Justin Michael Williams

AUTHOR AND MUSICIAN

Justin Michael Williams had been teaching meditation for years, but often felt as though his practices weren’t reaching the people who needed them the most. After the 2016 presidential election, he was determined to change that.

“That’s when I really said hold on, how do I bring this practice that has helped me to a community that is not getting it?” he recalls.

Hoping to reach a more diverse group than those who usually attended the retreats and tours he’d taught at, Williams began to host free meditation sessions in LA, which drew LGBTQ+ people and people of color.

“All the questions were different, and the reasons for meditating were different,” he says. “That’s when I knew I had a book.”

His book, Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us, is available in February 2020. It tackles struggles not typically found in meditation books, including overcoming homophobia, reckoning with personal trauma, and dealing with the stress poverty brings.

“Mindfulness is about awareness, and awareness right now in this world is calling us to take action,” he says. “The book is a call to action to do what we can... for the causes we believe in.”

As he plans a book tour and works on a new music album, Williams says meditation is an integral part of his busy lifestyle.

“It’s like the glue that holds my whole life together,” he says. “When I get busier, I try my best to meditate more, because it just anchors me down.”