What happens when someone who teaches healing suddenly must fight for her own?
Dr. Joi Lewis joins me for a powerful conversation about surviving a massive stroke, rebuilding life through radical self-care, and learning how community, meditation, faith, and curiosity can help people heal. Raised in East St. Louis, Joi shares how her upbringing shaped her deep belief in connection, public service, and emotional liberation. You’ll hear how she moved from higher education leadership into healing justice work, why she believes isolation is dangerous, and how practices like mindfulness, conscious movement, and meditation became critical tools during her recovery. This conversation explores disability, resilience, trust, healing, and what it really means to live with an unstoppable mindset.
Highlights:
00:59 How community shaped her mindset growing up in East St. Louis.
08:47 Surviving a massive stroke and adapting to disability.
15:14 Why radical self-care is essential for healing.
21:16 How faith and music support her recovery journey.
35:35 The four parts of the Orange Method for healing.
50:19 How an “energy bank” helps restore emotional health.
About the Guest:
"Dr. Joi” Lewis is CEO of Joi Unlimited (www.drjoilewis.com) and Founder of The Healing Justice Foundation (www.healingjusticefoundation.org). Joi Unlimited is a crisis, conflict, and change management firm specializing in transformation of systems and self for collective and individual liberation. The Healing Justice Foundation’s mission is to reclaim the inherent dignity, brilliance, and humanity of all Black people.
Dr. Joi (as many fondly call her) is known locally, nationally, and globally as a facilitator of liberation, radical self-care expert, and community healer. What that means is she helps individuals, institutions, and communities heal from oppression-induced historic and present day trauma, using Healing Justice (Radical Self-Care + Social Justice) as an on ramp to reclaim our own humanity and each others’. Dr. Joi is the author of Healing: The Act of Radical Self-Care, based on her transformative process the Orange Method (OM) of Healing Justice, and of the meditation journal and affirmation deck May the Revolution Be Healing. She is a social entrepreneur and a highly sought-after speaker and executive coach.
Dr. Joi inspires us to hold heartbreak and “joy” because they run from the same faucet. Her work is deeply informed by growing up in East St. Louis, Illinois. Dr. Joi completed her doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted research in South Africa, had a 20+ year career on college campuses as Dean, Faculty, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer. She is an unapologetic joy instigator, a certified kemetic and hot vinyasa yoga teacher, a facilitator of meditation and mindfulness and a food prep pro, who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. In July of 2024, Dr. Joi survived a massive stroke and has recommitted to the practices of the Orange Method as she prioritizes her own radical self care. Dr. Joi is on a mission to “put healing in the hands of anyone, anywhere.”
Ways to connect with Joi:
https://www.healingjusticefoundation.org/
Facebook: Dr Joi Lewis
Instagram: @drjoi
LinkedIn: Dr Joi Lewis
About the Host:
Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.
Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT\&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards.
https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/
https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/
accessiBe Links
https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe
https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/
https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/
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