My name is Tara. I chose to do a second underwater transformation healing session with Erena, as the first one I did one year before was an incredibly healing and special experience for me.
The sensation of being in warm water, with my various creative costumes on was a freeing, liberating and comforting moment. I truly appreciated the tasteful, artistic photos I received after the event and have enjoyed sharing them on my blog page, social media and other outlets. The fact that I love being in the water made my time with Erena a bit of a fantasy come true, I got to wear my beautiful wedding dress and mermaid tail and step into my own magical land!
The last year of my life has been tremendously traumatic in many ways. Both my parents tragically died within a four month time period, in pretty challenging circumstances. I chose to do another session with her as I was aware of how much grief, trauma and PTSD I was carrying after both of their deaths. I knew that being in the water would be a healing experience to help transform the shock and pain I had been feeling with their loss.
Before the photo session, I was in a deep space of grief, sadness, physical exhaustion and overwhelm due to the turbulence of being a caretaker and experiencing profound and sudden loss in a short period of time.
– What did you think of Shibari?
Shibari was a fascinating experience for me! When Erena suggested it, I was open to trying it, as I trust Erena and it seemed like a fun, creative idea to do. I have an appreciation of Japanese culture and knew there was a lot of depth and meaning behind Shibari. I enjoyed the precision in how she tied the ropes around me and felt safe the entire time. She was gentle, kind and very aware of my own comfort level.
In many ways, it felt healing to have the ropes tied around me. The past year has been so turbulent and with experiencing sudden loss, the sensation of having ropes around me felt like I was being held in a nurturing manner. As there has been so much loss, the sense of feeling ‘contained’ by the ropes had a grounding effect on me.
It also was fun to feel her untie the knots and then be able to swim in the water with the ropes dangling freely behind me. I am glad I did it and would definitely do it again!
– How did you feel underwater?
Being in the warm water was deeply nurturing and healing for me. I felt free, comfortable and artistically liberated. I chose to have the theme of contraction and expansion with the photos Erena took and chose poses that were in alignment with this concept. It was enjoyable to try to be in the water and transition from a ball like shape (contraction) to having my arms open wide in a flying, free position (expansion). I truly look forward to having the photos that will visibly capture this theme.
Erena has a nurturing presence, where I felt safe to be in my emotions around the extreme grief of the death of my parents. It felt like a perfect activity to do to truly honor the experience of loss.
I chose to wear one of my beloved father’s Hawaiian shirts under the water, as my father is from Hawaii and always wore bright, colorful Hawaiian shirts. It had not even been two months since he passed when we did the photo shoot and it felt like the perfect way to commemorate my dad by wearing his clothes. My father had a gregarious, loud and large presence and wearing his shirts underwater was a way to channel his spirit, with his love of Hawaii, water and the loving energy of his heart.
Having the ropes felt comforting, as mentioned above. Being in the water without the ropes was a great sensation of freedom that went along with my chosen theme: contraction and expansion.
– How did you feel after the photo session?
I felt liberated, empowered, nurtured, held and like I had taken an important step of self care to honor the healing that is necessary after profound loss. I am truly grateful I did it a second time as the most important thing for me right now is to find my way through the mental quagmire of loss.
Erena is an absolute gem and I truly recommend being in the water with you if you are called to do so!
Please view Tara’s underwater transformations from last year from here.
