How Healing and Collective Wellness Can Coexist?
Full integration of individual healing is only possible when collective wellness is part of the equation.
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Hola, Lorena here!
I'm so happy that you made it here and that our worlds allied to bring us closer and weave us together in this reading corner of the virtual web. From today forward, please know I welcome you to my heart and will keep you there.
Let me tell you a bit about myself and my - ‘whys’ - I decided to share my words, break out of limited conditioning, and weave community: I grew up in Perú and moved to the US in my early 20s to pursue education and a better life for myself and my family. However, I soon realized that many immigrants struggle to keep up with the demands of a fast-paced, industrialized society. This way of living can be exhausting and lead to burnout, especially for women like myself, who face unique challenges in addressing intergenerational trauma in the mixt of acculturation processes. I discovered that the wellness industry often overlooked my specific needs, offering "one size fits all" solutions that didn't address my multicultural background and my need for tools to navigate the fast, ever-evolving culture. I was urged to do my own cultural code-switching to keep up with life.
Over the past 20 years, I have experimented with various methods to support my inner healing, from mindfulness, somatic experices, psychotherapy and everything in between. As an integrated therapist myself, I have learned a range of techniques. Still, it wasn't until I broke free from the confines of the box I was in and followed my intuition that I began to see positive and lasting changes in all aspects of my life.
It took me many attempts and considerable time and money to find peace, wholeness, and the inner strength I needed to embrace my brown body and heavy accent and learn to prioritise my needs over accommodating others.
Unfortunately, my progress was hindered by the inability to integrate Western methods with my inherited cultural and traditional ways of healing emotional distress and soul loss.
I chose to document and write my reconciliation journey by approaching this process holistically and acknowledging the interconnection of my mind, body, cultural identity, and spirit/soul. This perspective helped me rediscover my healing practices – my 'medicine' – and supported me to embrace my full identity as a brown, indigenous, mestiza woman despite emotional scars and conditioning.
Understanding that this process will support others with similar experiences, I've decided to share my findings and do my part in collective healing; this is my why!
I'm deeply committed to inspiring and empowering women, especially those with immigration journeys who've lost touch with their cultural and healing practices, guiding them to reclaim their wisdom and medicine.
Reclaiming Wisdom and Legacy
My inner and advocacy work required me to recognize the raw reality of spiritual colonization and the unethical appropriation of indigenous knowledge, often used to justify individual healing; this is why I'm deeply committed to inspiring and empowering women, especially those with immigration journeys and who've lost touch with their cultural practices, guiding them to reclaim their wisdom and medicine.
I genuinely believe that we are at a crucial point in history. Here, we must work together to preserve the transfer of healing traditions from those who inherit the culture and become allies in the preventative work of reintroducing ancestral practices from the individualistic and extractive standpoint that does not contemplate deeply embedded in the cultural roots. The foundations of ancestral healing methods and earth-based practices emphasize collective healing for the general wellness -individual and collective- knowing that this enhances the sustainability of communities.
As you can tell from my story, self-advocacy is the key, and every Tuesday, I will share tools to reconcile with cultural identity and overcome the many faces of trauma. My intention is to create a solid and sustainable community where we can learn from each other and where I assist you in reconnecting with your inner wisdom and your own medicine framed in earth-based practices. You'll also have the chance to read heartfelt essays to promote collective healing.
My pick for this week
Healing and Reciprocity
There is no paying subscription because I rely on the principle of reciprocity. I am confident that my work will be compensated -in one way or another – so all subscribers will receive the same content. However, Substack, the virtual platform where I will be sharing most of this content, considers a newsletter successful if at least 10% of total subscriptions are paid. If you find my work meaningful and valuable, and if you are able to do so, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
As a paid subscriber, you should know that I donate a portion of my income to nonprofits supporting immigrant women and youth; this is important to me, and I hope it will also be important to you.
Un abrazo grande en communidad!
Here's a sweet invitation for inner introspection that will support you in times when everything seems to be upside-down and the stress of life makes everything seem difficult to manage.
