AMANI WILL / WA AMA & THE LION TRUTH
Born: Berkeley Ca, U.S.A, 1983
Lives: Oakland Ca, U.S.A
Preferred Gender Pronouns: He/They/We
Race and Ethnicity: Yoruba, Mendeng, Dogon, Black American; Ani Yun Wiwa, Moskogee, Okmulgee, Choctaw, 1st Nations; Celtic, Irish, Scottish, English, French, German, White American.
Co-Founder and Co-Principal operator of:
Orgs: CLN (Creative Liberation Now); AFA (Ancient Future AnceStory/AnceStoryAF) — Inactive: P.O.W.E.R Movement (People Organizing With Each Other for Revolution)
Bands: HoodHippie$; BTCLN (Band Together Creative Liberation Now); Amani Will / Wa Ama & the Lion Truth — Inactive: The Attik
Singing Poet BeatMan; Meditator, Educator, Ritualist; Shit talking Irreverent Reverend, Liberation Fractalist — We got Beats, verses, production, scoring, live Performing — We got consulting, curriculum writing, program designing, facilitating — and now most recently, the Co-midwifing of the Qtpoc, social/eco-justice, permacultured, oracular remix of the Tarot; the CLNnow Deck — AKA the Arc-Ana Towards Justice!
We’ve had the honor of facilitating Mindful Liberation experiences beside the fields’ greats; like Vinny Ferraro, Spring Washam, Chris Mckenna, Jon Kabbat-Zinn, Linda Lantieri, JoAnna Hardy, Victor Lee Lewis, Dr. Dan Siegel, Yvonne & Rich St. John Dutra, Lee Mun Wah, and some of the greatest teachers who don’t got names you’d know but are at least equally gangster.
We’ve shared stages with Dead Prez, E-40, KRS-One, Shabazz Palaces, Brett Dennen, Hieroglyphics, Goapele, and Zion I; We’ve made songs with Dilated Peoples, Living Legends, Los Rakas, Ise Lyfe, Coco Peila, Jonah Matranga, and… you?
We’ve Started Rites of Passage programs at continuation schools, Youth Leadership/Mentorship Projects at Social/Eco Justice outdoor Schools, AfterCare programs for Youth Re-Entry orgs, Co-Midwifed books, films, and albums for artists and orgs alike, and founded humble Artist Collectives for Creative Liberation.
Behind walls, whatever they be, be they prison, classroom, church, state; be they systemic, cultural, emotional, or psychic; we always find what’s creative and liberated. We in outdoor classrooms in the redwoods, in the studio, on stage, in circle, in film, on the corner, and in yours.
JAMES AMUTABI CONNIE HAINES
I remember meditating on the creation of planets with Norteños and Sureños in a Juvenile Detention Facility in Oakland, CA. I would ask the young adults, “what type of planet would you create?” One young vulnerageous warrior said, “one for the Norteños and one for the Sureños; they will be next to each other and we will war for eternity…even our enemies deserve a planet.” This statement left me with a deep sense of possibility and love; I noticed that if I choose not to get caught up on the warring aspect of his statement, he invited those who in his mind were his enemy, into the experience of everlasting life, community, connection and home; his biggest dream included those who he supposedly hated.
My highest desire is to invite each of us into our biggest dreams, from where we are, seeing what is possible, claiming what we want and taking steps toward it each day with an unwavering confidence and connection to self-love, compassion, and humanity. I am an accountability partner, guide and consultant, with 20 years of experience facilitating, coaching, and counseling on issues of oppression, meditation and mindfulness, addiction, indigenous technology, decolonized consciousness, basic goodness, Theatre of the Oppressed, and what it means to live in a “playground for spiritual misfits”. I am a multimedia artist, a wordsmith, digital artist, collage maker, painter, prayer and poet. I work with all types of individuals, couples, and communities. One of my favorite questions of deep wonder (QDWs) is: What is Creative Liberation Now?
“Before working with james-amutabi I felt like I was hungry in a forest full of edible plants, unable to recognize the abundance around me. I had the vision and desire and experience to jump start my business but was unable to put them in order and take action towards my dreams. After a month of guidance, I could confidently “find the food in the forest.” I was no longer paralyzed by my perfectionist tendencies or confused by the vastness of my vision…I took concrete actions easily after james-amutabi guided me through my internal blocks. I am forever grateful for being ‘rooted in route’” by our work together. – B
Working with me is an emergent, co-creative process, in which I act as a guide and accountability partner to accompany you on the path to manifesting your dreams and completion of your projects. We can prepare to launch courses, campaigns, businesses, EDI strategies (equity, diversity and inclusion) or any venture you are passionate about. We begin a visioning process, and we unpack whatever feels alive right now; including the creation of a vision board and an emergent step-by-step list for manifestation. We move through known or unknown blocks and barriers that are getting in the way, and create boundaries to help keep us on the path; and we can combine these in any number of ways to help you in the way that feels most effective, efficient and desired.
james-amutabi possesses a true gift for deep listening and reflection, mirroring what he sees in the experiences of those he works with in furtherance of a committed pursuit of their own path. He grounds his work in a rooted sense of gratitude that permeates the leg of your journey along which he walks with you as a companion, helping you to look deeper into yourself and insuring that you do not lose sight of your own innate strengths, gifts, and power, but that you invest them in the work that you continue on with. – Ricardo Alvarez
Whether talking about sex, race, birth, JustBodies, or sustainability, whether I am facilitating workshops with incarcerated adults or quirky teenagers in the woods, whether I am making art or body-moving, my actions are guided by liberation, solidarity, and a passion for cultivating playful comfort-zone-stretching interconnection with self and others. A lover of the paradoxical and paranormal, ancestral wisdom and asymmetry, my suburban desert born-being strives to bring water to the deserts, metaphorical and literal. A midwife of transition, as well as a multitude of strange and creative projects, I am currently finding solace in the process of creative liberation through CLN.
My work in the world is dedicated to the future generations, that they may be born into bodies liberated from intergenerational trauma and celebrated for their unique expressions of identity, sexuality, and desire.
I am a Somatic Sex Educator and Embodiment Coach, co-founder of JustBodies, and a past member of the CSB teaching team at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco. I am trained as a Doula (Birth Assistant) and draw wisdom and skills from my experience with experiential diversity education, anti-oppression work, non-violent communication, direct action, restorative justice, ritual, and expressive arts therapy.
I have a BFA in Photography with a Sociology minor from Arizona State University; I equally value the education I have gained from world travel, direct action activism, co-parenting, permaculture design trainings, and my ongoing practice of decolonizing the body through dance, play, and irreverent mindfulness. As a gender fluid queer person of European descent raised in the concrete covered desert of Arizona — Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Gila River Indian Community, and Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Territory — I am rooted in solidarity with all my relations and grounded in an ongoing search for pre-Christian/preColonial ancestral wisdom.
“Seneca brings fierce love into a room unlike anyone else I know. Her ability to hold people in their unfolding and crumbling is part of her superpower… that, and her true powers of co-creation. I would teach with her anytime and anywhere.”
— Dr. Liam Snowdon, Somatic Sex Educator, Anti-Violence Worker, and poet
Creative Liberation Now 