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These sorts of cultural exchanges are of deep meaning and value to me. Through trial and error, I have learned the difference between cultural respect and cultural appropriation.

In my graduate studies at CIIS - known for its focus on Eastern Spiritual Practices and the cosmic arts, I became deeply interested in Yogic tradition, Buddhism, Hinduism and the energetic system - The Chakras.

I studied at the Yandara Yoga Institute for my 300 Advanced Yoga Teacher Training, and their Reiki I and II certifications in the Usui tradition. The YTT covered Asana, Pranayama, Satya, ancient texts, Bhakti, Yin, anatomy, energetics, meditation, sequencing and teaching.

These experiences, as well as Anodea Judiths work of applying the Eastern Chakra system to Western Psychological Theory, deeply informed my graduate thesis and presentation: “Tiling the Garden: Healing developmental trauma and disordered eating though somatic and energy healing practices.”

I integrated this work into my all levels, all styles, all bodies Dance Company - No Mirror Movement, taught yoga at various studios in San Francisco, CA, and began offering reiki sessions to friends, family and the public.

While these South Indian and Japanese practices were hugely influential on both my somatic and spiritual lineages, they weren't my ancestral lineages. A weighty realization that unfolded with more education and trainings around my Whiteness and racialized trauma in school, in associateship and beyond.

As such I became deeply invested, and in truth - “called”, into figuring out who I am and where do I come from by way of paganism, historical research, ancestral storytelling, and abolition frameworks.

It all started with being visited by an ancestor in Squirrel form on my 29th Birthday in the Redwoods. And a deepening again during an ancestor circle where I channeled multiple ancestors through automatic writing for the first time.

I completed a six month Ancestral Storytelling and Culture Building Workshop for White European Descent People in 2020 with Erin Sweeney that was frankly life changing, dug more into herbalism and received a certificate from Bonnie Rose Weaver in Herbalism for Witchcraft, researched Irish and Scottish lore, history and magic, received my ancestral name: Solasta, reclaimed my grandmother’s maiden name, my Highland Clan: McIntyre, and now study consistently Renee Sills of Embodied Astrology and Lindsay Mack of Tarot for the Wild Soul.

Ecotherapy and land based connection are a foundational part of my spirituality, somatic practice and colonial repair work.

Lastly, I believe Creative practice in really any modality but especially painting, poetry and movement are a spiritual practice. I follow the and help folks connect with the Creative Spirit that loves them unconditionally.