Melanated Love
February 26, 2022 - donation based
A group practice created exclusively for the BIPOC communities marrying therapeutic breathwork and alexis’ signature journeys for a deep and connective healing experience. This recurring gathering was created to minimize boundaries to healing and expand upon the possibilities created when people of color gather in safe spaces to overcome our collective and individual trauma.
The first Melanated Love centered around the sacred dance of courting our creations, which always begins with courting ourselves and honoring all that lives within our hearts. February is a month of many things, of course Black History month and Valentine’s Day. February also begins with the cross-quarterly holiday of Imbolc, which celebrates the first light that peaks over the horizon after the darkness of winter. It is a moment where the hope stirs within us that the Sun will indeed return and we begin to gather excitement about all that is to come with the warmer months. It is in February that we begin the sacred dance of courting our creations, courting our dreams and intentions for spring and summer. This is an act rooted in the sacral chakra, and within our hearts. When we court our creations, we must simultaneously tend to our heart’s desires and court ourselves. It feels like less of a coincidence that Valentine’s Day falls in February. For Black people, it’s a time to celebrate our resilient history, sharing and courting our lineages and our collective dreams for the future.
It is one of my firm beliefs that there is added power in group work. With Melanated Love, we create a safe space for BIPOC folks to move through healing and share our stories. In witnessing each other we hold more space for love and healing to flow in while putting more wind under the wings of our dreams and intentions. With more hearts listening, we are held from every direction.
Why Breathwork? As a somatic practice breathwork is uniquely well-suited for healing the varied traumas endured and inherited by black and brown bodies through lived experiences and Epigenetics. With breathwork our bodies are flooded with oxygen that stimulates pathways that may be forgotten, allowing the trauma that lives within the muscle, fascia, and tissue to surface. In witnessing and acknowledging the trauma that lives within us, we can release these stories. As a body based practice, our thinking minds are allowed to turn off dropping us out of the beta brain waves and into the alpha and theta brainwaves where rewiring neural pathways and marrying self with spirit is most possible. In essence we move out of the mind and into the body and then out of our bodies and into our spirit. This is where the guided journey shines.
Why Journey? When we successfully drop out of our minds and into our spirit, healing can occur in the physical body, the thinking mind, the emotional body, energetic body, and spiritual body all at once. We take journeys to allow our souls to guide us where healing most would like to flow. In first witnessing uncovered trauma through breathwork, journeys can help us release these traumas in the moment, while spirit simultaneously guides us to step into a higher version of ourselves. It’s a powerful combination for deep healing. This gathering’s theme was around courting our sacred creations and tending to our hearts. It focused on the sacral and heart chakras, however, as with all of alexis’ journeys the specifics were realized in the moment as spirit channels through her.
How did it go?
open a sacred container (casting a circle of intention around the group)
demonstrate breathwork techniques - this event was inclusive for all levels of experience
gentle movement that led into about 20 minutes of active breathwork and 20 minutes of guided journeying
30+ minutes of integration and group sharing after healing journey
close the sacred container, giving gratitude to the spirits and ancestors who showed up to guide us
To honor the safety of this container this event was not recorded.
Thank you all who signed up and joined our first Melanated Love.
*There are some contraindications for therapeutic breathwork. With any breathwork practice I ask that you check the contraindications and notify me ahead of booking soo we can make accommodations. If you’d like to see what these contraindications include feel free to check them out here.