Ep #65: The Inner Work of Racial Justice with Rhonda V. Magee

Lisa is solo today and is joined by Rhonda V. Magee, author of
The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and
Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulnes. Rhonda V. Magee
(M.A. Sociology, J.D.) is a Professor of Law at the University of
San Francisco and an internationally-recognized thought and
practice leader focused on integrating mindfulness into higher
education, law and social change work. A prolific author, she
draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry,
analysis and practices into inspiration for changing how we
think, act and live better together in a rapidly changing world.


Born in North Carolina in 1967, Rhonda experienced a childhood of
significant trauma and challenge. Yet, she was gifted with the
insight that through a life of caring engagement,
self-development, and service with others, she could find a way
up and out. She has dedicated her life to healing and teaching in
ways that support others in a journey to wholeness and justice. A
student of a variety of Buddhist and other wisdom teachers,
including Norman Fischer, Joan Halifax and Jon Kabat Zinn, she
trained as a mindfulness teacher through the Oasis Teacher
Training Institute of the University of Massachusetts Center for
Mindfulness. She teaches mindfulness-based interventions,
awareness, and compassion practices from a range of traditions. A
former President of the board of the Center for Contemplative
Mind in Society, Professor Magee is a Fellow of the Mind and Life
Institute, where she recently completed a two-year term on its
steering council. She is a member of the board of advisors of the
University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness and the board
of directors for the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute.


A professor of Law for twenty years (tenured since 2004), Rhonda
teaches courses dealing civil actions for personal injury and
insurance recovery; courses dealing with race and inequality; and
a course she co-created on mindfulness and lawyering, Rhonda is
experienced in interpersonal dynamics-informed small group
facilitation (supported by training, retreats, and practice
through a variety of programs, including Stanford University’s
Interpersonal Dynamics Facilitator Program and Gregory Kramer’s
Insight Dialogue). Rhonda’s teaching and writing support
compassionate conflict engagement and management; holistic
problem-solving to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable and
injured; presence-based leadership in a diverse world, and
humanizing approaches to education. She sees embodied mindfulness
meditation and the allied disciplines of study and community
engagement as keys to personal, interpersonal, and collective
transformation in the face of the challenges and opportunities of
our time.


Rhonda has served as a guest teacher in a variety of mindfulness
teacher training programs, including those sponsored by the
Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (2017, 2018), led by Diana
Winston, the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, led by Fleet Maull
(2017, 2018), and the Center for Mindfulness (2017), led by Saki
Santorelli and Judson Brewer. She serves as daylong or retreat
co-leader and solo teacher at centers including Spirit Rock
Meditation Center, the Garrison Institute, the Shambhala Mountain
Center, the Omega Institute, Esalen and New York Insight
Meditation Center.


Rhonda is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on
mindfulness in legal education, and on teaching about race using
mindfulness, including “Educating Lawyers to Meditate?” 79
UMKC L. Rev. 535 (2011), “The Way of ColorInsight:
Understanding Race and Law Effectively Using Mindfulness-Based
ColorInsight Practices”, 8 Georgetown J. of Mod. Crit. Race
Perspectives 251 (2016), “Teaching Mindfulness with
Mindfulness of Diversity,” in McCown et al, Resources for
Teaching Mindfulness: An International Handbook (Springer, 2017),
and “Community Engaged Mindfulness