The Terrain
I had no intention of creating a healing sanctuary in my backyard.
When I first bought this property, the backyard space was barren and uninviting, mostly gravel and a few meager weeds. Before long, it became overgrown and wild, unwieldy.
I knew the space had potential, but I didn’t yet have the vision. For three years I managed the land, just barely keeping the wildness at bay.
The physical terrain mirrored my own inner landscape at the time: in transition, emerging, ripe with potential.
What was once barren and uninviting is now a healing space
I was exploring different healing modalities and had recently discovered breathwork. With that discovery, a door opened: into my own healing and into my capacity as a healing guide.
In March of 2024, I returned home from a breathwork training in New Mexico with a bag of seeds and dried blossoms I’d been given by my mentor. I decided to scatter the seeds in my backyard, connecting the two healing properties and connecting my mentor’s medicine to my own.
Within two weeks of my return, on the first of April, my mother died suddenly.
In my shock and grief, I knew at once that I needed to transform my outdoor space into a healing sanctuary, not just for me but for others. And I knew I needed to bring the project quickly to life.
The month of April had started with my mother’s death, and needed to end in a rebirth.
The land became a kind of sacred container I tended through ritual and ceremony, just as I was tending my own wounding and grief.
One tending followed and informed the other. Every decision—whether it was about a plant, a piece of art, the placement of an object, sitting area, or path—was made with clear intention. It was a deeply therapeutic conversation that changed both me and the land, which sits on the unceded territory of the Ohlone.
By April’s end, the wheel had turned. My mother’s death gave birth to the beautiful healing space now known as The Terrain.
Once the outdoor space was finished, it was clear I would pursue a similar process to transform my garage into an indoor healing space. Months later, The Lightning Tree was born.
Cultivating this sanctuary space wasn’t just an essential part of my own healing, it became a mirror for how to offer the space and work to others. An invitation to explore the inner and outer terrain of your own life, the parallels and connections, the wisdom and cycles and fresh life.
The Terrain and The Lightning Tree are now spaces where creativity, ceremony, celebration, and community converge.
Once barren and wild, now fertile ground for our continued personal and collective healing.
It’s a great joy to welcome you here.
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