Founder and Facilitator
I’m Adria and I serve those most impacted by current & past oppressive states, institutions, and practices. As a biracial Black woman actively healing Crohn’s disease and C-PTSD, I show up in wellness, differently.
May we always meet at the intersection and help each other find our way.
At the young age of 12, I was diagnosed with the chronic illness Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune & inflammatory disease that was a constant source of suffering through my teens and early twenties. In 2013, my sickness had become life-threatening and I underwent emergency surgery, was put on life support, and was hospitalized for 60 days.
As I awoke to the sound of my breath echoing through an oxygen tube, so too did I awaken to a newfound gratitude for the breath, as well as a commitment to face my illness from a different perspective, but the trials weren’t over yet. As a result of the medical trauma I experienced, I developed clinical PTSD, anxiety, and depression, and in 2014 I attempted to take my own life.
Surviving meant moving forward, but how? When the experiences don’t solely live in your mind, but in your body.
Overcome with grief and severe somatic disruption, I became determined to heal. I knew my mind was no longer connected with my body and I had to start there. I had to get back into my body if I was ever going to live my life again.
Intuitively, my body led me to yoga. I don’t know why and I don’t know how, but I found myself in a hot room for 90 minutes stretching my precious being, scar and all. I was coming home to my body and I didn’t even know it.
I was inflexible and unfamiliar with the philosophy of yoga, and oftentimes, I was the only brown woman in the room, but I had found a medicine that was aiding me in my journey and so I made a commitment to the practice. Through yoga, I could see, feel, hear myself again. The practice stimulated my mind, body, and spirit and I was immediately inspired to share the practice with any and everyone I knew. In 2016 I pursued my 200-hour Yoga Certification through Yoga Shelter located in Southfield, MI.
In 2017, I launched The Art of Yoga, my debut event foreshadowing many successes to come. Hosted downtown at the esteemed Detroit is the New Black, centering BIPOC guests, the night-fused yoga instruction with free-form painting. A safe space to move, create and be in the community.
My leadership in Detroit through wellness caught the attention of several media outlets including HOUR Detroit and I would be honored to grace the cover and pages of their 2018 Health Guide. In the same year, lululemon invited me to serve as an ambassador to their downtown Detroit store and in collaboration, I launched my first trauma-informed yoga program for 120 youth at Detroit’s Downtown Boxing Gym, where young BIPOC boys and girls from the community continue to be inspired to open their bodies and minds to the restorative practice of yoga.
From diagnosis to life support to digital features on Yoga Journal to holding the stage with NBA professional Derrick Rose, normalizing the conversation around mental health and wellness, I began to define my journey as “Radical Healing”. It’s not solely the accomplishments, but the living experience of reclaiming what was lost through trauma.
In 2020, I launched the School of Radical Healing, this digital liberation space you’re in right now, that teaches self-regulation and promotes trauma recovery through somatics, love, and language. The school has since educated hundreds of individuals, practitioners, and educators through classes, workshops, and training.
Currently, I lead trauma-informed keynotes and workshops at companies and universities like LinkedIn and CUNY, speaking to the art of self-regulation and promoting well-being through mindfulness.
I am an RYT-200 Yoga Instructor and carry a certificate as a Trauma-Informed Teacher through Connection Coalition. Beyond my practice, I am a voice of empowerment to many through my social media and I work with powerful women through my Elevate 1:1 Coaching Program.
I have committed my experiences and expertise to create dynamic spaces for practitioners, educators, facilitators from all backgrounds, to practice their agency, empathy, communication, and love. I am passionate about empowering people to uplift themselves to uplift the collective.