Our First Desi Healing
We did it, together you all.
On September 7, 2023, we intentionally gathered in a serene ceremony room where everyone present shared our South Asian lineage. Wow, that was a first one for me and surprisingly it was a first for everyone in the room as well.
We first began by mingling with one another over tea, ceremonial chai~cacao, watermelon, oranges, and grapes. Then we headed to our ceremony room where everyone sat in a circle facing each other. We began by paying respects to our teachers and then I led the room through a heart-opening breath followed by pranayama led by Harpinder. Both practices activated our parasympathetic nervous system relaxing us into a restful & safe state before our conversation.
Our circle discussion dove into meaningful & vulnerable inquiries like:
What does healing mean to us? How do we hold compassion for our community members who are not ready to let go of the old ways?
How do we deal with sexual abuse that exists in the family? How to come forward in a self-compassionate way?
What supports us during the grief of losing family & community connections as we step into our unapologetic authenticity?
How do we care, hold empathy & forgiveness for the ones who hurt us?
How do we forgive and learn to hold space for the ones who inflict pain knowing that it is coming from unprocessed pain?
How do we access & embody the wonder of our spiritual lineage & rituals?
What does "reclaiming" mean?
How do we hold ourselves when we don't have the capacity to forgive?
How do we collectively process rage? What are the steps to processing? How to begin to face the fear of feeling?
Where must we embody more compassion for our own changes/seasons of life?
What is the Potential of healing on an individual and collective level?
How can we make entry and journey easier than it is at this moment?
10 years ago, when I took my first steps towards healing & freedom, I had no idea how much of our South Asian practices were being retaught to us in colonized ways. It took me years to finally arrive at learning the authentic pronunciations & definitions of chakra, mantra, and sutra.
Over the last decade, I have invested a lot of money into myself so that I could get into high-powered and highly selective rooms where I learned self-mastery tools & hacks. A lot of which can help our community thrive if we have access to them.
In wellness & space, unfortunately, the gate-keeping is real, the surface-level healing for the price of an arm & a leg is also real.
But so are spaces like desi healing, indigenous gatherings, and heart-led facilitators who are truly a vessel for divine service to earthlings. We all must be discerning in who we choose to seek guidance from.
Two days before our event, the panelists and I had a conversation about accessibility.
And I took a stand, that if we wish to see our communities thrive, we must encourage each other to invest time & energy in South Asian spaces, South Asian facilitators, and South Asian practitioners.
I am aware that self-mastery, and spiritual, mental, and physical wellness are shockingly still not a priority in our communities. But WE GET TO SHIFT THIS! Our generation is the one who gets to open a gateway of healing for all of us.
Like many of you, I had to heal the relationship I had with my South Asian culture.
I felt burnt by Islam, I felt abandoned by the community when I made bold choices, as a motherless child I felt “aunties” pitied me and I felt unseen and unwelcomed by South Asian Muslim peers who saw my freedom to wear what I wanted as an undecent rebellion.
Where did I belong, I often wondered.
The more I asked, the more the universe revealed to me that my home and my sense of belonging were within me first.
This is what WE GET TO TEACH each other, as we gather to create belonging within ourselves.
Desi Healing is for reconnecting, reigniting, and recreating our community as we always desired it to be. A welcoming home full of waves of laughter, divine expansions, and cathartic releases from the old.
My deep gratitude goes out to my three co-panelists who said yes to my vision. I will forever honor you Fariha Roisin, Harpinder Mann, and Melissa Shah. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, and walking a path of service alongside me.
Everyone raved about the Ceremonial Chai-Cacao which was a simple recipe including cardamom, cinnamon, dry coconut milk, Guatemalan Cacao, and my prayers for our collective healing.
All 14 attendees asked for more, so there shall be more desi healings.
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Satnam.
