I am Íris Garcia
Founder of Earth Body Medicine
Woman, mother, animal, pilgrim and care giver of wild places, endlessly questioning the cultural threads that bind us.
I am a Somatic Trauma Therapist, eco-somatic movement and yoga educator, doula, herbalist, ecologist, artist, traditional iberian healer, recolector of medicinal, ritual and artistic traditions. Researcher of the intricate connection of body, Earth and the sacred, focusing on iberian proto history, it’s animism and xamanism.
Caregiver of the fertile places within soul and soil, through movement, therapy and ritual.
Constantly nourishing sensitive presence, active listening and creating relationships.
biography
My basis formation is contemporary literature, theater, contemporary and traditional Northern african dance. Additionally, I am trained in Somatic trauma therapy, somatic movement, yoga, doula, coaching and emotional intelligence, permaculture and medicinal herbalism.
Between 1999 and 2010 I have studied contemporary dance and Middle eastern (Egyptian, Nubian and Sahara) female ritual dances. Having performed nationally and internationally. I have produced 10 collective performances with about 60 women each andi 6 solo ritual performance pieces. I have completed my Yoga teacher training in Austria in 2008.
Both my formation and skills evolved by training as a Doula, Coach, Somatic Experience trauma therapist and somatic and eco-somatic movement educator as well as herbalist and permaculture designer.
Presently I am studying psychotraumatology.
I have two decades of practical and theoretic experience in iberian animism, xamanism and archaic mythology. To this day I still study both european and South american shamanism, having been initiated as Medicine Woman, in 2008.
I have participated in the books Defend the Sacred by Tamera community, From the Ancestors by Ron Whitehead and am a columnist at the Wind and Water magazine.
In Sintra, Portugal, I have co-founded the Senhora d’Azenha cooperative for art, therapy and eco-spirituality . I regularly teach at Glastonbury Goddess Temple.
Presently I teach and offer therapeutic sessions online, in Portugal, United Kingdom and Brasil.
As a personal practise I walk in the wild forest and sea shores, gather, grow and prepare medicinal Plants. To inspire, heal and nourish.
I believe that the Art, Therapy, Spirituality, Ecology and Philosophy have close intricate connection. Throughout all of my work, my aim is to develop a sensitive capacity to be present by simultaneously listening to oneself and what is happening around us.
My understanding is that Life is cyclical, like Nature, and when we truly tune in with a notion of circular rather than linear time we may embrace in a more encompassing way all aspects of our human experience, develop resilience and a sense of purpose and belonging. We are able to rewrite our narratives and our collective journey.
