Explored & Unearthed
Meet Melika Amiri, a force of transformation in the world of healing. Starting her journey amid the fast-paced cities of Iran and Dubai, she excelled in architecture and interior design, a domain of tangible creations and societal benchmarks. But life had a different rhythm for Melika, drawing her into the profound depths of Rumi's teachings and Sufism's timeless wisdom.
Understanding true love beyond our preconceived notions is crucial. Our view of love has become selfish, leading to pain, fear, anxiety, and anger." - Answer to "Finding Real Love" M.A
Now, Melika is a vision of change in Tulum, Mexico, standing as a Somatic Spiritual Healer and Spiritual Empowerment Coach. Her path is a rich blend of self-discovery and radical change, fueled by diverse therapeutic practices and immersive self-help workshops. Melika's approach to healing is a fusion of innovation and tradition – combining meditation, sound healing, ecstatic dance, shamanic insights, and Sufi-inspired techniques. This approach crafts transformative experiences for her clients. Her journey goes beyond self-evolution; it's about empowering others, particularly women, to face their challenges and rediscover their core selves. Melika embodies the transformative power of holistic self-awareness and healing. She's a guiding light for those seeking deeper spiritual growth and self-realization.
Interview Questions
How has transitioning from the architectural field in Iran to a healer in Tulum shaped your understanding of cultural identities and personal growth?
M.A: I had my life pretty much like many of us here, hustling and struggling to achieve my desires for success, wealth, and loving relationships, and went through many painful experiences in pursuit of happiness in my life. Once, I was chasing goals that seemed important and worthy, like everyone else, mostly materialistic. We are all after the biggest meaning that we can understand and believe is achievable for ourselves, like having a better lifestyle, more money, and more fun. We are generally taught to live our smallest, to be practical and reasonable, to feel confident in the battle to get what we are seeking in life. My journey of life, during the time that I was studying architecture design in Dubai, and then living and working in Tehran doing interior design projects, was mostly the story of struggling to achieve success, just like everyone else. To become an independent and successful woman, in the context of society norms and cultures that were highly male-dominated and somewhat aggressive and oppressive to women, all these nonstop battles caused many traumatic experiences for me. These experiences led me to abandon that life and go through two years of deep depression. Seeking help for myself through many therapy sessions and self-help workshops brought me to the next phase of my life as the more I understood, the less I knew about myself. After years of working on my personal healing in Iran, through attending different therapies and workshops, reading many self-help books, I came across the world-famous Elif Shafak’s book named “40 Rules of Love.” It tells the story of the great Rumi’s healing transformation through meeting his master, Shams Tabriz, in Konya, Turkey, and his gift of the medicine of love for him. Their story totally inspired and captivated me to the extent that I felt that’s the only thing I desired. I asked life to show me and bring me someone like Shams Tabriz to give the same gift to me, to heal myself. My real healing journey, like everyone else's, began with seeking to understand what seemed like I really couldn’t understand. As always, the magic of life brings you what you ask for when you are ready for it. It all happened by me traveling to Istanbul, Turkey, and getting to know a lifelong student of the great Rumi and the teachings of Sufism. To me, he was the embodiment of everything I had read about Shams' story and how he was living his life in total surrender, as opposed to everything that I had experienced on my own. This made me extend the trip that was initially planned for only two weeks to about two years of spending time with someone who was teaching by his way of living life and loving all that was coming to him. The experience of living in Turkey, and having a different experience of life in a culture that was more tolerant of differences, as you can see there how different lifestyles live together in much more harmony, was liberating by itself. It’s one of the greatest things you can see in their social culture as a mainly Muslim country, where people have more personal freedom and acceptance toward each other in society. These two years in Turkey, and more spending time with the understanding of Sufis and mainly Rumi’s way of personal healing and transformation, was a great spiritual awakening and healing experience for me.
Photographed by Steven Klein, Vogue, January 2003
I learned a lot about deeper healing practices like Tantra Yoga that I used to heal myself in a much deeper and meaningful way. They say we push life outside of us so much that we get enough traumas to shut it down and turn our focus from the outside world to our inside world. These two years became the time for that inward exploration for me, where I mostly focused my attention on working on myself and practicing my new learnings to integrate and embody them inside me. After almost two years in Istanbul, I moved to Vancouver to continue with a new life there, using what I learned and practiced to help women like myself with all their collected pains and traumas that made them be disconnected from themselves and struggle with their sufferings. I started holding women's circle gatherings there and used meditation, sound healing, and somatic healing like ecstatic dances to create a new experience of self-healing for them. Later, I started having private Sufi-inspired medicine healing or Somatic healing sessions with women who were finding great benefit in using these holistic healing methods as reasonable and effective help for themselves. Sessions sometimes gave them transcendental experiences, expressed by themselves as feeling the ultimate experience of love and absolute liberation from all their traumas and sufferings, which left them totally speechless. Suddenly, I opened my eyes to the miracle myself, in what I am being right now, helping the most suffered ones have the healing that I always wanted for myself. This was the moment of self-realization for me, where I arrived at the dream that I had always had to live in my life. Suddenly, the situations outside didn’t matter at all. I had awakened in my life dream, like entering heaven on earth. I got liberated from all my pains and fears. I felt safe, like being at home here in my life. In this space of feeling safe again, your dreams are activated. In just 3 days, everything lined up so that I could move to Tulum, a dream that was always calling me along the way to experience the magic of its nature and the ancient Mayan sacred land. Not only that, but I also had the opportunity to connect with the world’s best healing facilitators, as Tulum has created a name as a community connecting hub for holistic practitioners and spiritual healers. The unbelievable happened in just a few days to move to Tulum, and I found myself on another adventure to expand on what I am practicing in a different environment again, to open my heart and my mind to new experiences and new learnings here. Moving through the world and living in different environments and cultures pushes you out of your comfort zone in life, and that allows your mind to be opened to the unseen, to explore the unknown deeper, and get introduced to new ideas and beliefs of other cultures and the wisdom they carry within them. To bring the guards of your judging mind lower, to be more receptive to ideas out of your known world, is when the miracle of the unknown starts to happen for you, like it did for me. I got what I couldn’t dream of before. Traveling is a very potent medicine for us, allowing us to open our hearts and surrender to explore the unknown again. It’s what most of us need when we feel most stuck in our lives.
In your healing practice, how do you balance masculine and feminine energies, and why is this balance crucial for personal development?
M.A: We should understand that we all embody both masculine and feminine qualities, functioning within a broad spectrum of polarity that is not strictly related to gender. Both men and women can access and operate within this spectrum, influenced by brain conditioning that shapes behavior. For instance, a man can exhibit feminine qualities, and a woman can display masculine ones, as observed in modern society where men have become more feminized and women more masculine due to cultural and social conditioning. Our brain comprises two halves: the right side, responsible for feminine mental energy qualities like creativity, intuition, imagination, and emotion; and the left side, embodying masculine qualities such as logic, objectivity, analysis, and factuality. These function like two wings of our perception of reality. Understanding this, we can gain deeper insight into our behavior models and comprehend our actions in different situations. Our relationship with these energies is significantly influenced by our life experiences, manifesting as either wounded feminine/masculine energies or their healthy counterparts. Practitioners provide charts to help us identify the wounded energies we use in various life scenarios and how their healed versions manifest in each of us (refer to the attached chart). It's vital to recognize the full spectrum of these energies within ourselves. By becoming conscious of them, we can manage them rather than letting them be blind, automatic responses to external situations. This awareness enables us to balance these energies healthily, altering our responses and presence in life. Essentially, we are healing the broken parts of each side to become a whole, complete being, capable of harnessing the power of these energies in our daily lives.
Can you share how your experiences with trauma have influenced your approach to healing others?
M.A: Healing from personal traumas transforms you into a medicine for others. Your journey as a healer, rooted in self-love discovered through darkness, becomes a powerful tool for aiding others. My healing path led me to the realization that what we seek externally can be found within, echoing Rumi's wisdom: "You are what you are seeking." This journey of self-discovery and inner healing shapes my approach to helping others find their healed selves. Combining this with Somatic healing methods, we store better feelings in our bodies, profoundly impacting our lives. I've also been influenced by Dr. Hawking’s Map of Consciousness, which charts human emotions based on mental energy levels, from shame to oneness. In my holistic practice, I guide clients through these levels, offering new perspectives and emotions on their traumas. This approach teaches us to rise above our emotions and attain greater self-awareness, crucial for healing and liberation.
How do Rumi’s teachings translate into modern-day healing practices?
M.A: Rumi taught that love is the singular medicine for all ailments. However, many of us experience only diluted versions of love, tainted by selfish desires. He emphasized the importance of pure love, free from ego and self-interest, enabling us to connect with others as one. In today's world, where feelings of loneliness and separation are prevalent, Rumi's philosophy offers a timeless cure. It encourages a paradigm shift towards the "Unity of Being," helping us view life as a reflection of our inner world and recognize our oneness with all experiences.
How do you integrate the concept of love as a healing force in your practice?
M.A: Embracing Rumi's idea of love leads to a profound enlightenment, awakening us from the illusion of separation and revealing life's true meaning. In this understanding, every person in our lives mirrors our true selves, helping us transform unconsciousness into consciousness. We shift from a sense of separation to unity, recognizing love in its true form. Life becomes a story of experiencing, being, and creating love, providing a sense of safety and dissipating pain. This timeless approach awakens us to the highest perception of life, affirming Rumi's belief that those alive with love never die, eternally present in this world.
What limitations have you found in traditional therapy methods, and how does your approach address these gaps?
M.A:Most conventional therapy methods are overly focused on the intellectual and logical parts of our experiences, which only skim the surface. You attend therapy sessions and talk about your stories for many sessions. While this helps, it is often a slow process that deals only with the surface layers. Human beings are complex creatures with multiple layers, including the physical, emotional, and mental bodies, along with other energy bodies like the etheric or soul body, as described in mystical practices like Sufi or yogic traditions. In my own healing journey, I experienced various therapy methods, leading me to realize that without a holistic view of our multifaceted nature, we cannot achieve complete healing. Focusing solely on the intellectual aspects rarely allows us to fully understand and heal deep emotional traumas. As a result, many settle for medications for anxiety or depression, which act more like painkillers than cures. This approach often deepens our suffering, as we become disconnected from our emotions and numb to experiencing joy in our lives. A holistic healing approach views our being as multifaceted and multidimensional. The main work is to allow our awareness to delve deeper than the surface and connect with all these inner layers for lasting and real healing. In my practice, we use ancient shamanic wisdom and plant medicines to connect with deeper mental and emotional layers. These sacred plants, used by healers for centuries, enable profound mental experiences that unlock deep emotional blockages. To ensure lasting effects, we combine this with somatic healing methods that release trapped emotions and replace them with higher emotional signatures in our bodies. This holistic approach feels like a guided meditation within your own body, healing the mental, emotional, and physical bodies as one integrated entity, leading to a rebirth into a new, light body filled with love and joy.
Healing is often described as a path of self-discovery. What key insights have you gained about yourself on this journey?
M.A: Healing has been an enlightening path of self-discovery for me, fundamentally reshaping my understanding of myself and the world. Key insights include:
The Power of Vulnerability: Initially viewed as a weakness, vulnerability proved to be a strength and a gateway to genuine self-discovery.
Inner Resilience: Despite cultural and personal adversities, I discovered an inner strength that has helped me overcome challenges and empower others in their healing.
The Interconnectedness of Mind, Body, and Spirit: My architectural background led to an appreciation of the interconnectedness of our internal and external architecture.
The Universal Language of Love and Compassion: Rumi's teachings revealed the importance of love and compassion in healing.
Embracing Change as a Constant: Learning to embrace rather than resist change has been pivotal.
The Beauty of Imperfection: Embracing and celebrating imperfections is crucial for authentic self-acceptance and growth.
Surrender and Letting Go: Learning to surrender control and embrace the present has opened new doors to freedom and enlightenment.
For those beginning their healing journey, what foundational advice would you offer?
M.A: Ask for it, then open your heart to life's unknowns. Rumi emphasizes the importance of asking in our ascension journey. Life responds to our requests, often in unexpected ways like a new book, a YouTube video, or an interview like this one. The key is to ask clearly, then observe how life unfolds its miracles. That is my advice for anyone starting this journey.
What does true empowerment look like to you, especially for women from challenging backgrounds?
M.A: True empowerment, particularly for women from challenging backgrounds, is holistic and transformative. It involves self-realization, finding one's authentic identity beyond societal labels, and the courage to express oneself freely. Empowerment is about resilience, turning challenges into growth opportunities, and not letting past traumas define one's worth. Empowerment is not solitary; it includes building supportive communities, drawing strength from shared experiences. It involves self-education, understanding one's rights and potential, emotional and spiritual well-being, and connecting with one's deepest emotions and spiritual purpose. True empowerment is about rising from adversity, claiming one's space, and forging an authentic path.
In a world full of superficial connections, what’s your secret recipe for finding genuine, lasting love?
M.A: Understanding true love beyond our preconceived notions is crucial. Our view of love has become selfish, leading to pain, fear, anxiety, and anger. True love is about giving, not receiving, and occurs when we make everyday choices that put aside selfish desires and expectations. It requires feeling safe and trusting enough to surrender. If you don't feel this love, it's because your heart is closed, and your reasoning mind is blocking your ability to surrender. True love is about becoming one with everything and everyone, a state of unity and surrender.
What are some fun and unexpected practices you recommend for nurturing joy and self-love in our daily lives?
I recommend practicing to "think less and feel more," connecting deeply with our feelings. Dancing is a great way to connect with your body and emotions. It releases low feelings, allowing us to experience higher vibrational feelings of joy and love, core elements of somatic healing. So, dance more often to nurture joy and self-love.
