👋🏻 Hi, I’m Forest

Written By Forest Williams
 

Life Experience

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.

I came out as queer when I was 21 and trans when I was 24.

I’ve struggled with alcoholism and have been sober since 2017.

I’ve been non-monogamous since 2018.

When I say non-monogamous, I mean my aspirations don’t revolve around centering my life around a sexual/romantic partner.

My center is community.

My center is relationship with spirit.

When I was 14, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s (auto-immune) disease.

I started a healing journey at the age of 21 when I found an Ayurvedic doctor.

My healing journey started with my physical body and quickly led me down a spiritual path.

I was vegan for 8 years.

These days I’m about 93% plant based.

Through healing within physical/spiritual/emotional realms, I’ve been able to effectively manage my symptoms.

I inspire people as to what healing is possible outside of the western medical system.

I’m a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Music, Poetry & Plant Medicines have helped me move through fear & pain blockages so I can return to love 🙏🏻

I’ve contemplated suicide many times in my life and have continued choosing life over and over, and over again.

I live on purpose.

In my present lifetime, I’m bringing peace to earth by being peace on earth.

I’m a disciple of love.

Leading by example.

I’ve backpacked across Latin America and speak fluent Spanish.

I’ve done work as an interpreter.

I’ve traveled to: Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Brasil, Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Spain.

I speak Portuguese too.

I took a semester of Portuguese when I was living in Argentina and had the opportunity to backpack through Brasil for a month.

I lived in the Bay Area, California for 4 years where I learned the importance of community and found my spiritual home at the East Bay Meditation Center.

I immersed myself in spiritual activist communities committed to social justice.

I’ve learned to practice nuanced consent through being an active member in queer community, kink community, and non-monogamous community.

Cultural norms within these communities have expanded my sense of safety in the world.

a respite from the casual violence of capitalist imperialism.

For many years, I felt out of place until I found queer community.

Before the pandemic, I was going to play parties pretty regularly where I experienced profound healing and liberation.

I like to call myself a spiritual slut.

imperialist culture tells us those things oppose each other, but in my experience it’s quite the opposite.

to me, being a “slut” means being unapolegetic about my pleasure, whether that’s sexual or otherwise.

oppression is the absence of pleasure.

embodied pleasure is a portal to the divine.

I flag myself as neuro-divergent, not as an identity, but as a signifier to those who find it important.

Diversity (and neuro-diversity) is the nature of the universe.

the absence of diversity is dis-ease (imbalance).

the real disorder is capitalism’s attempt to commodify our brains into linear, black & white thinking machines.

I simply am my nature.

I am medicine.

I’ve had the courage to choose a name that resonates with my spirit.

Forest represents one-ness 🌲🌲🌲

Trees don’t discriminate when it comes to sharing resources.

They even share resources outside of their family lineage.

They truly embody unconditional love.

Trees understand that collective safety is individual safety.

humans are still catching up to this.

For all you astrology fans, here are my big 3:

sun: aquarius

moon: pisces

rising: sagittarius

My human design type is Projector.

Trainings

  • Lindenwood University Honors College

    • Bachelor of Science in Economics

    • Bachelor of Arts in Spanish

      • 2 semesters in Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • Certified Ontological Coach through Accomplishment Coaching San Diego

    • year long program

    • ICF (international coaching federation) certified

  • East Bay Meditation Center workshops

    • Love and Rage Workshop

    • The Power of Nonconceptual Timeless Awareness in Understanding our Conditioning

    • Honoring the Six Directions with Dr. Sean Feit Oakes

    • The Third Jewel: Taking Refuge in the Sangha to hold the grief and rage of the moment

    • Beyond the Binary: Mindfulness of Gender with Bri Barnett, JD Doyle, René Rivera and Louije Kim

    • The Whiteness of Money: Transforming Suffering, Moving into/toward Love

    • Whiteness: Neither Supreme nor Fragile

  • Defecting from Supremacy by White Awake

    • a 6 week class for white men divesting from supremacy cultures

  • White Accountability Group

    • at the Oakland LGBTQ Center

    • monthly peer led meetings feb 2019 - jan 2020

      • overseen by a council of BIPOC community members

  • 3 years of active participation in CODA (codependents anonymous)

    • CODA is a 12 step program for folks healing from codependency

  • Money Magic Workshop

  • Courageous Healers

  • The Road to Reconnection

  • Constellations & Crystals: Tools for 2024 Workshop

  • Holistic Life Navigation

    • Somatic Addiction Workshop

    • The Somatic Experience workshop

    • Community Somatics (recurring workshop)

  • Boulder Psychic Institute

    • Self Healing 101

    • Healing & Manifesting 102

    • Energy Awareness 103

    • Enlightenment Program (January-December 2024)

  • Sum of Us Fest 2023

    • Gender Exploration through Movement workshop

      • by Noga Wind

    • Primal Dance workshop

      • by Ja Pace

  • Southwest Love Fest 2023

    • Polyamory and Attachment: A Therapeutic Lens on ENM

      • by Jess Shade

    • It Starts with One: How to Move Beyond Struggles and Create an Extraordinary Relationship

      • by Dr. Jeni Wahlig (she/they) + Calvin Osili (he/him)

    • Polyamory & Parenthood Panel

    • Ancient Polyam and Entheogens as the Center of Community

  • Community organized & facilitated 12 week classes:

    • Understanding Capitalism

    • Identity Politics

    • Next Systems

  • Mindful Living Residency

    • year long live, work, study at a Tibetan Buddhist center in Berkeley, CA

    • facilitated an anti-racism study group for white staff members

  • Palestine Solidarity Reading Group

Books I’ve Read

 
Forest Williams
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