Tranquil Lotus Sangha was born in 2008 from a longing - a deep, embodied desire to meditate and heal in a space where our whole selves were not just welcomed, but centered. In the wake of the wish to recenter people of color in dharma and mindfulness spaces, amidst global unrest and racial reckoning, Susanna Barkataki, Neelam Pathikonda, and Eran James came together with a shared dream: to create a refuge for those too often pushed to the margins in dominant meditation spaces. We saw how even spiritual communities, built around compassion, could unknowingly replicate harm.
Founded by two BIPOC practitioners and teachers and one white ally committed to helping integrate and support, we wanted to rebalance the violences of erasure, appropriation, and invisibility. Meditation spaces where people and cultures of color are welcome, centered, and celebrated. Where the rich traditions of our ancestors are honored, as the dharma comes to us from Asia and beyond. We wished to uplift people and wisdom keepers of those cultures and integrate in the West while centering color and culture.
So we gathered to practice each week to create something different. A sangha rooted in mindfulness and also in justice. A place where BIPOC folx could exhale, could be seen, could heal together. And where white allies could show up in commitment, humility, and love, not to dominate or lead, but to learn and hold space for collective liberation.
Guided by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village, we infused our sangha with both reverence and love, honoring the traditions that nourish us while consciously decolonizing the ways they are shared. We began meeting, first in small circles in backyards, weaving our practices with deep presence, story, silence, laughter, and tears. Caretaking council brought brilliant, shared, and expansive leadership. We don’t always know all the answers, but we are committed to practicing mindfulness joyfully for equity in our time.
Tranquil Lotus became not just a sangha, but a brave, blooming tranquil pond of lotuses - a space to root deeply into ancestral wisdom and rise together in transformation. We are still blooming. Still learning. Still returning to breath and belonging, together.