Natural connection

Healer, soul coach and naked yoga practitioner Elese Barrymore draws on her Aboriginal roots to connect with nature.

Healer, soul coach and naked yoga practitioner Elese Barrymore of Chakra Healing Sydney draws on her Aboriginal roots to help unblock energy from the body and restore a state of balance. Here she levels with Richard Plume.

Your roots are very important to you?

Originally from Queensland, I’m a second generation Aboriginal from Waka Waka country, and as such being in nature, and connecting with the elements, is totally natural to me. I have always been an outdoorsy, active type and had a background in fitness, teaching group classes, before I went to India and started the yoga teaching training path. It was here that I connected with the energetic aspect of the self, and really started to embody myself as a human ‘being’ as well as simply a human being. I went on to study energetics and founded my business to help people connect with their whole eco-system: either through treatments or wellness education, as I am a passionate sharer of knowledge.

Who or what inspires you?

When asked who my favourite guru is, my answer is always the land. Mother Earth and her sacred wisdom. I’ve been fortunate to spend time in every state of Australia, camping, hiking, completing vision quests and connecting with my ancestral lineage.

My basic belief is we are a spirit having a conscious experience in a human body on the earth. When we embody our vessel (i.e our body), we plug into the sacred earth energy coming up through the feet, and bring down cosmic wisdom from the sky through the top of the head. Embodiment also invites us to connect with our senses, our true guides - all of which we had way before compasses and sat navs!

I see all living things - the earth, plants, animals, humans - as equal, and therefore we should always act consciously to respect the sacred lands that hold us, and appreciate how the land will always provide for us.

What are some of the basic principles of your work?

My mission is to help humans understand they are more than a mind and a body. You don’t have to be spiritual to grasp or connect with the energetic aspect of the being; it’s about being able to tune in and navigate positive and negative vibrations in and around the body - they are there whether you can sense them or not!

I deliver this knowledge as understanding the aspects that make us whole - physically, conscious and energetic. Depending on your conscious awareness, most people are open to some form of understanding that our spirt/soul/higher-self is also connected to the cosmos. This approach may differ from other practitioners, who just offer energy work and won’t necessarily support you to achieve balance holistically.

So your methods and practices are unique?

I think my approach is unique. My aim is to help clients understand an integrated approach to wellness, which is essential to heal, grow and transform. We can’t just recover physically, or have therapy, or receive a healing. It’s a combined investment.

It’s also about empowering the client to tune into, and feel, the call to what they need, depending on where they are in their wellness journey. That’s where Reiki comes in: it invites the sacred symbols into the auric field and the energy goes where it needs to.

And naked yoga?

The Naked Awakening (NA) workshops I offer are a sacred space for divine feminine empowerment, authentic being, and body image acceptance - they’re designed to help women normalise, destigmatise and desexualise female nudity through the art of nude yoga, meditation and breathwork.

You’re obviously very comfortable being naked.

It’s an ancient practice that should be normalised in nature. It’s a way to strip out society’s layers and feel at one with nature. It’s a non-sexual behaviour that was common across all indigenous cultures. I don’t think we have changed much!

So it’s an important part of both your working and non-working life?

Yes. I live on traditional Bora land in Malabar, a suburb in south-east Sydney, and practice naturism daily. Educating my daughter in the importance of connecting with all living things, we sort seashells and rock climb at local water holes, and are frequent visitors to Little Congwong Beach, which is well-known by naturists.

Being a naturist gives you a scared connection to the land, which in turn connects us to mother earth’s feminine energy - inviting us to feel our way in life instead of just observing and interpreting it.

So too does attending nude immersions such as Naked Awakening classes and workshops, where removing your layers of clothing invites you to remove society’s layers and normalise nudity. It also invites us to accept our body shape and size instead of constantly comparing ourselves to the unrealistic social images of what ‘normal’ is. I openly share my own journey, and encourage women to open up.

And the feedback?

I am honoured if I can make progress with any person I connect with. Whether they reach out for an individual treatment, or attend one of my women’s circles, the feedback is all about experiencing more embodiment and connectedness with yourself and others.

What reassurances do you give to any sceptics?

As a holistic practitioner and member of the International Energetic Healing Association, my aim is to nurture, enrich and inspire all beings to live empowered lives through qualified energetic practices. Our energetic system is an intricate aspect of the being, with electromagnetic fields running in and around the body, and as such, I always recommend working with practitioners who have obtained accredited qualifications and experience.

What plans do you have?

I’m committed to making the Naked Awakening workshops more accessible across New South Wales, and am currently planning offerings in Wollongong, Central Coast, Newcastle and Byron Bay.

I’m keen to connect even more with my lineage, and offering more events in what we term the indigenous space. The great outdoors, in other words. I’ve been invited to do my first connection to the land at a women’s embodiment roots festival, which will be a huge honour, and enable me to initiate a group of women onto the land.

You also teach? And continue to learn?

Yes. I’ll be offering my first round of Reiki Level 1 training this year, and will be evolving my healing treatments to include insights into each human’s unique blueprint. I’ve been deep diving into this incredible tool that brings all the energy systems, astrology and quantum physics together to produce a unique human mapping. It’s an essential tool to understand our purpose.

Website: www.chakrahealingsydney.com.au

Instagram: @chakrahealingsydney

PHOTOS Jorge Colvin