About me
Hi, I’m Umayal — a multidisciplinary artist, dream activist, and creator of Creative Flow Arts and the Focused Flow Method. I’m also a mother, a woman of South Indian roots, and a catalyst for regenerative culture. But I wasn’t always this connected to my purpose.
I was born and raised in India, where I studied architecture and learned to design structures with precision and intention. But I also internalized the weight of expectations—cultural, societal, and familial. I became a people pleaser, constantly trying to prove myself, striving to fit into a version of success that didn’t feel true to me. I didn’t know how to ask for help, how to say no, or how to honor my own needs. That exhaustion, over time, led me to depression.
When I moved to the U.S., I found myself in a new land, isolated in motherhood, far from family and familiar roots. The transition was overwhelming. I lost myself in the roles I was expected to play—wife, mother, daughter, caretaker. I forgot who I was.
That’s when art found me—or maybe, I finally opened to it.
Art became my way of listening to myself again. Through painting, drawing, and especially the ancient sacred art of Kolam, I reconnected with my emotions. I started to express what words could not carry. I learned how to create boundaries, how to care for my nervous system, how to meet my needs from a place of rooted self-trust.
Art helped me become the author and the artist of my own experience.
Now, I create healing spaces where others can remember their wholeness through creativity, community, and embodied wisdom. My work is rooted in emotional alchemy, ritual, and co-creation with nature. Whether I’m leading a workshop, creating a kolam installation, or holding space in a community circle—I guide others to come home to themselves.
I believe healing doesn’t have to be heavy. It can be joyful. It can be colorful. It can be a dance of shadow and light. And when we learn to honor the cycles of rest, expression, and flow—we begin to reclaim our power.
My mission is to help you feel deeply connected to your inner rhythm, your creativity, and the magic of life. Because when one of us heals, we all rise.
My Story: From Isolation to Inner Liberation Through Art
I was born and raised in India, where creativity, community, and cultural expression were a natural part of everyday life. I studied architecture—drawn to the beauty of space, structure, and design. But even in those early years, I felt the weight of expectations. I tried hard to be the “good girl”—to meet societal standards, fulfill roles, and please everyone around me. That pressure followed me when I moved to the United States.
Coming to a new country as a young mother, I faced a profound sense of disconnection. I had left behind my homeland, family, and support system. Surrounded by unfamiliar norms and expectations, I found myself silently struggling. The cultural isolation, the constant giving without receiving, and the need to “hold it all together” as a wife and mom took a toll on my wellbeing.
I didn’t have the language to describe what I was feeling at the time—but I now know it was depression. I felt lost, exhausted, and unseen. The drive to fit in and be everything to everyone left no space for me to breathe, let alone ask for help. Because of my past trauma, asking for support still doesn’t come easily. I was used to holding things in, managing it all, and suppressing my own needs.
It was in that space of silence and heaviness that art found me again.
What started as a private, intuitive act of making—just putting color on paper without a plan—slowly became a lifeline. Art became the language I didn’t know I needed. Through the creative process, I began to meet myself again—not the version others wanted me to be, but my real, feeling, and whole self.
Creating helped me reconnect with my emotions and learn how to hold them with compassion instead of fear. It taught me the importance of boundaries, of saying no, of recognizing my needs—not as weaknesses, but as valid and sacred. Art helped me move from people-pleasing to self-trust. From emotional numbness to embodied expression. From survival to flow.
It became more than healing—it became a reclamation. I realized I didn’t have to fit into a mold someone else made. I could be the author and artist of my own experience. And as I shared my work publicly, I discovered how deeply others resonated with this journey. So many women—especially immigrant women and mothers—carry untold stories of sacrifice, survival, and silence. Art gave me the courage to tell mine. And in doing so, it created space for others to tell theirs.
Today, I work as a Dream Activist and Catalyst for Regenerative Culture, weaving together art, storytelling, embodiment, and ancestral wisdom. I create spaces—through workshops, exhibits, and community projects—where people can reconnect with their own truth, creativity, and power.
My mission is to challenge the narratives of scarcity, separation, and perfectionism by reimagining abundance as a state of reciprocity, harmony, and trust in life’s natural flow. I believe we are not separate from nature, from one another, or from the creative force that moves through us. And when we shift our perception, we unlock the flow of true abundance—rooted in generosity, wholeness, and connection.
This is the heart of my journey: not just becoming an artist, but becoming myself. Fully. Freely. Flowing in my own rhythm—and inviting others to do the same.
My Inner Revolution
I grew up in a culture where a woman’s worth was measured by how much she could sacrifice—her voice, her dreams, even her joy. I was taught that to be good meant to give everything and expect nothing in return. That following many passions was indulgent. That my value came from roles I played, not the soul I carried.
But something within me refused to stay small.
Through art, emotions, and the radical act of feeling, I began to unravel the stories that kept me stuck. I discovered that emotions are not a burden—they are a map. They reveal what’s been buried and where we are being called to rise.
Healing is not about fixing ourselves.
It’s about remembering who we are.
This is the threshold I crossed—the moment I chose to become.
And now, I invite you to journey with me.
Ready to begin your journey?
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