Leila Sadeghee is a healer, ritualist, and yoga and meditation practitioner who contributes invaluably to the Scorpios Inner Gardens program through a holistic approach to mindfulness that involves breathwork, movement, and community engagement. 

What inspired you to do what you're doing? 

Honestly, what inspired me originally and what keeps inspiring me is the need I see for healing. And at so many levels: personal, cultural, institutional. 

Do you think you'll ever change direction? 

Fundamentally as a being oriented to healing, no, I don’t foresee that changing. The form that healing work takes? I expect it to keep changing.

What advice would you give your younger self today? 

Focus on your spiritual practices. Take the teachings seriously. Take your own thoughts and perception seriously. What you see is real and has value. Keep remembering your worth. And create as much fun as you can on the way. 

Do you consider your work a luxury or a necessity? 

A necessity. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Who or what was the last thing that made a significant impact on your thought processes or creative processes? 

I am studying the stages of the sympathetic nervous system—fight, flight, or freeze—in relation to thought patterns and brain capacity. It’s fascinating, and so helpful to understand where and how I get stuck in my being and what it means in terms of my brain and my body. And how to unhook those tendencies. I’m already thinking of rituals and healing applications for this work. How can we manifest more fulfilling relationships through working with our nervous systems explicitly? How can we communicate with others knowing what nervous system state they are in? And how can that foster nervous system regulation for both of us?

How do you keep yourself inspired? 

Daily ritual practice. Frequent group rituals. Daily meditation.

What do you do when you're not "working"? 

I rest a lot. 

What do you want people to take from your work? 

I want people to remember their true deepest worth and remember their collective worth—that our worth is in the shared value of the life we all share. I want them to become braver in facing not only personal difficulties but sharing in our collective difficulties and pervasive oppression. So much creativity is hidden behind the veil of unacknowledged and unexpressed grief.

What are you currently listening to, reading, or watching? 

Punchdrunk, the theatre company. I am fascinated by collective healing, and live immersive theater comes closest to that depth of experience. In the future, when we can be together again, I am most looking forward to holding more large-scale ritual events.

Did the isolation influence your creative process? 

Yes, as it gifted me with more time to re-imagine life. Which is an astonishing creative gift!