Rashid Hughes

Rashid Hughes seeks to bridge the worlds of contemplative practice and collective care. He is a proud graduate of the Howard University Department of Music and the Howard University School of Divinity. Rashid is a certified Mindfulness Teacher, a certified Yoga Instructor, a Restorative Justice Facilitator, and currently in training to become a Fire Pujari. All of Rashid’s perspectives flow from the two wisdom traditions of contemplative and restorative practices.​

In 2019, Rashid co-founded the Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community, a community in Washington, DC that inspires Black, Indigneous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to live with love and courage in the face of systemic inequities and ongoing racial-violence. Out of his unwavering love for community care and healing,  Rashid facilitates weekly mindfulness sessions to support BIPOC in living with joy, while also understanding and resolving the impact of trauma on their bodies and lives.  Due to his interest in challenging the ideas and systems that uphold a culture of patriarchy today, he also facilitates mindfulness sessions for BIPOC masculine & male-identifying people who are particularly committed to addressing issues of masculinity and the culture of patriarchy.​

As a Restorative Justice Facilitator, Rashid holds the title of Restorative Justice Program Specialist at the non-profit SchoolTalk Inc. in Washington, DC. In that role, he collaborates with DC schools to create restorative spaces for youth to envision healing-centered approaches to school discipline, accountability, and community building.  When school classrooms went virtual in 2020, Rashid launched SchoolTalk’s Our School Our Voice initiative, a citywide collaboration between SchoolTalk and four schools in the District of Columbia. Our School Our Voice is student-designed, student-led, and rooted in Rashid’s vision of creating peer groups for students to engage with other students from different communities and elevate their voices.​

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