joshua bee alafia’s meditation practice began in 1989 when his mother gave him a mantra to work with. This sparked a rich journey into different styles from the Hawaiian shamanic, Hindu, Sufi, Dzogchen, Taoist, and vipassana traditions.
Wanting to bring vipassana practice to the youth, he began teaching mindfulness practice to incarcerated, court-involved, and system-vulnerable youth through New York’s Lineage Project in 2010. He graduated from the Community Dharma Leaders Program through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2012. He has also taught in the corporate setting, at MNDFL, New York Insight, the Brooklyn Zen Center, East Bay Meditation Center, public schools, and universities. Recently, he taught his first 10-day retreat entitled Liberating the Heart, Dismantling Oppression. He currently teaches mindfulness meditation with South Side Insight Meditation Circle and Taoist meditation with TaoYoga Chicago. He is creating a meditation and wellness center through a generous grant from the Kataly Foundation called South Side Liberation Center to bring healing to his new community.