Recap Of Our 2025 Healing Hikes With Local Organizations

2025 was such a wild year, but what kept us committed to this work of healing in nature were the healing hikes.

Being in community with people who understood the power of nature to feel better, create deeper bonds with each other, and care for the land was all we needed to stay grounded and steadfast throughout a year that was so wildly tragic and magical.

We hope you enjoy this short video recapping all the beautiful people we walked with and all the places we hiked. This work really couldn’t continue without the belief that what we do here at Rino Consulting Solutions is making real change happen in harmony with nature.

We’re so grateful to the support guides, Julie Salzman, Maio Buenafe, and Patrick Brown who assisted our Founder & CEO in this year of growing the work.

It was truly challenging in many ways as we entered into another Trump administration. And we don’t anticipate this year, 2026 being any quieter or less dramatic than 2025. We believe we’re entering into the height of the administration’s attempts to amplify the colonizer’s and white supremacy culture’s agenda. Remember, our work in providing healing hikes began in 2016, the first time the administration came into office. So, this work is connected to those actions and also provide ways to support our collective community by building leadership capacity, self-determination, and a deep sense of belonging and unity.

We also understand that those efforts of the Trump adminstration and its followers are far less powerful in impact and numbers to distract us from our goals to create a more just and equitable world.

So we encourage you to keep staying close to us here as well as staying close to your community of love, equity, and unity as we face more challenges ahead. Continue to go to nature for grounding, supporting any efforts to better your relationships to others and your sense of belonging to your safe communities.

To book your agency or group for a private group healing hike, please fill out our application below to get started on coordinating your experience.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY!
 IF YOU FOUND THIS RESOURCE HELPFUL
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY TO YOUR NETWORKS & FRIENDS
Comment below to dialogue with me!

---

3 Things Bruce Lee Taught Me About Water

“But a relationship is also a clear reflecting pool in which we can see ourselves most astutely if we dare to really look.”

- Shannon Lee, Be Water, My Friend. The True Teachings of Bruce Lee

Being a fire sign (Aries), water was one of the most difficult elements for me to connect to. But in my healing journey, I was being called to be in a deeper relationship with this element to create more balance in my life. Fire had been the dominant element I needed to accept my true nature of being an Aries with a fiery determination for life, ambition, and determination to accomplish my goals. But I was burning out, fanning my flames with resentment and anger from the hurts and intense impacts of previous relationships. 

I really believe that water was one of the most difficult elements for me to connect to because it’s the element that makes you take a deep look at yourself. And that’s not easy to do. I also realized, water is the only place in nature where you can see your reflection! Mind-blown

So I prayed for some guidance to help me get started on this journey to understand water. Then, I found Bruce Lee’s teachings through his daughter Shannon Lee. Be Water, My Friend was everything I needed! It was meant to be that I pick up Shannon Lee’s first book sharing her father’s teachings, starting with water. And I can’t wait for more from her! 

Of course, Bruce Lee’s teachings have always been powerful and priceless in philosophy and martial arts, but to hear about Shannon’s life growing up as his daughter and how it impacted her was pure evidence of what ancestral healing can do: guide you toward your purpose to continue a family legacy of helping people navigate their lives with deep meaning. 

What struck me most about Shannon’s story is that although her father passed away when she was just four years old, discovering his journals and teachings about water allowed her to be in relationship with her father so much more than when he was alive. Isn’t that amazing what ancestral healing can do for us?!

I highly recommend you pick this one up if you’re into Bruce Lee. And if you haven’t checked out the latest Bruce Lee projects, check out the amazing HBO Series “Warrior” (Exec. Produced by Shannon Lee) and SF’s Chinese Historical Society of America’s Bruce Lee Exhibit. 

So let’s get on with the lessons I received from this book:

Lesson 1 -  It’s more than flowing like water, it’s about BEING THE water.

An ancient way of connecting to nature is to watch how its elements and organisms behave and relate those observations to your behavior. When I facilitate groups, sometimes I open with the question, “What element do you feel most like right now?” And some participants might say they feel “floaty” like air or wind, not tethered to the meeting or the present moment. Or someone could say “fiery” because they just heard something enraging. 

When Bruce Lee talks about being like water, its shape and movement are in response to the environment it’s in. In the book, Shannon Lee writes about the movement of water when it’s blocked by structures or obstructions it will change shape or move in response to those interruptions of flow. She affirms, “Water is responsive and alive.” This quality is much like our emotions. 

This was a lesson in bringing attention to my response and my capacity to control my responses to the environment around me.

Lesson 2 - This is clearly ancestral healing.

I’m deeply appreciative of Shannon opening up about her own life and how processing her traumas clarified her purpose. Moreover, her purpose then involved a deeper relationship with her father whom she lost at just four years old. To me, this was evidence that ancestral healing is real and that can happen in so many different ways to everyone! 

As someone who has had to redefine “family” after estrangement, this was a valuable piece of the story for me. Most of my spiritual development relied on this belief that my ancient ancestors were communicating with me, guiding me toward my true purpose and inherited gifts. I would have intense and lucid dreams filled with emotion and messages. I would feel them around me when on a personal hike and when leading groups on healing hikes. I started to notice insights and intuition guiding me on decisions I would have otherwise never make on my own. This can sound fairly witchy and esoteric to those conditioned with Western views on spirituality, but this book proved that ancestral connection and healing are so powerful. I gained a contemporary voice in Shannon Lee validating the power of ancestral healing for our journey back into ourselves. 

Lesson 3 - You must be both fluid and structured, in your own way.

Although we think of water as fluid and freely moving, our practical life still requires us to some level of containment and control of it. This is the power of this element. Because no matter what we build to redirect it or anticipate its flow, it will end up going where it needs to go. 

Much like navigating our own lives, we must strike a balance between flowing naturally and having control of where we want to go or who we want to be. It’s easier to let go of the need to control water and simply surrender to the element’s power by “leaving it up to the water to take you somewhere.” But giving full surrender to any element can either stifle someone from embracing their own desires or completely bypass the effort required to get to a specific place in life. Water will be on its own merry way without you if no specific container is created for it. 

Exhibit on the elements at the chinese historical society of america in SF

Finding your own way or moving like water in the container that is YOU has always been the central message from Bruce Lee.

His magic and medicine was in his unapologetic way of being himself. Working towards the mastery of himself in both spiritual and physical senses showed up as an actor and a martial art practitioner. If you ever want to know what his workout regimen was, it’s in this book, and it’s pretty gnarly! 

So, we can BE water AND water will form into exactly what it needs to be, based on its environment. Our adaptability to our environment while remaining integral to who we are is truly an art form. 

It was a significant lesson for me to be disciplined in this pursuit to understand myself in my fullness and wholeness as my power in an ever-changing and sometimes hostile environment. 

” When we train to know ourselves, then we gain assuredness and confidence. In becoming our quintessential selves, we reach our fourth stage of cultivation, which feels phenomenal. Perhaps it even feels like nirvana.”

- Shannon Lee

Sometimes I feel like this after and good healing hike!

---

Be the first to read the latest blog post as they drop! Sign up below

Crafting Your Sacred Space: Nurturing Ancestral Connection and Renewal at Home

For the past ten years, I have focused more of my energy – being intentional about my living/home space and providing my clients with the same tips. Your sacred space is unapologetic, it is a specific location in your home that fosters a practice connecting to your inner wisdom for guidance. A long standing tradition in all cultures, a sacred space like an altar is a symbol of your belief and connection to something greater than oneself.

Let us embark on a profound journey to support crafting your own sacred space where intention, nature, and ancestral connection intertwine in harmonious resonance. I like to think about it like a special place somewhere in your living area where you can “dial in” and connect to the multiple dimensions that make up your wholeness. An altar is just one way to make the abstract thoughts, feelings, and desires manifest into tangible objects and symbols so that we’re reminded that it’s not only us, in our human bodies, that can make our world the way we want this world to be.

The following are a few basic steps to consider to deepen your connection and communication with other realms of consciousness.

Amplify With Nature's Embrace

Intentionality - it all starts here

Begin this sacred journey with a whispered intention. If you could pick up the phone and call on your support team in other realms of existence, what would you ask them? What do you want them to know about you? Imagine your heart's deepest yearning—your sacred space is a sanctuary for reflection, a tapestry for creativity,  an altar for gratitude. Your intention will breathe life into your sacred space, infusing it with purpose and meaning. And having an intention can help design the feeling of this space.

You become the architect of your sacred haven by planting this, a seed in your home- as an act of creation that sets the stage for all that follows.

Amplify With Nature's Embrace

Now, invite nature's elements in, as the language within your sacred sanctuary and tune into your inner wisdom. Because all the wisdom that exists in other dimensions of our awareness communicates as energy. Your sacred space can harness that energy through the elements.

Do you ever wonder what happens to our loved ones when they transition? They become energy. Just like the energy needed to grow a plant or to let that butterfly travel thousands of miles, our ancestors and guides now live as energy found in all parts of nature. You can bring them into your sacred space with the intention that you’ll be able to hear a more clear message.

For example, plants bring the earth's vitality, stones and crystals ground your spirit in the present moment, and a gentle fountain embodies the fluidity of existence. In these elements, you harness the profound energies of earth, air, fire, and water which can serve as metaphors for translating your intention to the deep wisdom nature has to offer.

Nature, being ancient and wise can now become your co-creator in this sacred conversation. Cultivating this partnership between the dimensions and your physical awareness deepens your connection to the world around you, giving you more clarity and a path to understand  the very essence of who you are.

Ancestral Connection

As your sacred space takes shape, consider the presence of your specific benevolent ancestors—the guardians of wisdom that reside in your lineage and your environment. They are the echoes of time, offering guidance, protection, and a bridge to your roots. What do they know about you that you don’t know? We can ask them by going to the altar with specific questions. 

In your daily devotion, let meditation, journaling, or simple presence be part of your rituals. As you immerse yourself in these practices, remember to invite your ancestors into the space. Pictures of your ancestors, plants traditional to your heritage, or even dry foods in the space can foster a deeper connection. They are your silent companions, offering insights into your history and the path forward. Listen to what they say to you as you recall memories or qualities about them when they were in human form. The conversation can happen in infinite ways, giving you insight as you move about your day.  

In crafting your sacred space, you’re employing a spiritual conversation between you, nature, and ancestral wisdom. It becomes a sanctuary where your ordinary thoughts can transform into extraordinary awareness, maybe even opportunities in real life!

And as you conclude each visit with this space, whisper words of gratitude. Thank your sanctuary for holding you, the land for its embrace of this portal, and your ancestors for their guidance. This act of gratitude is not only that cue to “hang up the phone”, but also deepens the sacred connection by filling  your heart with a sense of groundedness and renewed purpose.

For more guidance like these altar tips, sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get more guidance and intimate stories of my journey, along with VIP access to upcoming training, events, and healing hikes!

Your Nature-based Coach, 
Raynelle

Strengthen Your Relationship to Land With These Resources

Morro Bay, CA. the site of the first landing of filipinos onto turtle island on October 18, 1587.

My practice offers many resources and cultivates stories of communities healing themselves with the support and guidance of nature’s lessons. And I think its an important topic to center wellness with nature, but I’d be remiss if I did this work without bringing in the opportunities to heal WITH the land we occupy and benefit from, whether that’d be learning the historical events and impacts on and from the Native community or partnering with communities to leverage what we can offer to be in solidarity to their sovereignty. So, in short what I’m saying is that it’s an important value I hold in my work have the Native perspective especially if we’re working directly with the land such as in stewardship, education, or movement building. This upcoming year is going to be my intentional effort to cultivate more direct relationships with groups and local descendants as best as I could.

Ultimately, this work is about healing our relationship to land. So I'd love to share some resources I found critical in shaping my decolonization journey, my relationship to nature and this land of unceeded Huichin Oholone Territory that influences so much in how I guide others to reclaim an identity to their own nature.

As a second-generation Pinay my parents immigrated to the Bay Area/Ohlone Territories in the late 70's. I was born and raised here and most of my life I've been a settler in this lovely West Coast. Being drawn to the nature around me and drive to have a career working in some capacity with nature, I have a special relationship to this landscape. But it wasn't until I really had to figure out my true path, did I start thinking about how much I felt like I did or didn't belong here.

Growing up in the South Bay (San Jose/Muwekma Territory) I experienced a lot of hurt and violence. So much so, I thought "the land" didn't want me there because every time I tried to lay down roots more hurt came. A dear healer friend of mine reframe this as, "perhaps the land was telling you to flee from the hurt and violence instead. Knowing how much you care for nature and love it, it may have been looking out for you."

Have you ever felt that sense of the a place "claiming you" as in, called you to come be there and it felt right?

Now that I've found a true sense of belonging and purpose here in Oakland/Confederated Villages of Lisjan, and lead most of the healing hikes around here, I try to deepen my knowledge of this place, connect to it's people, history, and land back efforts. But building relationships with native communities no matter where I am is important to me and to my relationship to any land I walk on. Because all land we walk on is native land.

So, some of the resources I'll share below have been places where I find resonance and a confirmation of my spiritual connection to nature. It makes me feel like I've been validated with the feelings and inner knowledge I hold within me, particularly about my love and advocacy for nature. Many of the teachings I've come to know from my dreams and life experiences feel like they have a home when I tap into these stories. It also activates the healing around my own lineage and search for similar stories and teachings about my own ancestral lands. 

This winter as we reflect on our lives, honor and mourn the stories of our native relatives' violent loss of their lands, I hope you find that time to create connection and resonance with your own migration story, your lineage, and to the lands you occupy today. Connect to the resources and native communities in your own area as I'll share the resources that help me.

Book Recommendation: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, As Long As Grass Grows, The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock, 2019
This book is really full of some critical and historical points that connect the fight for sovereignty of Native Americans to the culture of environmental justice, with reference to the events of Standing Rock. I think its also important to mention the author also offers the way forward and what that needs to look like for both natives and non-natives. It's definitely worth the read and offers details of the historical injustices that mainstream media might not include in their storytelling. I recommend this for your winter break!

Webinars: Indigenous Education Institute
I love, love, love listening to these talks while I take my lunch breaks or short walks. Knowing who the indigenous scholars and elders are and what teachings they have to offer help me get into my mind thinking about similarities I can see across other cosmologies and especially those I learn about my own lineage. Sign up for their newsletter to get notified of the latest talks to warm yourself into Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).

In Person Event/Ceremony: Alcatraz Sunrise Ceremony
This might be sold out by now, but its good to know this happens as an opportunity to practice solidarity and participate in the Red Movement with our local native relatives. If you can't make this commitment (and I usually can't) I encourage you to think about your own version of honoring this land and the fight for native sovereignty and sit in a private ceremony of your own at sunset on the 24th.

Local Park: Coyote Hills in Fremont, CA
There's a reason why this is a frequented park for our healing hikes. I've mentioned this in other issues, but this park is still actively managed by its native community. The designated 'archeological site' is a protected sacred site of the community in which you can visit peripherally on the Chochenyo Trail. Every hike we visit the site to offer blessings and reflect on our relationship to the land and its people. The park is heavily visited but it's really easy to miss the location of the sweat lodge. If you do find it, make sure to make at least an energetic offering of gratitude and blessings for sovereignty.

THANK YOU FOR READING!
 IF YOU FOUND THIS RESOURCE HELPFUL
AND WOULD LIKE MORE LIKE THIS, SUBSCRIBE
TO MY NEWSLETTER BELOW!

"Root To Bloom" - A Program Born from My Healing Journey

Each season we hire community healers, & wellness practitioners as guest speakers to add to the wealth of resources around us. Here we are in the EcoCenter with movement healer, Sammay Dizon.

I used to be a community-based service provider and vocal advocate for diversity within land-based organizations. I spoke out, led efforts, formed groups and containers to drive the narrative of “lack of diversity” and hold myself to the fire, challenging my higher ups and the authorities-that-be, for more inclusive space for people like me and the communities I serve, who often looked like me. But I quickly learned through many failed attempts and fallouts that this wasn’t where my fire for change was going to be affective.

Sadly, like many other passionate (I would even say wounded) providers, I thought vocalizing my needs would get me somewhere, but it only left me burnt out. I was left with bigger questions about “Who am I in this work?”, “Why do I feel the need to stay?”, and the most challenging, “Why can’t I be who I am and focus on the actual work of creating change for my community?”. Well, the story I’m about to share below is a story of many years of the unfolding story that answered these questions. And when I say many years, I’m talking about 10+ years of a swervey, chaotic, and down right traumatic career path.

If there’s anything I hope you gain from reading the origin story of Root To Bloom, its that

(1) the path to your true purpose is hella long and arduous. If it’s not, you probably have more to learn and grow from

(2) when you finally surrender and listen to more than your experience, meaning your listening to your heart, your ancestors, your guides beyond the Earthly realm, you begin to listen to the forces of nature that have always been guiding you since you were born. You begin to trust the things that are beyond this world and magic begins to unfold.

So, I’m grateful you can take the time out to hear how this program speaks so much to my journey of healing as woman of color in environmental education work and that’s it is possible to create beautiful things for the people to meet their blooming!

🌺 Years ago when I started my non-profit environmental justice career I worked as a Program Manager in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood. I thought it was my dream job and I would be there for a long time. Little did I know, the day I walked into the office on my first day...I was walking into what would be a 2 year nightmare. The organization's leadership had crumbled 2 weeks prior to me starting. Ironically the park site, Heron's Head & the EcoCenter's education programming centered the historic toxicity of SF's Southeast. I was teaching about toxicity and experiencing toxic work environments at the same time.

I don't know if you've ever experienced a level of workplace toxicity that causes you to flee from the community and distance yourself for your own safety and well-being, but I spent many years away from the community except for the few trusted relationships I kept close as I transitioned and explored other avenues of my career.

Almost 10 years after that job I found myself on the same park site, different professional path as an entrepreneur but still working with nature, focused on providing a healing learning space for community-based service providers. I couldn't believe that the path I walked to come back to a site that caused me so much harm would be a place that would not only provide healing for me, but also heal the providers in the program.

Our program theory of change disrupts the cycle and value on productivity in our providers with self care and healing practices

I am always in awe of Root To Bloom being in my life. Being my life's work. It could be that my healing needed this program to be designed to disrupt the toxic work environment of valuing productivity with valuing self care and provider well-being. Because from my experience, I knew that the productivity value that plagues many community-based service centered organizations can perpetuate capitalism’s engine of seeing people as a commodity of labor instead of seeing them as stakeholders of our greater community’s long-term health and wellness. I always wanted someone to acknowledge this in the organizations I worked in, especially those that targeted marginalized communities. So, in the Root To Bloom Program I made sure we talk about colonization’s design to keep us locked into productivity so that we don’t attain the awareness that we can value ourselves as gifted contributors to our own needs for a healthy and fulfilling life. Because if we attain such power, we can’t be controlled.

It always strikes me as my radical stance on loving my community by being able to create this program to say these things and teach emerging leaders to reclaim their power with tools we share in the program. Because I’ve been a product of burn out and being outcasted, “laid-off” or ostracized from leadership in previous organizations where I’ve attempted to integrate these values as was retaliated against in some form or fashion. But something many years ago kept me tethered to my beliefs and stayed steadfast in my search to find a way to still say these things and have autonomy as safety. It just so happened I needed to leave the non-profit structure and create an entity that, to be real, only I can fire myself from, lol!

Root To Bloom has unfolded as this safe place and container for fierce providers like me to have a home for processing and understanding our intergenerational traumas without retaliation or stigmatization; something I wish I had especially when I was providing direct service to adjudicated youth. Now, I have so many people, spirit guides, ancestors to thank for this. More importantly I can thank myself for saying yes to a path most wouldn’t dare step into. That inner voice of my WARRIOR SELF was definitely wounded but committed to my true purpose and I mostly send her rest and gratitude these days.

Testimonial from Denicia, Season 2 graduate

Allowing myself the surrender to other messages in my dreams or the synchronicities showing up in my everyday walk are just some of the reasons why I think Root To Bloom holds such a special vibe and space for the community that surrounds it. Together with my co-creator and conspirator, Kisai of CommUNITY, this program has consistently shown us the power of creating something so unique and exactly what we would have wanted as frontline staff; a holistic and transformative space where we could truly just be and heal.

And as we’ve begun to open our space for the fourth year of Root To Bloom, I’m reminded again of the power of my healing journey to heal some of our community’s deepest wounds. I can’t say that my healing has ended. I don’t believe its even possible to “be healed”. So as long as I’m on this Earth, my healing will continue on. But what I do know is that after these many years of diving into the scary parts, moving through the roller coaster of life and leadership, there are moments that I’m reminded all of my struggles and experiences can serve me later by showing up as healing for others. I just have to keep listening, keep trusting.

So I’ll leave you with some of the coach-y type reflections you can take as you continue on your journey of self discovery and healing in hopes that your journey can find a point of coming full circle. And I hope you can share your thoughts and responses with me below. I’d love to engage with your story of healing.

Click this image to listen to our IG Live session sharing the magic that birthed our program and its impact on our community

Reflections to Reclaim Your Purpose & Power:

🤔 If you were to spend a day doing exactly what brings you complete alignment with who you are and your natural born gifts, what would that day be like and more importantly how are you feeling throughout that whole day?

🤔 If you can speak truth to your power, as in say ALL THE THINGS you want to say to your current workplace/community about what real change looks like, what would you say? Make sure it’s as raw as you would say it if you had all the freedoms to say it all the way you want to say it!

🤔 What do people tend to say or witness in you when they describe who you are or what your leadership is like? You don’t have to agree or believe them because these can be signs of your true gifts and purpose in life whether you like it or not!

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY!
 IF YOU FOUND THIS RESOURCE HELPFUL
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY TO YOUR NETWORKS & FRIENDS
Comment below to dialogue with me!

---

How You Know It's Time to Heal

How You Know It’s Time to Heal

3 Signs that say you’re there

Someone once asked me, "What's the most challenging part of working in community?" I answered, "When community doesn't believe healing is needed." 

All I could think about were times where I witnessed normalized violence and toxicity in my family. For a long time I thought certain reactions or ways of viewing people were normal. Like, road raging as a young adult. I knew it was dangerous and violent, but I grew up with a road raging father. At the time it seemed normal to be around that. But then somewhere in my body and psyche, I began to agree with this attitude and response and I adopted it when I was younger. It wasn't until I started to give myself permission to pay attention to how I was impacting the world, that I realized I can do things differently. Mostly this was because my impacts on others were sometimes negative. 

But it took a lot of years and life experience to get to a point where I decided to engage in some real and deep healing. So, I wanted to share with you a couple of ways that helped me embark on a healing journey that proved to me, worth charting unknown territory. And FYI, these things still happen to me all-the-time! We don’t reach a point of being “healed”, rather healing is a constant journey throughout life; there’s always something to work on.

---

Here are just three signs that let you know when it's time to heal.

You find yourself frustrated and overwhelmed by things that normally don't bug you - here's a sign that where you are in life is just not enough. You want more and you know more is possible.

How does this translate to what needs healing? If you can thread your frustrations back into its origin, what we’re really being presented with is our sense of value and self worth. Frustrations about how things are done or how you’re observing them can give you clues into what you know to be possible. What exactly are you frustrated about? Have you felt similarly in the past and what was the core of that frustration? Find common threads in moments that left you feeling the same type of emotion and it can lead you to a place in life where you felt like you knew something was better or possible for yourself.

You're going through or have just come out of a major life event or situation - life has just thrown you a bunch of information and opportunity to flex your abilities. Here's life showing you your capacity and IT showing you that you are made for more.

It could feel more like you’re in survival mode, but doesn’t survival mode also put us in a place to search urgently for extra resources and support? Like clamoring for something to help you in times of great need, we’re also pushed out of our comfort zones or edges just to make it through the next step. Oftentimes, stepping back from the situation or reflecting back on what just happened can help reveal what needed healing from those events. Like having a realization that you just survived something tremendous, or that you just made it through those tough times. Finding out exactly what you did or what you were thinking in those critical times can bring so much awareness to your capacity to hold challenges now that you’ve overcome them. You’ve just gone through some kind of healing when you’re able to wisely observe key points in your life.

More than a few things in your external environment seem chaotic, but not always directly because of you - this is the Universe's way of saying, "I know you see this! Now, what are you going to do about it, oh wise and gifted one?"

I went through a lot of these types of messages when I was younger, about the time of my first Saturn return (typically happens around ages 28-32). So many things imploding, exploding, relationships going awry, structures and institutions unraveling…sound familiar these days? 

Now, pandemic times have certainly played a perfect example in what I’m saying here. So what healing has this pandemic revealed to us? Much of what we see today in our external environment is causing us to go inward and ask ourselves, “what went wrong?” , the challenges around this pandemic have been around the care for others and the long brewing tensions between us racially and culturally. So, when it seems like the world around us is about to topple over, we can begin asking ourselves, 

• What did I miss? 

• What was I not paying attention to or investing my time in that caused me to not see beneath the surface and now this is what would be the outcome?” 

Because life is actively showing us that we’ve missed the assignment. So, what can you do now to get back on track and focus on your well-being?

In many ways, the signs that you're ready to deepen your life experience and skills require you to FIRST know and believe that healing is needed; that you simply want things to be different. What stops us from diving into a true healing journey can be the facts that

• you’re not really ready to face the dark stuff, the shadows, the traumas, the yucky feelings

• you may be intimidated by your level up; like knowing that the different you will be more powerful puts you in a place of resistance

• you just don’t know where to start

More often than not, the majority of us WON’T sign onto a healing journey because of the reasons I just pointed out. What’s more common is to find yourself at rock bottom or in a situation where you’re left with no other choice but to begin healing. So no matter what, we all have the capacity to get started on some version of a healing journey. 

And healing isn't just about when you are directly harmed and in need of support. Healing can also mean that younger versions of you still need tending to because you're not able to access your full and whole self today, as an adult. The latter scenario is one of the biggest areas I tackle with leaders in private sessions! 

As a leadership coach with healing centered approaches, I always advocate for the normalization of these challenging times and yucky feelings because the more we ignore them, the more those feelings will start to nag at us to get to the healing it needs before you can level up. This is where triggers come from; unhealed parts of our past that get signaled to come back to us as adults. Now, have you cultivated the tools and wisdom to now offer your younger, hurt parts? That’s where someone like me can be that support for you. 

If you want to know more about where you are in your time to heal through barriers and blocks preventing you from the life of liberation you crave, you check out my offerings below

• sign up for the next cohort of Trailheads To Healing

• book a quick consultation with me to explore private coaching

• join any type of healing hike to put you in direct connection to the Universe’s messages for you

• check out other events or workshops to get to know more about my work

THANK YOU FOR READING!
 IF YOU FOUND THIS RESOURCE HELPFUL
AND WOULD LIKE MORE LIKE THIS, SUBSCRIBE
TO MY NEWSLETTER BELOW!

---

Healing Our Soul Wounds

I first came across the concept of Soul Wounds when I saw this conference posted on Facebook. I was at the beginning stages of my healing journey, triggered by all the happenings in my life, mostly difficult circumstances. I was teaching at a juvenile detention center, going to therapy and practicing personal spiritual healing, and unearthing my ancestral information awaiting my DNA results. Seeing the two words, 'soul' and 'wounds' created a deep visceral response in my mind. I identified with it. 

The stories of struggle and pain I held throughout my life now had a name AND I was able to see that the stories of trauma experienced by my ancestors helped shape who I am today

Click on the conference's website to listen to all the amazing talks

The fascinating information I listened to on this website gave me insights to things such as

• Epigenetic research showing that the traumas my ancestors experienced are passed down as memories in our DNA molecules

• How collective trauma recovery can be done with community support

• And trauma, in essence, is when our sense of our identity is compromised by a tragic event,

• And so much more

What was missing for me in some of the research was the aspect of the healing I will always believe in, which is incorporating nature as a tool for healing trauma. I did, however come across this article highlighting the author and psychologist, Eduardo Duran as he wrote about soul wounds from a Native American perspective. This online article in Counseling Today, Trauma and the soul wound: a multicultural and social justice perspective reveals a non-traditional approach to understanding trauma. From the article, 

"Duran encourages mental health practitioners to address three levels of interventions when working with people who are suffering from trauma:

• Working with individual clients who are experiencing problems due to trauma

• Providing outreach, advocacy and healing services to the larger community of which the client is a part

• Engaging in efforts that are aimed at what he calls “healing the land”

...Duran discusses the importance of counselors working to “heal the land.” He emphasizes the American Indian belief in the vital interconnections that exist among all animate beings and inanimate entities, as well as the spiritual energetic connections that exist between all people and Mother Earth. He further notes that the current trauma being inflicted on the Earth by our collective polluting and poisoning of the global environment has a significantly negative and traumatizing impact on our own mental health and sense of psychological well-being. "

Our steps towards healing trauma heal our soul wounds when we hike. You can also say we are healing the land by being there, drawing upon a heightened awareness of the surrounding environment, giving gratitude, and asking for permission are ways we are healing our relationship with the land. Walking in meditation reclaims the same ancestral practices of communicating with the elements and all the life around us. Sure, it may be more evident on our vicarious trauma healing hikes, but in every gathering, in every circle and dialog we are practicing the steps that allow us to heal as we endure our everyday suffering. The simple act of acknowledging the four directions is one initial step in our ceremony. 

Finally, as we exist in a world in which traumatic news and events are now somewhat normalized, we must remember that our collective healing is an important part of our continued effort to keep fighting for justice through this transitioning time. As some researchers discussed in the conference, we must recognize the different types of dissonance that comes from our trauma and find ways to reintegrate into our societal structures stronger than before our trauma entered our lives. This is the goal; to be more equip in navigating our lives and live in our true and full identities as whole, complex, and beautiful beings. 

WANT MORE TOOLS AND INFORMATION LIKE THIS? SIGN UP FOR THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER AND FOR TOOLS, INFO, & OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THIS DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX

Healing Our Soul Wounds

I first came across the concept of Soul Wounds when I saw this conference posted on Facebook. I was at the beginning stages of my healing journey, triggered by all the happenings in my life, mostly difficult circumstances. I was teaching at a juvenile detention center, going to therapy and practicing personal spiritual healing, and unearthing my ancestral information awaiting my DNA results. Seeing the two words, 'soul' and 'wounds' created a deep visceral response in my mind. I identified with it. 

The stories of struggle and pain I held throughout my life now had a name AND I was able to see that the stories of trauma experienced by my ancestors helped shape who I am today

Click on the conference's website to listen to all the amazing talks

The fascinating information I listened to on this website gave me insights to things such as

• Epigenetic research showing that the traumas my ancestors experienced are passed down as memories in our DNA molecules

• How collective trauma recovery can be done with community support

• And trauma, in essence, is when our sense of our identity is compromised by a tragic event,

• And so much more

What was missing for me in some of the research was the aspect of the healing I will always believe in, which is incorporating nature as a tool for healing trauma. I did, however come across this article highlighting the author and psychologist, Eduardo Duran as he wrote about soul wounds from a Native American perspective. This online article in Counseling Today, Trauma and the soul wound: a multicultural and social justice perspective reveals a non-traditional approach to understanding trauma. From the article, 

"Duran encourages mental health practitioners to address three levels of interventions when working with people who are suffering from trauma:

• Working with individual clients who are experiencing problems due to trauma

• Providing outreach, advocacy and healing services to the larger community of which the client is a part

• Engaging in efforts that are aimed at what he calls “healing the land”

...Duran discusses the importance of counselors working to “heal the land.” He emphasizes the American Indian belief in the vital interconnections that exist among all animate beings and inanimate entities, as well as the spiritual energetic connections that exist between all people and Mother Earth. He further notes that the current trauma being inflicted on the Earth by our collective polluting and poisoning of the global environment has a significantly negative and traumatizing impact on our own mental health and sense of psychological well-being. "

Our steps towards healing trauma heal our soul wounds when we hike. You can also say we are healing the land by being there, drawing upon a heightened awareness of the surrounding environment, giving gratitude, and asking for permission are ways we are healing our relationship with the land. Walking in meditation reclaims the same ancestral practices of communicating with the elements and all the life around us. Sure, it may be more evident on our vicarious trauma healing hikes, but in every gathering, in every circle and dialog we are practicing the steps that allow us to heal as we endure our everyday suffering. The simple act of acknowledging the four directions is one initial step in our ceremony. 

Finally, as we exist in a world in which traumatic news and events are now somewhat normalized, we must remember that our collective healing is an important part of our continued effort to keep fighting for justice through this transitioning time. As some researchers discussed in the conference, we must recognize the different types of dissonance that comes from our trauma and find ways to reintegrate into our societal structures stronger than before our trauma entered our lives. This is the goal; to be more equip in navigating our lives and live in our true and full identities as whole, complex, and beautiful beings. 

WANT MORE TOOLS AND INFORMATION LIKE THIS? SIGN UP FOR THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER AND FOR TOOLS, INFO, & OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THIS DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX

The Rise & Fall of the Sun

We lay witness to the days that have come before us and act upon creating what we need ahead of us. As the sun rises to birth a new day, it also sets- carrying all that we have endured throughout the day. Find space in this process to focus on what brings you peace.

Since the launch of this business, I've been organizing weekly healing hikes for community to participate in. The act of my organizing hikes with an intention of offering a coaching and healing session was in direct response to the devastating results of our election. That's why they are called healing hikes, and not just "a guided hike".

I, myself experienced in my family and community the worry, fear, uncertainty, and disappointment that would later linger on for the next few days as the collective trauma our country was experiencing. It was in these raw moments where I gathered my most recent thoughts and plans to develop pathways to healing in nature. Then I got the message. It was time for me to act; no more planning and contemplating, no more thinking. I saw a friend post a yoga session in response to the election. That was my cue; my community needs an opportunity to heal and I can provide that. I quickly organized a sunrise hike in a nearby park location and blasted close friends to meet me at the trailhead.

Six people showed up as the sun began rising! As we all gathered in this rawness we asked Nature to be there for us, to heal us. In gratitude, we grounded ourselves, walked the trail intent on feeling better afterwards, WE DID THE WORK! The coming weeks would bring more healing hikes, some of them during the sunset; all were needed by each hiker. Here is where I recognized the birth of my abilities to lead these hikes to heal community.

The rise and fall of the sun is like the fire that sits within our hearts, rising with the passion and struggle we've held as a community of color for so long. And the falling of the sun into the night is the fall of those old destructive ways, negativities, and endurances in life that leave us taxed, damaged, sometimes dead.

The beauty of our fire, now ignited in full flame, was the organizing that happened right after the election. ALL the people, ALL the youth that came out in protest. That is our fire, our passion to be better people. Each day the fire became brighter, the groups of protestors grew larger. Solidarity was seen across the nation.

And as the sun sets in its natural process we must accept it. The end of the day, the darkness that prepares us for rest is honored by witnessing the winter sky turn from white to fiery red at sunset. In these moments we accept the change and ask the falling of the sun to take with it the things that no longer serve us. Sunset hikes are those opportunities to release our burdens. With respect to our current events, I view sunsets as the taking down of those destructive and negative mindsets and values that have have hurt us for far too long.

Just like we do on these hikes, we work to reclaim this communication and connection to Nature. We learn and relearn how these offerings can support our well being in these challenging times. Watch the sun rise and fall and pay attention to the messages that come to you.