Biography
Early Life
Ruth King was raised in South Central Los Angeles by her mother. She has African and Choctaw roots. Her parents are Lodie Mae Cherry and John King. She has eight siblings. Ruth’s family and community were active in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements during the 1960s. She grew up in the Baptist Church where her mother directed the choir and played the organ. She identifies as lesbian. Her wife is Dr. Barbara E. Riley. She is the mother of Ernest Cherriokee. King has two grand-children and two great grand-daughters.
Education
King earned a Masters in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University in California in 1993. Earlier she took masters level courses in Organizational Development at Pepperdine University in California in 1985. She also attended graduate school in Santa Cruz, California. She also earned her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology at California’s John F. Kennedy University.
King’s Spiritual Journey
Ruth King remembers the words to a song her mother used to sing about asking God for a clean heart in order to serve God. The song, “Give Me a Clean Heart,” later became King’s mantra. She describes her family atmosphere as filled with “fear, high control, and violence.” She remembers watching her great-grandmother pace in the house because she was distressed that she could not protect her children’s black bodies. Growing up, King was aware of racism and hatred toward black people. She also witnessed the Watts riots in Los Angeles happening. King remembers feeling filled with rage.
King had open heart surgery at age 27 for a mitral valve prolapse. She writes that this surgery was the “beginning of a spiritual journey of open heartedness, reparation, and reclaiming tenderness.” She describes how frightening it was to allow a white surgeon to operate on her. Two of her aunts had gone into the hospital for simple things and died there. She writes that her heart had been closed off to herself for much of her life. After she recovered, she designed a nationwide training program for women, “Celebration of Rage.” She led this program for 15 years and wrote two books about the topic.
King describes how she learned to think about systems from her father, who once showed her how underground plumbing works and from her mother’s great strength and strong faith. She was invited to present a workshop about generational healing at the World Conference on Women in Beijing China in 1995. While there, she came upon a four-story representation of a golden Buddha that reminded her of a spiritual dream she had in 1985 right after graduate school in Santa Cruz, California. Standing next to her was a woman who invited her to learn about meditation at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
King writes, “Given that the Buddha specialized in suffering, it made sense to me that I would create a training program that would weave my professional background in psychology and cultural systems with Buddhist principles and mindfulness practices aimed at alleviating racial distress.” She joined Spirit Rock’s diversity council and began her journey into Buddhism, meditation, and healing.
King practices Theravada Buddhism. She is a Dharma Teacher and was Mentored by Jack Kornfield. She studied Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen (Nyingma) Empowerments from 2006-2010 with three mentors. She was a member of the Dharma Wisdom Circle that Alice Walker and Jack Kornfield hosted from 1998-2008. She graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioner Program, 2011- 2013. She also studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training offered through Charlotte Mindfulness Living in 2012.
King has studied somatic experience, mindfulness, interpersonal neurobiology, Dagara Lineage Divination, Yoga, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), and Tavistock Clinical Training.
Consulting and Teaching Buddhism
King founded Bridges, Branches, and Braids to offer Celebration of Rage and Healing Retreats from 1996-2008. She became a Guiding Teacher for the Dedicated Practitioner Program at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center from 2016-2019. She teaches mindfulness meditation retreats all over the world.
King developed her Mindful of Race Training Program to help people combine mindfulness principles with understanding ways that racism conditioning happens. She founded the Mindful of Race Institute, LLC in 2020. King teaches at meditation retreats worldwide.
King practices Vipassana and teaches at insight communities across the United States. She founded Mindful Members Insight Meditation Community in Charlotte, North Carolina. She also participates in Insight Meditation Community of Washington, District of Columbia, as a guiding teacher. She is interested in the Bodhisattva path. Her great passion is also transforming racism. She is on the Teacher’s Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She also teaches in hte Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program.
King has written two books: Healing Rage: Women Making Inner Peace Possible and Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out.
