Areas of Service
Support for Veterans
Therapy, Music, Yoga, and Relaxation Techniques are offered to combat PTSD, depression, conflict-resolution and domestic violence.
Health Awareness
HIV/AIDS prevention and health education decreases the life-limiting physical, mental and social health concerns that occur with greater frequency among black, males.
Community Events
STEM and Coding Education, Health Fairs, community events, and training for teachers, health providers, and therapists are offered to teach empowerment.
Better health makes better men and better men make better families and communities.
– “Dr. Jean Bonhomme”.
Baba “Yoga” Bey
Wellness Practitioner for over 40 Years!
“Everything Is In Divine Order” Quy-Yuim Baba Yoga Bey
Sunrise: July 11, 1944 Sunset: May 2, 2024
Quy-Yuim Baba “Yoga” Bey also known as The African God Father and a Jegna. He was born on July 11, 1944, in Harlem, New York. He enjoyed living in California for a few years, claimed Atlanta, Georgia as his second home, and has traveled to many different countries such as Ghana in West Africa, China, Israel, and India.
Baba’s birth name was Calvin Richardson. His father was William Edward Richardson and his mother’s name was Jessie Mae Colter. He leaves behind twin sons, Menelik & Quy-Yuim Richardson, and daughter, Seemkah Holley, daughter of Natanyah Sullivan. He proudly proclaimed his love for his many Goddaughters, Godbrother Yuhannan Preer, Godsons Ric Mathis, Andrew and David Foster-Johnson aka “The Soul Brothers”, his dear friend Dr. Jean Bonhomme, MD, MPH, President of NBMHN.
He shared his leadership as the Dean of African American Culture and Arts at Florence Jackson Academy from September 1985 – June 1996. His dedication to discovering new landmarks in holistic health and healing based on science and ancient healing arts was immense. He believed we can heal ourselves through financial and spiritual wellness, herbs, vegetables, and flower gardens.
The community and his peers highly respected and adored Baba Bey. He has served as a Wellness practitioner for over 40 years and Board Member and Outreach Coordinator for The National Black Men’s Health Network. He affirmed that “better health makes better men and better men make better families and communities”. Baba served the community as a Yoga/Tai-Chi/Qi-Gong and Drumming Instructor, Rites of Passage Speaker, and community activist.
He was born into a non-traditional family facing worldly stressors; however, Baba sought a place to find inner peace. He created Baba’s Soul Divine Yoga as that place and shared it with the world. In 1999 Baba provided Yoga Qi-Gong and Tai-Chi classes with a team of concerned teachers from Atlanta. The team spent six weeks at the Providence Baptist Church in Accra, Ghana West Africa doing community outreach and educational wellness. He is certified as a Qi-Gong instructor of the Erie-Mei System of Tibet China. He was also a skilled master drummer and performed in the 1996 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in Atlanta, GA. Baba was a former yoga instructor and strength management instructor with the Advance Clinic of Preventative Medicine under the direction of Dr. William Richardson.
Baba was a lifelong learner and enjoyed his accomplishments. Here are a few:
April 2008 – National Black Men’s Health Network Awarded Fulton County Proclamation
- May 2009 – Certified Tai-Chi instructor with the Arthritis Foundation for America
- April 2009 – National Black Men’s Health Network Awarded Clayton County Proclamation
- June 2009 – Spring Forest Qi-Gong Level I
- January 2010 – Awarded Certificate of Achievement: Association of Black Cardiologists
- April 2010 – Co-Star in Play “I AM Kirikou” in Role “Grandfather”
- June 2010 – Spring Forest Qi-Gong Level II
- July 2017 – Abibifahodie Award
- May 2024 – The Black Youth Black Brilliance Lifetime Achievement Award
Some of his most loved organizations include his work with Hillside International Truth Center, Liberated Minds Black Homeschool and Education Institute, Camp Village, Code Ninjas, Shrine of the Black Madonna, Sadie G. Mays Health & Rehabilitation Center, YMCA, H.J.C. Bowden Center, Cosby Spear Highrise Community, Lou Walker Center, Helene S. Mills Senior Center, Kindred Healing Center, Sevananda, Sweet Spot Vtox, Sukyo Mahikari, Tassili’s Raw Reality, JenCare Senior Medical Center, many holistic health centers, schools, hospitals, festivals, and events.
Baba Bey created a legacy of love and was blessed to have many cherished friends and family. He was truly the African Godfather who affirmed in all of us that “We Have the Power”!
Enjoy the Celebration of Life Presentation.
We will also honor Baba Bey’s wishes to host a celebration of life during his birthday week. Join us on July 14, 2024 from 4-7 pm at the Omenal-Griot Museum.
For upcoming details of his Baba’s Life Celebration, please RSVP above email tnbmhn@gmail.com.
Greetings from The National Black Men’s Health Network!
We are a non-profit, 501c3 organization serving the community since June 1987. Our mission is to provide health education to all and reach black men, boys, and their families with health awareness messages and tools, screening programs, relaxation techniques, educational materials, advocacy opportunities, and patient navigation.
“Baba’s 3 Health Connections” will kick-off during Men’s Health month which is in June. Our goal is to increase healthy relationships for families to increase their physical, mental, and social engagement. Join one of our events or make a commitment to creating/hosting an event each month.
Our network of practitioners offers classes and services. We use music, meditation, yoga, counseling, dance, massage therapy, and health education to improve the health of the entire family. Men and boys have a number of serious debilitating and life-limiting health concerns that occur exclusively or with greater frequency among individuals of the male gender. Prostate cancer occurs with comparable frequency and mortality to breast cancer, but the former receives much less funding and media attention. Men are less likely to have health insurance and less likely to have seen a doctor in the past year than women. While the average life expectancy of women and men was about equal in the 1920s, life expectancy increased at an unequal rate such that there is now a six to a seven-year gap between the genders. Men’s average life expectancy is now nearly 10% less than that for women.
One of the reasons that men’s health is a particular concern to black men is that many of the health issues that affect men more frequently than women, such as prostate cancer and homicide, statistically appear to affect black men most of all. As the only group in America still with a life expectancy only in the mid-sixties, many black men do not live long enough to collect social security or Medicare.
We now have scientific evidence that disease has determinants and does not just come about at random. At least 80% of deaths are lifestyle-related, and as we acquire more knowledge about the causes of disease, that percent is only likely to grow. Men die more from all of the ten leading causes of death than women do; yet little attention has been paid to the health and longevity of this segment of the population. It is time for this oversight to be corrected, and your highly commendable efforts are a long-overdue step in that direction.
Dr. Jean Bonhomme, MD, MPH
President of NBMHN
Connect With Us
Fill out the form to get in touch, ask questions, and stay informed.