In-Person and Online: Celebrating Black Dharma Voices – A Daylong Retreat for the BIPOC Community
with Leslie Booker, Felicia Dickerson, Isabel Adon, and Peace Twesigye
Saturday, February 1st, 2025 | 10:00am – 4:00pm ET
In-Person Location: New York Insight at 115 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
Folks of African descent carry a rich legacy of contemplation—an enduring wisdom that, even in the face of colonization and enslavement, has taught us how to pause, rest, and reconnect with our true selves.
Our ancestors dreamed of freedom, prepared for it, fought for it, and ultimately manifested it against all odds. Through resilience, joy, and deep reflection, we embody profound truths of interdependence and belonging. We are living testaments to the power of community, holding the wisdom that none of us stands alone.
Over the course of this day of practice, we’ll explore the dharma by honoring Black dharma voices. Through meditation, reflection, and group sharing, we’ll discuss how both Buddhist and Black traditions teach us how to embrace paradox with grace—to hold grief and joy, struggle and triumph, as equal parts of the whole.
If you are Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color, we invite you to join us for this daylong retreat.
In-Person Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level (limited quantity available). Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Online Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level (limited quantity available). Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Leslie Booker
Booker is a heart – centered, spirit – driven activist and meditation teacher committed to creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing. She completed Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training in 2020, and shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with New York City’s most vulnerable populations for over a decade. Booker has co – authored and contributed to several publications including the trauma – informed anthology Practicing Liberation and its accompanying workbook, for folks working towards social justice. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement.
Booker moved to Philadelphia in August of 2020 to vote in a swing state, and currently serves as the Guiding Teacher of New York Insight.
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Felicia Dickerson
Felicia Dickerson came to meditation through Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses at UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center in 2011. Since then has deepened her practice in sangha with Against the Stream, in retreat at Insight Meditation Society, and through courses at NYIMC and Spirit Rock. She continues to show up to hold space, build community, and support New York Insight’s Harlem and BIPOC sanghas and on several committees. She is currently developing skills as a Practice Leader with the kind support and guidance of NYI mentors and teachers.
Isabel Adon
Isabel Adon is a meditator in the Vipassana (mindfulness) lineage and leads meditation for the BIPOC group and LGBTIQ+ at NYI on occasion. She has been meditating for over 25 years. She has been a member of New York Insight Meditation Center for over 20 years and consistently learning about the Dharma from various teachers through the years.
Isabel Adon practica la meditación en la tradición Vipassana y ha guiado charlas de meditación para las comunidades de color, indígenas y latinas y gay. Isabel ha estado meditando por más de 25 años y ha aprendido de varios maestros sobre el dharma y el Buddha. Isabel es miembro del grupo de meditación de New York Insight.
Peace Twesigye
Peace Twesigye is the Assisting Program Director of Buddhist Studies at Union Theological Seminary. Peace assists in designing and overseeing curriculum in Buddhist Studies, working directly with the Senior Director. Peace supports and creates spaces for contemplative practice that serve as a basis for students’ active engagement and service in community as well as supporting academic advisement of Buddhist students. Peace Twesigye organizes and manages public and private conversations and events as part of the Thích Nhất Hạnh Program for Engaged Buddhism at Union Theological Seminary to further expand its public offerings in understanding applied Buddhism. Peace also serves on the board of Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and serves as a practice leader and teacher at New York Insight Meditation Center as well as enjoying the opportunity of offering programs in other spaces when invited. Peace Twesigye has two master’s degrees; the first in violin performance, and the second in education, with a specialization in students with disabilities, and is committed to the path of being a lifelong student.