Dr. Lewis

Our sagacious senior BabaYoga has left us leaving his sweet spiritual presence hovering over the Yoga community. As a graduate of HY-DY’s Yoga Teacher Training School (Class of 2016) I recall how proud he was to become an internationally certified Yoga instructor, and how eager he was to share his knowledge with so many from diverse populations.
Baba’s willingness to share his wisdom of African history, and the role of percussive communication in Black culture, could always be counted on when requested to serve. He served as the Griot/Guru whose drumming sounds and words opened many of the Kwanzaa ceremonies that I conducted throughout Atlanta during the last several years. His common-sense consciousness as to how to be a good brother, has contributed to formulating the character of Black men throughout, and will be appreciated for years to come.

Your presence my dear brother of the I AM, has been an attribute to all whose lives you have touched. You will be remembered always in the role that you played in encouraging all to…

Breathe into believing

Ubuntu concept introduced in new, more
Humane Police Training Offered Nationally
History Month

“During Black History month 2023 the nation’s police culture/industry and those who serve in it, will have an opportunity to learn about Mindful Law Enforcement, Ubuntu philosophy, and training designed to increase humane professional performance in protective services. “
Lewis, N., Higher Yoga Protective Edu/Training
HYPE/T Project Director

Just when you think that you know that there is a clear connection between White racism and Black murders by police. Just when historical data indicate that fear mongering, abuse of power, implicit bias rooted in slave management methods have created a police culture where unjustified violence can go on unaccounted. Just when we think that we have it all figured out …, along comes five Black police officers to brutally beat and kill a young black male in Memphis stopped for a minor traffic infraction.

The recent occurrence with Tyre Nichols has again impelled many of us to pause and look deeper for causes beyond racism that can have the same devastating effect on those in communities of color. Following the George Floyd incident, the nation stopped to analyze and reflect on cause and effect regarding police misconduct. That pregnant pause ultimately gave birth to the creation of the George Floyd Justice and Policing Bill. Though yet to be passed for Police Reformation, the bill is designed to address a wide range of issues regarding policing, to redefine best practices and to rehumanize the current learning curriculum. The hope is that it will render improvement in police training which lays the foundation for how officers perform in the field in the line of duty.

There is an urgent need for the Senate to pass the George Floyd Bill; however, laws and training equipment, alone will not sufficiently address the core issues regarding inhumane police practices and the all too frequent reckless disregard for the value of human lives. Despite the public outcry that “Black lives matter,” heralded in 2020, and the use of more advance training equipment since that time, there continued to be an average of 1000 Black male deaths per year that resulted from police brutality.

The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by Black police officers does not negate the nefarious role that racism plays in policing whether practiced by Whites or Blacks on Blacks. It does, however, require intensifying the investigation as to what drives brutal policing, regardless of the victim’s ethnic makeup/identity. Following the Memphis incident, Janai Nelson NAACP Legal Defense Fund President echoed the necessity for police reform. She emphasized that what is called for at this time is a total revamping or replacing of the whole system with something that is entirely different and that values the life of human beings.

Currently in several dimensions of human development, there is total revamping, re-examining, and re-imaging as to how we can better manage our behavior as human beings. Literature like Raising Good Humans is flooding the early childhood education market; mindful conflict resolution is now frequently encouraged in the mental health field; and breath/meditation energy-manipulation strategies are becoming standard stress-response recommendations for increasingly more situations. Research indicates that the practice of mindful yogic techniques can create impulse control and assist with internalizing feelings of compassion and kindness, even when those emotions are most challenged. Yoga, now practiced by over 37 million adults throughout the nation, has assumed a leading role as an example of how breathing, stretching, strengthening, and meditating can cultivate greater personal health. These techniques are proven to nurture appreciation for one’s own life, and while acknowledging different ethnic and cultural identities, can foster respect and compassion for the life of others.

It’s now time for America’s police culture to include human-value concepts from diverse ethnic groups as it reforms its educational philosophies, training goals and curriculum content. Ubuntu, a Zulu word meaning humanness is a social and spiritual philosophy that has served as a framework for many African societies. “I am because we are” suggests that a person is a better person through another person, and that one becomes the best human by applying love and compassion to others. Or perhaps those who makeup and serve as part of police culture might now need to embrace the vision that Dr. Martin Luther King (a Yogi-peace philosopher in his own right) popularized regarding his concept of a “Beloved Community.” Dr. King envisioned those who live in and serve in our society/community, uphold a shared reverence for it whereby justice, equality, respect, and love for one’s fellow human beings would be a common practice. A philosophy/practice whereby trained officers would be able to mindfully acknowledge their police culture, integrate with their ethnic culture, and connect with feelings toward their human culture, all while serving in the line of duty.

Starting this Black History month Higher Yoga Protective Edu/Training (HYPE/T) a newly released Nationally Certified Police (NCP) online training course, will be available throughout the nation. The course was researched, designed, and independently produced by HYer DYnamic Health Discoveries (HY-DY Inc.) a nonprofit composed of concerned Black citizens, and others from marginalized communities in various states. The HYPE/T course provides certified training units to those in the field of law enforcement, and it educates community members about new methods now available in protective services. The goal of the course is to improve the personal health and professional performance of police. It was designed to train officers to mitigate impulsive violent responses, to claim equanimity, internalize feelings of compassion, and to formulate a healthy vicarious connection with other human lives. It was created to concretely influence Police Reformation (in-field training) and to play a functional role toward developing peace officers dedicated to rendering humane protective services to our “Beloved communities.”

Naima Lewis Ph.D., is an internationally certified Yoga Therapist who serves as director of HYer DYnamic Health Discoveries and the HY-DY Inc. Yoga Teacher Training School; she is the founder of the HYPE/T Project trainings and programs and is available via WWW.HYDYINC.ORG [email protected]

References
HYPE/T Trailer link https://youtu.be/1l7j6rBkeug
1. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10498
2. The Washington Post, (2021) "Police Shooting Database https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/
3. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2019) Mindfulness for All, Hachette Books
4. Nelson, J. (2023) NAACP Legal Defense Fund President & Director /Council
5. Yeoman, B. (2017) "Mindful Policing: The Future of Force,” https://www.mindful.org/mindful-policing-the-future-of-force/
6. Christopher, M. S. Hunsinger, L. R. J. Goerling, S. Bowen, B. S. Rogers, C. R. Gross, E. Dapolonia and J. C. Pruessner, (2028) "Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training to Reduce Health Risk, Stress Reactivity, and Aggression among Law Enforcement Officers: A Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy Trial," Psychiatry Res., vol. 264, pp. 104-115,
7. Henderson, F. B., & Louis, B. M. (2017). Beloved Community -Black Rural Lives Matters: Ethnographic Research about an Anti‐Racist Interfaith Organization in the US South
8. Mbiti, J. S. (1969) African Religions and Philosophy
9. Clarke -Fields, H. (2019) Raising Good Humans, New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
10. Lewis, N. (2022) Higher Yoga Protective Edu/Training (HYPE/T), www.hydyinc.org and www.firstforward.org