She Thought She Was Free… Until She Finally Was

What Does Real Freedom Mean?

When I was a young child, my early years were full of wonder and play. I was born in San Francisco, and though my father left when I was just six months old, my mother made the courageous decision to go on welfare so she could be fully present with me. Those early memories feel like magic: sipping jasmine tea in the Japanese Tea Garden, throwing flower petals on the Buddha, watching the buffalo roam Golden Gate Park.

We didn’t have much materially, but we had presence, beauty, and connection.

Everything changed when we moved to Michigan. My mom had to work full-time, and I was in caretaking situations before and after school. I started kindergarten at four and a half, and from that point on, I often felt like I was just trying to keep up—socially, emotionally, and academically. I didn’t have siblings or a father figure to reflect self-worth back to me. I didn’t have a clear mirror. I felt invisible in many ways.

By the time I hit my teenage years, I had begun to form an idea of freedom that was based on escape. I believed freedom meant doing whatever I wanted—being with who I wanted, going where I pleased. That belief

followed me into young adulthood.

 I moved out West to attend art school at 17, and while I excelled academically and creatively, I also started using drugs. My art was a processing ground for my pain, but I was still running. I traveled across Europe,

took new lovers, started over countless times, convincing myself that this was freedom.

But by the time I was 23, it all caught up with me. I hit a dark bottom. The choices I thought

I was making in the name of freedom were actually born from wounding, and they

were slowly draining the life out of me.

That moment marked the

beginning of my healing.

We all want to be free. We all want to be happy. But what does that really mean?

For years, I believed freedom came from change: move to a new place, start a new relationship, get a new job. And yes, change can be beautiful and necessary. But more often than not, constant change masks deeper patterns, avoiding the deeper discomfort

of truly meeting ourselves.

Eventually, if we pay close enough attention,

we begin to notice the common

 thread in all the external shifts: ourselves.

In my late twenties, I began studying non-dual Tantra—not the watered-down versions, but the heart of the ancient philosophy. One of its

core teachings struck a deep chord: the concept of Svātantrya—true freedom. This teaching reveals that real freedom doesn’t come from saying yes to everything.

 In fact, saying yes to everything is a dilution. A scattering. A numbing.

True freedom arises when we choose consciously to bind ourselves to what matters most. To say YES to that which brings us into alignment with our soul.

Whether it’s a person, a creative calling, a place to root down, or your own healing journey, when you commit, when you set boundaries, when you stop running—something

extraordinary happens. You come home.

Freedom isn’t about doing whatever you want. It’s about reclaiming your sovereignty. Saying yes to yourself in such a way that all else aligns.

As a woman, embodied and alive, I now know I was born not only to be here—but to bring joy, wisdom, and magic into this world. That knowing didn’t arrive overnight. It came through grit, failure, and vulnerability.

It came through embodiment practices that helped me feel safe in my body again. It came through years of unraveling conditioning

and remembering who I truly am.

I often wish my younger self had had a mentor, a guide, a map—a space where she could

feel seen and safely unfold. I didn’t have that then. But I’ve dedicated my life to creating that space now.

That’s why I created Sovereign Pearl—a 10-week embodiment immersion for women designed to help you reconnect to your radiance, wholeness, and inner freedom.

 It is a map. A deep remembering. A container for transformation.

If these words resonate… if something inside you stirs… i

f you’re ready to come home to yourself…

Say YES.

Say yes to tending to the one relationship that shapes them all—

your relationship with you.

Save $300 on Sovereign Pearl off using the code: PEARL20

Let this be your sacred return.Rooted. Embodied. Free from the inside out.