Zee Clarke’s Empowering Wisdom on Healing, Trauma, and Finding Your Power
written by Stacey Lindsay
With the arrival of her stunning book Black People Breathe, an inclusive, beautifully written and illustrated guide to help the BIPOC community heal from racial trauma, Zee Clarke is establishing herself as one of the world's most fearless and healing voices. There is a power in her words, as there is a rare combination of conviction, warmth, and ease. But Zee, who holds a Harvard MBA, didn't first set out to be a breathwork healer and writer. As she shares on the page, her journey in healing draws on her two decades of facing racism and micro-aggressions as a Black woman working in corporate America. "I would be new at a job, and a complete stranger would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, are you the new diversity hire?" Zee says. "People would make comments that question my competence, questioning whether I am a worthy person to be there. I constantly felt like I had to prove myself."
This relentless violence and pressure caused Zee to burn out. "I started to actually take it seriously when my doctor said, 'Something has got to change around your stress levels.’” So, she took time off and traveled to India to find peace. Ultimately, she found herself and acquired a range of tools—a yoga practice, breathwork, meditation—to help her maintain her health and sovereignty when she eventually went back to work
What Zee has done since is moving forward a greater humanity. She leverages her "toolkit" of wellness practices to help Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and all People of Color find their breath, heal, and thrive at work and in life. "For me, it's about making a difference. I know that life is short. I've had so many friends die; people just keep dying younger and younger. And because of that, I want to make my time here worth it."
The following are four—of many—pieces of wisdom we pulled from our conversation with Zee.
On Leaving Corporate to Go Searching in India
"I needed to find some peace. I was clearly not okay. I had a team, the majority made up of White folks reporting to me, and they went to HR and said that I wasn't complimenting them enough. What White man receives that feedback? So, I was starting to question myself all the time. I was not okay. I was the opposite of grounded. I went to India because I wanted to learn tools to help me feel better. And while I had taken yoga before and went to meditation classes before, I usually had White instructors. I love everybody. I love all people. And I've had some amazing yoga teachers. But I always felt like something was lost in translation. I felt what was being taught was different. And when I got to India, that's what I found. I learned the original poses and also the philosophy."
On Bringing the Benefits of Practice into Her Everyday Life
"In the context of corporate America, we're all busy. I might go to a yoga class on Tuesday and Thursday morning, get that hour in, and then I'm like, go, go, go! And whatever happened in the yoga studio stayed in the yoga studio, and then the rest of my day was filled with stress. What was amazing about my experience in India was to go full throttle. To go all in. To live a lifestyle where I am fully prioritizing my own self-care for it to be a way of living versus an hour class. So when I got back from India, I realized all of the practices that I learned—the breathwork, the mindfulness—were much more powerful outside of the yoga studio and in the context of everyday life: I'm stuck in traffic, I'm in a meeting, and someone says something that really gets under my skin. It's in those moments where those breathing practices are much more effective. So, for me, it was that shift from going to a class for an hour to, Oh, I can incorporate all of these tools throughout my entire day, regardless of what I'm doing.”
On Using Her Toolkit to Face Microaggressions and Police Brutality
"I spent two years traveling, learning, and trying to help myself feel better. I'd never felt so good in my entire life. But the reality is finances are a thing we can't get away from. Everyone has bills. So, I got another corporate job. And it was there that I realized that microaggression still existed. Also, that coincided with the summer of 2020 and the George Floyd riots. I was attacked by riot police for playing the violin in a park to honor the life of a man named Elijah McClain, who was a 23-year-old black man violinist who was walking home unarmed from the store. It's obvious what happened to him. But a bunch of us violinists went to a park to honor his life. The police came with their tear gas and weapons. While sprinting away with my violin, I found myself using those tools I learned in India to calm myself down when I was under attack."
On Using Breathwork in the Hardest Situations
"I want to share the definition of mindfulness. There are many different definitions, but mine is: Focusing your attention on the present moment, right now, without judgment and with curiosity. People think that mindfulness is meditating at an ashram. Yes. And just the simple act of paying attention is mindfulness, too. So in those moments, when hard things happen, paying attention to notice, I am experiencing rage, I am experiencing fear, and just naming it can be so powerful. That's how: Just noticing is a practice. And by mindfulness, I mean paying attention and being able to say I'm experiencing whatever I'm experiencing.
On What She Hopes Her Book Offers Everyone
The tools that I share can be used by all people. People ask me, 'Well, I'm not black, can I read your book Black People Breathe? And I say yes because you'll get two big things out of it: You'll get an education. You'l; get a real-life glimpse into what it's like to be a Black person in America. And two, breathing tools. Everyone experiences challenging emotions, fear, anxiety, and exhaustion, and these tools can be just as powerful.
We pulled these tips from Nada’s original conversation with Zee and edited and condensed for clarity. To catch the full conversation, listen to the Liberty Road Podcast.
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