Over and over I would hear the same message, “this was so much more than a photo shoot, this was healing.” “This photoshoot did more for me than all the years I have spent in talk therapy” Even the women inquiring were doing so with “I want to feel good in my skin” “I want to love my body, but I can't, maybe you can help.” On very rare occasions would women inquire with “I want to celebrate.” Almost all of the women reaching out were looking to heal themselves. I recognized the pattern but was unable to explain how and why it worked until I read a book called, “It didn’t start with you'' by Mark Wolynn. 

In his book he states, “Plastic change, caused by our experience,” says Doidge, “travels deep into the brain, and even into our genes, molding them as well.8 In his best-selling book “The Genie in Your Genes,” which reviews the research linking emotions and gene expression, Dr. Dawson Church describes how visualization, meditation, and focusing on positive thoughts, emotions, and prayers—what he calls internal epigenetic interventions—can activate genes and positively affect our health. “Filling our minds with positive images of wellbeing,” he says, “can produce an epigenetic environment that reinforces the healing process.”9 Wolynn, Mark. It Didn't Start with You (p. 51). Furthermore, he stated, “A life completely devoid of trauma, as we’re learning, is highly unlikely. Traumas do not sleep, even with death, but, rather, continue to look for the fertile ground of resolution in the children of the following generations. Fortunately, human beings are resilient and are capable of healing most types of trauma. This can happen at any time during our lives. We just need the right insights and tools.”

Wolynn, Mark. It Didn't Start with You (p. 52). 

Let me use the only official degree I carry, one in applied science, to break down what all of that means for you. Essentially, we have the power to change our story. We can rewire our brains using tools like visualization, meditation, positive thoughts, experiences, and prayers to trigger and activate different genes in our bodies. Wolynn also states that trauma left unheard will continue to be expressed and passed down in the bloodline until someone takes the initiative to deal with and heal it. 

He went on to share a study involving the offspring of stressed male mice conducted at Emory University School of Medicine in 2013,The research team would take these mice and administer an electrical shock each time they introduced them to the smell of cherry blossom. They then mated the mice and tested the offspring. This time they would only introduce the smell of cherry blossom and despite not being inflicted with the pain, the offspring still had a strong reaction. They then mated the offspring to produce grand pups and even in the next generation, they found that the cherry blossom smell still gave a negative reaction! Next the researchers began to work with these grand pups. They began introducing a positive experience along with the smell of cherry blossom. Over time, the negative reaction in the mice had stopped. Furthermore when they mated them again for the great grand pups or 4th generation and introduced them to the smell of cherry blossom they experienced no negative reaction at all. 

After reading that study, everything clicked for me. I realized that this is precisely why my clients feel like they are healing. When it comes to connecting to our body, we all fight the demon I like to call the mirror. That one perspective prick that only lets you see one angle of yourself on repeat every day for most of your life and deceives you into thinking this is the only way you look to others around you. And if that wasn't enough, many of us are walking around with inherited and direct trauma markers of which we are completely unaware that make us feel broken. When in actuality we desire to be heard without fear of retaliation or abandonment. 

Healing takes time, and most importantly it takes practice. In full transparency, I can’t run a portrait studio or business model separate from my healing journey. And my work is simply an extension of my life experience and self-healing. With each client journey I experience, I find a little more healing for myself. I found that the trauma, pain, and discomfort I experienced in my life brought me to this place. Like it or not, there is no separation between my identity and my impact on the people around me. My identity and existence are my impacts. 

My calling to marry self-healing with and through intimate portrait experiences waited long enough. In 2021 it was time to finally give birth to this glorious mission, The Broken + Beloved Project. Where I get the opportunity to work intimately with 33 women on reclaiming their body and existence as their own again. This project is not for the faint of heart. It’s for women who are ready to make significant shifts and to deal with their limiting beliefs. It will push you, it will shake you and it will completely unravel you back into the person you have always been and may have lost sight of. If you have lost yourself, let this project be your map home.

Apply today for our 2025 project while $500 scholarships are still available!!!

Up Next: How my parents shaped my sexuality.