Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’ve ever been sick, you know the feeling. The exhaustion that sweeps in when your body is trying to fight something. For a few days, maybe even a week, you wake up feeling like you’ve been up all night. And no matter how much you sleep, you want more. More sleep, you can feel […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’ve ever been sick, you know the feeling. The exhaustion that sweeps in when your body is trying to fight something. For a few days, maybe even a week, you wake up feeling like you’ve been up all night. And no matter how much you sleep, you want more. More sleep, you can feel […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute You and me, we are mostly made out of water and energy. With water that runs through our bodies like rivers. Shapes and curves like valleys and mountains. Roots spreading inside of us. Roots moving. The ability to create life. Sustain life. The need for relationships. Tell me how we are different from Nag Mapu, […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s six years ago, during an early morning rush hour of people dropping off their kids at school, going to work, or just going places. The result is the kind of traffic that moves forward an inch per minute. It doesn’t bother me, every day is the same in LA. So instead of testing how […]
Reading Time: 5 minutes As a young child, I didn’t need to watch the news to learn about the weather. My mom was my weather channel. “I feel pressure,” she would say, placing a hand on her head and legs to show where she felt it. That meant a thunderstorm was coming. On Wallmapu, our territory, storms can turn bad […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes What happens to all your energy? And why does it feel like death? Someone commented this on a video I posted on Tiktok: “Before and during I am fine but after it feels like death.” This person was referring to how they feel after their menstrual cycle, but most people living in survival (aka […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes That look, I had seen it before: a startled deer, trying to decide whether to stay still or run. Body tense and big wide eyes asking; Is this dangerous? Am I safe? I zigzagged my way through rows of students on their backs. Even under the dim lights, I could tell they were all relaxed, all […]
Reading Time: 3 minutes I’m just going to throw you right into this. Imagine for a moment that you’re hanging off a cliff. Your feet, dangling in the air, rocks crumbling under your fingertips, your grip so tight your knuckles are turning white. Looking down, all you can see is darkness. Then, you turn your head and see that […]
Reading Time: 4 minutes An analogy to help you see how this society misunderstands our instincts. And how it affects you. In my yard, there are a lot of lizards. Every morning I sit with my coffee and watch them jump from one rock to another. Then they stop and do these little push-ups. Don’t ask me why but […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes From not fitting in, hiding identity, and domestic violence; to new beginnings. Last week I turned 33. Do you ever look at older pictures of yourself and wish you could talk to your younger self? When I look at pictures of myself as a child, she feels like a daughter. I want to crouch down […]
Hello, my name is Mandy Martini Chihuailaf (Mist spreading over a lake).
I'm a Mapuche writer and teacher. Creator of SLG, an online school and community that has helped members in over 35 countries heal from the effects of stress and trauma using Indigenous knowledge and wisdom.
My goal is to help you get more out of your one life on this Earth.
Plus, you being here supports my work and makes it possible for me to help our community in terms of contributing to legal fees, shelters for survivors of violence, rebuilding efforts, and food scarcity.
Chaltü may, thank you, for being part of this full circle.