Luzia Embodying Womanhood is the newest expression of my life’s work as a medicine woman. Through my clinical practice, formerly Psycho-Spiritual Integration, now called Integrating Spirit. My eyes and heart were opened to the sincere yearning and necessity my female clients expressed for Rites of Passage. As a pastoral counselor and an initiated woman, I realized that this is not an event, it is a process that merits deep consideration and guidance on all levels. Within my reflections, a form began to emerge, a journey around the medicine wheel and the recreating of ourselves in each direction. The ideas for this program have been percolating in my consciousness for a few years. Suddenly, six months after my 60th birthday, the spirit of Embodying Womanhood took me over and moved me into action. I feel blessed that so many wonderful, talented and accomplished women, friends, colleagues, and God-daughters have joined me and are bringing their gifts to this program. I believe the process of Self Realization, through Initiation, provides us with the mental, emotional, and spiritual resources we need to become well balanced, productive and creative members of the society we live in; and enables us to serve more fully our Mother Earth and the Creator we pray to.
My Integrating Spirit work includes Pastoral Counseling, Bio-energetic Analysis, Amazonian Flower Remedies and B.R.E.T.H work for individuals, including children, adolescents, and couples. I offer personal retreats at my home and temple in Felton, California, for individuals, couples and small groups. These retreats are self-designed and reflect the needs and desires of the participants.
I also offer “Encounters with the Divine”, a 2-4 day residential workshop that includes plant spirit medicine rituals, B.R.E.T.H work, bodywork and group sharing. I am co-creator of “Circles of Light, Self-realization Work,” a ritual based in the Santo Daime tradition and “Daime Therapy” which are individual Diame sessions combining medicine work, intention, and prayer. For more information on my life and work, please visit my website: www.integrating-spirit.com.
Julia Onnie-Hay is a certified herbalist, holistic health counselor and
yoga teacher on a mission to reconnect people to the healing forces of plants. Before diving deep into her study of herbs, she earned a B.A. in cultural anthropology from New College of Florida in 2005 and a graduate certificate in holistic health counseling from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2008.
Julia has studied folk healing traditions in the Peruvian Amazon, Ghana, Jamaica, and throughout the United States, including the Big Island of Hawai’i, northern California, and North Carolina. She earned her certification as a Family Herbalist from the Florida School of Holistic Living in 2012 and is a lifelong student of herbalist elders and the plants themselves. She’s a coordinator and a teacher for the South Florida branch of the Florida School of Holistic Living and is a founding member of the South Florida Herbal Community. Last year, she earned her 200-hour yoga certification from 305 Yoga & Outreach and became a certified Curvy Yoga teacher. Julia combines her love for yoga and herbs with her Plant-Spirit Medicine Yoga practice.
In addition to her work and studies with plants and yoga, Julia is a full-time nonprofit program administrator with a decade of professional experience in wellness policy, the out-of-school time (OST) field, leadership development (youth and adult), food justice issues, and drug policy reform. Julia also holds certifications in permaculture design, teaching yoga to at-risk youth, and as a birth doula. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and on the small island of Salt Cay in the Turks & Caicos Islands, Julia is based in Miami, Florida at the Earth ‘n’ Us Farm in the Little Haiti neighborhood. Lately, she’s really into working with wildcrafted Florida flower essences, making tinctures with tropical medicinal weeds found around the urban farm where she lives and singings hymns to the Atlantic Ocean. For more information please visit my website: www.blessbotanicals.weebly.com
Carmela Woll is a native of California and a 2017 Initiate of Embodying Womanhood (formerly Adult Girls Into Women). Her first career after obtaining her Master’s degree in Marine Science was as a math and science teacher. Combining that teaching experience with her passion for dance, in 1997, she co-founded, directed, and taught at Motion Pacific Dance Studio in Santa Cruz, CA. Since then she has studied and performed many types of dance with particularly Hip Hop, Belly Dance, and Odissi (a Classical Indian form).
In 2002, Carmela entered law school at Santa Clara University and, in 2005, graduated and passed the California Bar Exam. At that point, her dancing transformed exclusively into her hobby and joy instead of a profession. She worked as an attorney and Civil Rights Investigator until her recent retirement to New Mexico in 2022. In addition, Carmela has spent many years as a spiritual practitioner of Buddhism, a student of Plant Medicine traditions
(Shamanic and Santo Daime), and since 2017 has been a Pipe Carrier in the lineage of the Ollintlahuimetzli Moon Dance tradition (Teotihuacan, Mexico). Since 2018 Carmela has been a member of the Threshold Choir, a non-profit organization that offers bedside singing to those at the thresholds of life.
Verena was born and raised in Guatemala and now resides in Kelowna, BC, Canada, with her husband and three children. She is an initiate of Embodying Womanhood 2023/24, a transformative experience that fostered profound personal growth and development.
As a Registered Dietitian, Verena holds a bachelor’s degree in Food, Nutrition, and Health from the University of British Columbia, along with certifications in Functional and Integrative Medicine, Fertility Nutrition, Female Sports Nutrition, and Oncology Nutrition. Verena takes a holistic approach to health, focusing on uncovering and addressing the root causes of health challenges. She specializes in managing complex, chronic conditions, including cancer, digestive disorders, hormonal imbalances, and inflammatory conditions. Verena works at the BC Cancer Agency and operates a private practice, Nutritional Rhythms.
A passionate advocate for women’s empowerment, she is committed to helping women understand their bodies and take control of their health. Her comprehensive approach goes beyond nutrition to include vital aspects of well-being, such as sleep, stress management, movement, sexuality, community connections, and menstrual cycle awareness.
Menstrual cycle awareness is a core pillar of Verena’s life and practice. She teaches women to use their cycles as a powerful tool for self-discovery, growth, and insight. Through understanding their hormonal rhythms, women gain wisdom about their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual states, allowing them to connect deeply with their inner selves and make empowered decisions about their health and well-being. Verena believes this practice is foundational to achieving balance and living authentically.
Verena’s ultimate goal is to help women awaken their natural healing abilities and inner wisdom. She is deeply honored to co-facilitate the next cohort of Embodying Womanhood and looks forward to contributing to the participants’ growth and empowerment.
Jazmin Ment lives in Santa Barbara, California, where she is a certified senior yoga teacher, community organizer, and lifelong advocate for embodied wellbeing, regenerative food systems, and rewilding our relationship with the natural world. She leads yoga teacher trainings, worldwide retreats, and works with individuals and groups in a holistic, grounded, and relatable approach. Jazmin is also a surfer, devoted yogini, and artist. She studied sculpture at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB with an emphasis on the body and culture; and through her art she seeks to reconstruct and reimagine a sane, loving, and interconnected world.
Jazmin grew up on a biodynamic farm in upstate New York and after moving to California, worked alongside an organic farmer for over a decade. She continues to be drawn to this crossroads where the physical and the unseen worlds meet. Food and cooking, regenerative practices and living, and elemental connection remain central to her life – as a love language, and as a creative practice.
Jazmin is an initiate of the 2018/2019 cohort of Embodying Womanhood. Through this initiation process, she continues to deepen her understanding of the body as a vital gateway for tending both individual and collective healing. Her work is rooted in honoring the body as a place of wisdom, connection, and remembrance. It is with great privilege and joy that Jazmin supports the Embodying Womanhood program through cooking and tending fire, offering nourishment, presence, and steady care to the circle.
Samantha is an herbalist and holistic guide whose initiation with Embodying Womanhood took place in 2019. During the first module, while studying plant medicine with Julia, she experienced a deep calling to go deeper into plant medicine. With a BA in Environmental Studies, Samantha’s gentle entry into the metaphysical world began in 2010. Since then, she has studied with a wide range of teachers and diverse healing additions. Her herbal background includes Western Herbalism, Islamic Unani Medicine, Alchemy, Rainforest Herbalism, and Flower Essence Therapy. Her path also includes Spiritual Bathing, Reiki, Abdominal Therapy (Sobadas), and a diverse energy and yoga practice.
Drawing strength from her diverse heritage: Lebanese, Palestinian, Polis ) German, and Western European, she is deeply moted in ancestral wisdom. Samantha works as an environmental regulato mr the State of California. Her greatest passion is supporting others eir healing, honoring individual eds through herbs, energy work, and abdominal care.
For more information, visit her website: www.hellohoutly.com
Chio and Quique (Ceremonial Names: Xoloyolotl and Yohualli Ehecatl) are practitioners of the teachings of Mexicanidad and the Red Road for 15 years. Through discipline in ancestral ceremonies such as the Sun Dance, the Moon Dance, and Vision Quests, they have acquired a deep awareness of their nature.
They currently put this wisdom at the service of their community by providing the ancestral medicine of the Temazcal (sweat lodge) and facilitating singing and talking circles, helping others connect with their own inner knowledge.