Shauna Harrison, PhD

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Shauna Harrison, PhD

public health PhD // trainer // yogi // writer // hip hop head

02/04/2026

Oh so grateful for little pockets of joy, moments of celebration, cupcakes, and 48 years!!
The work won’t stop here, though. This is just a pit stop of appreciation for life, love, and community before it’s right back to growth, next steps, new adventures, and, of course, continuing to fight for health and human rights. Cheers to 48, to you finding your own little pockets of joy (and cupcakes!), and to empathy and humanity 🥂.

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👖 👚

02/01/2026

b u i l d i n g j o y 🛝 So many of my most favorite days over the last few years have been build days with . Action & joy & play & transformation & community & care & love & showing up for the kids. Building equity. Building Hope. Building pure joy.

I know you’ve seen me talk about these build days over the years (I’ve been on 20+ now!) but the real joy is in seeing the impact that these builds have had on the Oakland community.
This is just the trailer for ’s new short documentary: “Building Joy: A Movement to Reimagine Oakland’s Schoolyards.” The full vid is such a needed watch right now. Seeing these kids and their joy is soul-filling in such a profound way. I cried multiple times watching this doc.

Sometimes resistance looks slides & mulch & ground games & street art. Creating space for play, for creation, for movement, and for opportunity for these next generations of leaders.

To see the full, beautiful, hope-filled video, head to 🔗 in bio!
🫶🏼🫶🏼

01/30/2026

ICE OUT. 🔗 nationalshutdown.org/actions

01/26/2026

& f@scism & racism & gen0cide & science denialism & climate denialism & history denialism & homophobia & transphobia & social injustice & food insecurity & environmental racism & & & & & &.

I’ve never been shy about my beliefs and none of this should be surprising.
I am descended from Mexican immigrants.
I spent decades in school studying public health, specifically with health disparities in Latin American populations.
I am in fitness/yoga/wellness/movement, which means I work with people moving their bodies. That is an honor and a gift to be entrusted any time I interact with someone. To pretend that what happens in the environment surrounding us doesn’t impact the body is neglectful. To care more about squat form than healthcare reform is shortsighted. To think that food dye is the biggest issue when the system is allowing people to d!£ from lack of food is missing the point. To forget infectious disease in the “journey to wellness” is irresponsible. To think violence, experienced in the body or even through the eyes and ears, doesn’t impact the body is remiss.
What is happening, what HAS BEEN happening for years impacts our mental, physical, social well-being. So, yes, it is your lane. I wrote about this back in 2020 and maybe I’ll repost in stories.

I know I may not post on my feed like I used to mostly bc so many of my followers never see them (thanks meta) so I just stick to stories. But just in case there was ever any doubt, I wanted to come here to say, I’ve never been afraid to lose followers; I’ve lost nearly 30,000 in the last decade, likely bc I’ve always been “political.” Sorry I will NEVER be sorry about wanting people to be safe in their bodies, which necessarily includes their communities, places of work, streets, states, countries, etc etc.

So yeah, absolutely F 🧊 and all the other injustices happening all over the world. ✊🏽✊🏽

12/02/2025

It’s Giving Tuesday!! I know there are so many amazing organizations to choose from, but this one in particular is near and dear to my heart. As soon as I heard & were starting an organization focused on providing nutritious meals, reading resources, and safe places to play, I knew I wanted to be involved. I started volunteering with in 2023, after 3 years of trying to find a way to be a part of what they are doing (other than via donations) and they haven’t been able to shake me since!! I’ve helped on like 20 playground builds, multiple book fairs, and a handful of Book Bus distributions.
For Giving Tuesday, & are matching up to $500k of donations to to fight hunger here in Oakland. In a time where cuts to SNAP are compounded by the rising cost of groceries, supporting the families most affected by food insecurity is so important.

I can vouch for the integrity of this organization and the amazing partners they work with like@accfb & . The people, the missions, the ex*****on of programming. They’re all amazing!!

11/01/2025

Spend Halloween morning with the Book bus passing out books (& food!) to elementary kids in Oakland?!
Um, yes please and thank you.
And of course I had to be a 🧚🏼‍♀️Book Fair-y 🧚‍♀️ get it?!?

Then I just kept the fairy going through Pilates, but the wings did not really help with the pull-ups, in case anyone’s wondering.

Thanks for all you do!!

Happy Halloween!
Ps the last two slides are my favorite. 🤓 🧚‍♀️ 😂

06/23/2025

The nerd was NERD👏🏽ING👏🏽 this weekend. Officially started 25th grade () by missing the whole first day of school to get my professor on for Summer Institute! So. Much. Zoom.

Still playing catch up while doing other sessions and workshops but…I ❤️ SCHOOL SO MUCH!!!

In this world of exceedingly unjust actions, reactions, and sentiments being normalized, it is great to be surrounded by faculty and students committed to social justice. Grateful for 🫶🏼.

Also grateful for Dr for being such an amazing guest speaker in my course 6 years in a row!! Thank you, Doc!

And grateful for the brain breaks brought by sweat!! And cupcakes.

06/16/2025

I was forced to learn the hard way that not every parent embodies the role. That, much like the act of love itself, the act of parenthood is a decision to be made consistently and repeatedly and not every parent is able and/or willing to show up to fulfill it.
I was also fortunate enough to learn in a much more loving way that any human, regardless of shared blood, can be an amazing parent. That consistent and repeated love comes naturally and abundantly for some people and stepping into the role is seemingly effortless.
I am so grateful for the love and support that has come from stepping in so effortlessly.
But I’m also grateful for the hard lessons my dad taught me when he abruptly and harshly stepped away. Sometimes learning the hard lessons makes you more appreciative of the beautiful truths.
Happy Father’s Day to those who bring these roles to life in the most beautiful and loving ways.

And if this day is hard or confusing for you. SAME. 🫶🏼🫶🏼

**also s/o to John for this pic I didn’t even know existed!! Sorry I stole it from you love you!!!

05/25/2025

TFW…you’re going back to school…AGAIN!
25th grade, here I come!! 🎉

Now loading…MFA in Creative Nonfiction. 🙌🏽

And I am excited!! School is one of my happy places and getting my acceptance after a day of playground fun with my fam at was just joy on top of joy. I gotta say, Friday was a good day!!

Shout out to all y’all who didn’t believe me when I said I was finished with school after my doctorate. You were right and I love you for it.

Even bigger shout out to learning. You’re never too old, there’s always more to learn, the best teachers are forever students, being a novice is a gift that brings you growth, and learning can be a form of self care and joy too.

And in a world with daily attacks on humanity, equality, science, health, education, books, arts, culture, democracy, and so many other things, finding moments of joy is crucial to our mental health. Staying open to learning is crucial to the fight for a better world.

25th grade, LFG!!

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05/11/2025

To my mama, my mama’s mama, and my mama’s mama’s mama, I’m honored to carry this fierce and feisty DNA. Thank you for guiding me every step, every moment, every breath, whether you were physically here or not.

To all my aunts, grandmas, teachers, mentors, and my favorite stepmom, thank you for always reminding me that love is thicker than blood.

To anyone for whom today is tough for whatever reason, I send you so much love.

Happy Mother’s Day, mama. Love you!!
❤️

02/04/2025

f o u r t y 7 ! ! ! 🧁
Sure, age ain’t nothin but a number, but whew, those years?! They sure are something. Every single one of them. Although every year I find myself saying something to the effect of “I don’t know what I thought this particular age would feel like, but somehow doesn’t feel like what I thought it would.” But for real. I feel like it becomes more and more true every year. Idk where 47 popped up from, but so so glad to see it! Grateful always, but especially on these moments and days of reflection.

And yes I’m still posing with my cupcakes. Might upgrade to a whole damn cake for that big bday in a few years. 🫣

Happy February 4th to all who celebrate! 🎉

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01/10/2025

At a loss for words for the utter devastation that’s happening down in LA. Sending all my love feels insufficient, but I will send it anyway.

Please continue to be vigilant, heed warnings, mask to protect from the smoke and ash, be kind to each other, be grateful to the first responders, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

While I’m donating wherever I can, if there is something else I can do to help you, please reach out.

Love and healing to everyone out there.
🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

Repost from
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With so much devastation and uncertainty across Los Angeles and the surrounding areas for those impacted by the , blame can never be the first response. We do as we have done time and time again in the face of adversity.

We pray for those essential workers risking their lives and for those families who lost loved ones.

We plan for those who have been misplaced and have lost their homes and belongings.

And we prepare for the future where we help rebuild our communities together.

Above all, we together.

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http://shaunaharrison.com/

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