Mellie Areena Artema

I came into this world energetically sensitive and naturally aligned with a kind of language that goes deeper than words. I have always had a profound interest in holistic ways of seeing and exploring the human experience. 

I became fascinated by the human body and the world around me as a child and began diligently studying herbal medicine, learning to identify plants, practicing reflexology, and studying everything I could find related to holistic healing in the late 1980's. I found yoga in 1993 which sparked my love for embodiment practices. I have continued to develop and focus my skills through the present, extensively studying, practicing, and integrating numerous healing modalities into my own life for both personal and professional development. I have studied dozens of bodywork styles, energy medicine modalities, acupuncture techniques, trauma healing approaches, and methods of working with plant medicine with many prominent acupuncturists, herbalists, bodyworkers, qigong masters, shamanic practitioners, somatic psychotherapists, various other psychologists, anthropologists, and many other integrative healing professionals all across the globe.

My professional background is heavily focused on wellness and healing arts, providing body-centered therapies, services, and education to promote holistic ways of thinking, building self-awareness, and creating conscious personal growth. My work uses multiple, eclectic modalities to offer opportunities to slow down, connect, reflect, learn, holistically process, and expand our human experience. 
I use a collaborative approach, encouraging a high level of personal responsibility and taking action in support of one's own well-being while also honoring mystery, paradox, less "doing," and the more intangible and subtle ways in which personal growth, transformation, and integration happens. I tend to attract people who identify as empathic, introverted, highly sensitive, neurodivergent, or trauma survivors. Sessions are offered through the lenses of somatics, bioenergetics, acupuncture theory, transpersonal psychology, yoga philosophy, and other integrated perspectives. I offer supports that may utilize concepts from somatic practices, bodywork & energy medicine, Eastern methodologies, peer support values, and soul tending from a grounded, body-based framework. 

While I love learning, I also acknowledge that our education systems are broken and unhealthy in many ways. I have an even greater appreciation for lived experience, integration and reflection work, contemplative practices, and intentional personal growth work. It is this kind of consistent and ongoing work that allows us to truly gain wisdom through experiencing the wholeness of our humanity. I love exploring ideas and finding the common threads across modalities. Formal education can enrich these experiences but can never be a substitute for them. My areas of formal academic studies include Divinity, Acupuncture, and Integrative Health in Human Services. 

I am opposed to the regulation of wisdom traditions and associated healing practices that are based on energy medicine, spirituality, cultivating connection and relationship with nature, etc. I opt to no longer be a part of supporting certifying or regulating agencies. For many years, I jumped through the hoops of maintaining professional licensures and certifications. My education is extensive and I have gratitude for the solid foundation I gained via that route. I also recognize the fragmentation these systems emphasize and their deep roots in racism, ableism, classism, etc.

I choose to do my work in the world through offering services as an unlicensed mentor, educator, companion, and energy medicine practitioner to support the reemergence of the feminine aspects of healing, community, and care that refuse to be regulated.  

Thanking My Teachers

I want to honor some of the teachers, modalities, values, and organizations that have positively impacted my work over the decades. I include this information to pay respect to them as they've shaped my own path and to also provide resources for you, if you are in a place of wishing to expand your knowledge base.  

Bodywork & Massage

​Energy Medicine ​

Yoga, Somatics, Movement, Embodiment Practices & Trauma Care
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Spirituality

Peer Support Values ​

Creativity Practices

Plant Medicine