Mar 14, 2024
Once a year, I get to interview someone who is under the age
of 50 to highlight their body of work, especially when they have
been intentional about involving older Black women.
Tameka Lawson is a force, and her organization Restored Hope
empowers Black women and girls to move beyond the everyday cycles
of violence and trauma while working toward discovering inner peace
and resiliency within themselves, their families and their
communities. Restored Hope offers after school and in school
programs that empower young women through trauma informed yoga,
various social service resources, and workshops for women. Tameka
Lawson is an Advocate for Social Change and is the Founder of the
Selah Center for Healing.
Tameka Lawson has been a revered community activist for years,
advocating for social change through her work in mindfulness
programs in Chicago's Englewood community. Through her efforts, she
provided organizations with the tools of mindfulness and yoga to
combat the violence that community members often faced. Tameka and
Restored Hope received accolades from former First Lady Michelle
Obama for the phenomenally impactful work that she is
doing.
During a public health brigade in 2019, Tameka recognized that
Black diasporans returning to the continent often lacked a proper
space to process their experiences fully. This realization led to
the creation of the Selah Center for Healing. The center, located
in Elmina, Ghana, will offer workshops, yoga, reiki and other forms
of healing to help individuals process the information that their
bodies receive after visiting the slave grounds. It is expected to
open in the spring of 2024. Tameka is also escorting five
African American girls (ages 15-18) to Elmina/Cape Coast, Ghana.
There she will connect them to the Ghanaian girls who she works
with around the body-mind connection, meditation and leadership
development. They will the tour slave dungeons and more importantly
process jointly what this experience means for the girls from both
sides of the Atlantic. If you would like to assist Tameka by
sponsoring a girl, making a financial contribution or helping to
provide feminine products, you can connect with Tameka through
Restored Hopes’s social media pages, the website or by going
directly to Amazon (see link below) to view the organization’s wish
list.
 |
Check out my list on
Amazon
amazon.com
|
|
Tameka is a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher, having
trained under renowned teachers like Seane Corn and Catherine
Ashton. Her vinyasa flow yoga classes challenge students to express
their intentions as they work toward inner healing and empowerment.
Her work has been featured in over 20 media publications, including
People Magazine and The Doctors TV show. She is also a United
Nations Delegate to the Commission of the Status of Women
conference. But above all, Tameka is proud to be a mother of her
four amazuping children Christopher Jr., Joshua, Ziya-Angeline and
Elijah-Michael.
RESTORED HOPE’S FACEBOOK PAGE