Greetings! My name is Mayam and my pronouns are they/them. I identify as a black queer agender plant lover and earth worker. I work with land, plants and animals for a living and see myself as deeply connected to my practice as it informs my positionality and spirit. What brings joy to my heart is tending to land and tending to community. Tending to community in movement and in stillness!
As a new member to the Yoga for POC Sangha, I am excited to be facilitating Tuesday’s Silent Hour Sit from 5:30-6:30. The act of sitting has personally done wonders for my spirit, how I navigate this world as a black queer person, and opened up my yearning for tranquility, ease and stillness in my everyday life.
As a farmer I deeply care about the connection between spirit to land to her occupants. If we are separate from any of these pieces there can be a profound emptiness and/or sadness. The act of sitting has brought me closer to myself and in return deepened my connection to land and to spirit. When one sits, observing one recognizes the simple interwovenness between sky, earth, human, water and everything around us. This is just one simple truth I observed by sitting and farming.
My hope is that with these sits, those involved develop their own truths and realizations. In return we can move towards generosity, a deepening love in our Sangha, and a deepening love and gratitude for ourselves.
As 4th generation farmer, Mayam has been involved in earth work since the age of 6. First tending to land with their grandmother, Mayam has farmed in various states across the United States. They continue the wisdom passed on by their ancestors in caring for and tending to land. Originally from Catawba Territory in North Carolina, they currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico after a fated car breakdown in the winter of 2018. They happily met their partner nova who also organizes Thursday Silent Hour Sits. Mayam hopes to one day own and operate a community farm for QTPOC in New Mexico as a space to grow, heal and find refuge.