I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jaiya John at a conference I attended along with my daughter, in San Diego many years ago. He was the keynote speaker and emcee for an audience of thousands of attendees that included social workers, school teachers, and, like me, CASAs. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. These volunteers dedicate their time to a non-profit organization called Voices for Children, representing children in the foster care system in a variety of ways including being unbiased advocates when the courts are involved, acting as decision makers, and as problem solvers on just about every subject possible when it comes to the wellbeing of the children, including decisions regarding their education. San Diego County Voices for Children (VFC) is considered the example for CASA programs throughout the country. You can read about VFC here: https://www.speakupnow.org.
My daughter and I had the opportunity to speak directly with “Jaiya” as he is lovingly referred to by many of his fans, followers, friends, etc.. It is difficult to describe with words how I felt speaking with him because all I can think of when I think of him is “love”. His every word exudes love, whether speaking to or with you or writing. He has authored numerous soul-nurturing books, all of which can be found here: https://jaiyajohn.com/books I have gifted his book, “Daughter Drink This Water”, among others, many times. Both of my children have become huge “fans” of Jaiya and that makes me so happy.
Jaiya has an incredibly interesting background in addition to his unique and powerful physical presence. He is easily over 6.5 feet tall (likely closer to 7 feet) with an extremely powerful voice unlike any other. He was born into foster care and that is just the beginning of his unique life. He has lived in Nepal where he studied Tibetan Holistic Medicine and taught at Howard University. He has spoken to over a million people, has a podcast (listen here to a conversation with another remarkable human, Dr. Thema Bryant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJBW6hn4xo&t=9s) and is currently on a world tour called “The Gathering, World Tour”. You can find tickets to live and virtual events here: https://jaiyajohn.com/tour-calendar
Taken directly from his website, Jaiya describes his calling like this: “My lifelong calling and work is freedom from the sickness of supremacy and inferiority. Freedom from oppression. Freedom to live a beautiful life. Food, water, and shelter are nothing if the one being fed, watered, and sheltered is immersed in the profound suffering that is poverty of the soul. I am grateful to carry out the humanitarian work of feeding souls the bread and breath of Love, compassion, and hope.”
To say this man is a gift to the world would be an understatement. He is one of the very first people I wanted to blog about long ago but to be honest, I have been reluctant to do so as I am certain that if I say too much, it still won’t be enough. If you read anything about him, follow him on Instagram, read any of his books, listen to his podcast, hear him in person, or like me, have the privilege of speaking to him in person, you will see what I mean right away. One sentence. That’s all it will take.
It’s 5 Heart Ratings like this that make me wish I had millions of followers but at the same time, if just one person reads this and is touched by Dr. Jaiya John the way he repeatedly touches my family and me, that will be enough. And since “enough” is one of my favorite words, that’d make me really happy. Here’s a link to his books which I highly recommend as a gift: https://jaiyajohn.com/books. With Mother’s Day coming up, I’d especially suggest “Daughter Drink This Water” for yourself or as a gift. And if you have an artist in your life, “Dear Artist”. My next read of his will be “Black Baby White Hands”, because, as I’m pretty sure we must have discussed when I met Jaiya, my youngest sister is Black and was adopted into our family. I’d like to have a better understanding of what she experienced growing up, especially as it relates to being adopted by a white family. I love her so much but I fear she didn’t feel it as much as I did/do.
If you do get to attend his world tour, please let me know in the comments!
Also published on Medium.
