The Journey Toward Belonging: A Q&A with Caverly Morgan

Caverly Morgan felt a call to reconcile the wisdom that arose from her mindfulness practice with the systems of oppression at work in our world. In this conversation with Mindful contributing editor Stephanie Domet, she explores that reconciliation and shares what she’s learned about our inherent freedom.

Jennifer Alyse

Stephanie Domet: What makes this the right time for this book—what feels urgent? 

Caverly Morgan: I don’t think I’m just projecting onto others when I recognize that in myself there was a type of turbulence that didn’t let me move through the world on behalf of my deepest love and understanding, on behalf of my deepest knowing. It feels authentic for me to say that others in this time, too, long for a way to reconcile that. The questions I was asking were: How does my personal mindfulness practice, which has brought me a lot of peace, a lot of benefit, that I know “works”—how does that directly relate to injustices in the world, the massive structural processes of othering that lead to tremendous harm? Are those two things separate? Am I creating a dent in these larger issues if I’m just finding some personal stress relief within? What else is possible for me? 

That feels like such an intrinsic question for right now. Maybe your mindfulness practice starts by waking up to yourself, but then the more you practice, the more you see it’s not about me, it’s about all of us, and as we…