Brenda Salgado is a first-generation Nicaraguan-American healer, educator, and ceremonialist rooted in Toltec energy healing, curanderismo, and the ancestral traditions of Purepecha and Xochimilco peoples, born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area with deep gratitude to the ancestors and family who shaped her path toward cultural, spiritual, and social justice work. She is the Principal of Nepantla Healing and Consulting, Program Director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a member of the Healers Council of the Decolonizing Wealth Project, a founding member of the Wisdom Women Visionary Gathering, and adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), where she teaches at the intersection of Indigenous healing, spirituality, and social transformation. Trained with Purepecha and Xochimilco elders and in the Toltec Healer's Path School of Mastery, and author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners, Brenda has spent decades creating space for individuals, communities, and movements to reclaim the ancestral wisdom, medicine, and identity that systems of oppression have sought to sever — believing that people hold tremendous untapped knowledge and medicine within them, and that the work of liberation is, at its heart, the work of unleashing it. She has led ceremony and healing across movements — from Standing Rock to Oakland mural dedications, from grief rituals for incarcerated people lost to COVID to blessings for grassroots organizers, social justice retreats, and intergenerational gatherings — and has presented at Bioneers, delivered the commencement address at Naropa University, and been in deep conversation with elders and teachers across lineages. Her work is rooted in the conviction that cultural sovereignty, ancestral ceremony, and the reclamation of Indigenous wisdom are the living heart of justice work.
Maestra Patricia Juarez, Chicueyi Coatl is a Nahua visionary leader, independent Native Studies scholar, and technology professional from the Mexica-Tenochca Nation with thirty six years of experience in technology and twenty years of experience as an active practitioner and visionary leader within the Nahua and Xitontekiza Native Indigenous Traditions. As a visionary leader Patricia founded two Native Higher Ed Institutions in 2014. She has been invited as a visiting scholar and lecturer to UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara and other similar institutions. She has also been invited as a lead Nahua Traditional practitioner to a series of ceremonial events by different groups in the Bay Area, New York and other locations. She is also a frequent analyst and commentator on Latinx and Indigenous issues. Three of her essays on Nahua Cosmovision have been published and one is currently in peer review. Patricia is an alumnus of the prestigious Next Leaders Fellowship and the MOR Leaders Program. She has presented her workshops at the NCORE, CommunityLive, NERCOMP, Educause, NOW (UCB Next Opportunity at Work) and UCTech annual conferences.
Wanda Ravernell-Stewart, (Oya Dei) serves as the executive director of Omnira Institute (OI), an organization that promotes the re-culturation of the Black community through African traditional spirituality and culture. She is promoter and manager for Awon Ohun Omnira, (Voices of Freedom), OI’s performing arm, and serves as the narrator for its performances. A former journalist who worked for 20 years in the newspaper business at the Alameda Newspaper Group, the Sacramento Bee, and The San Francisco Chronicle, she was also an activist for minority journalists, including developing and implementing a workshop for minority high school journalists. From 2003 to the present, Ravernell developed and implemented a Juneteenth ritual commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation that included many of the faiths of the captives who would become slaves during the Atlantic Slave Trade Era. Beginning in 2009 to the present, Ravernell developed and implemented several lecture demonstrations drawing on the African traditional knowledge and applied it to African American history. It is embedded in ‘Sinku,’ a ritual of building a ‘House of Light’ that employs the liturgy in the sacred drum tradition known as Bata and a ‘choir.’ Known as Awon Ohun Omnira (Voices of Freedom), the choir has been invited to share the healing of sacred song for the ancestors (sung in old Yoruba) as well as the Ring Shout at churches, neighborhood and cultural centers, schools, colleges and festivals for Black History Month, Juneteenth and to the streets, joining mourners of the victims of state-sanctioned violence.
In bringing the focus back to the living, in 2014, Ravernell with Sauda Burch led the institute in developing and staging the first Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a celebration of traditional African American music, food and art now held in Oakland’s Marston Campbell Park. From 2016 to the present (excepting the period of the pandemic) she led the institute in bringing African ritual to African American urban and rural farmers at Digging Deep Farms, EarthSEED farms and Feed Black Futures and most recently. She currently serves as a copy editor for the Post News Group in Oakland.
Ravernell was fully ordained in the Lucumi tradition as a priest of Oya in 1985 and remains an active member in the Bay Area community of adepts.
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Yu-Shuan Tarango-Sho 蘇毓璇 is the founding director of Sacred Roots and a 1.5 generation Taiwanese American of Hakka and Fujianese descent, residing on unceded Chochenyo Ohlone land in Fruitvale, Oakland for over 20 years. She carries the medicine of her ancestors — those who crossed multiple borders to escape war, poverty, and persecution — as the bedrock of her work in healing justice, liberatory pedagogy, and collective care. Rooted in Christian, Taoist, and Buddhist spiritual lineages, she is a mystic, space curator, and connector whose passion for "collective thrivership" has shaped over two decades of work at the intersection of spirituality, cultural healing, and social transformation.
Her practice works at the intersection of Daoist cosmology, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and ancestral healing — offering intuitive energy reading and healing that works with Qi, energy channels, and the spirit body (Shen), drawing on the shamanic (巫) roots of Chinese medicine, including the erased lineages of female healers, as living context for returning to wholeness, both personal and ancestral. This energetic work is woven together with spiritual accompaniment and leadership coaching, tending to the whole person across body, mind, and spirit.
She founded Sacred Roots in 2016 out of a vision for intergenerational, intercultural spaces where ancestral wisdom fuels collective liberation, and has led healing-based workshops, retreats, and trainings for grassroots organizations, schools, and nonprofits across the Bay Area and beyond. Yu-Shuan is a proud mother of two mixed-race teenagers and life partner to a 4th generation Chicanx.
Colleen "Coke" Tani is a queer cisgender woman of Okinawan (Ryukyuan) and Japanese descent, formed on the lands of the Gabrielino Tongva and Muwekma Ohlone peoples. She works at the intersection of sacred feminine spirituality, decolonial creativity, and social justice — holding space for the body as a sacred text and creativity as a pathway to collective liberation. Coke is a certified leader of InterPlay©, a counter-colonizing practice that reclaims what white supremacist patriarchy seeks to remove: the human birthrights of movement, sound, story, stillness, and connection. She is also certified to facilitate Poetry as a Tool for Wellness, a practitioner of The Art of Ensoulment, and a member of Spiritual Directors International. Her greatest teachers have been socially and spiritually rooted artists, faith-grounded activists and organizers, Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Trans/Nonbinary beloveds, and family on both sides of the veil. She holds an MSW, MFA, and MDiv — and brings all of it into her offerings as a body memoirist, spiritual companion, and soul care practitioner whose work is rooted in the living presence of the Sacred Feminine and the wisdom of the ancestors.
Dr. Donna Coletrane Battle is a native of Yanceyville, NC who provides soul care, leadership coaching and spiritual direction to leaders and activists across the nation. In 2020, she began a partnership with Duke Divinity school as consulting faculty with a focus on Black Church Studies. Donna’s scholarship is at the intersection of race, gender, and spirituality and works as a catalyst for her passion in justice, healing, and psychospiritual evolution. She has previously served as the Chaplain at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, the Executive Pastor of the Way Christian Center in Berkeley California, as well as, a Life Coach and Associate Dean of the Chapel at Shaw University. For the past 20 years, Donna has been engaging and facilitating groups in the areas of building healthy relationships, identity, cultivating ethics, values, racial and gender equity, conflict resolution and justice. She has led trainings and retreats for groups across disciplines through the United States. Donna holds a BA in Public Relations from NC A&T State University, a M.Div. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy at Eastern University. She is married to Dedrick Nathaniel Battle and together they have three tremendously terrific children Caio, Coletrane, and Calum. Meditating, spending time with her family, reading, movies, counseling, preaching and teaching are among Donna’s greatest joys in life.
Angela is a visionary organizer and Kingian nonviolence trainer working towards a world where we have increased capacities to sit with our own and each other’s complexities. Angela stewards community spaces where participants can share grief, practice conflict skills, and be co-opted into emergence inspired by the erotic, the intuitive, the divine, the more-than-human. They are deeply and fully in love with this world we get to live in and on a life-long journey to learn how to love everything that comes with it with compassion and accountability. Their work is guided and influenced by the land and their ancestors as well as the work and teachings of Grace Lee and Jimmy Boggs, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Vanessa Machado de Oliveira, and Nêgo Bispo. Angela is a second-generation Brazilian-born Korean and moved with their family to Tovaangar (LA) when they were thirteen. They now live in multiple homes and hearts across California.
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Jeanelle (they/them) is a Trans Non-Binary Filipino/x born and living in the US diaspora, raised by immigrant parents. Since 2008, they have been grounded in the people's movement for democracy and a just peace in the Philippines. For over a decade, they've led delegations to the Philippines to deepen faith-rooted solidarity work and political analysis. They have experience in anti-imperialist international solidarity work and activism through legislative advocacy, education, organizing, and mobilizing people of faith to take action in the streets and to immerse with the masses. They speak at protests and on panels on the connections between global and local peoples' campaigns against U.S. militarization, Zionism, and colonialism. Jeanelle has a passion for making theological and political education accessible to all and in accompanying them in meaning-making, while exploring the relationship between individual and collective liberation. They received their M. Div. (2010) at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley after working as a graphic designer. Their spiritual direction training was done with Still Harbor. They're serving as Lead Pastor at Pine United Methodist Church in San Francisco, Co-Chair of the Cal-Nev Philippine Solidarity Task Force (UMC), and a member of the Working Board of enfleshed. Check out their podcast, GomBurZa for the Masses.
Available for Individual or Group Sessions. In-Person or Virtual.
Laura Rivas is a Xicana Danzante (Aztec ceremonial dancer), Sahumadora (sacred fire keeper), educator, community organizer, and anti-oppression coach. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents who were undocumented for most of her childhood, and were dealing with their own unresolved trauma. As the parent to two precious seeds (children) ages 8 and 12, she is committed to breaking generational curses and paving the way toward healing from from the violence of colonization and displacement of brown bodies. Laura has 20 years experience working with youth and families directly impacted by systematic and institutional racism in the context of schools, community, workplace and the prison-industrial complex. She currently serves as a Community School Manager at Garfield Elementary School in the San Antonio neighborhood, one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Oakland. Laura earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a Master of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation from California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco. After earning her master’s degree, Laura became immersed in the immigrant rights movement in the Bay Area and nationally through her work leading a human rights abuse documentation project with the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee RIghts. She trained dozens of grassroots organizations throughout the country on abuse documentation and organizing. Trained in Freirían pedagogy of popular education, Laura believes in the innate capacity of people directly impacted by oppression to come up with the solutions to their own problems in the context of supportive community. Laura enjoys dancing to cumbias, hikes in the redwoods and cuddling with her two kids and their kittens.
Available for Group or Individual Sessions. Virtual or In-Person Sessions. Bilingual: Spanish & English.
I am a queer herbalist, healing practitioner/curandera, and community organizer. Through sacred rituals and herbal remedies rooted in my indigenous Mexican heritage, I hold and facilitate a trauma-informed healing space for individuals and groups. These practices, passed down by my family, spiritual teachers, and dreams, have taught me valuable lessons, with the Earth being my greatest teacher. With over 17 years of experience supporting survivors of violence through peer advocacy counseling, support groups, and spiritual and wellness ceremonies, I founded Tierra Rituals focused on empowering individuals and communities with ancestral practices. Guided by a healing justice, harm reduction, and anti-oppression framework, my personal experiences and commitment to holistic health and wellness drive my passion. As a Sahuamadora (sacred fire keeper) initiated within the Ticiyotl and curanderismo path in Yucatan, Mexico, I have embraced a calling to share ancestral healing practices and herbal remedies with the wider community. I provide personalized limpias, a traditional Mexican indigenous cleansing ceremony, to help folks clear energetic stagnation, break unwanted cords, and align one’s mind, body, and spirit. During the ceremony, I work with sacred copal smoke, herbs, eggs, chile, feather smudging, gems, and drumming to strengthen one's auric body and connect them to their inner light and fire. Additionally, I offer follow-up sessions and integrate platicas (heart-to-heart conversations) to identify one’s needs and guide one's healing journey. After the limpia, I assist folks in developing rituals aligned with their ancestry and spiritual practices to continue the work at home, always ensuring respect and consent.
Available for Individual or Group Sessions. In-Person or Virtual. Bilingual: Spanish & English.
Mizan has worked for over 20 years as a community organizer and youth development professional. Her commitment to social justice has fueled her work as a crisis intervention specialist, health educator, curriculum writer, multi-modal workshop facilitator, community researcher, staff wellness coach, and School-Based Health Center Supervisor. Mizan is the Co-Creator of Spearitwurx, an organization that inspires Intergenerational Wellness and Racial Healing through cultural arts, community events, strategic consulting and transformative educational experiences. She is also a certified Healing Centered Engagement Trainer with Flourish Agenda and has a master’s degree in public health. Mizan is a published author and has been a featured lecturer, keynote speaker, and workshop presenter at Universities and Conferences throughout the nation. She is an installation artist and has exhibited work throughout the Bay area, including the Black Woman is God exhibit and the Black Panther 50 Year Commemoration. She is the lead artist and curator of the Experience Sankofa Project. As an artist and Certified Therapeutic Yoga instructor with a background in public health, Mizan incorporates creative expression and dynamic mindfulness into her facilitation and programmatic design for the collective good.
Available for Group Sessions. In-Person or Virtual.
Sally Chang a second generation Taiwanese-American, queer, martial artist, educator, acupuncturist, and founder of Evergreen Internal Arts. Integrating 30 years of experience in Martial Arts, Daoist Internal Cultivation, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and distilling them into practices of individual and collective healing. Therapeutic Qigong actively restores healthy connection of body, mind, and spirit. When injury, illness, grief, and trauma are experienced, it affects the body, the psyche, and how we relate to others. Sally Chang's therapeutic approach identifies and unblocks stuck patterns, and trains generative practices for long-term empowered and sustainable health. Sally Chang is a 26th generation lineage holder of Wudang Longmen Pai, Dragon Gate School of Daoism from Wudang Mountain, and student of Daoist Priest, Shifu Chen Yun Xiang. She trained in Shaolin Gongfu, Bagua, and Taiji with Ted Mancuso of the Academy of Martial Arts. Daoism and Classical Chinese Medicine with Daoist priest and scholar, Dr. Jeffery Yuen, 88th gen. disciple of Yu Qing Huang Lao Pai; and is a recent student of Grandmaster Sam Chin of Zhong Xin Dao. She is a student of Resmaa Menakam and Somatic Abolitionism, and is focused on the intersection of social activism and intergenerational healing. Sally Chang brings depth and wisdom into embodied practice, and is known for her warm, focused presence.
Available for Individual or Group Sessions. In-Person or Virtual.
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Tati Chaterji proudly coordinates Restorative Justice at Fremont High School in East Oakland, California. Outside of the classroom, she serves as a trainer, educator, and peacebuilder at the crossroads of systemic oppression, youth empowerment, and alternatives to the criminalization of harm and wrongdoing. Tati is a survivor of community violence and brain injury, bringing her fiery heart to the fight for justice, liberation, and dignity for all. She understands that healing is important but does not go far enough. Rather than asking poor people who are also wounded by historical and racial harms to be “resilient,” she focuses on eliminating the root causes of suffering: poverty, political structures that diminish peoples’ power, and the absence of economic democracy. Tati is a participatory theater artist working at the fault-lines of social power, structural violence, intergenerational trauma, cultural belonging and memory. She is also a trainer and facilitator in restorative justice, non-legal mediation, transformative justice, and community accountability to address harm, always with sensitivity to the power dynamics at play. Tati loves to ride her bike, learn martial arts, and write poetry. Most days, you can find her caring for her two small children who remind her of the joy that lives inside.
Available for in-person and virtual trainings and facilitation.
Dr. Uzoamaka (Uzo) Nwankpa is a fourth-generation descendant of healers from Enugu, Nigeria, West Africa. She is a community health registered nurse, performing artist, dance facilitator, choreographer, educator, researcher and an advocate for healing through the use of the arts. She is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Igbo culture and African cultures in the diaspora. As first generation immigrant to Turtle Island, and global visitor, Uzo is committed to decolonizing self patterns while being a bridge between the world of Africans on the continent of Africa and the diaspora. As an advocate for communities that use the arts to heal, Uzo is dedicated to creating and exploring diverse ways to combine ancient practices with innovation. She provides communal healing sessions for domestic violence shelters, caregivers, nurses, healers, and BIPOC healers, in-person and virtually. She believes in the power of music and dance to promote wellbeing, dedicating her life to developing innovative solutions that benefit underserved communities. Uzo earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a focus on wellbeing. She founded Wellness Promoters LLC, creating culturally inclusive wellness experiences. She is also CEO of The Uzo Method Project, addressing healthcare disparities faced by marginalized communities. Uzo holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing with a Public Health focus. She completed a Post-Master's Fellowship in Maternal and Child Health Research, where she developed the RICHER Model.