Lama Rod Owens - LGBTQ Georgians and Allies Round Out AJC’s List of 55 ‘Everyday Heroes’
In our ongoing partnership with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Reckoning identified six inspiring Georgians who are making a difference in their community. These incredible individuals, many of whom identify as LGBTQ or an ally, are featured in the digital and print version of AJC’s “Everyday Heroes” project, which launched during Thanksgiving week.
This place we call home is filled with ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary feats. Their selfless acts make this region so special – and they bring out the best in all of us. With the holidays upon us, AJC, The Reckoning, and our partners wanted to share their inspiring stories, celebrate their accomplishments, and offer ways that you can help.
The Reckoning shares the final three of six profiles we contributed to the project. We hope you've enjoyed reading about ordinary people doing extraordinary work.
Lama Rod Owens, 43
Buddhist Minister, Author, Activist, Yoga Instructor, Authorized Lama, Queen
Growing up in Rome, Georgia, and raised by a United Methodist Church minister, Lama Rod Owens always understood the importance of service and community.
"My mother was grounded in community and the belief that we had to be concerned with the health and welfare of the community we lived in," he said. "Early on, I wanted to understand why people struggled and the factors in culture and society that played into how people were disenfranchised."
Owens decided to get involved with the issues that directly impacted him. As a teen, he did all kinds of service work and organizing, from homelessness advocacy to sexual health education, substance abuse, and recovery work. This work broadened in his 20s into HIV/AIDS awareness and activism around LGBTQIA issues.
Eventually, he moved to Boston. While there, he worked for Haley House, a non-profit organization that uses food to break down barriers and strengthen neighborhoods. He landed in a community filled with diverse faith traditions. Being surrounded by Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christian Scientists, fed his curiosity about why people choose their spiritual paths.
"It was there that I began to ask even deeper questions about the nature of suffering," he said. "Why do we suffer? Why do we have trauma? Why are we sad? Why are we hopeless?"
Owens broke up with God and ventured into meditation which became a doorway.
"I spent so much of my life trying to figure out about the mind and why we think and feel the way we do. Meditation became this first entry into understanding a way of getting free from trauma, despair, helplessness, and moving into a space of joy," he said. "From there, my activism began to transform."
“I spent so much of my life trying to figure out about the mind and why we think and feel the way we do. Meditation became this first entry into understanding a way of getting free from trauma, despair, helplessness, and moving into a space of joy.”
Today, as an ordained lama, a venerated spiritual title given in Tibetan Buddhism, Owens continues the work of his teens and early 20s by pairing his well-being meditative work with his commitment to justice.
One example is the undoing patriarchy retreat he facilitates. Male-identified participants convene from the United States and the United Kingdom to investigate how patriarchy co-opts masculinity. By the end of the retreat, participants are equipped with the skills to practice sacred masculinity and embrace fluidity and connectivity.
"That kind of work can't be done over just a weekend. Participants are provided an action plan they can follow beyond the retreat with awareness-based, meditative practices," he said. "But it isn't just individual work. A lot of the groups have formed communities afterward that help support holding the work beyond the retreat."
But his work is more than retreat-based.
A few years ago, Owens partnered with the Calm app. Through the partnership, he helped develop three meditation series – self-care, grief, and coming out. He wanted to be creative and engaging while also providing practices that are accessible and relative. It was a challenge but enlightening for him.
"It's really helped me to understand that I can bring a particular way of thinking and particular talents to help communities," he said. "It challenged me to think more critically, to think more expansively about applying the work and supporting people in this work who are trying to survive."
He was also stretched by the experience, approaching the idea of making his practices accessible to someone who would never attend a meditation retreat or sit down for a meditation session.
"It took synthesizing what I do," he said, "Knowing that it can effectively impact others."
Learn more about Lama Rod Owens here.
Mashaun D. Simon is an equity and inclusion advocate who centers his preaching, writing, and scholarship on cultural competency, identity, and equity.
He has written for NBC News and the Atlanta Daily World, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Black Enterprise, Bloomberg News, TheGrio.com, Ebony Magazine, BelieveOutLoud.com, and Essence Magazine. He has also created and managed cultural competency and affirmative action programming and training and in 2018, Mashaun organized and facilitated Kennesaw State University’s Faith and Sexuality Symposium on behalf of KSU’s Presidential Commission for LGBT Initiatives. In 2021, Mashaun was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort of the Rising Leaders Fellowship.
He holds a professional writing degree from Georgia Perimeter College, a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Kennesaw State University, and a Master of Divinity from Emory University's Candler School of Theology.