EP. 6 - ERICA REY
"I really see organizing, healing, and art making - to me, they're all kind of one in the same. At the root of all of them is this longing for being connected with other people and finding embodied liberation."
- Erica Rey
In this conversation with Erica Rey, healing justice practitioner and Ayurvedic practitioner, we explore the powerful intersection of healing and social justice work. Born in Argentina and raised in LA as an undocumented immigrant, Erica shares how her early experiences with organizing in the immigrant rights movement led her to recognize the profound need for healing within activist spaces. We delve into her journey from teenage organizer advocating for the Federal Dream Act and DACA to becoming a certified somatic trauma therapist who bridges Ayurvedic principles with culturally relevant practices for her primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant community. Erica beautifully articulates the framework of healing justice - the understanding that healing is not possible without justice and justice is impossible without healing - and how this differs from individualized self-care culture. She shares practical examples of how healing practices like breathwork, herbal teas, and somatic processing became integrated into movement spaces, and how her current work includes leading healing justice retreats for organizers, working with rapid response teams, and maintaining a private practice rooted in ancestral traditions. The conversation touches on the interconnectedness of organizing, healing, and art-making as pathways to collective liberation and embodied wellness.
Erica is an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner, somatic trauma therapist, and clinical herbalist whose work is rooted in a Healing Justice framework. Her practice is guided by a commitment to collective liberation and deeply shaped by her lived experience as an undocumented immigrant and her own journey with chronic illness.
For over 12 years, Erica has organized within the immigrant rights movement, creating and facilitating healing justice programs for undocumented youth and families. She has taught a Healing Justice course for BIPOC, undocumented, and formerly incarcerated students at UCLA for four years and served as Lead Integrative Health Practitioner at WeSpark Cancer Support Center.
Erica also consults with nonprofits, schools, medical institutions, yoga teacher trainings, Ayurveda programs, and conferences, helping them integrate anti-oppression principles and healing justice into their organizational culture and programming. She is frequently sought out by trusted social justice organizations seeking to center collective care and liberation in their work.
Alongside her community work, Erica offers private Ayurveda and somatic therapy sessions, providing trauma-informed, liberation-centered care to individuals seeking holistic healing.
