Ayo Handy-Kendi

Experience “Juneteenth Freedom Sagas,” a one-woman, in-person, story-performance and “breath-shop,” which re-enacts the ending of enslavement and liberation for American Blacks, during D.C.’s Emancipation Day, April 16, 1862, and Juneteenth 1865, but also brings awareness to modern-day injustices.

The “story sagas” are intended for racial and diversity healing, but are presented through the lens of enslaved men, women, and those who held them in bondage, woven together by Negro Spirituals, with audience participation. The program was created by Ayo Handy-Kendi, internationally known as the “Breath Sekou and Storyteller.” Her performances have delighted and uplifted countless lives for over 30 years.

Added this year to the “saga” performances, the audience is asked to explore their feelings in a compassionate technique, which Handy-Kendi calls “silencing.” This method is a contemplative, inner dialogue in which you meditate briefly on your feelings, honor them by writing them down, and on a sub-conscious cellular level, breathe through them for deep release and effective reconciliation of present-day and inter-generational emotional trauma.

Ayo Handy-Kendi serves as the “Breath Sekou,” a master teacher who has studied the breath, holistic health, personal and mental development, and counseling since 1971. She specializes in breathology/breathwork for daily solutions and transformative practices that impact trauma, stress, wellness, mental health, and self-love for people of color. She has “breathed” with millions on radio, tv, print, over the internet , in private practice, and on stage offering the life-changing tools of effective breathing. She is a steadfast advocate for the need for “PositivEnergy” to drive emotional resilience. She affirms that “when you breathe better, you live better, because as you change and transform your breath, your PositivEnergyWorks”.