I was born and raised in Virginia and attended Arlington Public Schools from K-12. All throughout my childhood I experienced a variety of traumatic experiences and those experiences shaped me into a people-pleasing, over-achieving, straight-A student. While I excelled academically, I had an extremely painful social and emotional experience throughout K-12 - particularly because I attended schools where the student and staff population were predominantly white and wealthy. I remember being a middle and high school kid that was intuitively aware of the inequitable racial power dynamics in all aspects of my schooling experience, though I didn't have the vocabulary to name and express all that I felt, noticed, and knew was racist.  Throughout my undergraduate experience at Stanford University, my wounded inner child guided me to take all courses related to race, racism, ethnicity, social inequities, etc. I majored in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity with a minor in Education. I didn't know it back then, but one way that I began my healing journey (unconsciously) was to learn all that I could about all the social inequities that I had experienced throughout my schooling. For once, my painful experiences throughout school were reflected and validated through all the research papers, books, and lectures that I learned from. I finally had an intellectual understanding and developed a vocabulary to name all the racism, sexism, and classism that I remembered experiencing as a student. Armed with all of this knowledge and racial literacy that I was so thirsty for as a child, I felt like I had no other choice than to go back into schools as a teacher and be the teacher of color that I wish I always had.  Upon graduating from undergrad I entered the Masters program at the Stanford Teacher Education Program. As one of the VERY few teacher candidates of color in my program, I remember feeling and carrying A LOT of resentment towards my white peers and instructors. It was so disheartening to continue seeing racial disparities and inequities within the curriculum as well as social dynamics among my peers and instructors. It was maddening, honestly. It felt like a blessing and a curse to have this newfound racial literacy that most folks around me lacked. At the time, I felt it was absolutely necessary to call out every little "micro"aggression in the curriculum, texts, discussions, and interactions we all had. And because I had so much unprocessed anger, resentment, and racial trauma - the "way" my critiques came off were seen and labeled as "harsh, off-putting, or too angry." No matter what I said or how I said it, my white peers or instructors couldn't hear, see, understand, or receive me fully and this added more fuel to my anger.  I was so overwhelmed with the normal workload PLUS the extra hidden labor that I put in to spread the racial literacy I had. All of my unprocessed racial trauma from throughout my childhood in addition to the stress of the teacher training program finally caught up to me and started erupting into really painful physical symptoms all over my physical and energy bodies. I was constantly getting sick, sore throats, losing my voice completely, digestion issues, painful gnawing sensations in my stomach, respiratory problems, and the list goes on and on. I didn't know how to address my physical issues- neither did I have an awareness back then that I also had deeper emotional and spiritual issues asking and needing to be confronted. So I just did what I knew best back then, swept all my anxieties and issues under the rug and used the healthiest coping mechanisms I could find to distract me from all my painful symptoms.  I spent the next 6 years teaching K-3rd grade in both California and Virginia. In those 6 years I taught at 4 different schools in 4 very different school environments and contexts. I completely burned out after my 3rd year of teaching and took my 4th year off to rest and heal after experiencing a viscerally traumatic experience with the educational institution I worked for. Basically, at every school I worked at, I felt a moral obligation to speak up everytime I noticed a social inequity whether it was due to racism, sexism, classism, or homophobia. I had "courageous conversations" and called out other teachers, coaches, parents, and principals. And while I did my part to summon the courage to speak up against "controversial" issues, most folks didn't know how to or couldn't summon their own courage to look within and really examine what shadows were being highlighted for them. I experienced a lot of gaslighting everytime I spoke up. Again, this added so much more fuel to the already raging fire within my spirit.  I was in so much pain yet I couldn't access my pain - the only way my pain manifested and felt safe enough to access was through rage and anger. I didn't have the tools, guidance, or support system to assist me in feeling the depths of my rage and anger and I didn't know it was possible for such energy to be transmuted and transformed. By my 4th year of teaching I had found a community of other QTBIPOC educators (Healing, Empowerment, Love, Liberation, & Action HELLA by Dr. Farima Pour-Kourshid) with whom I felt such a strong connection and resonance particularly because they were a community of educators intentionally working on healing their personal wounds as well as racial and institutional wounds. And while having that community was a critical turning point in my healing journey as an educator, I needed more targeted guidance and support. So in my final year of teaching I finally had access to a therapist and went to therapy on a weekly basis. I was so excited to have found a woman therapist of color because I felt like she would understand the pain and the struggles I experienced as an educator. After a few months of talk therapy, I was disappointed that no matter how much I tried to explain what it was like to be a teacher of color and juggle so many work demands on top of the hidden emotional labor that femme teachers of color put in, it felt like my therapist just didn't quite get me since she lacked first-hand insight into teaching in K-12 school systems. There were nuances to my anger, rage, pain, and sorrow that still didn't feel quite seen, heard, or held even by a talk therapist.  I knew I always had deeper emotional & spiritual gifts, awarenesses, and lived experiences that were assets to my role as an educator and a huge value to the schools, institutions, and communities that I served. Yet, no matter how hard I worked, or how articulately I expressed my thoughts, feelings, opinions, or critiques, I wasn't seen as a valuable member of the school communities I worked for. I often felt silenced, ignored, disposable, gaslit, surveilled, policed, sanctioned and was most definitely persecuted and pushed out for speaking truth to power multiple times at multiple schools.  Once the pandemic hit, my body, mind, and spirit felt my personal suppressed grief as well as the collective grief all around us and I knew I couldn't continue working in schools. In the summer of 2020 I lost a few significant relationships, experienced the death of a loved one, and also left my career in teaching without any idea of what to do or where to go next. If you're familiar with the tarot, it was quite literally a HUGE tower collapsing season of my life. I had a profound existential crisis and spiritual awakening that catapulted me onto a deep personal and spiritual excavation journey. I found a Two-Spirit Shamanic Healer who quickly became my mentor and guided me over the following two years. With all the death and dysfunction in my reality at the time, I was fiercely called to face, sit with, feel, release, and heal through all the rage, anger, grief, sorrow, guilt, and shame that was deeply suppressed for decades.  Working and healing with my Two-Spirit Shamanic Healer was another major turning point in my healing journey. The spiritual gifts and intuitive energy healing that my mentor was experienced in supported me in really healing my wounds from the root, transforming my pain into wisdom, and achieving a balance and harmony in body, mind and spirit that I had never had access to before in my life. I put in consistent and disciplined effort to feel, release, transmute, and transform my pain into my own wisdom. I soon remembered that I, too, am (and always have been) a Two-Spirit Medicine Being. I realized that my purpose was to support other folks - and particularly educators - through their healing journeys. I am here to support educators who need a healer to hold sacred space for them and to guide them in feeling, releasing, transmuting, and transforming their pain into their wisdom.  All educators have shit they need to heal from. All educators need emotional, spiritual, and practical support through their healing journeys. All educators have implicit biases, subconscious childhood wounds, and various shadows that impact the way we show up in our classrooms and school communities. There is no shadow to be ashamed of. Our shadows are there to be witnessed with loving compassion, to be felt, understood, and transformed into conscious awareness and eventually wisdom and deep love for the self.  "Doing the work" to heal is grueling, gut-wrenching, deeply uncomfortable, and painful - but if you have the courage to face your wounds and shadows with my compassionate loving guidance then you're already halfway there. I have a unique experience working in schools and educational institutions in addition to spiritual and intuitive gifts that allow me to see, hear, feel, and know you on a deeper level than you might feel in other healing environments and that will facilitate a deep healing and transformation for you in body, mind, and spirit.  If you are committed to your highest evolution, growth, and transformation in body, mind, and spirit to show up as the best, most healed, racially literate, emotionally intelligent, spiritually grounded, and heart-centered version of yourself in your classroom and school communities, then my healing services may be a great match for you and your healing journey.  I look forward to building an authentic relationship with you, witnessing you in your fullest expression, and holding sacred space for your beautiful unfolding!