Teacher Feature: Alexis Barris

Being a child, a place of solace and simplicity entered into my life — a place of great depth and gentle lightness. Breathing and dancing between the spaces of creation and existence. Learning to meet everyone with fresh eyes and an open heart. Boundless, free, and all-encompassing.

I learned to sit with and unravel — in the energetics of being. I found myself befriending the quiet spaces, being alone with the buzzing bugs, and the stars…and eventually learning from breathwork, awareness, and the sun…being of witness and feeling the music of the wonders. There was a time of being bedridden, overwhelming puzzling sensations and situations that arose at times, not knowing where to turn to. Through it all there was a feeling of growth, as brilliance. When being diagnosed with a multitude of medical dis-eases, I knew there would come a time that I would heal and learn to help assist and support the world and community, and generations to come. In this journey, singing, international music, movement, flow and fire arts, learning from nature, yogic traditions, assisting all of community, and feeding the homeless have really impacted a healthy state. It is a vast system we are in and we truly are capable of anything.

One evening, during a lightning storm, I felt the need to sit on my bed in a meditative seated position and closed my eyes to focus on the breath. Listening to the silence and vibrations, as a subtle tune of native flute music played in the background. Later that night, I dreamt of meditating in an underground, dark cave…I then walked through the depths of the cave and rose to the surface…meeting what seemed to be deity’s or beings that presented me with elemental and aetherial items such as gems, protection, and unconditional love. It was quite the fractal dream!

I started a daily practice of singing and movement at age 3, meditation and making music at 13. At points in time that same year, I had been invited to a gentle yoga class, sound healing, tribal belly dance, and flow arts class. One day, I met so many amazing travelers, it inspired me to venture, sell my car, travel cross country, and I landed in a Vipassana Center (sitting in silence for 10 days). A couple weeks later, I found myself learning from the forests and plants, meeting fellow natives, and joining an initiation at a temple. It is beautiful to connect with infinite sources and Ancestry from the Islands, including Hawaii, Borikén (Puerto Rico), and the mainland in Appalachia — where the breath of life and the profound moments of learning eased its way in. I feel I’ve traveled the world energetics within and really strive to travel the world physically one day soon!

As it is, this will also change. Change is inevitable and I welcome it! Knowledge and love swarms my heart, peacefully and intentionally. It is a vast system we are in and we truly are capable of anything.