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Our first and longest running program. For more than 16 years, our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats offered days of healing and renewal in a beautiful and peaceful natural setting -- in Oakland. Facilitated by Rev. Liza Rankow with music by Destiny Muhammad "Harpist from the Hood," the retreats included a labyrinth walk, guided visioning process, healing meditation, opportunities for community sharing, and times of deep silence. As with all our programs, we particularly sought to support the sustainability of activists, organizers, artists, caregivers, educators, justice-makers, and others working to lift up our communities. (When covid hit, we moved the retreats online... minus the labyrinth and potluck lunch.)

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Day of Healing & Renewal - July 30, 2016

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Destiny Muhammad "sculpted sound" to create the sonic climate for our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats. Her original inspirational songs were woven throughout the day.

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In 2011 Liza and Destiny recorded a CD of their healing meditations and Destiny's songs as a "take home" version of the retreat. Now in its 3rd printing, it is still available from Destiny here. You can also access their 26 minute guided meditation free at: https://soundcloud.com/onelifeinstitute/inner-oasis-guided-healing-meditation

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Healing Black Lives retreats provided a day of renewal specifically for people of the African diaspora. Launched in 2016 as OneLife's way of supporting the growing Movement for Black Lives, the retreat included:  Practices for sustainability, resilience, and spiritual well-being;  Mini-sessions with healing practitioners;  Community connection and support;  Finding strength in ourselves and one another;  Sharing hopes and visions.

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Our Healing Black Lives retreats were facilitated by OneLife board member and spiritual co-director, Rev. Kamal Hassan, and Xan West, who in 2019 became our ED. (Prior to Xan joining the team, then board member Leah Kimble-Price co-facilitated.) This video was made by board member CJ Spears (before she joined the board) and features music by Leo Mercer, a frequent participant in our retreats.

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OneLife was born out of the doctoral work of founder Liza J. Rankow. She didn't plan on starting a community organization, but from its inception OneLife had a life and momentum of its own! Programs would "announce themselves" with names and strategies: Spirit, Sound & Silence, Healing Black Lives, Transformative Visions, Sustaining the Soul of Activism... and more. Each of them embodied healing in community.

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OneLife board members have often served as our core program volunteers -- from set up to clean up, production and outreach, hosting and facilitation. We did it all. This is photo is from the art installation work day for Transformative Visions 2009 at Studio One.  (Pictured front to back: Valerie Brown, Terry Williams & Liza Rankow)

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OneLife ran on volunteer power! Every year we gathered with families and friends to thank and celebrate our wonderful volunteers. This photo is from the 2019 brunch.

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Every Healing Black Lives retreat included a "Healing Village" where participants could receive free mini-sessions with healing practitioners in massage, reiki, reflexology, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, and other modalities. This is the team from one retreat.

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We are delighted to count Alice Walker as part of our community. OneLife partnered with Alice on two events, each titled from one of her books:  "Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart" (2018), with South African musical duo Desert Rose, and "Hard Times Call for Furious Dancing" (2019) with the Orisha-infused World Beat Hip Hop music of WolfHawkJaguar and Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri and their band.

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Our favorite "Harpist from the Hood," Sister Destiny Muhammad, and her husband (and sound tech) Brother Cristwell Muhammad, have been part of OneLife since before the beginning. From original inspirational songs at our Consecration, to soothing meditation music at retreats, to all-star jazz bands at Transformative Visions, they have been the soundscape that defined us.

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In 2019 we hired our first paid executive director, Xan West. Well known and well-loved by the OneLife family, Xan had previously volunteered as part of the facilitation team for our Healing Black Lives retreats. This photo is from Xan's installation ceremony, as the board and community laid hands on her in blessing and prayer.

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OneLife's public launch was a community gathering on October 16, 2004. It served as both a Consecration Ceremony for the organization, and Rev. Liza's ordination. Here the founding board members receive blessing prayers from some of the participating clergy. (Front L-R: Mona Williams, Valerie Brown, Liza Rankow, Terry Williams; Back L-R: Revs. Njoroge Tho-Biaz, Elouise Oliver, Joan Steadman)

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Participating clergy in our 2004 Consecration Ceremony included (L-R) Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr., Dr. Liza Rankow, Rev. Elouise Oliver, Bro. Ishmael Tetteh (all the way from Accra Ghana), Rev. Njoroge Tho-Biaz, Dr. Dorsey Blake. (Not pictured: Rev. Deborah L. Johnson, Rev. Joan Steadman)

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OneLife was integrally involved in the community. One of our community partners was the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. This photo is the OneLife contingent fancied up for the EBC annual awards banquet in 2010. (L-R: Terry Williams, Haben Sebhatu, Cristwell Muhammad, Destiny Muhammad, Liza Rankow, Jeannine Etter, Emmanuelle Regis.)

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Robert Quintana Hopkins was a core member of the Angel team for our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats, and one of the lead facilitators for our Sustaining the Soul of Activism curriculum and train-the-trainers program.

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Transformative Visions was OneLife's dynamic multimedia community arts event with a message of peace, justice, and possibility. In a climate of pervasive violence and division, and in a time of growing social movements, our intent was to both challenge and inspire. To lift up the truth that each of us carries a creative vision. Within each of us is the power to transform ourselves, our communities, and our world. Transformative Visions events were held between 2007 - 2017. In later years, we also ran a number of workshops engaging the arts for healing and justice-making.

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"Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart" -- Our 2018 World Peace Day event with Alice Walker and Desert Rose. In addition to Alice's poetry and Desert Rose's celestial music, the event included an opening drum call and libation by Baba Greg Hodge, and sacred dance by Sister Linda Johnson. The full event video is here:  https://youtu.be/hvssjc9DDCE

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Please add your photos, videos, stories, prayers, and testimonies here, by clicking the (+) sign below. If you prefer we post them for you, send to us at onelifeinstitute99 [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Please add your photos, videos, stories, prayers, and testimonies here, by clicking the (+) sign below. If you prefer we post them for you, send to us at onelifeinstitute99 [at] gmail [dot] com.

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This video montage from our 2017 Transformative Visions features the music of The Destiny Muhammad Project, images of our spoken word poets, and the amazing visual art installation. Held at Oakstop in Oakland. (YouTube page for this video lists all the artists and performers.)

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Alice Walker reading her poem "Loving Oakland" at OneLife's World Peace Day event, "Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart - Alice Walker & Desert Rose," Sept 21, 2018 at the First Congregational Church. (Note: volume starts soft, but quickly gets better)

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Video sampler of spoken word, music, and art from Transformative Visions 2009 and 2010, held at Studio One Art Center in Oakland, CA. Drum call: Kele Nitoto. Spoken word: Cat Brooks, Aimee Suzara, Kamau Bakarai. Music: Richard Howell Quintet. Visual art: Joseph Besoabewe, TaSin Sabir, Malik Seneferu, Eesuu Orundide, Lorraine Bonner, Salma Arastu, TheArthur Wright, William Rhodes.

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Sustaining the Soul of Activism - Facilitator Trainees

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We launched our Sustaining the Soul of Activism program in January 2010 with twice-monthly support groups for local activists. That Summer, in collaboration with intern Emmanuelle Regis, we developed a 2.5 hour workshop curriculum and piloted it with a number of community groups. The demand quickly exceeded our capacity, so we sought funding for a Train the Trainer program that ran in late 2014. Pictured here are the participants in that inaugural group.

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Early into the coronavirus pandemic we sought to create accessible spaces for community connection and support. This workshop/ healing circle, facilitated by Dr. Liza and held on zoom, was one example.

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As we continued in pandemic isolation, in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Xan West joined with some of our national partners to host healing spaces (on zoom), for Black folx in Minneapolis and across the country to process their grief and rage, and to find healing in ritual and community connection.

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For several years we hosted monthly Second Sunday meditation and potluck gatherings, as a way for people to connect between retreats and build community.

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OneLife provided healing circles and spiritual care for many of our community partner organizations to help sustain them in their frontline work, especially in times of grief or trauma.

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Jakada Imani, board president at OneLife, conceived and hosted our monthly "Community of Practice" gatherings for seasoned movement leaders. These sessions provided dinner, peer support, meditation and prayer for participants.

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OneLife ran many workshops over the years including: writing for healing, spoken word poetry, reiki energy healing, spirituality and social transformation, taiji (tai chi), and visual arts. This photo is from a workshop by artist Gale Madyun creating "Protection Shields" using the base of fallen palm leaves as the foundation. OneLife co-produced a gallery installation of Gale's amazing art-as-medicine at Oakstop Gallery timed to correspond with the premiere of a powerful theater production by Oakland's Lower Bottom Playaz, "Protection Shields."

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OneLife was a regular at many community festivals and events. The Malcolm X Jazz & Arts Festival produced by East Side Arts Alliance was one of our favorites. Here is Liza with Haben Sebhatu, one of our primary outreach volunteers, tabling at the festival.

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Since our founding, we regularly offered classes and public presentations on the life and teachings of Dr. Howard Thurman. Thurman was a central influence on Dr. Liza and thus on OneLife, providing a theological and philosophical foundation for our work at the intersection of mystic spirituality and social action. Liza worked with Thurman's daughter, Olive Thurman Wong, Dr. Vincent Harding, and Dr. Luther Smith to create a 6-CD audio collection of Thurman's archival recordings. This was published by SoundsTrue in 2010 and is available from them.

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Tammy Hall is a world renowned pianist and composer, and a cherished friend of OneLife. She blessed us with the gift of music at our 10+ year anniversary event.

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Kazu Haga is past a member of the OneLife board. He is a Kingian nonviolence trainer and the founder of East Point Peace Academy. Kazu is the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.

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Ananda Kenboya (aka Bliss) was a core volunteer with OneLife for many years, serving in a number of programs -- most notably Second Sundays and Spirit Sound & Silence.

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Baba Greg Hodge is a powerful community changemaker, and a wonderful friend and supporter of OneLife. He was our go-to for sacred drum call and libation at our larger events.

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Sheena Reed was a core volunteer with our Healing Black Lives retreats and often helped out with hosting and tabling at other events. She came to us via her daughter Rosie who was one of our Sustaining the Soul of Activism trainers. A multi-generational OneLife family!

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Harriet Johnson was a core volunteer and supporter of OneLife, primarily serving in our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats and Transformative Visions events.

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Valerie Brown is one of the founding board members of OneLife. She served on the team for Spirit, Sound & Silence, co-produced our early Transformative Visions events, and was our photographer and videographer at many of those events. Her vocal ensemble Dominion sang at our 2004 Consecration Ceremony.

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Rev. Kamal Hassan served nine years on the OneLife board, and co-facilitated our Healing Black Lives retreats.

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Dr. Liza Rankow was the founder of OneLife and served on the board for 17 years. She conceived and facilitated our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats and many of our other workshops and programs.

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This photo from our 10+ anniversary event features some of our core folks who deserve recognition. L to R are Gabriella Ramos (admin, registrar, event host, retreat team), Destiny Muhammad (harpist extraordinaire), Gabriel Ramos (retreat team), Cassandra Arnold (retreat team "kitchen angel" for many years).

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We began every Transformative Visions event with a drum call. In our early years it was a solo drummer... then we met Sistahs of the Drum. They became regulars, and were always a crowd favorite.

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The Destiny Muhammad Project -- all star jazz musicians!

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Rev. Sunshine Michelle Coleman (L) served OneLife in many capacities. She was part of the Second Sundays meditation & potluck team, she AMAZINGLY coordinated the entire front-of-house operation for "Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart" our event with Alice walker that drew over 600 people, and she is THE BEST greeter and door host. Semhar Sebhatu (R) was on the core team for Healing Black Lives retreats, holding down the food service. She also catered refreshments at our 2017 Transformative Visions, and helped out with tabling and hosting and a number of events over the years.

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Cat Brooks is a frontline activist in the vanguard of social justice work in Oakland, particularly in addressing police violence. This spoken word piece, from Transformative Visions 2010, describes her journey to create balance in her life. We used this piece, "A Warrior Prays," in many of our Sustaining the Soul of Activism workshops to open the conversation about sustainable activism. (Improvisational music by the Richard Howell Quintet.)

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Cat Brooks - "A Warrior Prays" - Transformative Visions 2010

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The Destiny Muhammad Project performs a Tribute to Alice Coltrane at Transformative Visions 2017, at Oakstop in Oakland CA. (Destiny Muhammad on harp, Frederick Harris on keyboard, Chico Lopez on upright bass, Ranzel Merritt on sax, E.W. Wainwright on drums.)

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The Destiny Muhammad Project - Tribute to Alice Coltrane

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YaNi - "Live It" & "Storyteller" - video

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YaNi Davis performed two short pieces at our 2015 Transformative Visions. (More recently, and now a minister, YaNi co-facilitated our final Healing Black Lives retreat in Sept. 2021.)

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YaNi - "Live It" & "Storyteller" - Transformative Visions 2015

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Gino Pastori-Ng performs an original spoken word piece dedicated to his Ancestors at Transformative Visions 2017. Improvisational music by the Destiny Muhammad Project.

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OneLife was intergenerational at every level of the organization. Here Sandra Hooper Mayfield (aka Makeda) performs her poem "My Own True Nature" at Transformative Visions 2013. Improvisational music by The Destiny Muhammad Project, featuring Gary Brown on upright bass, led to an impromptu vocal riff by Destiny.

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Makeda - "My Own True Nature" - Transformative Visions 2013

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The Destiny Muhammad Project performs "Corner 14" at Transformative Visions 2015 at Impact Hub, Oakland CA. Destiny Muhammad on harp, Duane Muziki Roberson on keyboard, Mark Heshima Williams on upright bass, Vince Tolliver on viola, Leon Joyce Jr on drums, Doug Ellington on trumpet. Original composition by Destiny Muhammad.

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Destiny Muhammad Project - "Corner14" - Transformative Visions 2015

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Hard Times Require Furious Dancing - video

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On Oct. 6, 2019, OneLife Institute joined forces with author and activist Alice Walker to host an intimate evening at the Lake Merritt Sail Boat House in Oakland. Taking our title from one of Sister Alice's books, "Hard Times Require Furious Dancing" featured a talk and poetry by Alice, impromptu contributions of poetry and song by friends in the audience, and community dancing to the Orisa-infused World Beat Hip Hop music of WolfHawkJaguar and Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri and their crew. This video is a short sampler of just the music portion of the event. To see the full event video: https://youtu.be/5p4iDqxaJKk

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Hard Times Require Furious Dancing - music/dance sampler

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We celebrated our 10+ Anniversary in style at Imagine Affairs event space. Piano genius Tammy Hall anchored the music, Kj Jackson brought the flute flava, Loren Madden sang, and Jazz Hudson performed spoken word. Good music, good food, and good folks. Classic OneLife!

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Destiny Muhammad sings "PrayerSong" at each of our Spirit, Sound & Silence retreats after our visioning meditation. The song is a collaboration between Destiny and Rev. Liza, and premiered at our 5th Anniversary event, captured here. (Destiny later confessed she blanked out on the words and so improvised... especially the first two minutes. Still so beautiful!)

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"PrayerSong" - Destiny Sings at OneLife Institute Anniversary

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I  am sad that OneLife’s is sunsetting. It’s been such a beautiful oasis in my life and for others. When loving, rare, divine spaces disappear it’s a loss for all—especially for Oakland.

I trust the best is unfolding. My heart is filled with appreciation and gratitude for the many blessings OneLife gave to me and to so many over its 17 years.

Deepest thanks to Rev. Liza and team for creating beloved community and for showing us how to lead with love.

Hugs 💞,

Harriet Johnson

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There are so many more people central to our work! Some of them appear in other columns on this page. Many are not pictured, but so deeply appreciated! A photo album on Facebook includes many of them, but nowhere near all! Click HERE to visit.

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Shout  out to Leah Kimble-Price, former Board Member and one of the co-leaders the Healing Black Lives retreats