My Healing Journey

The 30th of July, marks the day I shaved my head and my healing journey.  It has been 2 years of intentional healing and working with my self.  You can read more about my Journey with autoimmune desease here.  

That day I was scare but relief, I was letting go control. I kept the piece of hair they cut.  I arrived home, I looked at the mirror, and I learned to love myself a little stronger.  I will share some images of the process.  This images are raw, and a little triggering (trichophobia warning).  But still I want to share them. Because I’m so proud of all the hard work I have been doing. My body attacks me, and I learned to listen to it, care for it, nourish it. As with my hair, I let go of anything else that no longer serves me, including fears.

I’m here, I’m alive, I will continue this healing Journey. I believe in the power we have inside of us to self heal, to find help (medical and physiological), to manifest…We are powerful beings. I still have flare ups, and alopecia, I still have days that I can’t stand up from the bed, but also, there are many days where I create art, I go in nature to my Forest Therapy, I do my intentional rituals, I take my Plant Medicine, I dance, I laugh, I dream, I live!!!

This piece of art is called “Remendada”, is the Spanish word for “patched up”.  I felt broken, many many times, mind and body…and finally, in my 40’s, Im patching up myself, one thread at a time.  The piece was made by transferring a self portrait in a eco printed fabric I did 2 years ago, a long braid of hair they cut that day, is also present…. This is an tribute to my Journey of 2 years, healing my body, my mind and my soul.

I am enough!

I’m thankful to my husband, my daughter, my son. I’m thankful to my family, blood related and not blood related, like my beautiful friends. I’m thankful for my mentors and teachers and strangers that I have met in this path. All of them are very important in this healing Journey.

If you are in a similar Journey, it doesn’t necessary needs to be illness related, but in the Journey of patching yourself up, I want to say: You are Not Alone.  Please contact me, I can be your Journey Allied.

Resources:

For more information on autoimmune:

https://autoimmune.org

The Healing power of art:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rethinking-mental-health/202104/how-art-heals-5-ways-art-makes-everything-better

https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/629

Photography as a Healing tool:

Self-Portraits as Therapy: The Healing Potential of Photographing Yourself | PetaPixel

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/self-portrait-as-form-of-therapy-121313

Ecotherapy:

https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/nature-therapy-ecotherapy

Forest Therapy:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-forest-therapy-enhance-health-and-well-being-2020052919948

Ritual as Healing tool:

https://clearmindtreatment.com/using-ritual-to-heal-in-your-recovery/

My Forest Therapy Journey

Back in January, I enrolled to become a certified Forest Therapy guide by The ANFT. I have already a certification in Ecotherapy, but to be a Forest Therapy Guide has teached me more than I could ever imagine. This past 6 months have been full of growth and confirmation that this is the right path for me.

What is Forest Therapy?

Forest Therapy is a practice that supports health and wellness through guided immersion in forests and other environments to promote the well-being of both people and the land. It is inspired by Shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practice of “Forest Bathing.” In Forest Bathing, people spend time in forested areas to enhance health, wellness, and happiness.

In Forest Therapy, people are guided through a clearly defined sequence of invitations to slow down, allow the senses to open, and experience the environment to deepen the reciprocal relationship between participants and the forest. This supports the wholeness and well-being of both. These Slow Walks in the Forest are typically one- to two-kilometers long and fit for all ages and physical conditions.

Invitations are open-ended. There is no expectation for what participants should experience or receive. Rather, participants spend time in silence, listening and feeling with a quiet and accepting presence. They become reconnected with their senses and their innate creative potential is tapped, which allows the imagination to awaken.

During this 6 months I strengthened my relationship with nature, I slowed down, I conquered fears, I took care of myself. I feel my health has improve, and I’m just getting started. What the future holds now? I have big dreams and plans, you can have a preview here…Creation Elixir. The must important thing, my relationship with nature is on a beautiful journey and I invite you to go with me.

I made a video of a recompilation of these past six months, a beautiful visual poem of all that nature gifted me.

I truly believe in the wanders of this medicine and I’m honored to go deeper in its teachings as many of my ancestors did.