PRINCESS MANUEL, FOUNDER & HERBALIST

Princess Manuel, LMSW (she/they) is a Shamanic Practitioner, Spiritual Life Coach, Community Herbalist, Political Organizer, Martial Artist and Founder of LUYA Healing and Herbs.   

As a survivor of complex trauma with extensive professional, organizing and personal healing experience, she supports BIPOC in reclaiming their lives and finding joy amidst present-day and generational traumas.  She utilizes ancestral technology, herbal healing traditions, meditative visioning, shamanic journeying and psychosomatic practices to support her clients and customers in thriving and transformations. 

​

Princess studied under Master Herbalist and Founder of Sacred Vibes Apothecary, Karen Rose and completed the Sacred Vibes' Spiritual Herbalism Apprenticeship program in 2021 where she gained 500 hours of herbalism academic study, client work, formulary and hands-on-experience.  After that, she apprenticed with Naomi Love of Wise Womb Medicine and completed the Wise Womb Temple Apprenticeship in 2022 and in process of completing the Somatic Womb Alchemist Apprenticeship to support women, femmes and non-binary folx in healing their womb space holistically.  She completed Soul Fire Farm's BIPOC Farmers Immersion Program in 2017 where she found a passion in stewarding the land and protecting nature. 

Princess received a Masters of Science, Social Work with a focus on policy from Columbia University in 2017 serving as a social worker and mental health therapist for 8+ years within the incarceration, child welfare and general mental health wellness fields.  Prior to that, she received a Dual Bachelor's Degree of Ethnic Studies and also in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011 and has served as a community organizer for 10+ years studying political education, feminism and engaging in political praxis with AF3IRM.

​

Princess is originally from Carson, CA where she learned first-hand about the intersections of race, class and gender disparities.  She is the descendant of traditional healers, farmers, nurses, community organizers and more from the Philippines.  Through her life and professional experience, she takes on a spiritual love ethic, transnational feminist and decolonial approach to all her offerings.

​

She enjoys practicing kali filipino martial arts and muay thai, volunteering at the nearby community garden, loves birdwatching and is a caretaker of a lovebird and many plants.