Course Description

This is NOT your generic mindfulness class! Come and experience my soulfulness approach to meditation. The course offers an opportunity to practice mindfulness from a culturally-infused, loving, and empowering space of deep connectedness with an emphasis on reclamation and liberation. Foundational mindfulness practices are taught within a decolonizing perspective that emphasizes mindfulness as a path to mental and emotional liberation. Special attention is given to oppression-related stress/trauma and the relevance of mindfulness for BIPOC wellness and mental health. The teachings are based on the Vipassana insight meditation tradition, infused with cultural expressions from the African diaspora and diverse cultural contexts, and with a focus on soulful experiencing. I have come to more and more think about mindfulness as a Sankofa-aligned experience of reclamation of ourselves, our truths, and the multidimensional experience of living life fully. I created this course in 2020 to provide a resource for healing and connection within the context of the profound loss and change brought on by the COVID-19 and ongoing racism pandemics. In 2025, we’re continuing to grieve, heal, resist power abuses, and free ourselves from the many ways that stress and oppression attempt to hijack our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls. Practicing mindfulness regularly can help us be more present in our lives-- more present in our bodies, more present relationally and spiritually. Mindfulness-based practices give us strategies for experiencing more inner peace and harmony, allowing us to hear the voice of our inner wisdom and contact the truth of our interconnectedness. It is a powerful ground to support the expression of our highest selves, align with our deepest values, and manifest our highest aspirations and purpose, both personally and collectively. Bottom line is that mindfulness can help us GET FREE!

  • Six 75-minute Sessions Live on Zoom taught by Dr. Shelly Harrell

  • TIME/DATES: Fridays from 8:15-9:30am PST from Jan 31st - March 7th

  • The ONLY LIVE offering of this course for 2025!

  • UPDATED course informed by Dr. Shelly's Sankofa Theory & Practice!

  • Topics include: Soulfulness and Mindfulness ("The Inner River"), Mindfulness of Love and Liberation, Mindfulness of Breath and Body, Mindfulness of Thoughts, Mindfulness of Emotion, and Mindfulness of Life

  • Session handouts and slides available for download

  • Access to course recordings for those who enroll

  • Music, poetry, and powerful wisdom quotes integrated throughout the course

NEW! THIS COURSE IS FREE FOR THOSE DIRECTLY IMPACTED BY THE LA WILDFIRES!

Email us directly for additional information: [email protected]

Mindfulness can help build inner resources for dealing with life's challenges and the suffering we experience. For those who have lost so much in the LA wildfires, mindfulness meditation can help manage the mental and emotional strain that will continue beyond this immediate time of crisis. As people begin putting their lives back together, mindfulness can be a resource for the waves of painful emotion, confusion, and uncertainty that can come. We would like to support our LA community by offering this 6-week course for FREE for those who have lost homes, businesses, jobs, neighborhoods, pets, and much more due to the wildfires. We particularly encourage BIPOC individuals to join as the course pays special attention to the value of mindfulness for BIPOC wellness and mental health. ***Meditation is not a replacement for therapy. It is not, by itself, a treatment for serious or diagnosed mental health issues. However, it can be a valuable supplement to professional mental health care, as well as a self-care resource for managing distress.***
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ALL PAYMENT OPTIONS

  • $175 - Discounted full course series fee (through Jan 31st)

  • $190 - Regular full course series fee

  • $100 - Student discount (with verification; scroll down for details)

  • $35/class - Single class session fee ($20 for students)

  • PREVIOUS STUDENTS: Want to take the course again? If you enrolled and paid for the 2023 course, we are offering you a 50% discount from the posted rate. Please email us ([email protected]) with your name and the email address you used at the time of enrollment. We will confirm in our records and send you a discount code.

  • Scholarships available on a case-by-case basis. Email [email protected] with inquiries.

Enroll Now!

Our flexible payment option gives you the choice to divide the course fee into two payments (2nd payment charged one month after enrollment).

Interested in Individual Sessions Only?

Choose Single Sessions for $35 Each

STUDENT DISCOUNT AVAILABLE!

$100 for the series or $20 per class (with Discount Code)

Send an email request to us at [email protected] from your school-provided (.edu) email address. Include a copy of your current semester official schedule of classes (from Registrar). You will be sent an individualized discount code that you can use at checkout.
I HAVE MY CODE - READY TO ENROLL!

Course Topics

  • January 31st, 2025 - Session 1: The Inner River

    Introduction to Mindfulness and Soulfulness

  • February 7th, 2025 - Session 2: All About Love

    Mindfulness of Love and Liberation

  • February 14th, 2025 - Session 3: Focus and Flow

    Mindfulness of Breath and Body

  • February 21st, 2025 - Session 4: Free Your Mind

    Mindfulness of Thoughts

  • February 28th, 2025 - Session 5: Feel It to Heal It

    Mindfulness of Emotion

  • March 7th, 2025 - Session 6: And Still I Rise

    Mindfulness of Life

Testimonials

  • Jumpstart Your Practice

    "Dr. Shelly Harrell's Soulful Introduction to Mindfulness was just the class I needed to jumpstart my mindfulness practice. Dr. Harrell is a skillful instructor - She is personable, engaging, and knowledgeable. I was drawn to her style of practice and I loved her infusion of music and culturally relevant content."

  • Breadth & Depth

    "Wow, where to begin. I so appreciate the breadth and depth in the types of mindfulness meditation. I also love the soulfulness spin. It was truly the best mindfulness course I have ever taken because it helped me move the practice from my head to my soul. It helped me to come back to myself. I am forever grateful."

  • Deeply Nourishing

    "This class as a whole was so nourishing - I really appreciated the contextualization of mindfulness as a practice for liberation - personal and beyond. I felt seen in ways I never have before despite learning about mindfulness for the past 10 years. Dr. Harrell's expounding of mindfulness landed somewhere deep inside me where many other teachers didn't or couldn't. Representation matters! Being real matters!"

  • Transformative

    "Transformative class! A gift to yourself and your loved ones. You will develop tools to sustain your well-being for life. I very much appreciated Dr. Harrell’s expertise in the content and facilitation of exercises. The integration of music was a great addition to the process. I felt part of the community and very much connected to the references, meditations, reflections and exercises. i loved the grounding and resourcing, the RAIN and the calling ancestors and others to the circle of support. Powerful! The whole series had a profound impact on my sense of well-being. I got in touch with parts of self I knew were there but haven’t come in contact with for a while. Thank you so much!!"

  • Powerful Practices

    "Wonderful meditation course that has truly helped me in mind, body, and heart/spirit. I so appreciate the way Dr. Harrell's teaching has not only better connected me to meditation practices, but linked that practice to living more fully and authentically. She introduced me to simple, but powerful, practices that I've been using in my daily life that have helped me better be with my experiences (both the enjoyable and challenging ones) to live my best life. Thank you for this course, and I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of future ones!"

  • A Greater Calling

    "Dr. Harrell's "Soulful Introduction to Mindfulness" class series was more than I could have imagined. Her commitment to detail on each topic explored was remarkable. Her poised, warm, and calm delivery allowed her experiential practices to penetrate deeply week by week. Dr. Harrell's incorporation of poetry, music and other artistic expressions were culturally-congruent and unique compared to other mindfulness courses I have attended. Her ability to transcend the "trendy" of the mindfulness movement with the soulfulness of meditation anchors one in the purpose of meditation which is to move us personally and collectively into our greater calling. I cannot recommend her courses more!"

Course Resources

(available after enrollment)

  • 1

    Soulful Intro to Mindfulness (SitM) - Course Overview and Resources

    • Course Series Overview

    • Zoom Link for WINTER 2025 Live Course

    • Some Meditation Music Selections

    • Original 2018 Soulfulness Publication (Journal of Contemplative Inquiry)

    • Rising up Rooted Article (2022; Special "Black Contemplatives" Issue of the Journal of Contemplative Inquiry)
  • 2

    SitM Session 1: The Inner River (Mindfulness and Soulfulness)

    • SitM Session 1 Music

    • SitM 2025 SESSION 1 SLIDES - The Inner River (Intro to Mindfulness and Soulfulness)

    • SESSION 1 VIDEO (SitM 2025 - The Inner River)

    • HANDOUT: Meditation, Mindfulness, and Soulfulness (2025 update)

    • HANDOUT: Anchoring and Returning (2025 update)

    • Link to the "RIVER PLAYLIST"

Join us for a soulful experience of learning mindfulness or deepening your meditation practice!

Instructor(s)

Dr. Shelly Harrell

Born and raised in Detroit, Dr. Shelly Harrell is an award-winning Harvard-educated and UCLA-trained psychologist, as well as a certified meditation teacher.  As an experienced therapist, mentor, and professor she has been helping, healing, teaching, and training for over 30 years. She is a researcher and published author in the areas of culture and psychotherapy, sociocultural and sociopolitical aspects of stress, racism and mental health, and  psychological well-being among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Her soulfulness approach to wellness and resilience represents an integration of her work that is informed by cultural, African-centered, and liberation psychologies, contemplative practices, and stress science.