Seanalee Lazara finds purpose in helping others heal

Healing can come in many forms.

For Seanalee Lazara, her spiritual healing was enhanced by her physical healing following an accident nine years ago that left her temporarily bedridden.

Since then, the former nurse has dedicated her life to helping others heal in as many ways as possible through her Pennsylvania-based Healing Wounds Enhancing Lives.

“I am Trinidadian-born, but I live in the Poconos. I was from Morvant and went to Malik Senior Comprehensive. I left Trinidad when I was 16.”

Lazara told WE Health she is frequently booked for speaking engagements at churches, conferences and various other events. She also conducts individual and group healing sessions.

“So I do one-on-one sessions in-person or virtual sessions. I travel to Trinidad a lot because I have a business here. I think there is a huge need for healing here, so I was inspired to do my first healing event here, on October 31.”

Mask Off and Heal, she said, will be for women only and will be held at a safe space whose location will remain a secret.

“Only when you purchase your ticket and send a screenshot to me, will the location be given to you. I created this safe space for women to take their masks off. It’s a non-judgmental zone; we are not here to judge, we are here to fix our sister’s crown and heal together. I heal through helping others, because I have a mask too. I’m wearing a very big one and it’s called grief. I lost my husband suddenly almost four months ago, so I’m going to be demasking too.”

The evening will feature good food, socialising and networking, as well as a night of release, empowerment and inspiration.

“Expect a night of leaving your ‘I am.’ Whatever your ‘I am’ is, you’re going to leave there stronger, better, released.”

The 46-year-old said she did not choose this calling; it chose her. It all started with obedience. After the accident, which nearly shattered her knee, doctors told her she would not be able to walk for at least two years.

“In that time of need, it literally was God. Friends and family were nowhere to be found. You know, the calls came in, but the physical appearance weren’t there. So it was just God and me. My now deceased husband and my son literally took care of me.”

The mother of four said the hardest part was watching her children see her lying helpless.

“I was their world, and it’s almost like their world had just crumbled and fell.”

But the experience served a purpose, motivating her to push herself mentally to heal physically.

“I started negotiating with God. I said to Him, ‘if You let me walk in less than a year, I promise I will be obedient no matter what You say.’”

She was on her feet, albeit on crutches, by her seventh month.

“Like a week later, I heard a voice say, ‘Buy a house in the Poconos.’”

At the time, she was living in New York and was not convinced it was the voice of God. However, about a week later, she received the same instruction again, and this time she obeyed.

“And long story short, I bought the house and moved to the Poconos.”

She said that, for some reason, many of the women there approached her and “spilled their guts”.

It was while having brunch with one of them and sharing her story that she realised what she was supposed to do. The woman’s reaction was her “aha moment”.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God! This is why You sent me here. I have to help women,’” and Healing Wounds Enhancing Lives was born.

She admitted that over the past two years, she had slowed down her healing mission because she had been busy with her other businesses.

“I have a food business in Port of Spain. I love to and I can cook. At age 13, I learned to cook for a house of 16 people, with one being diabetic,” she chuckled.

“I have not been going at healing wounds very hard as I usually do.”

But after her husband’s death, she said, God scolded her.

“He said, ‘You have a calling and you’re not doing my work. You remember I had to shut you down to give you the assignment. Don’t let me shut you down again.’”

She did not have to be told twice and is now expanding her reach by incorporating technology into Healing Wounds Enhancing Lives through an app that will be launched at the event.

“It’s 90 per cent finished. It is called Inner Circle and it would be for members, where you can book three sessions a month with me for a fee. And you get to pick your days and your times and we could connect. So you don’t have to wait for an event to be one-on-one with me.”

Even after the event, members who feel the need to return to the space at any time, for any reason, will be free to do so.

“It’s a safe space; a space you can enjoy. Once you have the app, it automatically gives you access. You can just come and have your moment, meet a sister, cry with your sister. And once I’m in Trinidad and you need me, I’ll be there.”

Lazara plans to host many more healing events in Trinidad, including one for men.

“Build a Man, but I’m still working it out. But the next event I would want to plan women for next month is Paint, Pray and Heal.”