In honor of Black History Month, Tricycle is presenting a special video series, “Teachings for Uncertain Times,” featuring 13 teachers of color, here on our blog, Trike Daily, throughout February. The videos are free to watch.

In the following video, Kaira Jewel Lingo, now a lay dharma teacher who spent 15 years as an ordained nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, outlines her teacher’s “touching the earth” practice.

“When we need support, when we need help, we can touch the earth and call on our ancestors to be there for us and to transmit to us their strength. We ask them for their energy, and this helps us to go through difficult moments, whether it’s difficulties we face because of our skin color, our physical appearance, or other difficulties we’re going through in our life,” Lingo says in her talk. 

In her teaching, Lingo also invites us to drop any unwholesome traits that have been passed along to us. 

Download a transcript of this talk. it has been edited for clarity.

Watch other videos in the “Teachings for Uncertain Times” series