Black Farmers Restorative Wellness Workshop — Khuba INTERNATIONAL
Project Overview
Professor Kelvin Cooper of Restorative Wellness Playground partnered with Khuba INTERNATIONAL to facilitate a restorative wellness session for Black farmers in Ithaca, New York.
The session supported Black farmers and community members through rest, movement, connection, land stewardship, and community care.
Held within the context of land stewardship and community development, the workshop created space for participants to slow down, reconnect with their bodies, and experience restoration together.
Program Organization and Collaboration
The project was connected to Khuba INTERNATIONAL, founded by Crista Nunez, whose work is connected to land stewardship, community development, and support for Black farmers.
Kelvin shared that the session centered the facilitation of land stewardship and community development in Ithaca, NY, with Restorative Wellness Playground providing a session for Black farmers focused on somatic dance-related movements.
The collaboration brought together movement, culture, restoration, and care for people whose work is deeply connected to land, labor, nourishment, and community responsibility.
Workshop Activities
The workshop focused on integrating somatic movement, restorative wellness, spinal alignment, self-care, joy, rhythm, and community connection.
Participants engaged in activities such as:
- Somatic dance-related movement
- Spinal alignment and body-awareness practices
- Movement and rhythm exercises supporting joy and presence
- Line dancing and collective participation
- Reflection on self-care, nutrition, land stewardship, and community wellness
The session showed how restorative wellness can meet communities where they are while honoring the physical, emotional, cultural, and communal realities of their work.
Participants
The Khuba INTERNATIONAL workshop welcomed Black farmers and community members connected to land stewardship, food systems, and community development in Ithaca, NY.
Participants were invited to experience restoration through the body, shared rhythm, movement, and community care.
Impact
The workshop highlighted the importance of care for those who care for the land.
For Black farmers whose work is rooted in land, labor, responsibility, history, and service, the session created space for restoration, embodiment, joy, and reconnection.
The project reflected a powerful truth at the center of Restorative Wellness Playground’s work: rest is part of stewardship, movement is part of restoration, and community care is part of the work.
Project Partners
Khuba INTERNATIONAL
Host organization
Crista Nunez
Founder, Khuba INTERNATIONAL
Professor Kelvin Cooper
Restorative Wellness Playground
Participants
Black farmers
Community members
Land stewardship participants
Ithaca, NY community