Justin Michael Williams is a distinguished author, speaker, and podcaster who frequently welcomes conversations across divides. His transformative journey has taken him from a childhood marked by the backdrop of gunshot holes outside his bedroom window to sharing the spotlight with renowned luminaries such as Marianne Williamson and Deepak Chopra. His recently published book, co-authored with Shelly Tygielski is called How We Ended Racism.” A Grammy-nominated recording artist, and inspirational speaker, Justin has garnered awards and recognition throughout his career. His extraordinary work has been featured by prestigious publications and platforms, including The Wall Street Journal, Grammy.com, Yoga Journal, Billboard.com, The Root, and SXSW®.

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Most Influential Person

Frank Fitzpatrick

Effect On Emotions

Mindfulness has allowed me to stretch my capacity and to allow the waves of emotions to roll through me without me getting thrashed around by those waves.
And that alone has saved me from making so many bad choices in my lows and bad choices in my highs to just be able to sit and run with it.

Thoughts On Breathing

Breathing is one of the first things that I do when I sit down to meditate. I just do a short breathing practice.
Whether people are doing breath work or whatever it is, I honestly just like taking a few big deep breaths before I practice. I know the science of it says it just helps regulate the nervous system.
For me, breathing is an essential part of, uh, as a healthy mindfulness practice..

Final Advice

Well, just love yourselves people. I think right now with everything going on in the world, the ability for us to love others, is really important.
And also the ability to really love ourselves and by loving ourselves we expand and open our hearts in deeper ways.
And I really believe it's through opening our hearts that we're going to start to solve some of the problems that we're seeing in the world right now.

Suggested Resources

Book: Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World by Shelly Tygielski
Book: Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You by Robert Augustus Masters Ph.D. and Lissa Rankin MD
Book: How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation By Justin Michael Williams & Shelly Tygielski
App: Insight Timer

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