OSLA Graduate Spotlight: Rev. Toña Bobb —Sacred Refractions #3

Each month, Rev. Ava Schlesinger poses four questions and invites a community blessing as she turns the lens of curiosity toward One Spirit’s kaleidoscope of alumni. This evolving series celebrates the prism of lived experience and reflects the radiant, raw, and beautifully human expressions of sacred action and service.

This month shines the spotlight on Rev. Toña Bobb, a 2023 One Spirit Graduate, Nurse, Yoga Teacher, and Meditation & Breathwork Practitioner. (The following is paraphrased from Ava and Toña’s Zoom interview.)

What first called you to One Spirit, and how has that calling evolved since?

For years, I felt a quiet pull toward ministry, though I didn’t really know what shape it would take. I explored different possibilities including ordination through the Unity Church and more academic theological study, but none of them felt quite right. I wanted something less rigid, less academic, something that could hold spirituality on a broader scale.

After moving from New York to New Jersey, I began attending Unity Spiritual Center of Morris County. The minister there, Rev. Elizabeth Barca, happened to be a One Spirit graduate. When I shared my interest in seminary and ministry, she spoke so highly of One Spirit that my focus shifted almost immediately. I attended an information session, then met one-on-one with a dean, and something clicked. The process felt aligned, relational, and human.

I applied, was accepted, and although my entry into the cohort was slightly delayed, that time allowed me to take electives and begin forming a relationship with the school before formally starting the program. Looking back, the timing was perfect. I had settled my family, found a spiritual home, and received encouragement from people who saw something in me that I was just beginning to recognize in myself.

Where does your ministry live now?

My ministry lives at the intersection of healthcare, spirituality, and embodied practice. Professionally, I work as a nurse in case management for a home care agency. Alongside that, I teach yoga and facilitate meditation and breathwork classes/circles, with plans to continue deepening this work through Restorative, Yin, and Yoga-Nidra trainings.

For me, it’s all interconnected. I don’t separate my spiritual life from my professional one. My practice is ongoing – prayers before work, breathwork throughout the day, moments of quiet awareness woven into everything I do. This allows me to show up calmer, more compassionate, and less reactive. I believe people can really feel the difference in my presence.

In healthcare, stress is constant and often invisible. My desire is to bring practices like breathwork, meditation, and yoga into workplaces and healthcare settings – not as something extra people must do on their own time, but as a resource woven into the workday itself. Caregivers need care, too. I want to help create spaces where people can exhale, decompress, and reconnect with themselves before burnout takes over.

I also volunteer as a mentor to nursing students, helping them explore mindfulness and spirituality in ways that feel authentic to them. Many of them are just beginning careers that will ask a great deal of their hearts. Supporting them in building inner resources feels like sacred work.

How has your understanding of leadership and service shifted?

Before this path, I worked extensively in compliance and quality management. I took everything very seriously, meaning a focus on rules, regulations, and perfection. I see now how that positioned me more as an enforcer than a collaborator. Through my spiritual practice and my time at One Spirit, something softened. I still care deeply about quality, but now I approach it relationally. I want to bring out the best in people, help them see their value, and understand how their work contributes to the whole.

One of the most practical teachings for me came not from seminary itself, but from the book The Four Agreements written by Don Miguel Ruiz. I particularly resonate with the practice of ‘not taking things personally.’ This has transformed how I relate to colleagues, family members, especially those closest to me. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel things, because my feelings run very deep, but I’ve learned to pause, create space, and respond rather than react.

This shift has changed everything. Relationships feel more collaborative, less adversarial. Leadership now looks like companionship, curiosity, and shared responsibility rather than rooted in authority and hierarchy.

What unexpected gifts did One Spirit give you?

Freedom and permission to not know.

I entered the program without a clear plan for what I would ‘do’ after graduation. Many of my classmates arrived with strong visions and defined paths. I didn’t. What surprised me was how fully this way of showing up was welcomed. There was no pressure to decide, no demand for certainty.

One Spirit gave me permission to explore – to take electives that interested me, to engage in conversations without judgment, to sit in not knowing as a legitimate spiritual stance. I didn’t have to define my spirituality or my future. I simply had to show up.

What emerged from that freedom has been deep personal growth. I have become less judgmental, more open, and more willing to encounter aspects of humanity I might once have avoided. I learned that if Spirit is truly one, then it must be all-inclusive. That realization continues to shape how I move through the world.

Perhaps the greatest gift of all was discovering, or rediscovering, myself. This opportunity has given me the freedom to be me, and to keep discovering who that is and what that means.

If you could offer a blessing to One Spirit alumni (and those who may find their way here), what would it be?

Thank you to Rev. Diane Burke for saying yes to the Divine and for bringing the vision of One Spirit into being.

Thank you to the faculty who serve, teach, and guide, and to all the students who show up with open hearts and open minds.

Thank you to all who have said yes to Spirit whether you knew what that yes would require or not.

May you continue to offer your gifts, your time, your talents, and your presence in service to humanity – knowing that simply showing up is already a blessing.

I am grateful to be part of this community of people who continue to say yes…blessings to you all.

Amen.

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A note from Rev. Ava

The beauty of our One Spirit community is that the light and love keep moving, bending, shimmering, and finding new forms through each of us. If you’re a graduate or student of seminary or ISCC whose work in the world reflects this light, and you want to share your story, I would love to hear from you (contact me: beautyandgraceink@gmail.com) so that we can discuss spotlighting you in the future. Sacred Refractions is meant to be a living conversation – a collection of stories that show how ministry continues to take shape in every imaginable place and form.