In 2014, I was diagnosed with uveitis, a vision threatening autoimmune condition, and for many years I did not share this with anyone.

I was terrified of losing my vision, but I did not want to burden anyone with my illness, and thought it would be easier if I kept it to myself. But doing so was unbearably isolating, and it wasn’t until I joined support groups for my chronic illness as my condition worsened that I was able to truly understand the power of community.

While recovering from multiple eye surgeries in 2021 and 2022, journaling, painting, and music got me through a very difficult time. After starting my Substack newsletter, called Eyewitness News, sharing my writing enabled me to connect to others and helped the people in my life understand what I was going through like never before.

But one of the biggest breakthroughs I have experienced came from meditation, writing and ecstatic dance. They are different, yet powerful ways to feel connected to your body and inner voice. Which is why I decided to combine all three, because of how immensely helpful they have all been for me in my healing journey.

After deepening my meditation practice at Pa Pae in Chiang Mai, and taking various ecstatic dance trainings in Bali, I wanted to provide these workshops in the hopes that they may be helpful to others as well!