Laura Johnson (she/her), PhD, RYT-500, TCYM, is a critical cultural geographer, lecturer at Humboldt State University, trauma-conscious yoga teacher, community rest worker, freelance writer, novice permaculturist, and toddler/dog/chicken momma. She is most interested in thinking, teaching, writing about, and holding space for care and connection, grief and love, grounding and rest in these times of crises, transition, and healing.
Her recent work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Rural Studies and Gender, Place, and Culture, as well as non-academic 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 recent work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Rural Studies and Gender, Place, and Culture, as well as non-academic 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 HSU's 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 HSU's 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, restorative, and slow vinyasa classes and workshops focused on mindfulness and breath, loving-kindness and compassion, radical embodiment and rest, with a particular interest in supporting collective trauma and ecological grief. Her advanced training by Samantha Akers of TheraYoga Method is dharma-infused, trauma-aware, and heart-centered. She is certified in the Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method and Yoga for Social Justice with Nityda Gessel and is a student of the Work that Reconnects. Her online course offering, Yoga for Ecological Grief, launched with HSU OLLI in October 2020 and expanded more recently as a self-paced online course through Teachable. She is also now offering private and small group Restful Healing Sessions in Old Town Eureka.
Laura lives with her husband, Nick, and their young daughter, Cordelia Rose, on 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 dogs, cat, chickens, and many plants.
