Inspiring Conversations with Noura Ismaeil of Body As Vessel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Noura Ismaeil.

Hi Noura, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My journey started when I finally dared to recognize how out of alignment my life choices were. My journey started when I decided that choice was my only power and that although I was terrified I had to make a change.

I’ve always been known and identified as a free spirit, but that phrase can be misleading. For many years, being free meant not having direction, struggling with substance abuse, going into debt from a place of desperation (vs. intentional debt), working in a corporate setting that I hated, and avoiding the trauma that kept me living in a loop of self-destruction and confusion.

I have always been a creative person but I lacked a sense of direction so I let my parents and society decide for me. I did what I thought I should do because I didn’t know what else to do. It’s like I was on auto-pilot and I didn’t care if I lived or died. I was just going through the motions as best I could, wearing a mask to hide how I felt and partying to drown the pain.

I remember my last day working at my corporate sales job in Denver. I had a panic attack on the commute there and went to an urgent care. The doctor told me I had anxiety and to consider what might be causing it–but I already knew. For the past three years, I had been soullessly selling strangers products and services that meant nothing to me and that I didn’t believe in.

I remember looking around the office, completely dissociated, wondering how I had gotten here and waiting for the next man twice my age to hit on me in the break room. So, I quit. I sold my car and went on a life-purpose retreat in Bali, Indonesia. I came home a different person. For the first time in years, I felt a reason to be alive. I felt connected after years of feeling deeply disconnected.

From that point on, my intention in life was to create a life that had meaning & beauty. I knew that to do that, I had to heal. So I turned my compass towards a new horizon and decided to live in a VW Westfalia Vanagon with my partner at the time. We had just completed our first Ayahuasca journey together and we both knew it was time to sober up and grow up. I was 27. After about 9 months of bumming it, relapsing, attempting sobriety, and failing, we decided to sell the van and go to Bali, together.

This second trip to Bali was not like the first. I was confronted with the depths of my darkness amongst an island of healers, gurus, and new-age practitioners. Here, I was in paradise, falling apart. But life is a paradox and looking back I realize that I wasn’t falling apart, I was being broken open to my truth. Things started getting clear and I was diligently apprenticing with a shamanic practitioner while I explored the cornucopia of healing offerings that the island and its inhabitants had to offer. I nearly died from an abortion gone wrong on that trip and metaphorically speaking, many parts of me died there.

Ten years later, I’ve never looked back. I knew that I needed to heal my relationship with myself so that I could show up for life in a different way. I also knew that I wanted to help others do the same. I’ve studied many modalities over the years and I’m now doing work that aligns with my values, my needs, and my vision for life. After working at The Highlands Wellness Center in Denver as a somatic and craniosacral practitioner, I’ve transitioned my work to online coaching. My brand Body As Vessel serves as the container through which I can serve other people with the skills I’ve gained over the years. I’m currently a graduate student, studying to become a licensed therapist so that I can offer private practice work in the future.

For now, I’m focused on my art practice–sculpture and some mixed media work–and my growing coaching practice. I support creatives, visionaries, and helpers to come into a relationship with the body of work they are here to express in the world. I like to say that I help people go from being gifted to gifting. Whether you’re launching a new brand or want to cultivate your vision through a somatic and trauma-informed lens, I’m your girl. I’ve combined my business savvy side with my creativity and healing gifts. My work is as unique as each individual I work with. The way I see it, we need more people sharing their gifts and their genius in the world. And that is the essence of my story–going from being disconnected from my gifts to fully expressing and sharing my life’s work.

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody can achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”- Albert Einstein

As a woman a biracial coach and someone who identifies as a minority, I am actively exploring what it means to divest and to unlearn how we have all participated in colonial practices that perpetuate suffering. My programs are offered on a sliding scale and I offer flexibility in how I structure my offerings. I want to create an ecosystem of offerings that are accessible and inclusive.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road, but without challenge, there is no growth. Some of my struggles have included a deep sense of insecurity and low self-esteem from childhood. I was not given a solid foundation as a child and that haunted me into adulthood.

My insecurities lead me down a path of alcohol and drug abuse. I spent years in survival mode, hating myself and the life I was living, but unsure of how to create change. My dysfunction went on for years, moving from job to job, partying to escape my pain, living on credit cards and loans, nearly overdosing, facing an abortion in a foreign country that almost killed me, and getting a DUI after driving my car into a cement barrier on I-25.

I didn’t know my worth and I had no real connection to the fragility and sacredness of life. I struggled to have a reason for being alive and this drove my self-destructive behaviors. I lacked structure, I lacked a sense of self-worth and I lacked a sense of what my inner values and needs were.

Quitting my old life to start a new one was a turning point. Working with ayahuasca and plant medicines for 3.5 years helped with my sobriety and helped me deal with the pain that was eating me alive.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most known for the fact that I blend creativity and consciousness. I call my method Somatic Creativity and I help people express the essence of their gifts and their genius from a place of embodiment. As an artist, I’m exploring the nexus between form and formlessness. I believe that life is a creative process and so is good healing.

I currently offer creative incubators for people who want to connect to the essence of who they are and what they do. I help people express their vision and I even offer copywriting services. My approach helps you transform trauma into beauty so you can cultivate your vision, embody your gifts & recognize the power in your story. This work is a radical act that draws you into a creative relationship with your body & your genius. Instead of creating solely from your mind, I guide you into the source of who you are & what you’re here to express so you can live and serve from a place of wholeness. The body is a vessel for the experience of life you want to have AND the gifts you are here to express. Let’s align them. I help people address any trauma that might be in the way of them creating a life of alignment.

What sets me apart from others is that I focus on helping a person create and express from a place of embodiment. So often we are trying to think our way into what it is that we want instead of allowing our bodies to speak and express a deeper truth. For many of us, we are expressing an old story–one that is based on our trauma. I help people shed the old story so they can express their creative power, not their trauma.

I also create custom artwork–ceramic vessels and sculptures designed to invoke and symbolize the essence of a person. Body as Vessel is a metaphor for creativity rooted in the body. I believe that we are vessels for life to express itself through. I love helping people tap into and express their gifts.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m a true nomad. I’ve traveled and hitch-hiked to many different countries. Travel is something that I love because I love culture and I love nature. I dream of traveling the world again and learning art and ways of living from indigenous populations.

Pricing:

• Creative Consultation starting at $175/session

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BodyAsVessel.com
• Instagram: @bodyasvessel
• Other: Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/bodyasvessel/30min

Image Credits
Jessica Pettingill