#052: Black Joy and Kwanzaa with Dr. Chris Omni
"A lot of people don't stop to think about the historical trauma that black people face or could possibly be re-triggered by going into these Nature's faces and seeing the trees and seeing the moss hanging from the trees to be transported to the conversations of lynching...Happiness happens to you. Joy happens within you. So it is very possible to hold both joy and pain in the same body at the same time."--Chris Omni
🌿🌻 Let's talk about the POWER of BLACK JOY! 🌻🌿
Amanda Aminata recently had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Chris Omni, the "health hippie" and black joy scholar, on the Mother Tree Network. Their conversation was nothing short of INSPIRING! 🙌
Dr. Omni spoke about turning 49 and how this milestone is aligned with awareness and spiritual connection. She reminded us that "your vibe attracts your tribe!” 🌀✨
But wait, there's more! She distinguished between happiness and joy, emphasizing that joy is collective. Joy happens within you but is also shared among your tribe—B L A C K joy. 🖤
The conversation delved deep into the collective nature of black joy, and the need to take a break from "the strong black woman" phenomena. Dr. Omni highlighted the ability to carry joy and pain simultaneously. The strength in that duality is truly remarkable! 💪
When asked about cultivating joy from within, Dr. Omni alluded to taking one day at a time. 🌟
Then the conversation took a pivot, shedding light on the deficit narrative perpetuated in public health research about the black community. Shocking stats were shared—higher likelihood of certain illnesses among black women compared to their white counterparts. 😞
BUT, Dr. Chris Omni...Drumroll please...proposed a way to SHIFT the narrative! 🥁
She conducted a study on black joy in green spaces, using arts-based research methods. And guess what? The healing power of nature was profound! 🌿
From there, the discussion bloomed into cultivating gratitude and joy over time, nurturing it like a garden. 🌻
Amanda Aminata added a beautiful note about the importance of slowing down and connecting with nature, connecting to Dr. Omni's love for turtles and his research on black joy in green spaces. 🐢🍃
Dr. Omni chose to focus on Black Joy in her research to counteract the deficit narrative often associated with the black community in public health, aiming to address health disparities. 🙏
Finally, they delve into the intersection of Kwanzaa values and their influence on the concept of black joy. Dr. Omni shares her “Kojima Theory” of collective self-motivation, which incorporates the principles of Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), and Kuumba (creativity).
As they discuss the importance of pleasure and joy in one's work, they also celebrated Dr. Omni's groundbreaking achievement of co-creating the first-ever journal dedicated exclusively to black joy. Their conversation serves as a powerful testament to the significance of reframing narratives and the impact of joy-centered research.
This conversation truly celebrated the beauty of black joy and left us feeling INSPIRED to nurture our joy, one day at a time –far and wide! 🖤✨
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Welcoming message to Mother Tree Network with guest Dr. Chris Omni, focusing on cultivating Black joy.
04:04 Distinguishing joy from happiness, especially black joy.
08:12 Finding joy in memories as a way to navigate life's changes.
11:51 The speaker values turtles for their reminder to slow down and enjoy the journey.
17:02 Challenging experiences as a black woman in public health, finding joy amidst statistics.
20:39 Setting limits on photo selection for interviews in nature to protect participants from potential trauma.
22:02 A woman finds inspiration in nature and water, leading to a web series on the subject and intergenerational study.
27:25 Interview about joy, nature, and photography in Tallahassee, Florida.
28:37 Photo elicitation captures moments and stories, enhancing presence and observation.
DR. CHRIS OMINI BIO
Dr. Chris Omni, affectionately known as The Health Hippie, is a Black Joy scholar, artist, and activist in addition to being a keynote speaker, panel moderator, and award-winning entrepreneur. She is the go-to-source for creative and compassionate conversations that lead to community change.
Dr. Omni’s research explores nature’s influence on the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being of Black people. By blending her 25-year background in public health with her foreground in art education, Dr. Omni’s presentations provide a counter narrative to the typical deficit lens generally applied to the Black experience.
TRANSCRIPT
Amanda Aminata:
Good day. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever you are, I am so glad you are here today on the Mother Tree Network sharing some time with me and our special guest today, doctor Chris Omni. Doctor Omni is a black joy scholar. So her work is all about how do you cultivate black How has it been cultivated in the past, and what can we do to have more of it now? She is also known as the is it the healthy hippie?
Dr. Chris Omni:
The health hippie.
Amanda Aminata:
Oh, the health hippie.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. Yes.
Amanda Aminata:
She's a health hippie. She's a health mobilizer. I love that description of yourself. She's an artist, and I can't wait to talk with her about sunsets and oceans and trees and all the good, good stuff.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Aft Yes.
Amanda Aminata:
But but, doctor, before we start, I always like to ask people, what is good? What is good for you today?
Dr. Chris Omni:
What is oh, thank you. Besides the obvious of waking up
Amanda Aminata:
Not so obvious.
Dr. Chris Omni:
True. True. But yesterday, I turned
Amanda Aminata:
49. Happy birthday to you. Thank you, guys.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Thank you. So what is good is about being in this Final and transition crown chakra year. So with 7 energy systems, and it takes 7 years to really grow through each system. 7 times 7 is 49. So I'm sitting right at that perfect place of awareness and spiritual connection, and I'm I'm ready. I I know that this year is gonna be filled with magic and beauty, so that's what's good.
Amanda Aminata:
Wow. Wow. I'm right there. I'm I'm here for it. I'm here for your magic and beauty to flow.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. Thank you. I'm a I'm a send it your way, and then I'm gonna receive it from you
Amanda Aminata:
as well. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Let's reflect it, bounce it back between each other, which is what we're doing anyway. Right?
Dr. Chris Omni:
Indeed. When whenever you're in conversation, you are really sharing energy. You're exchanging a moment and a memory that is here and now. Mhmm. So we're sitting in a place of gratitude. So, yes, We're a mirror of one another in this space.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm. Mhmm. Have you heard of mirror neurons? Nora said Yeah. It's it's this idea that somehow we will implicitly or subtly start to mirror each other's energy. Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So I guess I've I've never heard of it as mirror mirror Neurons.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I think it's just like what I and and everybody's like, put it on a shirt. Put it on a shirt. But your vibe attracts your tribe. So that's the way I see that. It but mirror neurons works for me too. Aft
Amanda Aminata:
I love that your vibe attracts your tribe. So if you're attracting people that aren't vibing with you, what does that mean?
Dr. Chris Omni:
Then that means it could be a teachable moment as well. Mhmm. Because if you've already created this space of amplification around you and you have this ancestral That negative energy is not gonna come into your sphere. But if somebody is not there to match that vibe, they might be there to learn about that vibe aft Because they're on a journey to elevate themselves. Mhmm. So that's what for me, that's what it means. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Mhmm.
Amanda Aminata:
Aft. Yeah. Wow. There's a lot there. I I wanna, and I really wanna talk about joy.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Mhmm.
Amanda Aminata:
You know? Speaking of the vibe, ack. So what have you found in your scholarship about black joy? Oh, thank you. That's a big question.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Thank you. Thank you. I I have to always lead with the difference between happiness and joy because a lot of people ask, well, aft if you're researching black joy, how how is that different than happiness, or how is black joy different than regular joy? Aft So I'll I'll take it back to, at least, my definition. Happiness happens to you. Joy happens within you. Aft So it is very possible to hold both joy and pain in the same body at the same time, a Whereas happiness is something that just kinda comes in, and this like, a birthday celebration could be a moment of happiness, But the joy that I feel about reaching this crown chakra age is going to carry with me forever. Aft So for me, I I like to differentiate between joy of that's that inner peace. And what I've learned about black joy in my research is that It's a collective.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So for some people, joy is just an individualistic state, aft But black joy is community. Black joy is collective. It is me witnessing my fellow Queens and my brothers and their joy. And this is in a also in Buddhist practice where empathetic joy is something that you feel by watching and and witnessing somebody else's joy. And that's what I've discovered in my research. It's it's phenomenal and fascinating at the same time because not only is it collective, it it aft it supports in a twisted way the strong black woman phenomena. So my first research study was called black joy in green spaces, which we'll talk about here pretty soon. But in response to this collective state and collective ideology.
Dr. Chris Omni:
The strong black woman phenomena is really an ethics of care ideology aft where we care for other people sometimes at the expense of caring for our own selves. So while I was working on my dissertation, All of the participants were dealing with something in their own lives. 1 was in the middle of her own defense aft to become doctor Geri. Another one was finishing up her master's program or the semester of her master's program, so she's in graduate school. And the other one was dealing with a immediate death in her family. So that strong black woman, you have that cape on, and and aft They decided to take care of me in that space to be a part of my research. So it became this collective State of joy when we're there to uplift one another even though even though we're carrying our own individual baggage And
Amanda Aminata:
pain. Mhmm. Yeah. So I love that what you said about you can carry joy and pain at the same time. Aft. It's yeah. If you live long enough, you know that's true. Right? Yes.
Amanda Aminata:
Yes. Aft. Uh-huh. And and how do you, like, like, if you wake up, for example, and or it can be it can happen at any point in any day. You could all of a sudden find yourself in a pity party. You could find yourself, you know, feeling resentful. Aft I mean, you know, all the feelings that we have. You could feel overwhelmed by reading the news.
Amanda Aminata:
So how how do you cultivate from the inside, that joy.
Dr. Chris Omni:
That's that is a beautiful question as well. I I leave with saying aft That when people say take one day at a time
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I challenge that and say take one moment at a time. Because just as you said, Even within one day, you could cycle through emotions.
Amanda Aminata:
Yes.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I could be, like, in this super hyped state with you right now aft And then get off this Zoom call and then get a phone call, and it just changes my world. Yeah. And and that really is the cycle of life. But what I come back to, which is to answer your question of how do you cultivate that joy, find those moments that have happened aft that you can hold on to and transport yourself back to. The easiest one that aft The easiest one for me is my mama. Mhmm. I watched my mama transition from a 26 year battle with cancer. So that was a painful moment, but I was able to hold on to that joyful state of aft My mama watched me take my 1st breath.
Dr. Chris Omni:
She was the vessel that I came through with support of my a dad. Right? Mhmm. So it was a painful moment, but I can transport myself back to day 1 aft She watched that first breath.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So as you learn to cultivate, you learn to capture those moments in the past aft that has been very joyful, that have changed the frequency of your life. Mhmm. And then just go back in time. Continue to go back until it feels like you're still living there in that moment. Really? Okay. So,
Amanda Aminata:
aft. I'm I'm really liking what you said. I'm thinking about when you said go back to and you go back to your mother and you go back to that moment she gave you aft she watched you take your 1st breath. And, you know, you you clearly love your mother and you, you know, if a put a word on it, what I kinda felt coming from you was gratitude for her. You know? Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. Yeah. And and I love that you used that word because my nephew messaged me probably about a month ago, and he's like, auntie, how do you cultivate gratitude? So it becomes that question. How do you cultivate joy? How do you cultivate gratitude? It takes time. After It takes time. I am a grower. I don't call myself a gardener. I am a grower.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So I have a lot of rescue plants. I have a, container garden. I have Some vegetables and some fruit on the side of the house, so I grow with love. But as you Cultivate these different spaces, you understand that that growth does not happen overnight, that you have to nurture it Day in, day out. And it doesn't mean that you have to water it frequently, like, every single day, but just to acknowledge its presence and its beauty, aft I think that's the way we cultivate anything. If you're cultivating joy, if you're cultivating gratitude, if you're cultivating a relationship
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Aft That's that's a place of nurturing. Mhmm. Takes time to build that.
Amanda Aminata:
Yes. And, you know, before we started the conversation before we started the recording, aft. I mentioned I saw a turtle on your cup, and then you proceeded to tell me what? How many turtles are in your space with you right now? Images of turtles.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Well, let let me lead with the biggest turtle that that stays with me all the time. So
Amanda Aminata:
Oh, doctor Joy, doctor Joy. Doctor Omni is showing us a magnificent turtle on her, bicep.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So I I carry that turtle with me. And over on my right, I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 turtles. I have a couple turtles over here. Aft I love turtles because they are that constant reminder to go slow, that aft They will and I've watched this. I've watched this happen. They will cross the street aft at their own time and reach their destination and just continue to go slow. Aft So that's a reminder to me to slow down, that you'll reach your destination. Take your time and enjoy those individual steps, and I think that goes back to the cultivating piece.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Take your time. Aft Those individual steps will have help you reach your destination.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm. Mhmm. And because you were talking about yourself as a grower, it takes ass time. You know, tend to it on a regular basis. That that's why I brought up your turtles because it seems like aft. It's like it's not instantaneous, and it's also you know, turtles are low to the ground. You know, Turtle Island?
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. The conversation being grounded. Mhmm. Being being close enough let let your feet touch the soil. Mhmm. When and right now, when when you did the opening with breath work, and you said fill your feet. I have a and I couldn't make this up. If if I could lift it up, I would show you.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Let me see if I can get this. I have a cutting from a tree. Oh. So I rest my feet aft on this tree, and I ground myself in this space because I can't go outside for this interview, but I bring outside in.
Amanda Aminata:
Aft Yes.
Dr. Chris Omni:
And just like what you said, turtles are that close to the ground, and they get to fill the earth every single day.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm. Aft And you know what? I was looking at some photos, and, my dog we have we used to have 2. 1 of our dogs passed on, But he lived a very long time, and he was always laying belly down on the ground. He was always looking for some dirt. Mhmm. You know, when we went outside, he was like, and then he'd be lying all down, getting all in it.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. We need that. Mhmm. We need we need to take that permission and that cue from your dog. Mhmm.
Amanda Aminata:
Aft And
Dr. Chris Omni:
and I didn't know about your journey with your with your dog, and my condolences. I went through the same thing this year. Aft We had 3. Now we have 2, and they all love the sun, aft And they all love to be that close, belly down.
Amanda Aminata:
Yes. Yes. And so I just wanna shout out belly down. Down. If you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling, overwhelmed, go belly down.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Oh, Hashtag that one.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm. Hashtag.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Hashtag belly down.
Amanda Aminata:
So, I I wanna come back to black joy because you could have just done your thesis on joy or your dissertation on joy, but you chose to do it on Black Joy. So tell me about that.
Dr. Chris Omni:
The reason is I was extremely Tired of the deficit narrative. Mhmm. Extremely tired. My background for 25 years is in public health.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I have a master's degree in public health. My thesis was on physical activity to improve the health and well-being of black women, aft But it was physical activity to address the health disparities, and the health disparities I looked at were cancer, diabetes, hypertension.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
And I was even guilty of what I am so tired of now of Perpetuating that deficit narrative by constantly repeating what's wrong with black people.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So for the show and for your audience, just so they can understand the heaviness of this, that black women are 42% more likely to die from answer. We are 60% more likely to be diabetic.
Amanda Aminata:
More likely than than who?
Dr. Chris Omni:
The the comparison is always white white women.
Amanda Aminata:
Okay.
Dr. Chris Omni:
They they always compare black and white. Okay. Aft So that's another conversation in and of itself. Mhmm. But 42% more likely to die from cancer, 60% more likely to be diabetic, thirty 30% more likely to die from stroke. Over 80% of of us are overweight. 53% of us are obese. And when you continuously, share these statistics Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
It's heavy to hear as a black woman, or a a public health professional as a whole, but it's even heavier to hold, to be a black woman And to know these statistics are impacting my my queens, but what they're not saying in this canon of research is that one 100% of us still live with stories of joy. My mama, Who was in that first statistic of 42% more likely to die from cancer, she still lived with joy. Aft She even died with joy.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm. Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So what people are not hearing in the research is How can joy be a social determinant of health? So I wanted to change the narrative aft to focus on what is right with us, to conduct studies that run counter to any other public health study where they just continue to cite what's wrong. Mhmm. There is a queen by the name of doctor Angela Dunbar who said that it is time for us to have complete studies that are absent of pain. When I read her words, aft That was the download. That was the permission. That was the green light that says go forward and do complete studies that are absent of pain.
Amanda Aminata:
So give me an example. What would be a complete study absent of pain?
Dr. Chris Omni:
So my last study was, black joy in green spaces
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Where, specifically, we explored, Nature's influence on the emotional impact of black women. Right? I had to I have to situate sadly, I had to situate it in what was wrong. But then the majority of the research was How is how is nature a healing space for us? How do we experience joy in nature? So the research methodology that I used involved the methods were walking, Photography, and a concept called photo elicitation interviewing, where all the participants aft just go into nature and take pictures of things that brought them joy. Okay. I love this. So this is an arts based research practice, and and let me rewind because people are familiar with Quantitative research. Mhmm. People are familiar with qualitative research.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Not everybody has heard of arts based research. So this PhD in art education opened up a a whole world of what's possible when we explore, Our research questions through an artistic lens.
Amanda Aminata:
Okay. So you have your PhD in arts education
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes.
Amanda Aminata:
And your master's in public health.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes.
Amanda Aminata:
Awesome combination. Beautiful combination.
Dr. Chris Omni:
It's a marriage. It's a marriage. Thank you.
Amanda Aminata:
So your study, you you allow black aft you encourage them to go out, take pictures of what brings you joy? Was that like your okay.
Dr. Chris Omni:
That was it. Oh. That was it.
Amanda Aminata:
What did you learn?
Dr. Chris Omni:
The hardest part is for me to tell them that they could take as many photos as they want. Aft But for the sake of time, they can only select 5 to bring back into the interview space. So we were out in nature together, and I watched them as they were taking their pictures, which is also another level of care. And for for IRB sake, it's about this ethics of protection. Aft A lot of people don't stop to think about the historical trauma that black people face or could possibly be retriggered by going into these Nature's faces and and seeing the trees and seeing the moss hanging from the trees to be transported to the conversations of lynching, And that happened in my study. Mhmm. 1 of the participants stopped before she continued on into this trail and said, I can't. I can't because looking at that Spanish moss
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I see my ancestors. But she sat there. And for me, it's about holding space.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
So you could sit there as long as you need If we need to end this study right now, we end
Amanda Aminata:
it. Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
But in holding space and allowing her to breathe, she turned and saw the water. And and in my dissertation and I created a web series around this. So you can see this all unfold in the web series, but she realized that it was the green spaces that also saved Our ancestors, the places of hiding, the places of, food and foraging, That it became something that gave her the inspiration to move forward in this space. So aft So they're taking all these photos, and then they get to come back, and we talk about the 5 most important photos. And What I learned and it's it was an intergenerational study, but what I learned is that every single person at different times Took pictures of water.
Amanda Aminata:
And And brought them back to you.
Dr. Chris Omni:
And brought them back to me. Right. So I had 1 person take as few as 24 pictures. The other person took as many as 98. Aft So only picking 5, the ones that they wanted to discuss focused on water. So that gave me a chance to dive deeper into what does water mean to you. How does water represent joy In your life, it was healing for all of them. It was a state of flow.
Dr. Chris Omni:
It was the ability to have birth and rebirth. And listening to all of them Talk about the power of water was was like inspiration for another study. Because then you get an idea of not just black ack joy in green spaces, but how about black joy and blue bodies? How can water how can water bring healing and joy and this new frequency to the conversation of public health. So I don't know if I answered that, but
Amanda Aminata:
I would I love that story. Okay.
Dr. Chris Omni:
I feel like I went on a tangent thinking about that.
Amanda Aminata:
Aft Well, it's so lovely. You know, let's be joyful. Let's go on joyful tangents. And I'm I'm thinking about so the study, the women came to you with their aft Five pictures. They talked to you about what was important, what they loved about them, I assume. And did that, like, increase their sense of joy? Aft did it what was the impact of being of doing this project with you?
Dr. Chris Omni:
The impact is what encouraged this next study that I'm on right now.
Amanda Aminata:
Afternoon.
Dr. Chris Omni:
The impact was gratitude. The over more. The overall consistent impact from my twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties, Every participant shared that state of gratitude for the invitation to slow down.
Amanda Aminata:
Oh, wow. So it wasn't just gratitude to see the beautiful water or the trees. It was the invitation to ass slowed down. They felt grateful.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. Oh my god.
Amanda Aminata:
Why do you think they've that was a The thing that was common for them all.
Dr. Chris Omni:
We're always doing something. We're always Busy. My my new study is called Cape Break, the reverse engineering of the strong black woman phenomena, But that is it. We are always taking care of other people. And I said in that opening that 1 person was dealing with a death in the fam in the family. 1 person was working on her own defense. The other person was finishing up her semester of graduate school. We're constantly doing something, but rarely receive the invitation to, as I say, aft Let being be enough.
Dr. Chris Omni:
You are full of these sound bites. Okay.
Amanda Aminata:
Let being be enough. Okay. I love it. And your vibe attracts your tribe. Okay. I'm tracking.
Dr. Chris Omni:
They're all gonna be on shirts, so they can they can buy the shirts next year.
Amanda Aminata:
Okay. So, and then you said the study you're doing now is called Cape Break, like like the Superman cape. App. Like Yep. Take the cape off. Okay.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yep. Exactly.
Amanda Aminata:
So you you so, the study about black joy in green places where you had these women experiencing, photographs. Did you have them take photographs because that was a way for them to be in the space aft and have something to do? Why not just have them be in the space and just breathe in the space?
Dr. Chris Omni:
We did both. We did both. So the study started with a 1 on 1 conversation in the grass Well, we sat down I love your research. I love this methodology. Thank you. Thank you. Aft So we sat down and we got grounded, and the breeze was blowing. The trees were right there.
Dr. Chris Omni:
The sun was shining on us, And they just had a moment to talk, and it was semi structured in the interview space. Aft What brings you joy? What does black joy mean to you? Can you tell me, like, your earliest memory of being in green spaces? And then just flowing off of each one of those answers, then we were able to walk into greenspace at Piney z here in Tallahassee, Florida. And the reason for the picture taking is because it sounds corny, but a picture is worth a 1000 words. And a lot of times, we hear, Let me walk in your shoes, but this gave you a chance to walk in their shoes and look through their lens. Aft That's why I selected photography. Mhmm. And it's not about being a professional photographer because, girl, mm-mm. That's not my that's not my strength.
Amanda Aminata:
After
Dr. Chris Omni:
I I enjoy taking pictures. I enjoy creating the web series, but it's not Pure top notch professional quality.
Amanda Aminata:
Mhmm.
Dr. Chris Omni:
But in the, method of photo elicitation interviewing and just the method of period. It's never about the professionalism. Right. It's about the moment. It is about the story you were trying to capture in the photo, and it makes you be present. It it makes you observe. There was one of the participants who would walk there frequently, But to stop and take pictures, she had never, at this level, had never done. So that the pictures in itself become another invitation afternoon.
Dr. Chris Omni:
To see.
Amanda Aminata:
To see. And the slowdown to see what you see and to see, is that what I wanna photograph? Yeah. I I see it. It's just it's it's getting more and more present.
Dr. Chris Omni:
Yes. Yes. Thank you. After. And that's why I keep on going back to let being be enough. Can I just be here and feel this breeze? Can I be here and capture this moment of the butterfly? Can I be here and and just see that water as it ripples back and forth towards me and away from me? We need more invitations like that, and my research provides those invitations for black women.
Amanda Aminata:
So we're gonna take a break right here. When we come back, we're gonna hear more from doctor Chris Omni, Scholar of black joy. And I and I just love this arts ass thing. And art as a methodology. Yes. More. Please bring it on. Okay.
Amanda Aminata:
But we'll be right back.
