Rest Leaders

Adriana Adelé, she/they, is a yoga facilitator and an advocate for collective well-being who studies and shares yoga as a practice of liberation. Through yoga, Adriana holds space for intentional movement, deep rest, disruption of toxic dominant narratives, discernment in action, learning/unlearning, embodiment and affirmation of our eternal divine wholeness as individuals & in service of collective liberation. Her work helps adults and kids effectively integrate the practices and benefits of yoga including movement, meditation, deep rest, and breath techniques to their busy, messy, very real daily lives. Adriana is a daughter, friend and spouse, eternal student, plant and pup mama, pleasure activist, astrology enthusiast, and a joy advocate. Adriana is a RYT-500, E-RYT-200, a yoga teacher trainer, holds a bachelor’s in neuroscience from Oberlin College. She serves as the yoga + mindfulness teacher and strategic collaborator for Get Fresh Daily family, youth, and educator wellness programming.

adrianaadele.com/about

Tricia Hersey is a Chicago native with over 20 years of experience as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian and community organizer. She is the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines rest as a form of resistance and reparations by curating spaces for the community to rest via community rest activations, immersive workshops, performance art installations, and social media. Her research interests include Black liberation theology, womanism, somatics, and cultural trauma. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Rest is Resistance, which was published in 2022. You can learn more about her work at thenapministry.com

triciahersey.com/about

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an activist, social justice warrior, author, anti-racism consultant and trainer, intuitive healer, and yoga teacher and practitioner.  She has led dismantling racism work in many settings for over two decades and has a background and two decades of practice as a clinical social worker.  Michelle’s work centers on healing from individual and collective trauma, coming back into wholeness and aligning the mind, body, spirit, and heart.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  Michelle published Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017, and Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief in 2021. In 2023, Michelle released two books, both We Heal Together: Rituals & Practices for Building Community & Connection, and A Space for Us: A Guide for Leading Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Affinity Groups. She teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide and is on the faculty of Off the Mat, Into the World. She was a Tedx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019.  In 2020, she created her own podcast, Finding Refuge, which explores collective grief and liberation and serves as a reminder about all the ways we can find refuge during unsettling and uncertain times and of the resilience and joy that comes from allowing ourselves to find refuge.

michellecjohnson.com/about

Gail Parker, Ph.D., C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is an author, psychologist, and a yoga therapist educator. She is the author of Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma (2020) and Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga (2021). She is the president of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance (BYTA) Board of Directors. Dr. Parker is a faculty member in the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy, teaching in the Mental Health Module of the curriculum. Her broad expertise in behavioral health and wellness includes 40 years as a practicing psychologist. Dr. Parker is a lifelong practitioner of yoga and is well known for her pioneering efforts to blend psychology, yoga, and meditation as effective self-care strategies that can enhance emotional balance and contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of practitioners. She teaches yoga therapists, yoga teachers, and behavioral health professionals how to utilize restorative yoga to support stress reduction and recovery from ethnic and race-based traumatic stress.

drgailparker.com/about

Octavia Raheem, is a wife, mother, and author of two bestselling books Pause, Rest, Be and Gather. She is a rest/restorative coach, yoga + meditation educator, and former wellness studio owner. She is the creator of Devoted to Rest™, a transformational rest-focused experience for visionary women leaders making a high impact in their fields. Within her rest and work, she threads time-tested practices, depth, skill and knowledge about what supports rest and what doesn’t, wisdom rooted in Black American Southern traditions, and intuition into a blanket of experience under which individuals can gather and rebuke stress, fatigue, and burnout. Her offerings lead driven, inspiring, creative, and purpose-centered individuals and companies to awaken the fullness of their potential and power through rest.

octaviaraheem.com/about

Tracee Stanley, is the author of the bestselling book Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity and the forthcoming The Luminous Self: Sacred Yogic Practices & Rituals to Remember Who You Are (2023, Shambhala Publications). Tracee is the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than 25 years of studentship in Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. As a post-lineage teacher, Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee is gifted in illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life.

traceestanley.com/about-tracee

Charisse M. Williams is a certified leadership coach, speaker and mindfulness teacher who brings passion and authenticity to everything she does. Her entire career is dedicated to advancing social justice and the well-being of marginalized communities. A travel enthusiast, she once traveled across Europe with no itinerary, starting in Amsterdam and ending in Marrakech five weeks later. She is insatiably curious about the mind and loves nerdy podcasts like The Hidden Brain on NPR Radio. Charisse earned her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

charissemwilliams.com