MEET HEALER YERADMI
I was first introduced to Yeradmi while attending the Wellness Tour in Los Angeles in 2016 where she was a practitioner alongside Francheska Medina and Maryham Hasnaa. I will never forget the first moments of the yin yoga portion she led. We began laying on the floor, face down and as her soft voice led myself and the other women into deep relaxation I began to cry. I realized now that those tears came from a place of feeling a rare sense of safety during a very tumultuous time of my life.
Since then, I have grown in relationship with Yeradmi over social media and while attending another Wellness Tour in 2017 and Activation Tour in 2018. Everytime I speak to Yeradmi, I feel my muscles relax. She is a person you feel almost automatically at ease with. What I have grown to appreciate most about her is her genuine desire to help people, and especially women of color, find healing. It was a pleasure to speak with her more about how she got started and where her own healing practice has led her. Hope you walk away with some new gems and perspective!
TGM: What brought you to begin your practice as a healer?
Y: For me, there was no other way out. I had reached a really low point in my life, which is the case for many people when they decide to switch gears, and I had to focused on my mental health. I had reached the point where I was completely disassociated with my body.
I couldn’t even look at myself as a teenager and feel ok with how I looked and how I felt. Anytime I would visit the Dominican Republic I would especially struggle. Family members would see me and say, “Wow you’ve gained so much weight”. This was an atmosphere where I had to be in a bathing suit and where less clothing, which created a lot of anxiety for me. My family would have tons of parties a year and I never wanted to go to any of them because that would mean I had to go into my closet and pick out what to wear. It was a constant battle and my mom felt for me because she saw how much it affected me. It weighed so heavily that I began to see different doctors and nutritionists and was on all kinds of diets. I went through so much that just messed with my body completely.
After college I started working at Exhale in Boston. It’s a space with barre, yoga, a full spa as well as reiki and other healing modalities I had never been introduced to before. I grew quickly in the company and became one of the core managers. This is where I started playing and realized that this was a lifestyle. My time here was really a gift.
In order to be a part of the team I had to get involved in everything so that I could explain to our clients all the services we offered by experiencing it. It was a quick learning process for me and I was good at it because it fell a little into the world of hospitality which I had already worked in with my family since I was an early teenager.
TGM: After experiencing all these different healing modalities, what was it about reiki that attracted you to becoming a practitioner yourself?
Y: How it made me feel! I had never felt so safe with someone in a healing space. I had my clothes on, it wasn’t invasive. I felt relaxed, calm, rejuvenated and balanced. All I could think of after was, “What the hell was that?”. Also, my practitioner at the time guided me in many ways throughout that time of my life. When I was feeling something before I even said it, she would know it. If I was going through a particular situation she just knew the overall theme of whatever I was dealing with without me saying anything. She would also tell me different things like, “Look into these specific Archangels, they're here to help you during these times”. Even though at the time I didn’t understand intellectually what she was talking about, it always made sense, it was a remembering. She was the energy worker I needed and was a guide for me through what felt like a crazy space I was navigating.
From this I knew I wanted to explore and understand reiki more since it was so impactful for me energetically. I didn’t have the words for what I was experiencing. My upbringing didn’t expose me to these things. My parents are immigrants and entrepreneurs so I didn’t have the luxury of exploring these different paths when I was young. I didn’t set out to become a healer, I just wanted to learn more and in seeking, realized the impact this could have on myself and on others. My reiki teacher is a nurse and has been one for decades. When I learned the impact reiki has on people living with chronic illness and other physical ailments, I began to see this as something I would want to focus on long-term.
TGM: During a reiki session you usually lay on a table and there may be some light touch but what is actually happening energetically during reiki?
Y: Like any healing practice, the practitioner offers a space for people to connect with themselves. A healer knows how to hold space because they have done it for themselves and learn to hold that same space for others. I’ve worked with people all over the spectrum, from cancer patients to women preparing for marriage. Reiki is a practice I offer because that is what I studied and supported me for years but at the same time, there is so much of my particular style of healing that isn’t just reiki.
There are so many tools from all kinds of programs, mentorships, and trainings I’ve gone through to heal myself that now I offer and share with others. It’s fun to try to describe what I do because it's a fusion of all my education and intuition working together. My clients are typically in need of clarity and space where they feel safe to go inward. It’s not just, “I want to feel better, make me feel better”. It's people that want to feel better and need some support in doing the work for themselves. That’s where I come in. Yes, I put my hands on you and help your body re-attune itself but if after the session you’re going to drink a bottle of vodka or smoke six blunts, that’s not going to allow you to tap into what we just created. It’s a dance between myself and the person receiving, we're working together. It’s a sacred space that holds the opportunity for shifts to happen, depending on what that person is in need of and are looking for at the time.
TGM: How does this work help people to connect to not only their emotional & spiritual side, but also their bodies?
Y: Well one of the reasons I only teach restorative and yin yoga is that they help you tap into the mind first. The mind is obviously so interconnected to the body. Whenever we go about just treating the body or just treating the mind, there is a disconnect. When we go about it from the mind into the body, there is a beautiful wave of energy. You may begin to feel anxiety or negative self-talk and then realize it’s actually connected to/coming from digestive issues or trouble with sleep. Looking at the bigger picture and stepping back to connect with the observer part of ourselves is a game changer. From this view, we can see what is really going on and get out of our own way to create lasting change. Space allows us to explore and understand ourselves as a whole, not separate from the body but through it. My job is to create spaces where people feel safe to unwind. It is a holistic practice: mind, body, and spirit.
TGM: After working for so many years in the healing arts, how has your relationship with your body changed from when you were struggling as a teen?
Y: Oh my god! Me and her are great friends! I take the time every day to thank her for the way she is able to move, for having the flexibility she does, for having the ability to adapt, for having her own wisdom and for telling me what she needs. It’s a constant conversation of me checking in and hearing her and understanding, “ok today I need to take it slower or today I need to go and sweat it out”. My body has been through so much and at this point, I am just here to support her. I take time every day to look at myself and see my body from a different perspective. It’s taken a lot of time to finally accept all the parts of me.
TGM: What are some small steps people can take that are looking to begin a healing journey but don’t really know where to start?
Y: A great starting point for anyone is connecting with your breath. Observe your breathing. Is it shallow? Are you holding it in? When we’re angry or emotional we aren’t thinking about our breath but we can really use it to center ourselves. Observing the breath is something you can do in a bathroom, in a conversation, in a car, train, wherever!
A technique I’ve been working with for anxiety in particular is a 5 count breath in, hold for 2 counts, 5 count out, hold for 2 counts. It helps bring your entire system back to feeling safe again. In order for any healing or change to happen you have to feel safe. In whatever arena you are trying to shift, you have to make sure you feel safe. Remember that whatever you are experiencing is going to pass.
Something else that’s really helped me is going out in nature and listening to my steps and the birds and the sounds of what’s around me. If you need the mind stimulation at the time go ahead and listen to a podcast or music in nature, but there is a different kind of energy when you allow yourself to fully immerse.
Creativity is also a huge part of my own spiritual practice. I recently cut up a bunch of magazine clippings and I am creating a vision board to get my creative juices flowing. Creating everyday is part of what fills me up!
Rest is also a huge one! Are you resting enough? Are you giving yourself time to get ready in the morning or are you rushing all the time? It’s important to nurture our parasympathetic system, which is basically the opposite of fight or flight. If we’re always on the go and always onto the next thing, our bodies become taxed on so many levels. In taking a moment to step back we allow our body to calm and bring balance. When we take a step back we allow the parts of our body that are meant to regulate and allow our digestion to flow and allow our blood pressure to be even to work.
Healing should be practical. You don’t have to depend on anyone else. That’s why social media is such an interesting place. We’ve created dependencies on it. Many people feel the need to hear someone’s words or read their thoughts to feel better. What happens when you don’t have any of those sources? Ask yourself, where are my thoughts? Understand that at the end of the day you have to fill your own cup up. What good are all these resources and ideas if we’re not implementing them? You may love how a quote feels but if you aren’t putting it into practice it’s just words on a screen. It’s about the integration.
There are a million cheesy quotes like, “Life is a journey, not a destination” but it really is! Getting from A to B doesn't happen overnight, we have to step into new ways of being to get there. It’s less about getting to B than it is about the habits we build to get there, so when we do get to B, in half the time and more efficiently, we can get to C and then in a quarter of that time and with more ease, get to D. That’s how we become higher functioning humans. Our patterns determine our quality of life, our overall health. We don’t want to be in surviving mode, we want to be in thriving mode. We want to create change that we are excited about, change that will actually benefit our bodies and minds, change that affects our families and communities and create a ripple effect.
To learn more about Yeradmi you can visit her site, yeradmi.com and connect with her on Instagram @yeragomes. You can find her offerings and ways to work with her on her Linktree. Yeradmi also has some awesome retreats coming up in the Dominican Republic this year. Find more details on the site for her beautiful guest house.
