About Belinda

Belinda Thurston is a yogini, tai chi player, Buddhist, African-Japanese American, journalist, speaker, motivator.

A bit of her story

Belinda was born in 1968 in Washington, D.C., a mixed-race child of African and Asian descent and did not learn until the age of 50 that she is half Japanese, thanks to DNA testing. She comes from modest-to-little means, amidst the crack epidemic in D.C. in the 80s. She survived sexual molestation and rape from the age of 5 through 11. She is a suicide attempt survivor.

This does not define her, but it is the composition of some of the core threads of her being.

Her mother and grandmother instilled a strong civic duty and community awareness. She was also raised with a rich background education in the arts and spirituality (a flower child.) She was the principal oboist and English Horn player in the D.C. Youth Orchestra in the early 80s. She taught music and computer programming before entering college. She majored in computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh before leaving that program and pursuing an English degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Journalism became a calling that led to a 23-year career specializing in multimedia, digital and investigative journalism. She has worked at small and large newspapers including the Dallas Morning News and USA Today. She gave presentations on digital journalism and storytelling.

Belinda is trained in trauma sensitive yoga, yoga for special needs, yoga for children and teens, yoga for bigger bodies, and yoga for addiction recovery. A bulk of her work is teaching yoga for survivors of sexual trauma, working with local nonprofits and government agencies.

Belinda conceived Just B Yoga & Tai Chi LLC, Michigan’s only full-time donation-based yoga program, in 2010 to help fill the need for affordable and inclusive yoga. The image of yoga as white and affluent needs to change. The experiment in conscious commerce has grown into change within Belinda herself.

Credentials and stuff (CV)

Presenter

2022, Consumers Energy PACE committee meditation and yoga
2022, Lansing Area AIDS Network, Yoga for Smoking Cessation
2022, Self-Care Survival Skills, MSU African American and African Studies
2021, Trauma healing racial bias in healthcare, Michigan Nurses Association
2021, Michigan State University, “Spiritual Trauma First Aid” for BIPOC students following an online racist assault
2020, Capital Area District Library, Keynote: “Bite into an onion like an apple” – lessons from the Depression, Civil Rights movement and my grandma
2020, Panel host, Unite to Face Addiction, Recovery in a pandemic
2020, Jackson National Life, “Survivalist Self-Care First Aid”
2020, Michigan Tutor Association, Keynote speaker
2019, Healthy Colorado, joint keynote speaker with Baratunde Thurston
2014- 2017 CMH, Trauma yoga for youths with complex trauma
2015, MSU Wise Women Rise Conference, Living Your Truth at Work
2014, 9th Annual Michigan Homeless Summit, Workplace wellness and your health
2013, 2014 Building Michigan Communities Conference, Wellness and self-care workshop

Program Creator/Coordinator

2022, Happy Hour Recovery Yoga, yoga for trauma and addiction recovery
2021, Teen and Youth Yoga summer program, Michigan Communities in Schools/Southside Community Coalition
2021, Michigan Nurses Association, Two guided meditations for grief processing and sustained trauma
2020, Communities in Schools, Summer Virtual Yoga Day Camp with Battle Creek students
2020, Michigan Disability Rights Council, Mending Mondays host, facilitator, self-care tools for the BIPOC disabled community
2013 – 2020, Trauma yoga, created trauma yoga program for Firecracker Foundation
2017, Women of Color workshop, Yoga for Generational and Racial Trauma
2017, February-May, Trauma yoga, Lansing School District, created lesson planning for several groups of yoga instructors to teach at several middle and elementary schools
2016, Yoga Teacher Training certification program
2016, Trauma Yoga Assistant training program
2015, CEI CMH, Yoga Therapy program
2014, Yoga, Lansing School District, Gier Elementary

Education/certifications

2022, CCAR, Peer Recovery Coach Certification
2020-2022, Advanced Yoga for Trauma Recovery, Lisa Danylchuk, EdM, MFT, E-RYT
2019, Restorative Justice Facilitator Training, sujatha baliga, Impact Justice
2019, Mental Health First Aid/CPR, National Council for Behavioral Health First Aid
2019, First Aid/CPR/AED, American Red Cross
2017, Yoga for Trauma Recovery, Lisa Danylchuk, EdM, MFT, E-RYT
2015, Yoga for Self-regulation and Trauma, Hala Khouri, M.A., E-RYT
2013, Curvy Friendly Yoga certification, Curvy Yoga, Anna Guest Jelly
2013, Y12SR Certification (Yoga for 12 Step Recovery and Trauma), Nikki Myers
2012, Yoga for Children with Special Needs Certification, As You Are Yoga, Lansing, MI
2012, Yoga for PTSD, Beryl Bender Birch, Yoga Service Conference, Omega Institute
2012, Yoga for Underserved Populations, Yoga Service Conference
2012, Yoga for Teens Certification, As You Are Yoga, Lansing, MI
2011, Michigan Hometown Health Hero Award
2008, Yoga teacher certification, Hilltop Yoga, 300 hours

Donate to Just B Yoga

Just B Yoga is a donation-based community yoga outreach. We practice “open source yoga” – giving freely and accepting what is given in return. We believe yoga should be affordable and accessible to all. Please consider supporting our mission.