Ep#6: A Diosa's Journey: Returning to Your Soul Home with Christine Gutierrez

In this episode of Your Story Medicine, I welcome Christine Gutierrez, Latina licensed psychotherapist, life coach, author, and expert in love addiction, trauma, abuse, and self-esteem. We discuss navigating shadow work in a way that keeps us from getting too deep in the darkness, incorporating ancestral medicine into your healing practice, and working with multiple racial backgrounds in one space. Christine shares the inspiration behind her journey towards writing her book and creating her community, the Diosahood, and how sensuality and storytelling have played a role in her life.

Are you feeling a call to incorporate your ancestry into your healing journey? Do you experience blocks when it comes to tapping into your creative and sensual energy? This episode is for you!

Where are you at right now? 

My family’s lineage is from Puerto Rico, so I moved there from New York after college and fell in love with it. I bounced between there and New York a bit but I am currently living in PR. I am about to start building a retreat space for locals. 

How would you describe your medicine?

I’m like a shadow worker who holds space for people’s pain, shame, and suffering, walking them back to owning their worth and loving themselves again by speaking and moving through their problems. I’ve created a space for sisterhood, what I call the Diosa community.

What would you share with other Latinx folks who are on this journey of pursuing healing work, perhaps for people feeling the call to incorporate their ancestral medicine into their healing practice?

We’re coming to this place in our lives where we realize there’s power in connecting to our ancestry and that it gives us cultural confidence. Do research and find ways you can incorporate your roots into your soulwork. For me, connecting with my roots goes hand in hand with connecting with my medicine. 

Where would you say people can start diving into their shadows without strongly identifying with it to the point where there is no light? 

The biggest part of that is understanding that we’re multi-dimensional beings. We are part of nature, so our outer nature is a reflection of our inner nature. Part of being able to do shadow work is so that we get to enjoy our lives. Accessing the shadow allows you to free up the space to fill it with something else. Sometimes we can go so deep into it that we forget to nourish ourselves. Give yourself time to nourish your nervous system and give yourself space to integrate your lessons. Joy is a massive part of the healing, though it’s normal to not know how to have balance in it.

How have you been able to navigate multiple racial backgrounds in one space, if you see that as a conflict or do you think that it is important for women of color to do the work within themselves first before that integration?

I’ve always been geared towards working with a more Latinx and POC community. The white women who are attracted to my community are not your typical white women. They generally have experience that relates to that of the experiences of POC, such as growing up in the projects or experiencing a particular trauma. It’s not just about the color of your skin, it’s about how you relate based on your cultural background, because that also has to do with how you grew up and who you grew up with. When the majority is a POC experience, which it always is in my case, most of my retreats are a 1:15 ratio (white:POC). While interviewing the participants, I always make sure to address safety concerns and make sure they know that cultural background will be discussed and cultural sensitivity is valued. For me, it hasn’t been an issue. White women have even asked permission to join the community, with others’ safety in mind. 

I’ve been in spaces that were strictly POC and they were deeply nourishing for me, but it’s all about what you’re called to do.

What inspired you to create this kind of space?

I grew up in Bushwick, lower-middle class, and my parents worked really hard so that I could go to a private Catholic school and college. They showed me a strong work ethic and love, which gave me grounds to dream and learn. There was a feeling of being able to do anything I want for work. I always knew I wanted to help make the world a better place, so that fire from my soul, mixed with all the resources and mentorship I could find, created a drive to start a business. The love for the work grounded me and helped me show up for my goals.

By finding things that are going to give you cash to invest in your business and to help you learn, little by little, you’ll grow into a space where Spirit rewards you. 

What is the significance of sensuality and how has your storytelling work helped birth your book?

I am a Scorpio and have always felt a connection to God and to my sensuality. For me, they went hand in hand, so I became really devoted to learning how sensuality lived in the world of spirituality. Sensuality and sexuality is always going to be there and it’s the source of all creativity and life. It is the root of the Universe being born. In each chakra, or energy center, they represent different things. I became obsessed with navigating that world and incorporating it into everything I did. Tapping into that passionate energy allows me to receive downloads for Source, create, and bring these ideas into form.

Conclusion: If you’re feeling the call to incorporate your ancestral medicine into your healing practice, follow that. There’s immense power in connecting to our ancestry and it gives us cultural confidence, so do the research and find ways you can incorporate your roots into your healing journey. When approaching shadow work, understand that we’re multi-dimensional beings and that part of being able to do shadow work is the opportunity to enjoy our lives by creating space for joy. Remember to nourish yourself so that you don’t get too deep in the darkness. Connect with your sensuality and the energy of your passion.

Homework: Spend time this week connecting with your sensuality, your five senses. Find an enjoyable way to tap into your passionate energy and see what comes up for you… it could be a life-changing idea!

Learn more about Christine and her work:

Website: www.christineg.tv 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/christinegtv 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cosmicchristine 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CosmicChristine

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/cosmicchristine/_created

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCefa1LT9MVZuDvxAjak2g7A?

I am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul

Soul Book Masterclass: www.thesoulbook.co

The Diosahood: www.thediosahood.com 

Listen to our previous interview: https://yourstorymedicine.mykajabi.com/christinegutierrez