Jasmine Marie is the founder of Black Girls Breathing (open in new tab), an Atlanta-based community that encourages Black women to nurture their mental, emotional, and spiritual health through meditative breathing techniques. Here, in her own words, Jasmine talks about how she is leading her business during the pandemic, the importance of maintaining the mental health of black women, including herself in COVID-19, and the systemic racism that our country continues to face.

When I graduated from New York University (NYU), I was working in global hair care for a consumer products company. The beauty world is crazy. It was under such extreme stress and pressure that I discovered Breathwork. I attended a very non-traditional church in Harlem, First Corinthian Baptist Church, and my pastor had a dedicated breathworker. When the church had a community center, breathwork was one of the free courses for the community. I started going and continued for 4.5 years and then decided to get trained to teach; I created the concept of Black Girls Breathing in October 2018 and completed the training in November 2018. I was just waiting to get group training so I could officially launch everything.

Breathwork (opens in new tab) is different from regular mainstream meditation. It is an active meditation. Breathwork is used to soothe and heal your nervous system and your nervous system's response to triggers such as trauma and exposure to all that is happening in this world. Since I began my training, I have witnessed the lack of diversity in the Breathwork community. Not everyone wanted to bring this tool to communities that really needed it outside of places like Los Angeles and New York City, where the work has traditionally been centered, so "Black Girls Breathing" toured six cities last year. Houston and Dallas were the surprise cities that really embraced this work. They really came through for us. We were surprised because those two cities are not big wellness cities, but in Dallas we had two classes and both were sold out. [When we think about chronic stress and access to a variety of wellness tools and health care, the black and Latino community is not equipped to deal with the mental and emotional stress and chronic adrenal fatigue they face. This manifests itself in physical health. The numbers show that Black women are the most affected group (open in new tab) because they are continually under chronic stress. Cortisol and breast cancer (open in new tab), fatalities from breast cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and the list goes on.

That's why I was inspired to create Black Girls Breathing, to make breathing techniques resonate and accessible. I have worked with communities ranging from elite universities to juvenile detention centers. The way certain wellness practices are taught can feel daunting, like, "Oh, this isn't for me," or "Oh, I haven't done this in years, I'm not comfortable with it." I know that's how some people approach breathwork. My goal is always to teach in a way that makes this tool feel resonant, so that it doesn't feel so touchy-feely.

We have offered virtual breathwork classes since our inception, but when COVID-19 was held this year, it became clear that our community, especially Black and Indigenous people, who lose the most lives to COVID, needed the opportunity to actually practice breathwork It became clear to me that we need the opportunity to actually practice breathwork. My spirit pushed me to think bigger. People are under all kinds of financial stress and losing their jobs. So I wanted to be able to offer our work for free or on a sliding scale of $5 to $25. Before COVID, the cost was $25 per class, and we held one donation-based session in April. We asked our allies in the Breathwork community to buy up all the spots for us to donate (to others) and rally around a crowdfunding campaign (open in new tab). Instead of just continuing for a year, we changed our entire business model. Now we are really strategizing.

The money we are raising now gives us a path to continue to operate the way we have always done, while also giving us time to ink the dotted line of corporate partnerships, set up funding from organizations, and determine how that will sustain us. [As a Black-owned business] we know we don't have the same opportunities for capital, so we are even more inventive in the ways we fund our ideas and fund our mission. When I launched Black Girls Breathing, I wasn't going to wait for a venture capitalist to say yes or no to my plan. Crowdfunding allows us to grow our mission with the help of the community and ordinary people who care and have $50 or $100 to spare. That is what we have done and will continue to do.

I'm the only one teaching classes now. I have learned things in my work [in the black community], but they were not taught in my training. When the time comes, I plan to add more facilitators to the class. For now, I am very purposeful in my teaching. When I eventually have more facilitators, I hope to have them teach as well. Because that is how we have grown our community.

When I lead a session, I want to lead it on the fly. I leave the first part [of the class] very open for discussion, for the introspective aspect, for the communal dialogue. There is no script or anything. Each group is different and I lead accordingly. I usually do an energy reading and ask the participants what they are feeling and what comes to mind. I try to get the participants to be in touch with their bodies and what their bodies are asking for right now.

Whether in person or online, I can always feel the energy of the group. Especially in this practice, energy is energy. When I am connected to the group, I feel it. I love hosting virtual classes and I love the fact that it makes what we do more accessible. We have a lot of handicapped women who may not be able to go to a certain place and lie on the floor and practice breathing exercises, but instead we are creating an environment where they can do this work at home in their own way. Because we are in isolation, I have noticed the power of feeling part of a community and being able to see other people's faces when I am inside and not able to interact with friends and family as I used to.

I also had to relearn during this time. I learned that what used to function as self-care had completely changed. Witnessing that change, I adjusted my practice. I could not offer private sessions because of what is happening now and the severity of the situations people are facing. If I am offering these group classes as well as corporate meditation, I need to reduce my practice and modify it in a way that works for me as well so that I can continue this work. I am also navigating what is happening outside of my home.

Ultimately, breathwork is about building a relationship with our bodies. It helps us navigate many other situations in our lives. Also, when we are doing this work, we feel our bodies mirroring our own, and we sometimes need to use them to deal with different issues in our lives. Black Girls Breathing will always be that resource. But after the sessions, when people are in the workplace and something stressful happens, like a microaggression, they can tap into and use the tools. We want to better equip people's mental, emotional, and mental toolboxes so they can take them out and use them when they need them. Having space made for you and having people make space for you makes a difference in your sense of responsibility.

To learn more about "Black Girls Breathing" (opens in new tab) or to schedule an upcoming virtual session, click here (opens in new tab).