Aisha Peters is a Capital FM Award winning Artist, MOBO Nominee, CEO & Founder for VEWA PRODUCTIONS LTD a creative self-development community organization and more recently the Founder and CEO for DAMALI BEAUTIFUL VISION CIC supports Global Majority community members navigating their bereavement and grieving due to the sudden loss of a young child or young adult.
Aisha manifested DBV CIC in honor of her belated daughter Damali Peters who transitioned suddenly fourteen years ago.
DAMALI BEAUTIFUL VISION CIC serves to support Global Majority community members with positive impact for mental and emotional health to decrease isolation and to create safe pockets of space for their beneficiary’s safety, also alternative healing methods with core support of Psychotherapy by its qualified team and giving opportunities to Psychotherapists who are in training.
Aisha Peters is elated due to having support and backing from The National Lottery Community Awards Fund for All, awarded in October 2023.
‘Just remember that you’re worthy of love. Remember that you’re worthy of compassion. You’re worthy of having space to laugh.’ To mark National Bereaved Parents Day, Aisha Peters shares her words of hope, and talks of how she has created a Beautiful Vision in her daughter Damali’s name. When Damali died suddenly aged just 3, Aisha had nowhere to turn that offered the safe and culturally appropriate support she needed. Now she’s the CEO of a wonderful organisation doing just that.
This episode is dedicated to Damali.
Damali Beautiful Vision CIC is a community interest company supporting Global Majority community members and their families in their navigation of bereavement due to the sudden loss of a young child and or a young adult.
Summertime events with Damali Beautiful Vision CIC.
VEWA Productions is Aisha’s vocal coaching, sound healing and guided meditation company offering online sessions for 1-1 and groups.
The Voice interview with Aisha Peters.
Clacton pier address is No.1, North Sea, Clacton-on-Sea CO15 1QXif you fancy heading down on Saturday 17th August and have a FREE Fun Day at The Beach with the DBV CIC team!
Andre Bright, who’s offering a taster movement session on the Fun Day, was involved here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C68ECgQoPNb/?igsh=MXNnMHkzM3I1OTQ3MA%3D%3D
The Community Interest Company Aisha referred to as helping her to take steps forward on her grief journey and start baking was Creative Lifestyle, which was established by Oleander Agbetu after the closure of Hackney’s Centerprise in 2012. Creative Lifestyle has also now sadly closed its doors.
A Child of Mine have hosted National Bereaved Parents Day since 2020. They encourage bereaved parents to share stories and are here to support families with emotional support, practical information and guidance. They also offer training and education to healthcare professionals from a parent’s perspective. On Bereaved Parents Day they invite people to join together in their Facebook group in remembering their babies and children by:
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Debbie – host
Aisha Peters – guest
[00:00:00] Hello, this is the Bereaved Parents Club podcast. It’s the club none of us want to be members of, but here we are. My name is Debbie and I’m a bereaved parent. This podcast is for all of us to share and celebrate the stories of our children and offer support to each other. Each episode will explore topics that have relevance to us as we navigate the world as bereaved parents.
Whether your loss was last week, last month, last year, or even last century, you are welcome here. And whether your child was a baby, a youngster, a teenager, an adult, or even a parent themselves. You are welcome here. Please be aware that each episode will deal with themes of death and loss.[00:01:00]
So, listeners, you join us today for a special one off episode to mark National Bereaved Parents Day. The theme this year is Love Lives On, and it’s my privilege today to have a guest here to explore that further. Aisha Peters is a Capital FM award winning artist, Mobo nominee, CEO and founder for VEWA Productions Limited, which is a creative self-development community organization.
And more recently, she’s the founder and CEO for Damali Beautiful Vision Community Interest Company, which is a London based organization that supports global majority community members navigating their bereavement and grieving due to the sudden loss of a young child or young adult. Aisha, welcome. I’m so pleased that you’re able to join us for this special episode and for agreeing to share your story.
You are so welcome, Debbie. Thank you [00:02:00] so much for asking me to come on this beautiful panel and I’m, I’m just so grateful for this moment, especially with the day, um, that it is as well. Very special.
We’re really pleased that you’re here, but obviously we’re here to kind of talk about a very tender subject. Can I ask you now to please tell us your story and Damali’s story?
Yeah, sure. So the story is a long one, so I’m going to do my best to, to condense it in, in a very sensitive manner too. So I’m a mum, you know, I’m a, I’m a mum of four. And Damali, who the community interest company is named after, is my youngest daughter who suddenly passed away. In 2009 she was three years of age, passed away suddenly, nothing was foreseen or anything, one minute she was here, next minute she was [00:03:00] gone. And, just to give you a bit of a backstory in terms of Damali, so before Damali was born, I had a dream of what she looked like, right? This beautiful vision, this beautiful baby, chocolate brown, beautiful baby I dreamt of with loads of hair.
And then when I gave birth to her, she looked exactly the same. And you know, everyone who saw her was like, ‘Oh, she’s, she’s so beautiful’. And the thing is her name Damali means beautiful vision. So hence why the community interest company is called Damali Beautiful Vision CIC.
Damali in terms of her energy and her soul…it’s said that we choose our parents. So with Damali being the beautiful and colossal, I would say, soul and energy that she is, I truly believe that she chose me to be [00:04:00] her parent, to be her mother for a reason. And you know, any family member that you come across or any community member that you come across who knew Damali and knew her personality, her character, because even though she was three, she had so much character, you know.
Her, her transitioning into the ancestral realm was really felt by many. And even today there’s a friend that, is really close member of the family. And even now when I speak to him, it’s this memory of Damali and her soul and how great she was, her energy, you know, and that within itself, when I listen to people speaking about my daughter, my baby, it just makes me think, ‘Oh, what a beautiful thing to say’.
Her presence. Although it was for three [00:05:00] years, made an impact. She made an impact. Hence why Damali Beautiful Vision CIC exists today. It’s to honour her. It’s to honour her legacy, it’s to honour her energy that she was, you know, when she came here. I think as well, just to add to that, I remember going through initially that experience of the sudden loss and another family friend was like, ‘you know, it would be great for you to do a charity’.
But at that time, in that grief, in that moment, it was, it was so, so close to them mentioning, I just lost my daughter. I couldn’t see that I would be in a position to do that. You know, if I’m completely honest, Debbie, maybe feeling [00:06:00] not worthy of being in that position. And so when, when people see Damali Beautiful Vision CIC actually manifested in this lovely, beautiful community interest company, you know, I always remind people, like, it took me about 12, 11 years, years to work on it and just to really get to grips that with the fact that actually through walking this journey, being the founder, being the CEO is that I’m actually unpacking, going back, reflecting and sharing parts of me that the world don’t, they don’t know about, you know, they don’t know about.
And for me being a woman of colour, I’m very proud of my ancestral roots. I’m very proud of my Caribbean roots. All my grandparents are from the Caribbean, [00:07:00] different islands. We have Antigua, we have Barbados, we have Jamaica. And then, you know, I’ve done the research into my African ancestral roots, being connected to Benin and Togo and I’m very proud of that.
You know, I feel like it’s going to come across a little bit more solemn now on a more solemn note. I didn’t feel like I had the right type of support heritage wise or cultural wise, for myself or my family to actually navigate this, this bereavement, this not just bereavement, but sudden bereavement because, you know, there’s there is a difference in terms of okay, you know when someone’s passing away as opposed to you have no clue, there’s no space being held for goodbyes [00:08:00] No one last chance. There’s nothing like that.
So for me, I’ve had to within myself mentally within myself emotionally and believe me Debbie, I have my good days still and sometimes I have my not so good day, right? I’ve had to walk this journey as, as the mum who carried this beautiful child, who carried this beautiful soul and really navigate and find my way, realizing that being, you know, a Hackney resident, living in East London, that there literally were no resources to support this navigation.
And that’s what, that’s what was really challenging for me. I felt isolated, lonely, you know, bless, bless my family members to, to no fault of their own. I feel like they’ve, a lot of [00:09:00] the times, I think even now they find it a little bit challenging in terms of expressing or maybe holding space for me when it comes to, you know, Damali and the loss and grief.
Because I’m still grieving, I’m still navigating that. And I essentially took my story, my journey, my walk, the energy, and I think there’s this energy that I have, like, you most probably feel it, this fire. You know, you’ve got this fire, this spark within you, and I’m like, ‘Well, my baby, Damali, she came and she touched so many people with her energy in such a short space of time, her story deserves to be told through this community interest company’ and I guess you could say this is my why.
And the fact that since Damali Beautiful Vision CIC has been incorporated, when we’ve done our outreach [00:10:00] in communities, I’m realizing that the loneliness, For people of colour, the isolation, the not knowing where to go or feeling like they don’t have anywhere to go, this is young people, mothers, fathers and extended family. I realized that in talking to a lot of these people, by the way, not just from a standpoint of social media or anything like that. I’m saying that I’m coming into contact with these people. I’m finding that it’s more common. And that they are feeling alone, they are feeling alone.
And what we’re hoping to do is decrease isolation, decrease loneliness, but also on a positive note, increase positive impact for mental and emotional health and well being. That’s my why.
And that’s an [00:11:00] amazing vision that you are realizing there. And, and like you say, the energy that drives you forward is a real mixture, isn’t it, of Damali’s energy, which clearly could power a universe, it would seem, and the impetus that you’ve got by not having, not finding that support when you went looking for it.
I think families can do so much. You can feel very isolated when nobody quite gets where you’re at and you just want to talk to other people who can just get where you’re at straight away.
So culturally being able to go to an organization or go to a group of people who look like me one, right, who look like me and who may not only offer surface services of psychotherapy, but can we be able to tap into some cultural therapy?
How can an organization hold space for me in that way? Because for me, losing [00:12:00] a child, a child of colour, that means that for me, in terms of my healing, it might not necessarily be the same as somebody else’s, right?
How can I have space held for myself where maybe on one day, I might want to do CBT. I might want to do that. What about if I need to move and flow through my, my energy blockages or what if I need something different? You know, can I be held in that space? Is it a possibility? And that, it was just nothing. There were, there was nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You know, and I feel like it’s important to have these types of discussions so that we are opening the doors to actually have some form of understanding.
You might not 100 percent get it if you haven’t gone through it yourself and that’s not to say that I want [00:13:00] anybody else to go through the loss of a child. No, it’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking. But let’s have these discussions so that we can – that you do know how to hold space and it might not necessarily be saying something to me, it could just be possibly holding my hand, Debbie. It could just be, why don’t we make, um, a meal that Damali liked, her favourite meal together. Why not sing together? Let’s do some chanting together in a way that makes you feel serene, you know?
Culturally there was nothing dedicated or geared to how do you deal with sudden loss of a young child of colour, whether that be you, you identify, whether [00:14:00] that be black, African, Caribbean or mixed.
So, Damali beautiful vision didn’t pop into existence overnight. It was a long time in the making. And it’s a very creative and spiritual response to grief as well as it is a kind of celebration and using lots of energy. I know you couldn’t find the spaces that you were looking for. Did you find other ways to kind of express your grief or, or, you know, what did you do with it?
Even though I didn’t find exactly, I guess, what I was looking for, a friend of mine actually owned a community interest company. And I, I feel like her intuition kicked in because I became a bit of a recluse. I didn’t socialize, um, because I felt like I, I couldn’t speak about. You know, what I was going through with others.
I didn’t feel like people would understand because most of the people that [00:15:00] are around me didn’t, hadn’t lost a child, you know. She had this community interest company called Creative Lifestyle CIC. It’s no longer in operation. And, um, what my friend did do for me, she, she said to me, ‘Okay, look, we’re running some workshops. Why don’t you come along? Why don’t you come along? Like, come, come and help out’.
And a lot of people don’t know, but I love to bake, right? I love to bake. And um, she was like, ‘oh, we’re doing cake baking and decorating, would you be interested?’ And I was like, okay. So I went. I went to the first session. Um, and it was hard to speak to anyone because I, at that time, my personality and how I was became very small, very, very small.
I would speak very quietly, very quietly. I [00:16:00] think by going to that, that, that session was literally the beginning of me taking my life back in my hands. And, integrating into society again and really trusting to feel safe within myself, you know. And also not being afraid to show my vulnerability in public, I think too, as well.
And I did the cake baking, and decorating, the entire workshops. Like I kept on going back, I kept on going back. Yeah, it was awesome. And she also invited me to others like for making clothes and natural hair care and I just kept on going and what I didn’t think it was going to, I had no expectation.
I just thought, okay, let me go and support my friend. Let me just go. But what started to transpire where [00:17:00] I was, I became very introvert because of my loss. I was going through depression. I didn’t realize at the time, but I was depressed. I was going through depression. What I found was by just going to that one community interest company, that workshop was that I was allowing myself to feel joy again.
I was giving myself compassion and I was giving myself love, which in turn, started my journey of healing. So, these are the things that I started doing for myself and then I remember as well within that time I went to a drumming circle. I was invited to a drumming circle and I drummed and I danced and I sang and I was like, ‘Oh, this feels good’.
I felt more grounded and I started singing for myself because after the loss I stopped singing, I stopped dancing and I’m naturally anyone who knows me, ask my family members, ask my close friends, anyone who knows me knows I [00:18:00] love to sing, I love to dance, that’s just my way of being, I’m very, a naturally creative person and so by going to this community interest company I started realising I started having interests in the things that I loved again.
And then the whole thing with baking is like I just started baking all sorts of cupcakes and cakes at home. So those are just some of the things I did for myself.
So that community interest company then, that was run by people from the global majority community. So you felt much more comfortable in that space, right from walking through the door?
Yeah, I felt safe, and upon reflection, I felt seen. And you know, don’t get it twisted for one moment, Debbie. I’m a trainee counsellor. So I’m a Level 2, I have a Level 3, moving on to my journey to doing more. And that is not to say that, Psychotherapy and the methods and [00:19:00] formulas, which is quite European, quite European centred. It’s quite male dominated as well. I’m not saying for one second that some of these things do not work for people of colour. They do. That would be a lie. For me, let me speak for me, because it has and it does, it continues to. However, I feel like having specific places. for people of colour to go to where they can tap into either or where they have a choice.
It’s being given the choice that I, I found there was a lack of within, within the health and well being industry and to be quite honest Debbie, it’s a big topic now, it’s a big topic for discussion today, you know, global majority people being marginalized or underserved or under resourced and, you know, what we are doing here at Damali Beautiful Vision CIC, [00:20:00] we have a team, a great team of qualified psychotherapists that do CBT, psychodynamic, um, integrated therapy, gestalt therapy.
We have a mixture, but we also make sure, we also make sure that it’s people of colour holding that space for others. Yeah, they’re all people of colour, but also giving the option for additional workshops. That supports the more cultural side, the more creative side for people. So, you know, you have a choice.
It’s not just, okay, there you go. That’s all you’re going to get. No, we really care about your healing. We really care about your navigation. We really care about you feeling safe. Not just, you know, everybody says this is a safe space. It’s that, but it’s also, you know, we really, truly want you to feel safe in yourself first. That’s why we’re here. [00:21:00]
Yeah, it’s a big topic. And it’s one thing to say somewhere is a safe space for everyone, and another for everyone to feel it and be able to see it. Um, I guess returning to going from strength to strength, I know you’ve had lottery funding recently. Which particular aspect of work is that supporting?
Yes, so I’m so grateful, so, so grateful, to the National Lottery Fund, Awards for All Fund for funding our project. So our project that they are funding is called, DBV CIC Talks. So, what it is, is being able to create spaces where we can have meetups. So, we have some meetups coming up.
We have three summer meetups coming up, which I’ll speak to you about more later on. We also had the workshops for reflect and breathe. So we had that earlier on within the year. Then we had reflect and paint. Which [00:22:00] is concluded. Then we had Reflect and Move May. And we’ve, we’re just going to be completing Reflect and Move June.
This is what the funding has been supporting, putting forward all these workshops and, you know, doing all this wonderful work. And being here and being able to connect with others and being able to connect with other social founders. And, you know, building connections really as well.
So, I guess now would be a good time for you to tell us about how they’ve gone and what is going on over summer. Maybe if people are interested, what should they do?
Yeah, so we’ve had a few sessions. We want more. We want more. But we’ve had a lovely bunch of attendees come through to our sessions. And we’re really hoping, fingers crossed as well, that we’ll have more community members come through to our summer meetups as well.
Because what it is, [00:23:00] we are sending the invite out. Not only to our beneficiaries for the summer meetups, but for, for other community members as well to learn about the work that we do because even if you’re not from the global majority demographic, you may know of someone that needs our help. We’re quite an open community interest company, although our beneficiaries and our focus is for people of colour.
So on the 22nd of July, and also on the 29th of July, we shall be having two summer meetups. They start at 5pm, finish at 7pm, so it’s 2 hours. We’re going to have arts and crafts, just a really chilled vibe. You know, we’ll be in the garden at the Pelican House in Bethnal Green. So fingers crossed again, it’ll be sunny, not raining.
We’ll be, we’ll be having fun and we’re just, we’re just asking community members and you could be a social founder, you could be a[00:24:00] CEO, you could be someone that works as part of a community or voluntary organization. We welcome you to come, come and learn about us, come and find out about us, come and connect with us because we’re also open to partnerships as well, but also putting out a call as well to those of you who are part of our demographic for beneficiaries.
If you are from the global, um, majority community demographic, Whether you identify as black, Caribbean, African, Asian, you know, come through. We, we’re here to hold space for you. This is a place where we really are asking people to just come as you are. There is no false pretence. If you are an introvert person and you’re more, you know, on the quiet side, drop me a line, let me know, so that I can prepare and hold space for you so that you can be comfortable within yourself.
We [00:25:00] really want people to just come and connect with us honestly. And then we also have another, uh, summer, um, summer seaside meet up actually at Clacton on Sea. Again, it’s open to all, it’s not just for the beneficiaries, it’s open to all. It’s the 17th of August, Saturday. The meet up point is Clacton on the Sea Pier at 11am.
You’ll be hosted by me, Aisha Peters, and I will be facilitating a relaxation guided meditation on the beach as well. And then it’s going to be a taster session in relation to some of the workshops that we’ve done this year already. And then you’ll also be hosted by the Mr. Bright, André Bright, who will be doing movement, so reflect and move. We’re going to have reflect and breathe. Then reflect and move by the sea as well.
I mean, that sounds just wonderful, doesn’t it? You know, if you’re a bereaved parent [00:26:00] and you just want to do something nice for yourself, or to find out, you know, whether this is for you, then, you know, what a wonderful opportunity to just get outside and meet some like-minded people without any pressure. I think it sounds like a wonderful event.
Thank you. That is exactly what it is. We’re, we’re looking to give taste a session so that, you know, those who are going through bereavement, navigating bereavement, they have a feel of what they could get. Or receive from Damali Beautiful Vision CIC and like you said, it’s a great way to pour into yourself and give yourself that compassion. And who wouldn’t want to be on the beach in nature, right? Doing something great for yourself.
Exactly. Even if you just take yourself down there and kind of hover on the edges and get yourself an ice cream, you know, it’s got to be worth it, hasn’t it? Just for that. Yeah. Fantastic.
So the theme of [00:27:00] Bereaved Parents Day this year, which is something that is run by an organization called A Child of Mine, and they’ve hosted Bereaved Parents Day, as it were, for the last four years. And they’ve got a theme this year, which is called, Love Lives On. What are your thoughts on that topic then, Aisha?
Oh, I felt like I could talk about that topic all day. Uh, love lives on. Well, I believe that love lives on through me in terms of the work that I’m doing within the Community Interest Company; Damali Peters, Damali Amanda Sala Peters, her love lives on. Through the community interest company. She was such a loving child, such a loving child and to be able to have a platform for those who are going through sudden bereavement means that love lives on because we are here to give love, to hold your hand so that you [00:28:00] can learn how to give yourself compassion and love again if you feel like it’s, it’s been lost in any way.
We are absolutely here to say love absolutely does live on and that there’s hope. Don’t give up. Don’t give up on yourself either. That’s how I see the theme of Love Lives On, you know?
Yeah, I think that’s great. I think it is about, as a bereaved parent, how you hold the child that you’ve lost, and yourself, and the other people around you. And I think that you learn to value love even more. You know, you don’t think that’s possible as a parent. You already think that you, you’ve embraced love in its most pure sort of form. But when the child that you love is not there, you think, ‘oh, there’s a whole other layer of love. I didn’t even know that existed. Oh, right. Okay. That’s the thing that’s staying with me now, then. Right. Okay’.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree.
How is your [00:29:00] family now? Do they also talk about Damali? Is she kind of part of the family life still?
Yeah, so, it’s often in memory. ‘Oh, I remember when Damali did this’. Or, ‘I remember when Damali said that’. Damali had a quirky, a quirky sense of humour as well. So, so it will be things, it will be things like that or, you know, Damali was a lover of animals. One day where we live, there’s a big communal garden. It has lots of trees, like lots of green and everything. And there was a bee’s nest at the back, right?
So often we’d have bees come, like, come through. So I, I don’t kill them. I just try and guide them out the window. Safely back out. And I remember I was trying to guide the bee back out. Um, Damali was like, ‘oh no, no’, I was like, ‘oh Damali, don’t worry, I’m not gonna do [00:30:00] anything, I’m just, I’m just trying to guide the bee, the bee outside’.
That’s how much she, she loved insects, she loved animals, she was a lover of nature, um, she, she also was a child that didn’t like to wear shoes, so she always wanted to feel the earth on her feet, so that’s, yeah, that’s her, that was her, um. her part of her personality and these are the things that are often spoken about or remembered.
Yeah. I think when we lose a child, we’re often quick to make associations with things that remind us of them. In a way we might not notice if they were still with us. I think we’re looking for them everywhere, so we find those opportunities to connect. ordinary things with our memories of that child that we’ve lost.
What are the things that perhaps you would want to share? So are there any sort of special messages that you would like to share with other bereaved parents?
Yes, yes, [00:31:00] absolutely. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Doesn’t matter how small, how big, speak up, speak up. I don’t think there’s even enough words for me to actually stress how important that is.
Honestly, just ask for help. If you feel a small essence, a big essence of anxiety, speak about it, talk to someone about it. If you feel like someone is being insensitive to how you’re feeling or you would prefer for a certain level of language or sensitivity to be used, that’s your boundary. You have every right. Every right to set that boundary. It is not a difficult ask. Do it.
I would say, listen to your cues in terms of your [00:32:00] body, your mental, your emotional, and how you feel. We know ourselves best. We really do. If there’s a twinge, you feel a twinge. I don’t know if anybody knows, listening about your chakras, if you feel a twinge in your heart chakra, your solar plexus, that’s your body telling you something is going on, don’t ignore it.
You are well within your right to, you know, ask for space if you need it, as well. In terms of whether you are feeling like you’re thinking about your, your baby, you know. And even if they’re, they were, they were young adults when they passed, that’s still your baby. You have every right to ask for a moment for yourself.
Do not feel pressurized by working commitments, by social commitments either. And you don’t always need to overly explain yourself as well. Your no is your no, [00:33:00] your yes is your yes.
That’s very powerful and very true and hopefully very helpful for people to hear who are listening today as well. Just remember those boundaries that you can set for yourself.
I wanted to ask you about meditation and breath work because I know that’s an area of interest for you. Did that come out of your vocal work as a singer? I know you’ve got a company that’s involved in that. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Sure. I mean, um, I, I remember in another interview I spoke about this and in reflection you’ve asked me and I realised actually I’ve been doing meditation and learning about breathing techniques since the age of 10.
I’ve always been a spiritual being, a spiritual soul, and have really gone through different stages or techniques of learning to develop that. So, um, you know, at the age of 10, I was just really into this, um, you know, [00:34:00] researching, uh, Buddhism and, and meditation and mantras. And then I went on to the next level in terms of my teenage years.
And I studied qigong. And then later on with being a singer, it’s, it’s, oh, I’m doing these breathing techniques. Oh, actually, it makes me feel better. Oh, I feel more grounded. I feel more grounded, actually. Ooh, this is really nice. And I, and I started doing my own work and my own research into, okay, how does the breath, affect well being, your mental, your emotional, and of course being a vocal coach as well.
What I realized is that with having clients and working with them and actually listening to the feedback they gave me, it’s like they would always say to me, ‘Oh, I’ve, I actually realized like, you know, this is not [00:35:00] actually just a vocal coaching class. This is like a wellbeing and a vocal coaching class as well’.
And I was like, Ooh. And I started hearing it more and more and more and more. And then, um, the same lady, the same friend who ran the community interest company, she was like, ‘have you ever thought of doing any breathwork workshops?’ I was like, ‘oh, actually, I’ve been doing a very intense study on this’. Um, you know, ‘I would be honoured if that’s what you’re asking me to do’.
She was like, ‘yeah, well, that’s what you do anyway’. That’s what you do anyway. So I was like, okay. She was like, ‘can you curate a program?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, sure. That’s easy for me’. That’s, that’s not hard. So, um, the community interest company actually asked me to do some volunteer work. And that’s how I started holding space for others in the community.
And that was people within the community who were suffering from mental [00:36:00] health as well. Yeah, negatively, so I’m quite proud of that. And, you know, I just continued people knowing about my work I continued being asked from different organizations to actually hold space in that way. And I’ve not stopped. I’ve not stopped.
So with Damali Beautiful Vision, you’ve got this combination available to people of counselling and psychotherapy, and also the more wellbeing, self-care, educational workshops and activities. which might incorporate some of this breathwork and meditation. But then you’ve also got VEWA Productions, which is much more focused around breathwork.
What about those of us that are not in London and might want to take advantage of some of this work around meditation and breathwork? You know, what is there for a beginner who thinks, ‘do you know what, I could do with a bit of grounding through breathwork and meditation? That sounds great’.
I think to be quite honest, there are some great YouTube [00:37:00] tutorials.
Don’t be afraid to use the technology that we have because trust me, it is so helpful. I would say go and look on Spotify. You will find if you type ‘grounding’, it will come up. There’ll be something that comes up. And as well, just, just to say for those of you who are I guess starting out in that way, don’t just jump all in and some people will be like, ‘Oh yeah, I heard somebody was doing this for about an hour or 30 minutes’. And yeah, it’s great. Sometimes you need to work in small increments first. Go small. So I would say tap into places like YouTube. You can tap into places like Spotify. But also on another note, through VEWA Productions LTD, I do hold space for guided meditation workshops, online as well. So that’s for anyone. VEWA Productions is V E W A Productions L T D [00:38:00] and we do have a website for anyone. I work with corporate groups or a company works with corporate groups or one to one sessions. Um, I can conduct online one to one sessions through, through VEWA Productions LTD.
That’s brilliant. And I’ll make sure that all of the links to Damali Beautiful Vision, to VEWA Productions and sort of anything else that we’ve alluded to today, we’ll, we’ll make sure that we’ve got those links on the episode listing and our webpage as well.
One of the parts of the podcast that I know that you had said that you felt was particularly of interest to you was the section where I ask people about what they’re grateful for.
So, I guess my ask to you, Aisha, is – what are you grateful for?
I’m so, so, so, so grateful for this moment. That’s one. I’m grateful for my daughter, Damali Amanda Sala Peters. I’m grateful for love [00:39:00] because without the elements of being present here today, I wouldn’t be able to share Damali’s story or mine.
Without having love, Damali Beautiful Vision CIC wouldn’t have been manifested, right? And then without having Damali and having the journey that I’ve had with my daughter, none of this would have taken place. So, I could go on. And we’ll be sitting here till I don’t know if I went through all my list of what I’m grateful for, but these are the three things that come to mind first and foremost.
Well, that’s all very beautiful and exactly what I would expect from you Aisha. I mean, some people have been quite lighthearted and said things like Lancashire Hotpot or open water swimming. I think I would like to just add that today, as we’re recording this, I’m really grateful for a bit of blinking sunshine because it’s felt like it’s never going to arrive and now it has. [00:40:00] So hooray, hooray.
Yeah, you’re, you’re absolutely right. I am so grateful for sunshine right now. Oh my gosh, I’m so, so grateful. And yes, let me. I’m going to, I’m going to pick something that might come across frivolous, but I love me a good cup of Tetley tea. I really, really do. And sometimes I use a little bit of brown sugar, but I love pouring honey in it with some oat milk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Now we’re talking. That. Oh, this is sounding like the best sweet treat going.
It really is. It really is.
Is there anything else, Aisha, that you feel that you kind of want to tell us about today? Because I think we’ve, we’ve had a lovely discussion about Damali, about where the, the community interest company has kind of come from, a little bit about you, a little bit about the events that are going on and a little bit [00:41:00] about how we feel that love lives on.
Is there anything else that you want to say before we kind of say goodbye to the listeners?
Yeah. Um, just remember that you are worthy of love. Remember that you’re worthy of compassion. You are worthy of having space to laugh. You are worthy of having space to just be quirky and be silly sometimes too. We need a bit of both.
Yeah, I think I would completely agree with that. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for talking about Damali because I know how privately you hold that story. And rightly so, it’s yours to hold. But what I’m so grateful of is that by sharing your story, It also gives permission to other people to share their stories too.
Thank you. Thank you. I hope so too. Thank you so much, Debbie.
You’ve been so supportive. So thank you very much for coming along today, Aisha, and doing this. It’s been an absolute joy to meet you. And I’m sure that people [00:42:00] will be looking to find out what you’re getting up to and checking out the links that are on the podcast page and episode listing and getting in touch with you I’m sure if they are London based and hopefully you’ll have lots of people joining you for your summer meetups as well. So thank you very much for today.
Oh, you’re welcome. You’re welcome, Debbie. Thank you so much.
That was my chat with Aisha Peters from Damali Beautiful Vision CIC. If you’re listening on National Bereaved Parents Day and you’re feeling really down, then please check out our website which has lots of resources, helplines, groups that you can join.
Big hugs to you all.
And I hope that you will all join me for series two, which we hope will be out later on in the year.
This episode is dedicated to Damali.