I greet you and your ancestors with respect.
My people come from the south of Vietnam, where the river meets the ocean, but far enough upstream that the water is fresh. I am the child of small merchants and traders, people who cultivated the land and received its bounty in the form of fruits, vegetables, fish, frogs, chickens and pigs. I am the daughter of fragrant rice.
Today, I live and work on the traditional lands of the Tanana Athabascan people in the heart of Alaska as a somatic therapist, trauma therapist, storyteller and trainer.
As a trainer, My philosophy is based on the values of my people, the portal of wisdom of my ancestors and a relationship to the earth: generativity, mutuality, reciprocity, respect, kindness, delicacy, humility and collective responsibility. I respond to the pronouns She / her.
Following the trauma of forced displacement experienced at a very young age, I lived my life remembering nothing, so as not to have to forget anything. Walking backwards in the snow. Erasing my own tracks as soon as they appeared.
For my own survival, I had to start researching the intersection between trauma and the body. I have learned that I thrive when I absorb new information that changes my own worldview through a paradigm shift—and my experience tells me that reversing my perception was necessary for healing. As a result, I am a strong advocate for self-education and the powerful introspection and self-awareness it brings.
For me, as a trauma survivor, exposure equals death. The echoes in my body tell me that being seen and heard makes me a target.