It’s Safiya! A (re)introduction
If you made your way onto my Substack newsletter through my I Am Well Community newsletter, welcome! It’s still me (Safiya) here, but there have been lots of big changes here…so let me walk you back and fill you in:
I started I Am Well Community back in 2019, hosting in-person wellness events and retreats to connect likeminded women and equip them with tools for inner healing and growth: meditation, yoga, journaling, intention setting, and breathwork. It was a beautiful experience getting to hold space for women and to watch them make connections with other women over yoga mats and brunch spreads. There was something fulfilling for me in both teaching wellness tools and hosting events, and the two folded into each other perfectly.
Cut to 2020 when the pandemic hit, and in person events evaporated overnight. I canceled my Marrakesh wellness retreat, moved my events to zoom, and started doing a reiki and breathwork trainings online so I could learn how to facilitate sessions over zoom. The connection and community were still there, but it felt different. A year later everyone had “zoom fatigue” and I was hitting burnout running this community while doing marketing and social media consulting work on the side. I realized one day that I was not well, a little ironic considering the name of my community. I decided to take some time to focus on my own well-being, and so that I could truly embody all the practices that I was teaching.
At the end of 2021 I shut down I Am Well Community officially, and did a few more virtual events in 2022 and 2023, dipping back into the podcast every now and then to share updates. 2023 was a special year as I got married, and started to envision what I wanted to create in the next chapter of my life. I missed the community and gathering, but so much had changed since my initial vision of what I wanted to create back in 2019.
If you’ve known me since around 2017, back when I was quitting my job in entertainment to have my eat/pray/love moment going to a yoga teacher training in Bali, you might know that I was also writing at the time. Publishing peices in smaller publications, sharing my thoughts on identity, storytelling, and well-being. Back in 2016/2017, I had the idea of the name “Daughter of the Desert” but no clue what it should be. A blog? A lifestyle page? A whole other business? The name has simmered in my brain for years, until 2025.
In January of 2025, I gave birth to my son, and also birthed the new version of myself - as a Mother. This year has been so expansive, filled with learning about who I am now as a mother, creative, and seeker. Before becoming a mother I heard people talk with disdain about how some women made “becoming a mother their whole personality” and I told myself that wasn’t going to be me. Turns out though, that becoming a mother and stepping into a whole new identity changes all your preconceptions and strongly (or loosely) held ideas.
This Substack, Daughter of the Desert, was born out of my desire to have a place to write and share about this experience of becoming a mother, figuring out what “wellness” and well-being looks like as a parent, and how the two can intersect. As a mother, doing self-parenting/reparenting work as I take care of my sweet baby has reminded me that I am a mother, yet I am also a daughter. I contain multitudes of identities and I get to decide how I want to interact with them all. I can still be the meditation teacher, the yogi, the marketing strategist, and a mother.
If you’ve stayed along this journey with me, then welcome to this next chapter. My writing here will be vulnerable and open, as I am in a process of discovery as to what’s unfolding next. I’m honored to have you here with me.
Mothers ’ Circle Meditation Event
I’m so excited to announce that I’m hosting my first virtual event of 2025! This one is specifically for mothers and mothers-to-be (babies are welcome!) so that we can all take a moment together to ground, release, and reflect. This circle is a place to show up as you are (messy bun, spit up on your sweatshirt, and all that!) and connect with other mothers. I’ll be leading a meditation and some gentle breathwork to help us release some weight of our shoulders. This event is free, just register below to get the details + zoom link:
With gratitude,
Safiya x