is the founder of The ReMember Institute a multi-platform, multi-media organization. As an organization their goal is to dispel ideas that art, science, spirituality & technology are oppositional to each other, and to encourage their collaboration in the quest for every perspective of Truth. "This is the way of the ancients… the esoteric and the physical in concert rather than opposition."
Resmaa Menakem is a leader in the spaces of Anti-Racism, Somatic Abolitionism, resilience & trauma. He is also the author of the NY Times bestselling book "My Grandmother's Hands".
"Nkem Ndefo... is the founder of Lumos Transforms & creator of The Resilience Toolkit.... She is known for her unique ability to connect with people of all types by holding powerful healing spaces, weaving complex concepts into accessible narratives, and creating synergistic and collaborative learning communities that nourish people’s innate capacity for healing, wellness, and connection."
bell hooks (who's name is intentionally not capitalized in standing with Her own practice) is an American feminist, author, social activist and African American woman. Her writing focuses on the intersectionality of race, gender and capitalism. Her focus is to describe how these factors converge to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination in our world. (text paraphrased from the site linked below)
Nnedi Okorafor is an international award-winning New York Times Bestselling novelist of science fiction and fantasy for children, young adults and adults. Born in the United States to Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for drawing from African cultures to create captivating stories with unforgettable characters and evocative settings.
(it's good to remember that storytelling is the most continuously used method of human information transmission; don't dismiss myths!!!!)
Octavia E Butler is a NY Times bestselling novelist dubbed by many as “The Prophet”, she had the following to say in an interview with NPR:
“These novels are not prophetic. These novels are cautionary tales. These novels are, if we are not careful, you know, if we carry on as we have been, this is what we might wind up with..... The problems that I write about are problems that we can do something about. That's why I write about them.”
Raul Castillo is a martial arts teacher located in Half Moon Bay, CA. He is also a community organizer, mentor & genuinely caring soul. I've learned much from him, far beyond the art of the choke.
Jator Pierre is a Holistic Coach with more than 20 years of experience. He supports individuals & groups in learning to support themselves physically, emotionally & nutritionally.
In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
The Flowering War is for those that are determined to break the harmful patterns of their lives and their lineages. It draws on the ancestral living wisdom of the Toltecs to guide you to a greater understanding of yourself, your purpose in life, and the essential role you play in healing an increasingly wounded world.
An ancestral pathway toward enduring wellbeing through understanding & working with the gateways of the autonomic nervous system: "Safety is the doorway to connection, connection is the doorway to interoception, interoception is the doorway to intuition, intuition is the doorway to relatedness, and relatedness is the doorway to enduring wellbeing.
In a thought-provoking social and cultural analysis, the author of All About Love explores the world of masculinity and maleness to address some of men's most common concerns, including a fear of intimacy and the loss of their patriarchal place in society, arguing that an emotionally rewarding inner life holds the key.
Within each body is an archaeological site that holds the details and wisdom of our extraordinary life story, composed of generational, spiritual, and personal experiences. Historical amnesia locks these stories in the body, manifesting as pain, disease, addictions, emotional patterns, and repetitive circumstances. Somatically excavating your personal legend unearths memories of the past that can be reconciled and healed in order to create a new myth-for your body and for your Earth.
Sacred Instructions explains how our traditional stories set the framework for our belief systems and urges us to decolonize our language and stories. It reveals how the removal of women from our stories has impacted our thinking and disrupted the natural balance of our communities.
For all those who seek to create change, this book lays out an ancient world view and set of cultural values that provide a way of life that can heal Mother Earth, and preserve our communities for future generations.
Versed in the languages of psychology, comparative literature, as well as ancient mythology, healing, and divination, Malidoma Patrice Some bridges paths between the ancient tribal world of the West African Dagara culture and modern Western society. Ritual is written with wild imagination, careful critical reflection, and intuitive insights that will force the reader to encounter the world anew.
The first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to viniyoga--yoga adapted to the needs of the individual.
In the midst of global climate change and economic crises fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.others' emotions.
Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. Our wold is a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, this book invites us to feel, map, assess, and learn from the swirling patterns around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen.
A paradigm-shifting book in the vein of Sapiens that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability--and offers a new template for living.As an indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world.
The Way of Liberation is Adyashanti's stripped-down, practical guide to spiritual awakening. With a profound simplicity it outlines the Foundations, Orienting Ideas, and Core Practices that are essential in the process of waking up to the absolute nature of Reality and living it to the fullest extent possible. May this book serve as an insightful companion on your journey to that place of sacredness, to the flow and flowering of existence beyond all notions of self.
In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.
Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York's Tower 7. Only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a normal human.
Devastated by a death and Tower 7’s refusal to answer her questions Phoenix escapes, and destroys Tower 7, this is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course of humanity’s future.
Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu (who's name means: "who fears death?" discovers her magical destiny – to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture – and eventually death itself.
A heartbreaking story of victory, defeat, and of a spiritual search in a profane world, this is the story of Night Bear and his people. It is the tale of the land they cherish and the lives they hold sacred, lived until the enemy can no longer be stopped, and the dead have few left to weep for them. This description may be from another edition of this product.
An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression.
Ancient Future celebrates the wisdom of those ancient civilizations that did not disassociate the philosophical, spiritual, and material realms of life. This book is an attempt to re-create this holistic experience in hopes that a synthesized view of life will become reality in the 21st century.
Us is a groundbreaking guide to a new science-backed skillset--one that will allow you to get past your knee-jerk reactions and tap into your wiser, more collaborative self.