THE COMMON HEALING ORIGIN STORY
I align with the role of the Griot, or a traveling storyteller from West Africa maintaining a tradition of oral history.
My father being from Sierra Leone and my mother being European-American means I have family in different parts of the world as is the way of the diaspora family. Travel became a natural part of my life as I grew into adulthood and prioritized investing myself in learning through immersion to expand my perspective as well as understanding better where I come from.
I engage with image making, both moving and still, writing, collage, and sound to make sense of existence and preserve process. My studies brought me into consciousness as I explored Black feminism, healing, economic alternatives to capitalism, energy work, Pan-Africanism, revolutionary struggle, land stewardship, and the arts for freedom. All of these pursuits power my work in the world and inform my commitments when I travel.
I became really disillusioned by the emphasis on theory, the limited support for praxis, and the unprincipled behavior that seemed rampant in so-called liberation spaces that I found myself in during my early to mid 20s…
Filled with frustration and longing, I kept wandering in search of a political home that was expansive, spiritually aligned, and practical.
I was used to feeling squeezed into spaces where I didn’t fit but I thought since I was working with people who expressed seemingly shared visions, things would be different; however, I was wrong.
I noticed massive dissonance between the claimed principles of collectivism and care and the actual implementation in daily life. It was heady, high level, and exclusive in an unproductive way. I yearned for imagined futures practiced and built in the present.
When I came across the concept of world–building in speculative fiction, it hit me. If we could write ourselves into the story where we would otherwise be in captivity, displaced or disconnected and create a new reality, couldn’t we take this a step further and actually practice embodying these collective dream worlds? How might we consciously collaborate with our ancestors, the land, the built environment, and the people around us to find a more just time space continuum?
LOVE FROM COMMUNITY
“Common healing is a revolutionary incubator for modern solidarity movements. Carefully co-created in the vision of Analise and influenced by the historical contexts of collective empowerment, cooperative world building, and social justice, these intersectional spaces build on a legacy of art, activism, and the art of activism. Grounded in grace ~ these gatherings hold our humanity and communal responsibility to manifest our most ethical collective future(s)~~~ mending the film between our inner and outer worlds, reminding us that healing is an act of devotion that must be made daily. The healing is to be made common.”
-CLAUDIA NAGY
When I was given my paternal grandmother’s name, Delphine, I inherited a legacy of cultural production and political organizing. I lived in London and continue to travel back often to hear the oral histories of my family from those who spent the most time with my grandmother. The more memories I gather, the more clear the assignment I was given in the name Delphine becomes and I have let it guide me around the world from New York to South Africa. I believe we all have a sacred role and every expression of my work is intended to stimulate cooperation on a subconscious level which requires we each claim our unique, intergenerational stories as they’re unfolding.
WHY I DO WHAT I DO
The first iteration of Common Healing was a popup healing center in South London where I was living.
We experimented with a sliding-scale model of affordability and a full timetable of classes, workshops, and treatments over the course of our 3 month tenancy at a brick and mortar in Nunhead. In divine timing, we closed the popup in February of 2020.
OUR TIMELINE ⬇
We began as a popup healing center in South London 2019
We transformed into an online learning space in 2020
We turned inward to focus on our own healing and rooting in 2021
We reawakened in 2022 through Participatory World-Building
to seed an interconnected web of sustenance that transcends national borders and through which resources can move
A MISSION
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A MISSION ☾
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We don’t have to start from scratch. We have so much ancestral and communal wisdom we can tap into as we imagine and build healing and just futures. As we travel, it’s important to consider where we come from, what we’re bringing, and the impact on people and place in whatever contexts we visit.
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We are not separate. Disconnected? Maybe but we’ve been integrated before. And so, we recall to reconnect to ourselves and nature and our people with the help of spirit-led intentional travel.
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We stand in solidarity as a practice with all colonized people. Our experiences aim to shift power and resources into the hands of people who’ve historically been extracted from. We support claiming autonomy from oppressive structures, even if we might only get a taste in retreat (for now). We’re seeing to believe to create.
We’re the perfect match if…
✓ You’re looking for more meaningful travel experiences
✓ You have a desire to connect spiritually and politically with people across the globe
✓ You have a desire to connect with the land you walk on at home and abroad
✓ You believe in the collective capacity to shift the future
✓ Your travel plans aren’t leaving the group chat
WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER:
Our travel experiences are for conscious beings who are feeling disconnected or disheartened and who want to seed new worlds that are healing and just.
During a VIP Travel Design Day, we’ll conduct hours of research and design an itinerary unique to you for a transformational travel experience.
Pre-made itineraries so all you have to do is book. Experience our approach to travel that honors the land and local cultures.
THE GRIOT LANDING PODCAST ✮⋆˙
Tune into an immersive audio experience exploring ancient wisdom for new world possibilities. We’ll travel across time and place meeting healers, culture keepers, and land stewards with the intent to raise our collective, cooperative consciousness through immersive storytelling. As we tap into oral traditions, we archive sacred knowing and memory. This living archive becomes a reference for the embodiment of well futures.
Available on Spotify + Apple Podcasts