In many indigenous cultures around the word, the word ‘medicine’ is used in a broader context than how we use it in Western civilised society. Whilst in the West, the word ‘medicine’ is mostly used specifically for something that is diagnosed to treat physiological issues - in other cultures, ‘medicine’ can mean something less quantifiable that heals not only the body and mind but also the heart and soul.

When I first encountered this idea, it resonated with me immediately. 8 years ago, before I was about to take part in a kambo ceremony that I was feeling fearful about, the shaman said to us all:

“Remember, this is medicine - there’s no need to be afraid, it is here to help you heal”.

With those words, all my fears and uncertainties fell away. Rather than bracing myself against what was to come, I felt myself soften and surrender to the experience - creating space in my being for the healing to happen.

It can be bitter, strong and unwanted. It can be sweet, delicious and warmly welcomed. It can be administered once-in-a-lifetime - or it can be a daily dose. Most often we cannot control what form the medicine takes, we can only control how we choose to receive it.

For me personally, viewing life itself as medicine helps me practice finding the still point between strength and softness. The strength to stay centred in the face of challenges and the softness to surrender to them, allowing myself to relinquish the fight for control and remain in a state of flow.

I believe that each of us has medicine to share with the world. The quality of that medicine of course varies as widely as does the human experience. When we turn our attention inwards to understand and befriend ourselves more deeply, we can start to become better acquainted with who we are in our fullness - and discover what kind of healing we ourselves can offer to others simply by living the truth of who we are.

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to get to go and see Kendrick Lamar perform at the O2 in London. It had been a long time since I’d been to a concert of that size and scale. The energy was electric, thousands of people’s voices lifted together for literally almost every song. However, what struck me the most was - of course - Kendrick’s performance itself. His use of the space, his curation of the set list, the fact that he rapped every single syllable of every single song with no vocal backing track, how he chose to perform each song like it was a scene in a play, his use of lighting and quotes on screens. It was a piece of art and theatre as much as it was a hip hop concert. Even way up in the back, I felt fully the intentionality with which he had crafted the show and understood that this latest album - in its own way - was also truly medicine music. He is no longer living only inside the story of his life but also is a witness to its unfolding, able to see and beautifully lyrically reflect on the medicine of his experiences in a way that, in itself, becomes medicine for others.

As I have moved along my own path of healing, I have experienced it less like an evolving and more like an excavation. A revealing of who and what was always there underneath what we all carry with us - the conditioning, the traumas, the projections of others.

These songs are the essence of me. They are what is at my centre. An expression of the core affirmations that my life is a manifestation of. Underneath the many layers of my identity, underneath the stories of love and loss and love again, underneath my journey - the seeds of my Soul. Like life itself, the songs are cyclical and spirallic rather than linear. There is a simplicity to them that does not detract from their power or beauty. They are inspired by my own healing journey - coming to me at the times when I myself most needed to hear their words. These songs are intended as affirmations, as words of manifestation - helping call us back to who we are in our most wild and natural state of being.

As you experience them, my intention is that they be a medicine for you. That they create a space within you that allows for healing - however fleeting - to arise.

My debut EP ‘Medicine’ is out now on all digital streaming platforms.