The guided meditation space at EFOC was the perfect place to find healing

On the first day of the ESSENCE Cultural Festival, at 8:45 AM, as I walked into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and watched the lines of individuals form, I could hear the commotion starting. People were there… But as I walked inside and walked up to the activation of the Health House and into the covered space with raised stages, fluffy orange seat cushions, singing bowls arrange around the perimeter, and sage opened up, it was a very different scene and feel. The practitioners, beautiful black women from New Orleans, who were preparing to teach guided meditation and use sound therapy, were wearing ethereal white robes, greeting individuals with warmth and calm voices. They too were ready. They were there and can be there every morning throughout the ESSENCE Fest weekend to help guests heal.

“Meditation doesn’t necessarily mean doing anything,” says Dirieal Perkins of Yoga Stretch Galore a few practice she’s been doing for about five years. As we talk, her two-and-a-half-month-old son Yiannis, also in white, is asleep on her chest in a carrier. “It’s more, not necessarily what your thoughts are, but really just dwelling on those thoughts and not dwelling on them so much as just letting them flow and just letting them pass. It’s not like, we have to sit down and just think about the good things. That’s literally not it. It’s kind of impossible. Your mind is going; it’s all over the place. It has the right to be, but just let yourself come back to the center at some point. Like I said, dwell on it. And then let it pass. Let it pass. But don’t dwell on it or hold on to it.”

One way to reflect and free yourself from these thoughts is thru breathwork, which is finished by Aries D, considered one of the practitioners working at NOLA Divine Essential Magicsays it’s essential.

“We take our breath for granted. It’s something we’re born with. It’s the last thing we do when we leave this earth. But at the same time, it’s the main way that you can allow yourself to release not only oxygen but also different endorphins to help you relax,” she says. “As difficult as it sounds, we have the ability to tell our minds, ‘next.’ So if it’s a thought that you don’t want to have, say, ‘next,’ move it to another place. You have so many things that you encounter on a daily basis, let alone endure throughout your life. So even if some unwanted memories or thoughts come up, you have so many others that you can call upon to manifest different beautiful realities for yourself.”

Practicing meditation and learning to recognize and dismiss the thoughts that occupy our minds has modified the lifetime of the master instructor Shan-coa BurkeShe has been doing this since 2016 and guided ESSENCE Fest guests through some moving experiences.

“I needed healing. I needed real healing,” the Stretch Galore leader recalls. “I was ready to grow and I saw how the power of manifestation had changed my life, and I wanted to take that to our people because it wasn’t popular in our community. I was just a black girl from New Orleans and I thought I had to take that to our people. Because our people really needed healing. And I know one thing about God, He connected it and connected me to every one of these women.”

The practice not only provides mental clarity, but may have physical advantages. This was obvious from the very young Burke, who could possibly be mistaken for a young college student but is definitely a mother of three who will soon turn 30.

“Even though I look so young, it’s because I don’t let stress get to me. Meditation is about detachment,” Burke says. “I imagine detaching myself from these situations and pushing out the negativity. Pushing it out, breathing in that light and breathing out that darkness.”

The meditation worship space was quiet, and vendors across the street were asked to turn down their music to preserve the sanctity of the space. But the ladies made it clear that such introspection needn’t take place exclusively in quiet spaces.

“The best way is to just do it, no matter what you’re doing. Most people think that you have to be in a certain area or place and it has to be quiet. I once read a book that talked about different meditations. So I learned a lot. But you can literally sit down, eat, and meditate on your food, focus on the food that you’re eating. You can meditate while walking. You can literally meditate while exercising, in the bathtub, sitting at your desk working. You can meditate literally anywhere. So this whole ideology that it has to be calm, quiet, just a certain environment, that’s not true. So it’s about just implementing it in your daily life, no matter what you’re doing, just knowing that you can do it anywhere,” Perkins says.

While the guided meditation began with only a couple of participants, after I opened my eyes at the end, the room was full. People were sitting wherever they may find a seat, whether it was on an orange cushion to rest on or on the hard floor. But they were focused and calm, ready to experience the Festival in a superb way of thinking. This influence is the goal of all the women’s work.

“It’s the way you start your day. You’re in control of your day because you can meditate and say, ‘I’m going to have a day like this.’ I just believe in the power of manifestation and positive thoughts,” Burke says. “I learned this trick and I want to share it with you so you can see how it changes your life. If you want balance, ask yourself every day, ‘Why is my life balanced the way I need it to be?’ Ask yourself that question because the ‘why’ reveals itself. The why reveals the answers.”

He adds, “Whenever you ask the question why, your brain starts working. It helps you cultivate the answer. It starts finding answers and it starts revealing things too. So I want you to get there. I want everyone to be there. I want our people, especially, to be there, because we really, really need this. We’re doing this for our people.”