Heartwidth Mindfulness Community is an emerging collaboration inspired by the prophetic leadership and embodied wisdom of Ms. Ayesha Ali. As a teacher, poet, writer, and performer with 20 years of experience sharing mindfulness practices with diverse communities, Ms. Ayesha’s work focuses on moving beyond internal and external barriers separating anyone–but especially Black women and children–from their lineages of competence, beauty, and power. 

We practice courage, care, and freedom from the incarceration of cynicism and despair. By moving beyond internal and external silos that separate us from our own hearts and from each other, we prioritize sustained connection to the shared dignity and power available in each moment of radically inclusive awareness. We reconnect people directly to the power and creativity exemplified by their survival within brutal conditions.

Ms. Ayesha launched Heartwidth in 2020 as a program hosted by Insight Community of Washington DC. Since then, Heartwidth has expanded to include collaborations with diverse communities and experienced organizers around the US to offer transformative, responsive, in-person and virtual programming. With Ms. Ayesha serving as the Collective’s “Intention Holder”, we are committed to nourishing new and existing collaborations while strengthening our capacity to offer a range of secular, multi/non-religious, and radically inclusive offerings to help heal the inner and outer wounds of our suffering world. 

Sankofa, reflected as both a symmetric heart and a back-facing bird, originates from West Africa, by the Akan people of Ghana. It represents the act of looking to the past to gain insight, knowledge and wisdom that can be carried forward into the future for benefit and strength. Our community carries the Sankofa in both its forms as a reminder to look to our own past for our personal wisdom and to carry it forward within open hearts for all, both within and beyond our community.