Read a message from Jeriva detailing her journey to co-founding BeFor Collective.
I have always known that my life’s purpose is to advocate for and inspire the disadvantaged and disenfranchised, and I have always wanted to start my own business or non-profit. Yet, I did not know how to connect the dots to make these two things intersect or come together. This uncertainty began to shift as we moved into the COVID-19 pandemic. Like everyone else, I lived an extremely busy life, and the quiet and stillness of the pandemic was a major change. Instead of pushing against it, I embraced and welcomed the stillness and viewed it as an opportunity to do all the things I said I was too busy to do. I started an organic garden, I became a vermicomposter, I restarted my yoga practice, I began virtual workouts and I turned off the television and spent quality time in nature alone and with family. I also completed the final stage of my weight loss journey. I have struggled with weight all my life and tried every diet imaginable. After gaining back the 49 pounds that I lost 2 years previously, I made the decision in October 2019 to try one last time to accomplish my weight loss goal. On 10.23.19, I weighed 249.6 pounds, and on 7.31.20 I weighed in at 174.2 pounds, totaling a loss of 75.4 pounds and 36.75 inches. In the midst of all of this, I took advantage of an opportunity to become a certified yoga teacher. In June, I received a scholarship to participate in a free online and accredited 200-hour yoga teacher training program, which was offered to people of color in an effort to diversify and make the yoga community more inclusive. As a result of this training, I now live a yogic lifestyle following the eight-limbed path and have a daily yoga practice that includes asana (physical practice), pranayama (breathing practice) and meditation.
These combined experiences have changed my life forever! I have attained a level of joy, ease, belief, trust and freedom in my mind, body and spirit that I have never before experienced. These last few pivotal months as well as years of spiritual work, health and wellness coaching, self study and a career in the counseling field have led to my unprecedented awareness, growth, healing and transformation, and created an understanding for how I am to share my life’s purpose with the community. The life lessons, experiences and knowledge that I have acquired are not unique to me. Each is available through the study of metaphysics, yoga, Ayurveda, integrative medicine, holistic practices and other ancient forms of wisdom, teachings and ways of living. I want to bring ancient healing traditions to those who have felt like an outsider, left out or powerless due to the color of their skin, body size, gender, etc. and create an accessible, inclusive and safe space for healing, transformation and freedom.
Jeriva D. Traylor is a licensed professional counselor who has worked in the fields of pregnancy and adoption and managed care since 2002. She has practiced yoga asana off and on since 2014, some periods more off than on, and began her spiritual work and self-study in 2009. Jeriva is a RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher) with Yoga Alliance, a Certified Mindfulness-Informed Professional (CMIP) and a certified Aqua Yoga instructor as well as a member of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance. She is currently enrolled in a 300-hour yoga teacher training program and working to receive certifications in Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Professionals, Yoga Nidra, pranayama and trauma-informed yoga.
