walking
together
Growing in Awareness and Accountability,
Putting Our Love into Action
We at Sounds True believe in change—for our audience, for the world, and for ourselves. In light of social challenges both in the US and abroad, we’ve devoted ourselves to standing with BIPOC communities to help heal collective trauma, provide resources for personal growth, and unravel the grip of racism on our culture.
Learn with Us
resources for healing racism
A Message from Our Founder
Dear Sounds True friends and community,
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
—Fannie Lou Hamer
When we begin to engage in spiritual practice, many of us discover that all of life is interconnected. In the words of Zen poet and priest Thich Nhat Hanh, we discover “interbeing,” or how all of life is interwoven and interdependent. In my experience, this insight can come relatively easily. The hard part is learning how to honor this discovery in all of our relationships and in every part of our personal, organizational, and collective lives.
At Sounds True, we are seeking to build a company with the principle of interbeing front and center. We are seeking to grow in both our understanding and our accountability for the ways our larger society has been built on a very different paradigm—one of patriarchal dominance and white supremacy—and how this foundation has impacted the formation of countless organizations, including our own.
And we are committed to doing better—to embodying “JEDI” values of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion—the values of “Interbeing in Action,” in every aspect of our organizational life. We are committed to using our power, reach, and influence to share our resources with other people so that we can “walk together” and learn and grow.
To that end, Sounds True has partnered with leading DEI experts to support our internal growth as an organization. Keep reading below to see more about the steps we’re taking. We’ve also created this collection of free “Walking Together” educational resources, so anyone can learn from some of today’s most visionary BIPOC spiritual teachers.
As the civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer has said, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” Of course, there are many different types of freedom, from the spiritual freedom of sensing our boundless nature to the physical and psychological freedoms that come from living in a society that is just and equitable. We need to link these freedoms and commit ourselves to being a force that creates freedom for others at every level. May we walk together and do this with humility and utter conviction.
With love on the journey,
Tami Simon
Founder and Publisher, Sounds True
Steps We’re Taking at Sounds True
At Sounds True, we are learning and growing together as a community, and it has been important for us to create a forward-facing action plan that invites engagement from our entire audience. These initiatives are part of that effort. We invite you to witness, support, and step up with us in the following ways:
DEI Training
Sounds True is committed to a long-term Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy with TMI Consulting, led by Dr. Tiffany Jana. This includes in-depth employee training and ongoing organizational support. We regularly review all Sounds True policies, practices, and procedures to uncover any implicit biases that may be embedded within any of our systems.
Publicly Available Resources
Dr. Jana offers a free three-part webinar on Healing Racism. This three-hour series looks at how to embrace diversity in our personal lives, in our communities and workplaces, and in the world. The series is free to watch above. We are inviting our customers, authors, and business associates to join Sounds True staff for this online event so that we can walk this part of our journey together.
Looking for New Voices
It is clear to us that we need to publish and otherwise amplify the voices of more authors and presenters who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. If you have ideas about new BIPOC authors you would like to see us publish, please contact us at: acquisitions@soundstrue.com.
Teaching Scholarships
The Sounds True Foundation actively raises scholarship funds for BIPOC students to attend The Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. This acclaimed training program prepares aspiring teachers to bring the tools of mindfulness to diverse communities worldwide.
A Continuing Commitment
Please visit this webpage often, as it will be updated regularly with new interviews, suggested reading or listening, and other free resources.
DEI Training
Sounds True is committed to a long-term Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy with TMI Consulting, led by Dr. Tiffany Jana. This includes in-depth employee training and ongoing organizational support. We regularly review all Sounds True policies, practices, and procedures to uncover any implicit biases that may be embedded within any of our systems.
Publicly Available Resources
Dr. Jana offers a free three-part webinar on Healing Racism. This three-hour series looks at how to embrace diversity in our personal lives, in our communities and workplaces, and in the world. The series is free to watch above. We are inviting our customers, authors, and business associates to join Sounds True staff for this online event so that we can walk this part of our journey together.
Looking for New Voices
It is clear to us that we need to publish and otherwise amplify the voices of more authors and presenters who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. If you have ideas about new BIPOC authors you would like to see us publish, please contact us at: acquisitions@soundstrue.com.
Teaching Scholarships
The Sounds True Foundation actively raises scholarship funds for BIPOC students to attend The Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. This acclaimed training program prepares aspiring teachers to bring the tools of mindfulness to diverse communities worldwide.
A Continuing Commitment
- Notification of new and upcoming free teachings
- New product offerings from BIPOC authors
Recommended Reading
Practical books by BIPOC authors to support self-growth, empowerment, and healing
Ruth King
An international teacher in the Insight meditation tradition. King has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is the author of several publications, including Healing Rage and Mindful of Race. "Racism is a heart disease,” Ruth writes, “and it's curable.”
Justin Michael Williams
An author, transformational speaker, and top-20 recording artist who has been featured by Grammy.com, Yoga Journal, Billboard.com, and more. He has become a pioneering voice for diversity and inclusion in wellness. In Stay Woke, Justin writes about bringing mindfulness and other wellness practices to our complicated, challenging lives.
Rev. angel Kyodo williams
A Zen priest, author, and founder of the organization Transformative Change. Her books include Being Black and Belonging, which examine how the confluences of race, economic background, and religion (among other things) mold both personal and collective identities.
Dr. Tiffany Jana
Leading DEI educator and a nonbinary Awareness Artist. Dr. Jana [they/them] is the coauthor of the books Overcoming Bias, Erasing Institutional Bias, and Subtle Acts of Exclusion, and the founder of TMI Consulting Inc. Her books offer practical toolkits for examining your own biases, understanding microaggressions, creating a welcoming environment, and much more.
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