MISSION
We create sanctuary
by reimagining reparations of the body and consciousness; individual and collective.
VISION
A world where the collective Black body is loved, witnessed, and unlimited.
VALUES
Black-Centered
We believe that by healing ourselves, we can start to heal the space between us and expand from there. We are survivor-centered and diasporic.
Community
We are committed to empowering and resourcing our communities with tools to create healing spaces to meet their needs in accessible and diverse ways. Our interdependence is medicine.
Trauma-Integrating
We acknowledge that historical trauma has affected our lives and communities. We remain committed to discovering and sharing practices that support the integration and healing of these realities.
Timelessness
We honor the wounds and wisdom of our ancestors while imagining a future where we are collectively free. By acknowledging our past, present, and future, we create a pathway to healing that transcends time.
Equanimity
We practice not turning away and aim to see things as they are, not just how we want them to be. By being aware and honest with ourselves and each other, we can then choose right action.
Anti-Racist
We confront racism as a liberatory practice. Being anti-racist is a daily commitment to dismantling oppressive systems, whether internal or external.
ORIGIN
Black Exhale was born on Juneteenth 2020,
a day when we celebrate our freedom and resilience. In the middle of a pandemic and protests, founder Antoinette Cooper had a vision: create a space for us to heal, be witnessed, and fully be.
That first gathering was held on the lawn of a Buddhist monastery in New Jersey. Facilitators Aiby Galindez and Kierra Foster-Ba led us through the embodied flow of rage, grief, joy while allies held space and sent love. It was raw, real, and powerful.
At the end, folks asked, "When is the next one?" That's when we knew this was bigger than a one-time thing. Black Exhale had to keep going and growing.
Since then, we've been building a movement of healing and empowerment. Through workshops, Community Cafés, collaborations, and online spaces, we're creating room for us to breathe, connect, remember, and practice repair.
We're here to disrupt the stories that have been told about us and reclaim our joy, power, and interdependence. We're here to exhale the trauma and inhale the healing that is our birthright.
If you're ready to join us on this journey, let us walk together. We've got work to do, and we're just getting started. Welcome to Black Exhale.
Photography by Theik Smith
Antoinette Cooper
is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and activist dedicated to healing collective trauma through the arts, ancestral wisdom, and embodied practices. Born in Jamaica and raised in NYC public housing, Antoinette is a survivor who knows violence by its first name. As the founder of Black Exhale, she creates sanctuary for the liberated Black body.
With a BA from Cornell University, an MFA in Writing from Columbia University, and multiple teaching certifications, Antoinette brings a wealth of experience to this work. She serves on the advisory board for the Narrative Medicine Track of Distinction at CUNY School of Medicine and has trained with Warriors for Embodied Liberation, the Collective Trauma Facilitator program with Thomas Hübl, Ancestral Healing, and the HeartMath Institute.
Antoinette's documentary poetry collection, UNRULY, set to be published January 2025, explores themes of trauma and narrative liberation. Her work has been recognized with a TEDx talk and funding from organizations such as Café Royal Cultural Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Poetry Foundation, Twenty Summers, BLKSPACE, Architectural League of NY, The Rising Foundation, and Weeksville, among others.
As an organizer, Antoinette is committed to building coherence and resilience in Black communities. Through Black Exhale, she creates collaborative spaces to support intraracial healing, creativity, and embodied social change.
FOUNDER