About Me
My name is Cherry. I have been healing by reconnecting with nature through my Han and Hakka roots. The historical impacts of colonization, civil war, and immigration manifested as severe trauma and abuse in my ancestral lineage and I was not immune to this. In my mid-20s after being prescribed an antidepressant, I suffered a mental health crisis. I was given additional medications and offered only colonized forms of therapy which did not address my underlying trauma. After working in the non-profit industry for two decades, I experienced insomnia, panic attacks, and other physiological symptoms due to being in fight-flight-freeze-fawn mode for far too long. I finally discovered I had complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and a dysregulated nervous system due to the cumulative effects of narcissistic abuse.
I found healing outside of colonial systems. I worked with decolonizing therapists who facilitated my journey of ancestral healing. I elicited stories from family members who survived war and famine, which they had been too humble to share with me. I reindigenized my relationship with the Earth through ancestral practices such as Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, and farming. My community offered other healing arts such as tarot, astrology, crystallography, shamanic ceremonies, breathwork, chanting, sound baths, drum circles and other practices. I reclaimed my creativity through art, music, dance, yoga, meditation, grief, dream and shadow work. I learned how to embrace and reparent my inner child in the way she fundamentally deserved as a creature of nature.
Humans continue to colonize nature without seeing that we are a part of it. We must divest from the now global force of technocolonialism and heal collectively so we can live in harmony with all the other beings that we depend on for our existence. My offerings are simple: I grow plant starts for people to reconnect with the Earth, create natural products for people to care for their bodies, and offer trauma-informed coaching to guide people towards wellness. I am also studying to become a decolonizing therapist to facilitate our collective healing.
“What is defined as normal in a consumer society is at war with basic human needs. The engine of capitalism defined by the cult of the self thrives on the fostering of psychological and physical chronic disorders including high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety, depression, addictions, and suicide. It rewards the core traits of psychopaths, superficial charm, grandiosity, and self-importance, a need for constant stimulation, a penchant for lying, deception, and manipulation, and the inability to feel remorse or guilt.”
-Dr. Gabor Mate, “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture.”
