photo of Sylvia taken by Ricardo Nagaoka, used with permission from photographer.

Episode #76 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Sylvia Poareo from Connecting Within.

In this episode of the podcast, Sylvia and I talk about:

the effects of oppression and patriarchy on our interpersonal relations and dynamics, healing
how trauma affects us in deep ways and how Sylvia works with this kind of trauma
rest as resistance
what is pure love?
choosing to come back to the whole self as a mode of healing
pros and cons of skills gatherings
how white supremacy influences how we see what is ‘right’
capitalism as a mental contruct
healing is best in community
necessity of awareness of internal ecosystem in order to heal outer ecosystem
and more

Sylvia Poareo is a gentle Curandera/Consejera (healer/spiritual counselor) whose work is rooted in guiding and supporting each individual in their own liberation within collective healing. Informed by the Chicano experience and growing up as an orphan in SoCal, her life was an initiation into deep trust in and reliance on Spirit/Creator.

Connecting deeply into the heart, to the cosmos and nature as a pathway to healing, she recognizes the profound wisdom, resilience and fortitude we carry in our bones. She supports ancestral remembrance and remembering parts of ourselves, our innate humanity and cultures of origin as a path to truth, healing and wholeness.

Her greatest wisdom is drawn from her experience as an orphan and a mother learning to reparent, repair, reclaim and liberate herself to give and sustain life for her children with less trauma than was passed down to her.

She supports this self-reclamation through connecting within to our ‘inner child’ held within ancestral, natural and spiritual guidance. She weaves neuroscience, somatic practices with ancient wisdom, spiritual mothering and soul retrieval to address the pain of rejection, abandonment, anxiety, depression and grief.

Her approach is informed by her journeys with Inner Bonding, Curanderismo healing arts (Mexican traditional medicine), nature connection, social work, activism and somatic exercises. Sylvia is well known for her gentle, compassionate, yet clear and effective way of bringing many elements together to support our integration.

She helps mothers break cycles through conscious mothering circles, and spiritual retreats. She has walked many through the ups and downs of parenthood, relationships, healing trauma, lifting off cultural constructs, and always seeking to preserve our children's innate essence.

To remember our interdependence, mutuality and reciprocity, much of this work is held in community.

The spiritual community she supports is deeply rooted in equity and liberation from systems of harm. We support inclusion, accountability and spiritual work without spiritual bypassing. We embrace inner work for individual and collective liberation knowing as we reclaim profound Love within, we are meant to share it.

Sylvia has a deep understanding of generational trauma, mental illness, navigating the system (family incarceration, foster care), and how systemic and racial injustice creates environments of inequity in our communities. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare at UCLA, and is a certified Transpersonal Counselor with the Association for the Integration of the Whole Person. She is also a Certified Facilitator of TRE (Tension and Trauma Release Exercises)

Above all, she counts her lived experiences and wisdom from elders as her greatest teachers. She is immensely grateful to her brave yet wounded mother, her resilient sisters, many Mexican mamas, her sisters in motherhood and mentors Margaret Paul, Sharon Pearson, Melinda Rodriguez, Sally Alonzo Bell and Curandera Maestra Estela Roman, among many.