Hello,

I am Maria Socorro Valdez Laya-Smith. You can call me Sockie.

I am an Activist, Healer and Community Nurse. I am a Filipino woman, married twice. Sadly, my first husband was killed as a freedom fighter in the Philippines. Working through this grief was another level of my own initiation as a healer.

Years later, I remarried in the US to an African American man. I am a mother of three adult children, and I have one granddaughter.

I have been a community nurse in New York City, for over ten years now. This has been a powerful learning experience as I have had to process a lot of grief for all those who passed on especially heightened during the peak Covid.

As an activist it is important to me that I support you taking your health into your own hands. It is my honor to be a guide to support you in tapping more powerfully into your own essential nature and giving you the tools needed to help you along the way.

I was a full time revolutionary activist for more than 15 years, mostly in the countryside of the Philippines, trained and assigned to be a para-med “barefoot doctor”.

I was introduced to plant medicine, and to other alternative healing modalities like acupuncture, & hilot-massage and honoring Spirits.

I learned the ways of “people’s medicine” including Earth rituals and ceremonies for birth, grief and death.

I was attuned as a White Light Karuna Reiki Master and Teacher which led me to studying Theta Healing, Energy Psychology & Hypnotherapy.

I have been studying with Naomi Love for three years now. I am a graduate of Temple of the Womb Apprenticeship and have followed the two branches of professional training graduating as a Somatic Womb Alchemist & Cacao Facilitator Initiate.

These trainings gave me the tools to help me integrate my personal life initiations with my professional experience and training so I can offer my work to you in a more powerful, clear and potent way.

I have strengthened my relationship to my womb space, my elders and my ancestors.

The Resonance aspect of this work continues to inspire me in my dharma (my work in the world) to assist humanity in healing on all levels.

My work truly holds the understanding of the interconnectedness of the body, mind and spirit as woven with the Earth and the Cosmos.

This school has given me a tremendous foundation as I continue to navigate through my life experiences including life’s traumas, personal insecurities, and abuses.

I like you have walked through many painful experiences and many of which created more pain and density in my body, mind and spirit. I now have these tools to support myself through navigating the pain and suffering of life with a bit more grace and ease.

It would be my honor to support you through your lived experiences as well, to turn pain and suffering into a healing opportunity, to transform it into an ally.

I work with all genders as well as couples. I offer 1:1 Sessions, Group Ceremonies and Rituals.

I welcome you to connect with me if you are called.

With Peace in my Heart, Sockie

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“What a wonderful experience working with you Sockie.

I felt a lot of heaviness move during our sessions, and this was through being seen and heard that I was able to move out of my own way.

The reiki seemed to really aid in energy moving, and I was left with a refreshing feeling and able to express more of my joyful personality.

I felt very comfortable being in a vulnerable space with you. Thank you.” Tracey Bergrud

Sockie Valdez Laya-Smith {New York}