I have a confession to make, it took me a long time to come out of the healer closet and I lacked confidence when it came to being public with my work, even in Ojai! I was afraid of being judged, I didn’t like putting my photo on different media and “talking myself up”, I had so many what-ifs, and they were all in my head. And that held me back. I am always curious to know from other healers about how they cultivate their confidence, and so, The Confident Healer was born.
I wanted to interview healers that I normally don’t see in the wellness industry—I don’t know why Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPoC) aren’t more visible in this industry. It’s not like we don’t exist. I want to know what does a Black healer face when she decided to be an astrologer, Reiki Master, what about an Indigenous person that is a Shaman, or a Mexican person or… you get my drift. Of course, we all had some kind of trauma, but for BIPoC and BiPoC LGBTQI+ the experience will have experienced trauma mixed with some kind of racism, homophobia, or sexism (or all three). These are stories that aren’t heard for many reasons and I am providing a space to be heard and seen to create unity, compassion, and to inspire. Especially in a non-white America, BIPoC families will hold high expectations for their children to have “respectable” careers, put your head down and fall in line—pursue a field as a medical doctor, mechanical engineering, accountant, something steady and that pays well. You want to make your parents proud, they want you to do better than them. Throw being an immigrant, and LBTQI+ in the mix and you have some more external pressure and internal struggles to untangle. Becoming a healer no matter who you are or where you come from can be daunting because of fears of being judged by your family and peers, the limitations from religious indoctrination, and/or you don’t feel supported because there is no model for making money as a healer anyway, cause let’s face it, it’s still a fringe career choice (outside of our Soul Body Ojai community 😉 ).
Social equality has always been an important aspect of me, being a woman of color who grew up:
- a bi-cultural immigrant
- from a patriarchal and religious society that oppresses women
- grew up with a bigoted family (big secret!)
- spent my formative years in FLORIDA, helloooo
With those experiences, I should have turned out to be a very different person. I never felt comfortable enough to voice this in a public manner, but this year has empowered me to not be complicit in my public silence. I am taking a stand and including the people that we don’t often hear from and showcasing those stories, too.
When you see people doing the same kind of healing work that you want to do, and are thriving—paying their bills, supporting their families, it’s so encouraging and motivating. And when you see someone that looks like you, think about how that impactful and empowering it is for someone that isn’t white, isn’t straight or binary. Representation does matter. Period.
So far, I have interviewed five women and one man, and it’s been so inspiring to hear their stories and hear their strategies for being confident. It’s made me more comfortable in my marketing, like putting my face on social media and reaching out to people so people will know about The Confident Healer.
I think learning the mechanics and history of self-confidence from a healer will really help anyone listening to build their confidence up. Life has thrown us one big, fat, horrid curveball this year and this is my way of making some sweet-ass proverbial lemonade.
I have new episodes up on Mondays, I hope you will give it a listen and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and I hope that you also tell your friends about it, too so they can find the gems that make their life a little bit better.
I am so excited to do this show and I hope you love it as much as I love making it.
You can check out The Confident Healer Podcast here.