W(riting) Your Heartspeak Workshop with Tanaya Winder

Come join the Labriola National American Indian Data Center for a poetry workshop focused on "Heart Speak" led by Tanaya Winder. Winder is an author, singer-songwriter, poet and motivational speaker. She is an enrolled citizen of the Duckwater Shoshone Nation and comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, Navajo, and Black heritages. Winder earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. Winder’s poetry collections include "Words Like Love" and "Why Storms Are Named After People and Bullets Remain Nameless." Her performances and talks combine storytelling, singing, and spoken word to explore various expressions of love and the concept of “heartwork.” Tanaya specializes in youth and women empowerment, healing trauma through art, creative writing workshops, and mental wellness advocacy. You can learn more about her work at: www.tanayawinder.com and www.coachingheartwork.com.

W(riting) Your Heartspeak: 

Many of our family, kin, and ancestors have experienced historical, ancestral and personal traumas. Navigating these traumas is both challenging and essential for healing our soul wounds. One way to ignite this healing is by honoring the radical act of survival through speaking our stories and healing into existence. Additionally, celebrating our joys and successes, as well as making time to dream and envision our futures, serves as a powerful act of resistance. 

Writing is a tool for self-expression that allows us to envision new possibilities. In this sense, writing can become a ritual and a ceremony that allows us to process, transform, and manifest our experiences. This interactive poetry and journaling workshop will encourage participants to co-create a space where storytelling and writing become the medicine that sustains us. Participants will engage in journaling prompts, breathwork, meditation, and other grounding activities. 

Come join this workshop to ignite your fire so that your ancestors know that you are here — alive, breathing, dancing, singing, and being all they prayed for you.  

Note: No writing experience is needed; this session focuses on the power of pause, presence and reflection.