ecotherapy

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 Iā€™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.

Iā€™m here, Iā€™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 manifestā€¦We are powerful beings. I still have flare ups, and alopecia, I still have days that I canā€™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 ā€œRemendadaā€, is the Spanish word for ā€œpatched upā€.  I felt broken, many many times, mind and bodyā€¦and finally, in my 40ā€™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 presentā€¦. This is an tribute to my Journey of 2 years, healing my body, my mind and my soul.

I am enough!

Iā€™m thankful to my husband, my daughter, my son. Iā€™m thankful to my family, blood related and not blood related, like my beautiful friends. Iā€™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 doesnā€™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/