Teo Drake

Teo Drake is a spiritual activist, an educator, a practicing Buddhist and yogi, and an artisan who works in wood and steel. A self-described "blue-collar, queer-identified trans-man living with AIDS," Drake channels his activism into the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, ability, and spirituality. He sees compassion as being central to building a just world, and therefore compassion is central to his spiritual grounding and compassion practices are at the core of his teaching and trainings.

He is a board member and on faculty with Off the Mat, Into the World; a member of the advisory board of the Transgender Law Center’s project Positively Trans; part of the poor and blue collar national working group for Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ); and a founding member of the Transforming Hearts Collective. His writing appears in the anthology Yoga and Body Image and at the blog rootsgrowthetree.com.

When he isn’t helping spiritual spaces be more welcoming and inclusive of queer and transgender people or helping queer and trans folks find authentic spiritual paths, Teo Drake can be found teaching martial arts, yoga, and woodworking to children.