Laura Johnson (she/her), PhD, RYT-500, TCYM, is a critical cultural geographer, lecturer at Cal Poly Humboldt, trauma-conscious yoga teacher, community rest and grief worker, freelance writer, novice permaculturist, and toddler/dog/chicken/goat momma.
Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Rural Studies and Gender, Place, and Culture, as well as publications such as Science and Nonduality (SAND), Tikkun, Taproot Magazine, the Journal of Wild Culture, Empty Mirror, Resilience.org, LionsRoar.com, Good Grief Network, and Deep Times: A Journal of the Work that Reconnects. She was honored to be an invited participant in the first Orion in the Wilderness Environmental Writers Workshop in 2019 with the Omega Institute.
Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Rural Studies and Gender, Place, and Culture, as well as publications such as Science and Nonduality (SAND), Tikkun, Taproot Magazine, the Journal of Wild Culture, Empty Mirror, Resilience.org, LionsRoar.com, Good Grief Network, and Deep Times: A Journal of the Work that Reconnects. She was honored to be an invited participant in the first Orion in the Wilderness Environmental Writers Workshop in 2019 with the Omega Institute.
Laura holds a PhD in Geography from Michigan State University with a specialization in Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change; an MA in International Studies from East Carolina University; and a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her academic research centers on cultivating socio-cultural and ecological reconnections in agro-food systems and beyond. She has studied, researched, and taught in Italy, France, Ghana, New Zealand, and Ireland.
Laura has developed and taught many interdisciplinary undergraduate courses - in person, online, and hybrid - and graduate seminars centered on environmental justice and socio-cultural change including: Emotions in the Anthropocene; Nature, Culture, and Food (part of the Global Humboldt first-year learning community); Global Awareness; International Environmental Issues and Globalization; Community, Ecology, and Social Action; Women and Development; Power, Privilege, and Environment; Environmental Ethics; and Freshman Seminar Abroad programs in New Zealand and Ireland. At MSU she was awarded an Integrative Studies in Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award.
Laura has developed and taught many interdisciplinary undergraduate courses - in person, online, and hybrid - and graduate seminars centered on environmental justice and socio-cultural change including: Emotions in the Anthropocene; Nature, Culture, and Food (part of the Global Humboldt first-year learning community); Global Awareness; International Environmental Issues and Globalization; Community, Ecology, and Social Action; Women and Development; Power, Privilege, and Environment; Environmental Ethics; and Freshman Seminar Abroad programs in New Zealand and Ireland. At MSU she was awarded an Integrative Studies in Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award.
A 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, Laura also offers accessible yin and restorative classes and workshops with a particular interest in supporting collective grief and trauma. Her advanced training by Samantha Akers of TheraYoga Method is dharma-infused, trauma-aware, and heart-centered. She is also certified in the Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method and Yoga for Social Justice with Nityda Gessel and is a practitioner of the Work that Reconnects.
In 2021 she founded A Restful Space, offering personalized restorative yoga and community rest and eco-grief circles in Humboldt County well as her signature online course, Yoga for Ecological Grief. She has been invited to teach on embodying eco-grief and rest as radical practice at the 2022 Sedona Yoga Festival, the annual Post-Capitalism Conference, and meditation retreats.
In 2021 she founded A Restful Space, offering personalized restorative yoga and community rest and eco-grief circles in Humboldt County well as her signature online course, Yoga for Ecological Grief. She has been invited to teach on embodying eco-grief and rest as radical practice at the 2022 Sedona Yoga Festival, the annual Post-Capitalism Conference, and meditation retreats.
Laura lives with her husband, Nick, and their young daughter, Cordelia Rose, on unceded Wiyot land in Eureka, CA, where they are working to cultivate a quarter acre of land into a flourishing permaculture homestead and cohabiting with their dog and cat, chickens and goats, and many plants.
