Today we’d like to introduce you to Gris Alves.
Hi Gris, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
A natural born seeker since childhood, I always sensed that there was something wrong with society’s strict rules and regulations on how to “behave” as a woman, and when I moved to the US- it added to as a woman of color. I grew up at the TJ/San Diego border and had the daily double life of crossing into a different culture in the day (San Diego) and back home (Tijuana) by night.
These options brought me much insight on the differences and access to a freer, more liberated life- as well as to the deep roots of my Mexica ancestors. It was confusing for a while as a young girl trying to find her way, born into a colonized and conservative family in Mexico, seeking a community that supported freedom of expression which was scarce in the town of TJ.
I found my tribe in the music and arts, and it was just as much a breath of fresh air as it was hard for a while due to so much stigma and rejection from my family and society. I struggled with alcohol and drugs for many years trying to cover up the pain of early childhood trauma and the double border and family life. With conservative Mexican families there can be a lot of pretending and hiding your true self; this only heightened the pain, rage, and isolation.
Luckily, I realized early on that I did not want to live like this and that I could do something about these addictions. I began my recovery journey early in my 20s and have since deepened my understanding of the reasons we choose to numb out and self-medicate.
Through many years of NA meetings, recovery retreats, yoga, meditation, and many psychologists, I realized that talk therapy could only go so far- and that there was a deeper level of healing that I craved. During these recovery years, I landed a job at the Federal Public Defenders office in San Diego as a bilingual/bicultural investigator. This work in the criminal justice system opened my eyes to the deep issues of our mental health system and the despair of this country’s incarceration policies. During 27 years of working along attorneys defending the rights of the indigent charged in all sorts of border crimes like illegal entry and drug smuggling, I realized that no matter how ‘just’ the system thinks it is, it is super biased, racist, and completely overwhelmed. When my work moved to sentencing mitigation for Capital (Death Penalty) Defense, I discovered for the first time the research of Trauma. How the situations in your life influence your nervous system, your brain, the choices you make, and your emotional intelligence.
This is where it clicked for me, that addictions and mental health is beyond ‘bad; choices. A person is not ‘bad’ because they are addicted to a substance, and like Dr. Gabor Mate, expert in addictions and childhood trauma states, ” Instead of asking why the addiction, we need to ask why the pain.”
I continued on my journey of recovery training and volunteering with the Prison Yoga Project in Trauma Informed Yoga and studying all things Somatic Experience and Ancestral Earth-Based Healing modalities.
After so many years of work and talk therapy, there comes a point where either we get IN the body to heal, or we just keep running around in the same story in our heads. Trying to control our behavior does not work if the trauma is not felt and processed in the body. Hence the epidemic of antidepressants/ anti-anxiety prescriptions dependence in so many people.
I studied with Native American teachers both in the US and Mexico and began to remember old ways of being and some of my childhood experiences connected to the earth and elements and opening up a space again for the great mystery of life.
Movement, Dance, Fire Ceremonies, Ancestral Rituals, and Grief and Praise Circles began to accompany me and my clients in my healing retreats and in my practice. I grew out of the constriction and rigidity of the 12-step programs many years ago, and though they helped in the beginning of my sober life, that program needs to evolve and really look deeper at childhood trauma and less into just how many days you’ve been sober and identifying as an addict for the rest of your life. We are so much more than an addiction.
I know now that healing happens in and through the body, and addictions as well as numbing out with pharmaceuticals because our society is too rushed to stop and learn how to FEEL are just a coping mechanism of the real problem: Pain, Trauma and Disconnection from the body.
These are my offerings now, earth-based healing, Compassionate Inquiry Somatic Therapy, retreats, and integration of plant medicine journeys~ with the destination being a Liberated Life.
Moving back to the Village Ways, healing in community.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Smooth? Who has had a smooth road? I don’t think life is meant to be smooth. It is meant to be lived alive, and that includes periods of grief and sorrow as well as times of rest and joy. Recovery from addictions is not an easy road, and neither is going to therapy and digging in to really do the work it takes to see the reality of our trauma and how our world is a bit of a mess.
Other struggles along the way include my marriage relationship in its ups and downs (still going now for 27 years woot!) and caring for my mother after she had a stroke for two years until she died. You know, creating a life that I love and care for that is not bogged down in the hustle of the matrix has really taken years of planning and struggle as well.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of my favorite things to do is sing. I am one of the co-founders of the San Diego Resistance Revival Chorus, and I love to sing medicine songs in my retreats, ceremonies or gathered around the fire. I know the healing power of singing and I incorporate that into my work as well. I am a somatic CI (Compassionate Inquiry) coach and therapist, but I have created a ceremonial approach to healing that is both ancestral and earth-based.
During my healing/therapy sessions, we rarely just sit and talk; there is always movement, breath, and experiential activities to promote the healing of trauma.
I am known for my mindfulness healing retreats where we practice embodiment, sweat lodge ceremony, and other ancestral healing modalities that connect us to our bodies and Mother Earth.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Create the life YOU want to live, not the life your parents or society wants for you. This might take some planning and strategizing, but it is doable.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.grisalves.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grisalves/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KJo9gI9XnEodvKxpowrfW
Image Credits
Susana Palayan
Autumn Flower
