Hi there
My name is Ava, and I'm a multi-passionate woman and multidisciplinary artist, born on the unceded territory of the Uypi people in Santa Cruz, California, with ancestral lines from Ireland, Portugal, and a wee bit from England and Germany.
I believe in a heart-centered, earth-loving culture that is attuned to the sacred, rooted in relational transparency & integrity, and infused with a spirit of celebration. A culture that uplifts the relationship with the body, with the Earth, with the arts, and with each other, as a human family.
In a variety of ways, and in a timeline that is not mine, this is a reality I'm dreaming into life.
With gratitude for that which connected us here ~
My Formal Education
includes an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego, and a Masters degree in Transpersonal Psychology with a focus on Creative Expression from Sofia University. I am currently walking towards a PhD in Wisdom Studies. I've completed an intensive 2 year study on individual/ancestral/collective trauma and personal transformation from Academy of Inner Sciences. My therapeutic work is rooted in somatic intelligence and is influenced by studies with the Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approach (ISITTA), Thomas Hubl, and my own 15 years of somatic-based therapy.
I co-founded Ceu do Novo Mundo, INC (aka SacredJourney.Earth) a church non-profit organization that supports the preservation of indigenous wisdom ways, as well as offered 6 years of ceremonial gatherings with the entheogenic Grandmother medicine, Ayahuasca.
The heart of my work with myself and with women has been in the healing of the relationship with the womb, menstrual cycle, and sexuality. For over 10 years, I have been in a study in such feminine arts, beginning with my first teacher, Sarita, of Tantra-Essence, and continuing into the realm of somatic sexual bodywork, as well as womb healing, with many different practitioners. Naturally, the work with the pelvis extends to the voice, where I have explored and studied, with myself as the student, with multiple teachers, discovering my personal perspective and practice with the voice. My Thesis paper for my Master's Degree was titled "The Dance of the Wild Feminine," where I explored the relationship between the 2nd and 5th chakra through the lens of emotions and dance.
I have experienced a month long dieta with late paje, Tata of the Yawanawa tribe in the Amazon jungle in Brazil, as well as multiple other 10 day and month long diets, primarily working with the energy of prayer and of the Serpent.
My devotion to the path of liberation and the healing power of the arts and the body, have led me to countless retreats, trainings and studies around the world. Including but not limited to: ancient mystery schools, breath work, voice work, meditation, tantra and sexual somatic bodywork, yoga teacher trainings (Hatha, Tantra Vinyasa, Kundalini), dance studies (ecstatic, 5rhythms, Brazilian zouk, contact-beyond-contact), Reiki, Ayurveda, Vedic astrology, and Gene Keys.
In my free time, you can find me dancing, practicing guitar, studying esoteric sciences, being a lizard in the sun, playing in a body of water, or cuddling with my pup, River, or my snake, Swara.