Take Me to The Water:7-Day Guided Practice in a Summer of Black Imagination

There's a field beyond what you can think or imagine....Let's meet here.

Take Me to the Water is the first of Two Inches Beyond Black's 2023 Summer of Black Imagination Series. The series is a regular offering of at-home guided experiences and in-person gatherings for Black people to be  the spirit of imagination and celebrate Blackness as a source of creative play, pleasure, and trusted wisdom.

During the Summer of Black Imagination, we will co-create our own joy-filled spaces of play and sacred sanctuaries to embody our deepest imaginations and pleasures. We'll explore our own bodies as the river banks and shorelines of our relationship to ourselves, one another, the land, and the future we are creating now.

As a community of practice, Two Inches Beyond Black dedicates this first 7-day offering to The Ones Who Chose The Water and remind us water is a resting place and home for Black imagination, freedom, liberation, and love.

How does the 7-day at-home and in-person imagination practice work?

Over the course of 7 consecutive days, you will be intentionally invited by Dr. Crystal Jones, co founder of Two Inches Beyond Black and founder of ElevenFortyTwo into practices that bring awareness  to the wisdom and gifts of your body and bloodlines.  This is a play ground for your deepest imaginations to be stirred, awakened, and embodied.

Starting April 30th an invitation into practice will be made available to you each day for 6 days. The 6 practices can be completed in or near your home. We encourage you to set aside some time and space that works for you to complete your practice each day.

The invitations to practice will include different ways to be in relationship with water (including and especially your body as water) and may explore themes such as your relationship to

• joy, pleasure, ease, gentleness
• ancestral lineages and inner children
• receiving, releasing, surrendering, and offering
• imagination, creativity, rest, and play
• what is true for you in the present moment.

On the 7th day, May 6, 2023 of the practice, you are invited to be in community, conversation, and celebration with the co founders of Two Inches Beyond Black, Dr. Crystal Jones and Carmen D. Harris from 12pm-2pm ET at Open Door Concepts in Washington, DC.

Please Note:  This offering is for 6  asynchronous at-home experiences starting on April 30, 2023  and 1 synchronous in-person  practice and gathering at Open Door Concepts on May 6, 2023 at 12 pm.

What do I need?

The most valuable thing you can bring is openness and a commitment to your practice.  Prior to the start of the practice, we will share a list of suggested items to support your 6 at home practices. Past practice items have included: notebooks, journals, pens, food/herbs/grains, water bottles, sink, basin, or bath tub, towel, unbleached teabags, socks, floor pillows, and blankets. During this 7-day practice you are encouraged to be deeply intentional with caring for and nourishing your body, spirit, and mind.