HealthPlus Issue1

HealthPlus

THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE

MENTAL HEALTH ACTIVIST JENIFER LEWIS TACKLES COVID -19

MISINFORMATION

16

18

21

Takes

MEET THE TEAM

Janis Ware, Publisher

Janis Ware became publisher of The Atlanta Voice in 1991. Under her leadership, The Atlanta Voice has expanded its footprint to include all forms of social media, video production and web development. Ware currently serves as the First Vice Chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and Treasurer of the Board of Local Media Association.

James Washington, Editorial Director

A 2019 National Association of Black Journalists Legacy Award winner, James Washington has worked in media for more than four decades. In 1989, he acquired The Dallas Weekly, the most widely read AfricanAmerican news weekly in North Texas. He is also the president and general manager of The Atlanta Voice, where he is spearheading its digital transformation. He is bringing that same dynamic to The Dallas Weekly, where he currently serves as co-publisher and where his son Patrick is now the CEO and publisher.

Nsenga Burton, Editor-in-chief

Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., is founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire, an award-winning news site covering the African Diaspora. A writer, scholar and thought leader, Dr. Burton has served as editorat-large for The Root, editor-in-chief of Rushmore Drive (IAC), cultural critic for Hu ngton Post and Creative Loa ng and culture and entertainment editor for Black Press USA Newswire.

Michael Grant, Creative Director

Michael Grant is an editorial experience designer and founder of Get Current Studio, a creative agency supporting ethnic-owned media through digital transformation. Grant is an alumnus of the Google News Lab Teaching Fellowship, the 2018 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford, and Grambling State University. Former career stops include the San Francisco Business Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Center for Investigative Reporting.

Alexis Grace, Director of Digital Media

Alexis Grace is an alumna of Clark Atlanta University. She recently earned her Masters Degree in Writing and Digital Communications from Agnes Scott College. Grace has worked for several publications such as CNN, the Dallas Weekly, and AllUrbanCentral. She now serves as the Director of Digital Media for the Atlanta Voice where she strategizes social content, produces website content, and analyzes audience data.

Chia Suggs, Advertising Administrator for Print and Online

Chia Suggs is a graduate of South Georgia College who began her tenure as the executive assistant to the publisher of the Atlanta Voice in October 2018. Following careers in the airline industry for Delta Air Lines, and law enforcement for Fulton County and Clayton County, she entered the newspaper business. Along with her duties as the executive assistant, she is also the advertising administrator for print and online ad sales.

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to HealthPlus, a digital- rst publication dedicated to the topic of African American health. For nearly a year, the HealthPlus team has been working tirelessly to develop a digital publication that would inform, inspire and encourage people of African descent to take control of our physical, mental, spiritual and nancial health in order to improve the quality of our lives and community. We endeavored to examine Black health from a holistic perspective, understanding the mind-body connection and the need to elevate holistic and alternative approaches to medicine to help ght medical ailments that continue to plague our community decade after decade. Our team thought it was important to explore African American health through a historical lens. As the adinkra symbol Sankofa reminds us, we have to understand our past in order to ensure a strong future and that is what we endeavor to do at HealthPlus.

Using that framework as a guide, we gathered an amazing team of writers, photographers and designers to pull together an online publication that is visually stunning and chock-full of important information about topics ranging from Kemetic Yoga to Black mental health to self-care, heart health and meditation. You will hear from medical doctors, psychologists, holistic practitioners and executive directors committed to improving Black health like Delmonte Je erson of the Center for Black Health & Equity. Mental health advocate and legendary actress Jenifer Lewis, known as the shade-throwing matriarch of ABC’s hit sitcom “Black-ish” shares her ongoing work with TheTruthCheck.org, an initiative to help African Americans improve their media literacy around health issues like COVID-19 in the social media space. HealthPlus brings you the stories of dynamic entrepreneurs who grow plants to create backyard pharmacies to produce remedies that treat a wide variety of ailments. We also showcase the sound healing practice of Gina Breedlove, a sound healer, who has the voice of an angel and uses it literally to restore people to

good health.

Sound healing was introduced to our editorial team by HealthPlus consulting editor Valerie Boyd, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017. Having served as co-founder of HealthQuest Magazine in the 1990s, Valerie understood the necessity of Black wellness and the need for a holistic approach to African American health. Valerie, who is a world-renowned biographer of Zora Neale Hurston, founder of the University of Georgia’s celebrated MFA program in creative non- ction and recently completed a book on the journals of Alice Walker that will be released in April, believed strongly in Eastern and non-traditional approaches to health and used them in combination with Western approaches to beat the bleak survival rates of latestage pancreatic cancer. Valerie lived for another ve years following her cancer diagnosis, which is a testament to her resilience, broad knowledge of health issues and holistic approach to ghting this aggressive disease. Sadly, Valerie lost her battle with pancreatic cancer February 12 and we lost a guiding light for this publication.

The HealthPlus team takes comfort in knowing Valerie spent her remaining time on Earth working on HealthPlus to improve the overall health of African American lives while ghting for hers. Valerie started early in her career with HealthQuest and ended her outstanding professional career with HealthPlus. We are so happy to have had the opportunity to spend time with Valerie to bring this muchneeded digital publication to you.

We dedicate the launch of HealthPlus to the memory of Valerie Boyd. As editor-in-chief, I invite you to become a part of our community as we endeavor to bring you the information you want and need to live your best life. Join our village as we move issues impacting Black health from the margins to the center and add years to our lives in the process.

Love and light, Nsenga

Nsenga

Burton, Editor-in-chief

Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., is founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire, an award-winning news site covering the African Diaspora. A writer, scholar and thought leader, Dr. Burton has served as editorat-large for The Root, editor-in-chief of Rushmore Drive (IAC), cultural critic for Hu ngton Post and Creative Loa ng, culture and entertainment editor for Black Press USA Newswire.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

Celebrities like Jenifer Lewis, Wayne Brady, Taraji P. Henson, Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Charlamagne Tha God, Dak Prescott, Brandon Marshall, Big Sean and Michelle Williams have been vocal about their mental health battles. HealthPlus Magazine spoke with mental health practitioners Bobbi Jones (MA, NCC, LAPC, CADC-T, CSOTP) and Michael Lindsey, Ph.D., MSW, MPH, New York University’s (NYU) executive director for the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research who o ered some tips:

1 Commit to an exercise plan to reduce stress

The CDC says you should get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week — like brisk walking or active yoga — or at least 75 minutes weekly of vigorous intensity exercise, like running or kickboxing. You’ll feel better and also improve your physical health while you’re at it.

2 Journaling can be a good release in stressful situations

Writing down what you’re going through gets it out of your head, so to speak.

3 Get comfortable with saying “no”

When you’re in survival mode, usually at work, you feel like you have to say yes to a lot of things.

4 Take breaks

Watch what you consume because the news can be daunting. If what’s happening on broadcast news is too much, don’t watch broadcast news.

5 Eat right and get adequate rest because it does a ect your mood We must watch what we eat or put into our bodies. Make sure that you’re well-hydrated. If you’re having sleep disturbances, that’s one of the main signs that something else is going on.

6 Practice self care

Incorporate self-care into their treatment plans by coming up with activities that bring you personal joy.

#GORED: HEART DISEASE SURVIVOR SHARES HER STORY

By McKenna Lewis as told to Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D.

Nearly 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, making it the leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease causes 1 out of every 4 deaths in this country. Millions of people are literally ghting for their lives every day. Meet McKenna Lewis, a woman who is waging and winning her war against heart disease, which has taken the lives of family members and friends. An elementary school principal, read McKenna’s inspiring story of survival below:

BEST REJECTION LETTER EVER

Ido not talk about my heart health journey often because I despise pity and I don’t see myself as frail, sick or impaired; I also don’t want anyone to assign those dispositions to me. I see myself as whole, healthy and healed!

My family has a history of heart disease. My dad, older brother and sister all lived and died with issues related to heart disease. My mom is a stroke survivor and works diligently to live a heart healthy life. I thought I escaped the heart disease gene; however at age 38, I was diagnosed with Chronic Heart Failure (CHF). Since then, I have had several heart procedures, implantable cardioverter de brillator (ICD) implantation, and at one point my heart was struggling and I had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line pumping a medication that aided the pumping of my heart. Despite my grim prognosis, I simply did not accept it. I did not see myself as sick. Most days I didn’t feel sick and honestly it just was not cute, (SMILE).

I had no idea how sick I was because my prayers were silly as I re ect on them, such as, “God just let me be cute if I have to go through all of this.” I was in and out of the hospital. I went so often I just took a suitcase when I had certain symptoms. The lady at the registration desk said to me

one time, “Ma’am, this is not a hotel, ” to which I replied, “Ma’am, you are a lie. This is ‘Chateau’ Washington Hospital Center (WHC). Tell them to get a room ready on the 4th oor NW Tower overlooking the heli-pad.” I even knew the nurses by name.

On one visit my doctor said that, based on my ejection fracture (EF), he was recommending me for heart transplantation. Folks, it got real at that moment. “Sir, I am not THAT sick.” I am sure they thought I was CRAZY! My brain never processed or accepted my prognosis and instead of going with it, I had a

talk with my GOD! I researched and made lifestyle changes (i.e. walking daily, nutrition, rest). I also worked with my team at the Advanced Heart Failure Clinic at WHC. Welp, needless to say, I was accepted for transplantation and then rejected based on improvement. I have been kicked out of better places.

I give GOD all of the glory and honor. So many people who had better prognosis than I did have died and I’m still here! Fast forward 11 years later: I have my dream job as an elementary school principal, and I own a Peloton, (See y’all on the leaderboard

– look for me at the bottom.) I walk 3 to 5 miles daily and I have not been in the hospital for over three years. My doctor said he doesn’t know what to do with me because despite having heart disease, I am doing better than the team expected.

I live around the corner from the new trauma hospital in my community and I am reminded daily that I am incredibly blessed! There are so many people that were and continue to be super supportive on my journey to better health. I thank you all for your encouragement, your prayers and your love. I hesitate to call names because so many people were so kind. The outpouring of prayers and love sustained me on the days that were tough.

Again, I don’t share this testimony for pity but simply because I want to celebrate my survivor story and encourage someone dealing with health challenges – physical or mental. Have faith, do your part and work with your medical team!

XOXO, McKenna #goredforwomen2022 #americanheartassociation #washingtonhospitalcenter McKenna Lewis is principal of James H. Harrison Elementary School in Prince Georges County, MD. Follow McKenna on Twitter @PrincipalJHHES

Coutesy

Sound healing, sometimes referred to as vibrational medicine or sound therapy, has probably existed since humans have walked the earth. Ancient Egyptian papyri note music’s e ects for healing the body.

In his book De Anima (On the Soul), Aristotle writes about ute music’s potent ability to purify the soul. By the late 19th century, a researcher from Paris published one of the rst studies on the bene cial e ects of sound on the human body. Though the idea of using sound for therapeutic purposes may feel like a modern invention, the wisdom is something that’s been around a long time.

“It’s old,” Gina Breedlove states matter-of-factly. “Sound is as old as us … It predates the written word. Etchings on cave walls show folks with instruments and their mouths open. They’re clearly singing or sounding.”

Gina Breedlove on the Power of Sound

By Jasmin Pittman Morrell

Breedlove, whose own voice imparts the warm ease of a summer night humming with cicada song, is well-practiced in the art of wielding sound as a healing tool. She’s an award-winning vocalist and musician. In the span of her decades-long career, Breedlove has worked with performers like Harry Belafonte and given voice to The Lion King’s Sarabi on Broadway. At the intersection of her artistry and her spirit, Breedlove is a medicine woman, committed to empowering others through the sound of their own voices.

“My favorite use of sound is for shifting narratives. For me, the dominant narrative in your head is re ective of how you care for yourself,” Breedlove explained.

Any Black, brown or Native person in the U.S. knows how insidiously the dominant cultural narrative of our identities can creep into our own heads,

A screenshot from YouTube Video. File Photo

our own bodies. When Audre Lorde spoke of self-preservation as an act of political warfare, she knew that by caring for and honoring her body’s worthiness, she reframed narratives both personal and of the collective. Breedlove’s medicine work shares these roots.

“My work has been about how to shift narratives from trauma and origin thoughts in how you see or feel about yourself, your worthiness, your connection or interconnection, (or lack of), to the whole,” Breedlove said, “and I use sound to shift folks to thinking and knowing themselves as powerful beings in the world.”

Sound as medicine

Breedlove de nes sound healing as the literal use of sound as medicine, as a way to elicit calm and clarity in the body. People seek sound therapy for relief from things like anxiety and depression to chronic pain management and digestive issues. Sound therapy settings and practitioners can vary. Sometimes, doctors employ high-intensity ultrasound waves to kill certain kinds of cancer cells. Some healers use tuning forks, crystal bowls or Tibetan singing bowls. Breedlove, however, uses her own voice to speak harmony into a client’s body of cells. Using the metaphors of the garden, Breedlove notes the way our words can function as seeds planted into each other’s bodies and provide opportunities to release trauma and grief, and sprout new life.

Intimately aware of the ways trauma can leave us “stuck,” Breedlove described her rst remembered experience grappling with the pain of abandonment.

“When I was 6, the most painful thing happened. My mother

Sound is as old as us…it predates the written word. Etchings on cave walls show folks with instruments and their mouths open. They’re clearly singing or sounding.

left my father and left my family. She left me quite literally on a doorstep in Brooklyn. There’s a part of me that stayed on that doorstep waiting for her to return. It becomes a kind of metaphor for what happens in your life. We return to the places of trauma.”

“But, I also went to that doorstep and got that baby girl o that doorstep,” Breedlove declared.

Guided by a presence Breedlove calls Grace, she learned in meditation a modality of returning to moments of harm, and singing her own name to call love

mothers gathered in another room, to sing, moan and wail. Fascinated, Breedlove remembers sneaking away from choir and feeling the “sing-wail comfort” of the sound of their cries, the feel of hands at the back of her neck, the laying on of hands. It was an opportunity to move grief, a weekly ritual that sustained the women who mourned the systemic harm in icted upon the community. Afterward, “there would always be laughter and food,” Breedlove recalled, “there was a lightness. There was laughter, joy and song.”

During the height of the pandemic’s shelter-in-place mandates, as isolation, loss, and grief cast a large shadow, Breedlove found herself dancing and singing at the top of her lungs in her kitchen. Joined by millions of others, Club Quarantine, hosted by DJ D-Nice via Instagram Live sessions, gave Breedlove the opportunity to gather safely and move through grief in community once again.

“I do that anyway for my healing, but to do it in community was a balm to my spirit,” Breedlove said.

forward. Singing her own name had the e ect of grounding her in the present moment of caring for herself as an adult. “This ritual and practice that I deepened and perfected over the years,” she said, “is the absolute center of what I do in circle work now.”

The sound circle of healing

Breedlove attended her rst sound circle at 9 years old, though she wouldn’t have called it a “sound circle” at the time. It was simply what happened on a weeknight in church while the children had choir practice, and the church

In collaboration with the Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom in Georgia, Breedlove created her own community gathering space, Our Freedom Sanctuary. This virtual sound healing room will center Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) folk, but welcomes allies, inviting all participants into the medicine of using their own voices in service of liberation.

Breedlove is also excited to announce her forthcoming book, Sound is our Saving Grace, which is slated to hit bookshelves in the Fall of 2023.

Growing with Kemetic Yoga: New Focus on an Ancient Practice

By Stephanie Evans, Ph.D.

Yoga is all the rage. The ancient Hindu philosophy and practice is over 5000 years old and going strong. Many associate yoga with South Asian culture and, in Western culture, with well-o white women, but African Americans have a long history of using yoga as a tool for physical and mental wellness in the United States and abroad. In fact, African Americans are central to the cultural shift that took place in the 1970s, that resulted in the founding of the yoga magazine, Yoga Journal, which was established and considered the de nitive repository of American yoga practice and culture.

African Americans have been practicing yoga for decades. Our role in helping to make yoga a part of mainstream American wellness practices was evident in the 1970s, when community yoga events took place all over the country, including Detroit, Michigan, where civil rights icon Rosa Parks practiced. Coast to coast, yoga was practiced in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC, where yoga classes were o ered at Howard University. During this time period, there was not only a deep dive into honoring Indian and Southeast Asian traditions in America, but there was a commitment to uncovering and honoring African traditions of yoga. This movement is where the origins of what is now known as Kemetic yoga begins.

The founding of Kemetic yoga developed in a community that included Asar Hapi and Lawrence Yirser (now known as Yirser Ra Hotep) in 1970s Chicago. The Kemetic yoga method was founded to connect Africans in the diaspora holistically. Originally from Chicago, Yirser studied with several African-centered scholars, including historian Jacob Carruthers, and was in uenced by participating in anti-apartheid protests and attending lectures featuring renowned writer

and historian Yosef Ben-Jochannan, writer and celebrated author Alex Haley, and iconic comedian and activist Dick Gregory. The quest for liberation in the wake of the Black Power and Black Arts Movement included health and wellness through yoga to expand the cultural understanding of ancient healing traditions.

Ancient pyramids were studied, and the poses found in the hieroglyphics were used to develop Kemetic yoga practices. Many of the poses pre-date those used in the traditional South Asian system of poses and include poses that are now called The Wheel (a backbend), and The Lotus or Bended Knee, originally named Sesh One and Sesh Three. Students learned to recognize the Kemetic poses and methods and to give the African-centered practice the same respect and cultural weight of traditional yoga practices. Yirser Ra Hotep, who has been celebrated for his development of Kemetic yoga, identi es Kemetic origins by locating poses like The Wheel and Shu (God of Breath) in pyramids and temples, making the link between meditation and yoga even more concrete. Scholars like Nwando Achebe, Maulana Karenga and Greg Carr have traced cultural practices like yoga, meditation, prayer, sun salutations

and spirituality to ancient Africa.

Connections have also been made between India and Africa, including references to Ethiopia, Kush (Sudan), and Somalia. Serious acknowledgment of Asian philosophies and developments are essential because of the distinct contributions of Indian, Chinese and Japanese evolutions of mindfulness, but this particular practice centers Africa and is based on diasporic culture and history.

Kemetic-based yoga and meditation systems can contribute to an understanding of holistic health practices and why they are especially relevant in African American communities. Yoga practice in Black communities has tripled in the last decade. There is a growing number of Blackowned yoga studios and organizations in the United States. Among these, Black Yoga Teachers Alliance and International Association of Black Yoga Teachers are central networks.

As early as 2014, Crystal Whaley published a list in Ebony magazine featuring 37 U.S.-based studios, along with one in Grenada and two in Jamaica. By 2020, Black-owned studios were found in Rhode Island, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Chicago, North Carolina, Atlanta, and California, (four in North-

ern California and ve in Southern).

Over three-quarters of Black-owned yoga studios are owned by women.

Since the pandemic, dozens of new instructors have made their classes available online. The expansion of studios also o ers an encouraging opportunity to experience the pursuit of community self-care in person. In a full circle moment, Yirser opened a new studio in Chicago in January 2022, bringing back to the community a center where the origins of Kemetic yoga began.

With the stress of being Black in America, Kemetic yoga o ers African Americans a holistic solution to nding peace and wellness through an African-inspired yoga practice.

Stephanie Y. Evans is Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University. She is author of several books including Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace.

For more on the history of Kemetic yoga, visit: kemeticyoga.com/ history-of-kemetic-yoga. Yirser Ra Hotep Lawrence, YogaSkills Kemetic Yoga Teacher Training Manual (Chicago: Yoga Skills, 2001)

Stock Photo

The Dreamer

Beatrice Dixon

Founder, of The Honey Pot Company is...

THE HONEY POT COMPANY founder

Beatrice Dixon is a serial entrepreneur who has worked in varying industries like pharmacy and cleaning services. Her reason for starting a plant-based, cruelty-free feminine health-care brand that has been clinically tested and gynecologist is equal parts personal and professional.

“The mother of invention is necessity,” Dixon said.

After a year-long battle with bacterial vaginosis, Dixon had tried looking for answers in forums and chat rooms, and relief in home remedies. What she realized is, no one had a reliable and consistent solution. Dixon’s permanent x came to her in a dream one night in late 2011.

“In the dream, my grandmother handed me a piece of paper that had a list of ingredients on it,” Dixon said. “And, she basically told me that this is what would solve my problem. In the dream, she made me kind of repeat those ingredients over and over again.” Dixon woke from her dream still repeating the list of natural ingredients from her grandmother. With the list, she made her rst cleanser, which completely treated her bacterial vaginosis in a few days.

Once she realized the product worked, Dixon was determined to share it with others. “I think what I realized was that part of why I was having

The

Honey Pot which

is the rst plant-derived feminine care system on the market free from parabens, carcinogens, and sulfates, landed

placements in Target stores.

such issues was because of what I was using on a daily basis, and that’s what was throwing o my pH,” Dixon said. “Nobody had ever told me that and nor did they know, right, my mother didn’t know about clean, feminine care, you know what I mean? So that’s what led me to do it because I wanted to be able to provide solutions for humans who have vaginas, real solutions that actually work that are proactive.”

Dreamer

One of her co-founders, Dixon’s brother, gave

her a credit card to allow her to buy ingredients to make batches of cleansers. Dixon would make the product to give it away, to see if it truly worked. After about a year and a half of making cleansers and giving them away, the women in her community began to insist on paying for the product instead of receiving it for free.

That was the beginning of The Honey Pot company.

Business began to kick o for Dixon when she decided to take $20,000 and invest that in bottles, labels and ingredients to make around 600 bottles of cleanser and take them to the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta.

“It’s crazy, because we sold all 600 bottles,” Dixon said. “We sold out and that told us that we had something and then we just kept pushing, you know, we kept doing more shows. So we were doing all the hair shows that were coming to Atlanta, we were doing festivals, we were doing women’s expos- any opportunity that we got to get in front of thousands of people.’

What once started out as a product that was given away for no cost is now an expanding brand of feminine health products that are available in major retailers such as Walmart, Target and CVS. Dixon sees her experience with The Honey Pot Company as “beautiful,” and plans to continue its growth as a brand.

“My goal I’ve had every year [is to] produce new innovation,” Dixon said. “So my innovation spans between maybe eight to 15 products every year. And so, I just continue to see us growing that way.”

First Wives Club creator and Girls Trip co-writer Tracy Oliver didn’t know she and her team would put a spotlight on broids in her latest series Harlem on Amazon Prime Video. For a series starring Meagan Good as the center of a tight group of longtime girlfriends that also includes Empire’s Grace Byers, Jerrie Johnson, and Shoniqua Shandai as they all navigate life, love, and career in the storied New York City haven, broids is not the natural go-to. Instead, that change, Oliver told the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Virtual Roundtable, happened “organically.”

“One of the Black women writers in the room was dealing with ( broids) and that kind of sparked a very honest, vulnerable discussion of all of the stu that we (as Black women) had been silently dealing with,” Oliver explained. To bring awareness to the very real health challenge broids present, Oliver and her team incorporated it into the storyline for Tye. As

Fibroids: Elevating The Issue Through Television

Harlem Creator Tracy Oliver and Star Jerrie Johnson on Raising Awareness Around Black Women and Fibroids

By Ronda Racha Penrice

founder/CEO of her own tech company, where her dating app is the main push, Tye de nitely ts the “strong Black woman” archetype prone to su er in silence.

Uterine broids, or leiomyomas, as they are medically known, are non-cancerous tumors or growths made of brous tissue like muscle that grow in and around a woman’s uterus. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that 20-25% of reproductive age women have broids. Black women are hit especially hard, with up to 80% experiencing some form of them by age 50. Prompted by the lack of awareness and urgency dedicated to the common chronic disease, then Senator Kamala Harris o ered potential help by introducing the Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act of 2020. In the bill, Harris proposed $30 million in annual funding to the National Institutes of Health to expand broid research. It also called for money for a public educa-

A still from the Net ix show. Courtesy Photo

tion campaign as well as to the Centers for Medicare and Medical Services to boost up information about broids in the chronic conditions database.

Heavy bleeding during periods and beyond is a common symptom. Many women also experience growths resembling a pregnancy. Infertility or di culty conceiving are also often the result of broids. On the December 7, 2021 episode of the Tamron Hall Show, rapper/actor Eve shared her journey with broids and her resulting infertility. That struggle, she revealed, was the main reason she was then stepping away from her new ABC series Queens. Cynthia Bailey and Kandi Burruss are also sufferers who have each shared their struggles on their hit reality show Real Housewives of Atlanta. Burruss even cited her challenges with broids as the prompt for choosing surrogacy to expand her family.

Even though awareness of Black women and broids is building, it is rarely incorporated into scripted drama storylines. And, as a masculine-presenting queer woman, Tye helps to underscore how pervasive broids are among all Black women. Towards the end of Harlem’s rst season, the driven tech founder nds herself in the hospital where her longtime friends surprisingly learn she has broids. Raising awareness of broids is a storyline that hit home for Jerrie Johnson who plays Tye.

“I have an aunt who has broids who struggles to

this day,” she shared. Plus, as someone who studied African American Studies, Johnson also can’t help but think about the role white supremacy has played in controlling Black women’s bodies, especially as erroneous information is continually dispensed and hysterectomies removing the reproductive system are routinely pushed.

“Imagine having di erent people exploring your body telling you, ‘Oh, no, that doctor was wrong. We're going to do this.’ But the doctor already took this out of my body. So now you're gonna do this? So, you’re continuing to get second opinions from the same kinds of people who don't care about the longevity of Black womanhood in America to begin with,” she beckoned, reminding all that gynecology as a practice in this country came as a result of frequently nonconsensual experimentation on Black women’s bodies.

“I wanted to highlight ( broids) because it's an actual issue that a ects Black women. And a lot of times, when Black women go to doctors to get diagnosed or get help for it, they're either misdiagnosed or sent away or dismissed in a way that other women are not,” Oliver explained.

As we have seen in other areas, representation, indeed, does matter. So, with Tye’s broids storyline on Harlem, Oliver is making a statement that Black women’s health is also important in ensuring that Black women are seen.

Samuel L. Jackson Takes on Dementia

and

Alzheimer’s in His Apple TV+ Limited Series

‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’

By Ronda Racha Penrice

For Samuel L. Jackson, his Apple TV+ limited series “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” is very personal. Adapted from Walter Mosley’s 2010 book of the same title, the series centers 91-year-old Ptolemy Grey who su ers from dementia. Generally written o by his family, save for his nephew Reggie, played by Omar Benson Miller, Ptolemy is largely a hermit who lives in squalor. When Reggie stops coming by, Robyn, the teenage daughter of his niece’s friend, who has passed away, and needs a place to stay, steps in and up, cleaning Ptolemy’s apartment and becoming his caretaker.

The focus on dementia and Alzheimer’s is something that hits home for Jackson. “I’m from a family where I felt like I was surrounded by Alzheimer’s. My grandfather, my uncle, my aunt, my mom, there are people on my father’s side who have Alzheimer’s, and I watched them change, deteriorate, and become di erent people over the years,” he shared with journalists during the 2022 Television Critics Association tour.

According to the Alzheimer's Association’s annual report, Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, from 2021, “one in nine people age 65 and older (11.3%) has Alzheimer's dementia,” accounting

for 6 million Americans and “older Black Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer's or other dementias as older whites.”

So, Jackson is helping to raise awareness by putting a Black face to the disease. Still, for Jackson, it’s just personal. “Being able to tell their story or listening to them and understanding that things in their past are more their present than what’s going on in their everyday life and understanding how to convey that to people” is more the motivator than representation.

With “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” Jackson also wanted to ensure that those who love folks struggling with dementia and Alzheimer’s, as well as the caregivers and the su erers themselves, felt seen. “Giving an audience an opportunity to know that they aren’t the only people who watch their loved ones deteriorate that way, who need an outlet to look at someone else dealing with those particular things, and having a young person like Robyn, played by Dominique (Fishback), to come in and access this person and to look at that person like they were worthwhile, that the memories that they have aren’t a place that they should abandon. That it’s OK to

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Courtesy Photo

The Health Bene ts of Boxing

By Max-El

When it comes to choosing a method to ght the dreaded “Quarantine Fifteen” – that unwanted, unloved and unnecessary extra weight many of us acquired while locked down and hiding from COVID-19 – there are several contenders for the title of “most effective.” There’s Cross t, Peloton, Tonal, Echelon, NordicTrack and a host of tness centers and chains.

While the options for getting in shape are numerous, few, if any, can match the unique mixture of gains enjoyed by those who choose good, old-fashioned boxing training as their method.

“It’s a comprehensive workout – you have to engage

your physical, your mental as well as your spiritual,” explains Rahman Ali, founder of AFighter4Life Boxing & Fitness, former amateur boxer and longtime trainer. “Boxing training helps strengthen all these things.”

While many of the physical bene ts of boxing training are apparent by simply looking at someone who’s been at it for a while – lean, chiseled biceps, tight abs and rm calves are often dead giveaways – others aren’t as outwardly sexy but are absolutely practical, like the improved hand-eye coordination and hand speed, in addition to increased stamina and endurance you’ll enjoy.

Then there are the bene ts to your cardiovascular health, which can literally keep you alive. According to the

Photo by Max-El

Department of Health and Human Services’ O ce of Minority Health, Black people are 30% more likely to die from heart disease than white people, and one of the leading causes of heart disease is obesity. Boxing is an aerobic exercise that gets your heart and lungs pumping while also burning calories and fat, so you’re getting gains and positive losses at the same time.

All this while also learning how to put somebody to sleep with a perfect one-two punch.

Speaking of sleep – that’s another thing boxing can help improve. It can even help you think more clearly, and that’s only the beginning of the mental bene ts.

“It makes your melatonin kick in more e ectively, so you sleep better,” says medical professional Dawn Wells, 50, about the hormone the body produces that controls the sleep cycle. Dawn has been supplementing her strength training with boxing for about a year. “[Boxing] also releases endorphins and serotonin into your body, which sharpens your thinking. Boxing has even been proven to help people with Parkinson’s (disease)!”

Yes, boxing training has been proven to have such a strong mental impact that it’s been incorporated into some physical therapy programs for patients with Parkinson’s disease. Specialists at the Emory School of Medicine discovered that non-contact boxing training

can alleviate motor symptoms associated with the disease and help improve balance and concentration.

When you consider the amount of focus required to succeed in boxing, even in boxing training, the fact that it can literally make your brain stronger shouldn’t be surprising.

But what’s even deeper than its mental bene ts is the aforementioned spiritual engagement and personal enhancement that result from boxing training, both of which can begin before you even throw a punch.

“When you pick ghting as a means of tness, there’s a lot that goes into it. A lotta times people are coming to feel good. A lotta times there's pain,” Rahman explains. “Sometimes there’s a pain you’re trying to heal yourself from and ghting is the outlet you’re using to get it o of you.”

So-called “sweat therapy,” or using exercise as a means of stress relief, isn’t a new con-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

have that, that it’s OK to remember. It’s OK to live in a place, and that you are still a worthwhile individual even though a lot of people discard you.”

Alzheimer’s and dementia have become more common, with a projection that 12.7 million Americans, more than double the number now, will su er with the disease by 2050. It has also become more deadly. According to the report, “between 2000 and 2019, the number of deaths from Alzheimer's disease as recorded on death certificates has more than doubled, increasing 145.2%, while the number of deaths from the number one cause of death (heart disease) decreased 7.3%.” On top of that, “among people age 70, 61% of those with Alzheimer's dementia are expected to die before the age of 80 compared with 30% of people without Alzheimer's — a rate twice as high.”

cept, but boxing training has other transformative e ects as well. It’ll boost your con dence as you see gains in your skills and your physique; getting up and going to the gym even when you don't want to will strengthen your discipline and resolve; and, frankly, getting your butt kicked – literally or just by the workout – will humble even the most alpha person you know.

“Everybody thinks they can ght until they have to do it technically; then, you really gure out how wrong your technique is,” laughs Jason Upson, who’s been training with boxing for more than a decade. “Doing this is very humbling. It’ll teach you patience that'll transcend boxing as a sport or hobby.”

In sum, boxing just makes you better.

“It gives you the strength to ght those a ictions that are holding you back,” Rahman adds. “If you ask me, boxing is number one for self-improvement.”

When asked how he copes with aging, Jackson, who is 73, replied “exercise, diet, understanding how to take care of yourself. I nally — once I sobered up (alluding to his past challenges with addiction), I discovered the value of sleep. I used to sleep like three hours a night. But sleep is so valuable, and I treasure it now. And people say I’m blessed because I can sit down and just go to sleep and wake up in 15 minutes and do something.”

“Reading, making sure that I keep my mind active, giving myself an opportunity to exercise my mental capacity the same way people will exercise their bodies ... There are a lot of di erent things. And, fortunately, I made enough money,” he laughed, “to get people to massage me and I discovered acupuncture, all these things that hopefully will keep me vital for at least another 20 years.”

A lot of these strategies also come highly recommended from the National Institute on Aging. Ultimately, Jackson believes “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” is “an honest and, hopefully, endearing assessment of the deterioration of life that a lot of us face, feel in a personal way with someone who’s in our family or maybe people who feel themselves slipping and need to see and nd a way to pull themselves back.”

“The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” is streaming on Apple TV+ now.

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Your Backyard Pharmacy: A Walk Toward Healing with Lucretia VanDyke

Never a spring came that we didn’t have our wild greens, they were part of our regular diet. Our medicines before we learned how to make so many arti cial products came from plants largely.

By Josina Guess

—George Washington Carver, 1940

Where do you get your vitamin C? I usually reach into my cabinet for a plastic bottle, pour a glass of orange juice or slice some lemons. One February morning, recalling a walk I took with Lucretia Van Dyke, an herbal practitioner working, I went outside to gather a sprig of pine needles from beneath a giant tree in my backyard. I placed the green needles in one of my nana’s old stainless steel cooking pots and then doused them in boiling water. I breathed in the steamy smell of warm winter memories and memories from before I can remember.

Van Dyke is among a small but growing community of people

teaching us to learn and grow more comfortable practicing these old ways, to know that healing is within reach. Pine is a good place to start, especially for folks living in the southeastern U.S. surrounded by an easy abundance of pine. “So many people burn sage, but cedar and pine are our medicine.” Van Dyke says. Pine needle tea is high in Vitamin C and beta carotene. The sap contains natural antibiotics and can be made into topical salves. The rising popularity in herbalism has led people to white sage, which is now becoming threatened by overharvesting. Van Dyke is hoping more people will realize the abundant diversity of healing plants in our own backyards.

A modern medicine woman

We met for a winter walk in an Atlanta suburb nibbling on fragrant leaves as we went. Where most people see weeds, twigs, and stubble, Van Dyke sees old friends. She knows the dry brown stalks and crackling seed heads and greets them by name. “She’s already gone

to seed,” VanDyke tells me as she rubs the fuzzy goldenrod between her fingers. “She kind of gets a bad rap sometimes,”she said. Many people blame their sneezes on goldenrod flowers, but the blossoms are actually good for allergies, she explains, and can be steeped into a lovely tea with nettles or added to herbal cough syrups. “In August, she gets beautiful.”

Although winter isn’t the best time for harvesting leaves and blossoms, it is good for gathering barks like pine and walnut, roots like dandelion and burdock, and even some berries like bright purple beautyberries. The gray stillness teaches us about the times when we don’t see a lot of outside growth. “We don’t realize that medicine is still happening,” Van Dyke observes about dormant seasons in our lives, “magic is still happening.”

Drawing on wisdom from her rural North Carolina childhood, world travels and instruction from past and present healers and herbal practitioners, VanDyke has carved out a career as a modern medicine woman. VanDyke spent time immersed in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean learning herbal medicine and healing foods. But when she came back home, the plants she had learned about weren’t readily available. She had a spiritual calling to come closer to the land that formed her and learn the plants of her own southeastern U.S. landscape. “I had to be surrounded by the plants to write about the plants.”

As a woman who “loves to geek out on plants,” VanDyke is channeling this knowledge into her forthcoming book “African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions” (May 2022 Ulysses Press). Although books, workshops and guides to herbalism abound, there are still too few that center the stories, wisdom and experiences of people of the African diaspora. She is excited to teach about past and present midwives, root doctors and medicine women for the healing and liberation of individuals and communities.

I had to be surrounded by the plants to write about the plants.

Spiritual healing

“Okra is such a deeply spiritual plant,” VanDyke explains. She began using okra in spiritual baths when Luisah Teish,Yoruba priestess and author of “Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals,” asked her how she learned the spiritual value of okra. Teish uses the term “she who whispers” to define that internal knowledge that comes from our ancestors and that is how VanDyke explained how she knew of okra’s deep value. Usually enjoyed fried or in gumbo, a simple okra water can be made from boiling the pods, (our grandmothers knew the value of pot liquor). The musculogenic nature of okra, Van Dyke says, is good for coating the insides and good for gastrointestinal issues. It's also good, she points out, for women as we age and everything starts to get dry.

VanDyke leans over to point out two varieties of plantain, broadleaf and narrowleaf. Not to be mistaken for banana-like plantain, this low-growing plant has multiple uses. The leaves can be chewed and applied directly to soothe insect bites and stings. Ground plantain seeds are a natural laxative and a common source of psyllium, the main ingredient in Metamucil.

Mimosa, the fast-growing tree with feathery pink blossoms, is good for grief. In parts of Asia, they call it the tree of happiness. “Mimosa helps pull up that deep seated grief that’s in the body, and gives it a place to kind of move. It doesn’t take it away, of course, but I use it a lot in grief medicine. Shave the bark down with a potato peeler and tincture that.” She finishes off the grief elixir with a few blossoms. “Flower essences,” she explains, “heal the energetic body, and plants help heal the physical body.”

When they are in full bloom, mimosa trees are easy to spot among the pines. They stand out, all flashy and pink. “Mimosa is good for people who have a problem standing in their greatness,” Vandyke said. And she likes that about them.

As she spoke about the plants in a way that sounds like family, it was clear that this work also connects her to the spirit world and a vibrant community of people. She met Sobonfu Somé, a spiritual teacher from Burkina Faso who became an ancestor in 2017. “She taught me a lot about love and embracing your gifts,” Van Dyke says even now, in her dreams she is still learning from Somé who especially influenced her work in community healing and grief rituals.

The poison and the antidote

In a season of life that has been marked with enormous individual and collective grief, VanDyke is happy to share the healing power of plants. I sipped my pine needle tea and gave her a call to follow up with a few questions. She was busily preparing and mailing out ingredients for spiritual baths for a community grief circle and packing up for an extended time in Haiti.

On our walk she mentioned a useful secret: the antidote often grows within 6 feet of the poison. My mother taught me that jewelweed grows alongside poison ivy and a few rubs of crushed jewel weed can help prevent a rash. In a world full of dangers and toxins, it’s good to know we can find some remedies. As with most of the things we talked about, this wisdom and practice is about more than just plants.

If you are just getting started, an easy place to begin is the garden or the grocery store. Holy basil, rosemary, roses, lemon balm, okra and mint all have healing properties. If you are foraging, be sure to gather in places that are not sprayed with insecticides or herbicides and work on building a community where you can learn from other foragers, and honor the plants and the place. Avoid gathering plants along the side of the road as oils and toxic runoff can accumulate on roadside plants. National and state parks have strict laws against gathering even a stone. “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” by Leah Penniman has a useful chapter on plant medicine including an incomplete list of Black and Indigenous herbalists. You can follow VanDyke and the teachers and healers in black mystery school to find out about classes and workshops.

This information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered as a recommendation or an endorsement of any particular medical or health treatment. Please consult your healthcare provider before using particular herbs, especially if you are taking prescription medications, pregnant or nursing.

Black-ish Actress Jenifer Lewis Partners with TheTruthCheck.org to Tackle Covid-19 Social Media Misinformation

by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D.

Celebrated actress and activist Jenifer Lewis is taking on Covid-19 misinformation by partnering with The Center for Black Health & Equity (The Center) to launch TheTruthCheck. org, an online training resource to provide African Americans with social media literacy and fact-checking skills to avoid the in uence of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

As part of TruthCheck’s launch, Jenifer Lewis, the star of ABC’s sitcom “Black-ish,” has joined the TruthCheck campaign to encourage the African American community to check the facts when it comes to health decisions.

“I believe it is critical to collectively lend our voices to share the truth about COVID-19 and vaccines to empower our people to make sound, informed decisions about what is best to save lives,” said Lewis. “We should all be social media savvy and give it the side eye before we believe it and share it.”

Delmonte Je erson, executive director for The Center agrees. “As Omicron and other variants continue the spread of COVID-19, we are nding that the main sources African Americans rely on for information about the vaccines are also the sources not trusted, with social media being the main culprit,” said Je erson. “Yet, people repeat what they hear from social media without checking for accuracy rst. This practice of receiving and sharing misinformation ampli es health disparities and harms the Black community. Truth Check aims to correct this conta-

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

gious spread of inaccurate and false narratives,” adds Je erson.

The coronavirus and vaccines have been dogged by persistent misinformation on everything from the use of masks, the effects of vaccines and even the types of people who can contract Covid-19. The fact is nearly 900,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 and Indigenous and African-American populations make up the majority of those who have succumbed to the disease. According to Scienti c-American, “In the United States, misinformation spread by elements of the media, by public leaders and by individuals with large social media platforms has contributed to a disproportionately large share of COVID-19 burden.”

Misinformation and disinformation, which is the intentional spread of misinformation to deceive targeted populations, is not new to science, technology, health or the Covid-19 pandemic. However the volume of disinformation spread on social media about the coronavirus and vaccines poses a serious risk to public health.

The Center and Jenifer Lewis, who has a long history of advocacy around issues of social justice, have joined forces to stymie the ow of disinformation with TheTruthCheck.org. Truth Check has been funded by the CDC Foundation to support The Center and e ective community outreach initiatives centered on communities of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) to share accurate, culturally appropriate information about the COVID-19 and in uenza vaccines and to link adults to vaccine services. Lewis, who is known for having a strong social media presence says, “It’s a matter of life and

death. Misinformation about Covid-19 is killing our people and we must do something about it.”

About The Center for Black Health & Equity

The Center for Black Health & Equity (formerly NAATPN, Inc.) is a national nonpro t organiza-

tion that facilitates public health programs and services that bene t communities and people of African descent.

This article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., editor of HealthPlus. She is also founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton

Wire, an award-winning news website covering news of the African Diaspora. Dr. Burton serves as subject matter expert for TheTruthCheck.org campaign. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.

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Stretch and Now Breathe: South Florida Poet Tif

Boom Teaches Inner City Kids the Joys of Meditation

By Clayton Gutzmore

Mindfulness and meditation are activities that can bring people from unrest to calm. A routine of mindfulness and meditation can combat severe issues like anxiety and depression. Ti any Lusan, also known as Tif Boom, has used these activities to break through her issues.

Now she is teaching others to do the same. This year she plans to teach the masses the art of being still and grateful. “Mindfulness and meditation came out of necessity for me. I can see it in other people when it’s necessary. I am a person who struggles and I want to use my struggles to help others,” the poet, author and mindfulness coach said..

Lusan delved into mindfulness and meditation in 2019. At rst, it was a tool she used to relieve the depression she was battling. When she practiced daily, she felt the di erence. This sent Lusan on a journey of self-care and understanding.

Lusan studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Center of Mindfulness. Her techniques involve body stretches, words of a rmation and deep breathing. She implements sounds of the ocean in the background. Lusan also uses a sound bowl to guide others through meditation.

When thoughts arrive during her sessions, she lets them go. If the thought stays and keeps her from being present, she addresses the thought when the session is over. “Mindfulness and meditation are the art of being present and embracing each moment. This exercise has helped me through grief, helped me with focus, and it’s helping me reach self-mastery,” said Lusan.

Before the exploration and commitment to mindfulness, Lusan worked in the music industry doing public relations. She worked on several projects for radio stations in Miami and was a radio personality for a station in Georgia. She earned many wins in that eld but realized it wasn't what she wanted to do forever. “I got so sick of in uencing people to unproductivity. Exaggerated headlines about people’s failures would be clickbait because people love negative news. Talking about celebrity gossip was not fullling to me,” said Lusan.

When mindfulness and meditation became a habit for Lusan, she shared this gift with the high school students she mentors. Lusan is a mentor of Guitar Over Guns, a nonpro t organization that exposes youth from vulnerable communities to music education and mentorship. She works after school with students from Carol City High school in Miami Gardens, Florida. “We teach kids English, math and other subjects they may not use. I want to teach them a life skill that can follow them into adulthood,” said Lusan. More opportunities to teach these skills became available to her. In June 2021, Lusan joined College Impact as a mindfulness coach. College Impact is an after-school program that prepares ninth through 12th-grade students for life after high school.

Lusan’s decision to join College Impact was good timing as the students needed help to adapt to life during the pandemic. “There is no real playbook to deal with the pandemic. Some of these students lost friends, teachers and parents. They don’t have a mechanism in place to cope,” said Adly Norelus, program director of College Impact. “Since Ti any (Lusan) joined the team, I have seen a lot more con dence and patience in the students. These kids came into the program with a tremendous amount of trauma. With Ti any’s help, I've seen them handle life better,” said Norelus.

What's next for Lusan is reaching more people with mindfulness and meditation. The mindfulness coach already has a strong social media following but plans on casting a larger net. In 2022, Lusan is committing to teaching 50,000 people how to meditate. “I wanted it to be something big. Even if I don't reach it, who I become in pursuit of that goal, there is no way I lose,” said Lusan.

Lusan is committed to keeping track of the number of people she helps through meditation.

As of this writing, Lusan has taught 1,117 people. She conducts Zoom sessions and counts the participants. Lusan also considers the number of views and shares her content receives on Instagram. At the beginning of the year, Lusan organized a seven-day meditation challenge. From that endeavor, she taught 200 people. “Since the seven-day exercise we did with Ti (Lusan), my daughter meditates daily now. Before this, she was not doing it,” Participant and Entrepreneur Lyndon Gray said..

Lusan wants to bring people into the world of mindfulness and meditation. Fully aware of what this exercise has done for her, she desires for more individuals to experience a life-changing activity. “Mindfulness and mediation is experimental learning. There are several ways to meditate or practice mindfulness. I am just introducing ways for people to do it,” she said.

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