My Creative Journey

Hi! Welcome to my page and thank you for being here!

I’m Yhonet Garcia, born and bread in Caracas, Venezuela. I moved to England in 2013 and since then, I’ve been based in Bristol; an incredibly supportive city for creative expression.

I’ve always had an inquiring creative mind, but my own internal barriers wouldn’t let me believe that living a full creative life was possible. Enormous waves of self-doubt and self-diminishing thoughts wouldn’t allow me to move forward. The urge to express became bigger than what my own body could bear, so I needed to take action and that action is what got me here.

I always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, so I signed up for guitar lessons, even before I had my first guitar, at the age of 29! (It’s true what they say, is never too late to do anything.) I’ve been studying Music for the past ten years, improving my skills in singing and guitar playing, which led me to write my own songs and poems.

When I started singing I experienced a block in my voice that unfolded an incredible healing journey for me in order to reclaim my voice and release the blockages I was experiencing. The energetic block held in my throat showed up physically and psychologically. On a physical level, I was experiencing voice tremors, and constrictions whenever I wanted to speak publicly or in a group context. I would pretend that it wasn’t happening by faking confidence, but in reality people could notice. They started questioning “what is happening with your voice?” “you didn’t use to talk like that”. That was incredibly shameful for me. I felt completely exposed and vulnerable. On a psychological level, I experienced shame, difficulty to express my authentic feelings, self-doubt, lack of confidence, inability to express my needs or desires.

When I started unpacking all the trauma behind that, I felt shame because people could see that traumatised part of me when I spoke. But that was where the real work lied. I had to let that part be seen and acknowledge her pain by feeling it. She deserved to be heard for the first time in her life. She wanted to express through singing, poetry, dance - the arts that she was shut down from when she was a little child.

The only way I could heal this part was by giving her voice and showing up to share her message of healing and recovery from trauma in public spaces. Once I had developed skills in playing the guitar and singing, I started taking myself to open mics. I was completely terrified at first. My body would shake, my hands would sweat and my voice would break whilst I was singing. I didn’t do it perfectly, but I showed up and did it any way. The emotional weight I was carrying was transmitted in my songs. I was hiding in the performances, not really opening my eyes or making any contact with the audience. The fear of being seen was greater than what I could handle; yet, I did it over and over again and still do it till this date. It was the exposure despite the imperfections what healed me. I pushed myself to be seen despite the fear and that is what really matters. To me it’s never been about being a famous singer, but about sharing my story. Having witnesses to my story and having other people come to me and say “thank you for sharing that, that really spoke to me” or “you put words to my experience, I’ve never known how to express that” is what really pushed me to keep going.

Realising the impact I was having on other people witnessing my vulnerability as well as my evolution and expansion is what pushed me forward. The journey wasn’t easy. Healing such profound trauma of being silenced and oppressed in my childhood required deep emotional healing work. I did therapy, Vipassana retreats, plant medicine and showed up to my practice of singing and guitar playing every single day. Creativity has an immense power to heal us. I am really grateful that my past self did all that work and that my creative channel opened up to receive so many beautiful songs and poems I’ve written over the years. I now channel light codes that are healing for others and create spaces to empower other beings to reclaim their voice and activate their creative gifts. My coaching comes from deep lived experience of healing trauma and achieveing liberation through creative practices.

If you feel called to express yourself creatively and share your gifts with others but you feel fear of being seen, being judged, and experience self-doubt, lack of confidence or my story resonates with you - you are in the right place and I’m here to support you on your journey of liberation from all these blockages.

My training journey

My first journey with the arts started in Venezuela when I finished school in 2003. I did a 2-year Drama Diploma in one of the most important acting schools of that time, Escuela de Artes Escenicas Juana Sujo. This experience was super important for me because it started my recovery journey from being a blocked creative. I love acting and performance, so this equipped me with valuable skills that I now share in my workshops and coaching sessions.

In 2018, I finished my studies in Creative Arts Therapies (FdA, University of Plymouth), which qualifies me to facilitate the use of different art forms to improve wellbeing and mental health. These studies were very healing as they uncovered hidden trauma and pushed me towards seaking professional help to support the process. Whilst our sessions won’t be therapy based, the health benefits that you’ll experience by giving voice to your creative expression will be notorious and will have a strong positive impact in all areas of your life.

I also studied Music online with a the best Music school from Venezuela, Escuela Contemporanea de la Voz. I w I learnt music theory, singing techniques and profound ear training, which developed my skills for channelling and improvisation.

To improve my poetry skills, I did an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 2021. I finished my Certificate in Counselling in February 2023 which provides me with valuable counselling skills that I’ll be sharing with you in our coaching sessions, using a Person-Centred Approach. This means, I will be following your lead, adapting to your needs and providing strategies that can enrich your creative life.

My Professional background

From February 2022 until October 2023 I worked in City of Bristol College teaching the module ‘Creative Approaches to Counselling’ and ‘Personal Development in the Foundation Degree in Counselling and ‘Counselling Skills’ in the L3 Diploma, which provided me with more experience to use the arts on a therapeutic level as well as highly improving my facilitation and teaching skills. More than ten years of experience supporting children, young people and adults with mental health difficulties and learning disabilities, both in education and residential settings, have filled me up with amazing skills that I’ve brought to my professional life as well as to my personal development.

Supporting others in achieving independence, confidence and self-trust, have contributed to enhance my listening skills, empathy, flexibility, adaptability as well as bringing self-knowledge and growth to my own path by understanding the needs of others. This is why I decided to create this page, a space to support people like you and me, to find your creative path and express your voice.

I’m really looking forward to sharing our Creative Journey together…