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Rooted Motherhood 🇭🇹

@cassandre_durand

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documenting motherhood, culture, music and healing 🇭🇹 Eczema & Stuttering Advocate
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They think they’re just watching mommy dance.
But when my daughter copies my salsa steps, she’s learning her body is allowed to take up space.
When my son tries to position his hands like mine during kompa and zouk, he’s learning that our music belongs right here at home—not only at parties or on special occasions.
This is how culture is passed down in our house: through joy, movement, and everyday moments in the living room.
What did you grow up watching your parents do that shaped your identity? #kompa #haitian #motherhood #culture #caribbean by @cassandre_durand

🤎🌿 More than a retreat. A homecoming to myself.

Winning the giveaway to attend the Black Girls with Eczema Retreat in Sedona was a gift I didn’t know how deeply I needed.

Surrounded by Black women whose skin looked like mine, I found connection, vulnerability, and a kind of understanding that words can hardly capture. Through reflection, journaling, healing exercises, movement, and the embrace of nature, I began reconnecting with parts of myself I had neglected for far too long.

I’m learning that healing isn’t just about healing my skin. It’s also about giving myself permission to feel, to cry, to be vulnerable, and to stop holding everything in. 🤎

Thank you to @blackgirlswitheczema @myeczemateam @thejenesishouse for making this experience possible. I came for a retreat, but I left with a deeper connection to myself and a reminder that I don’t have to navigate this journey alone.

Here’s to healing, representation, community, and learning to hold space for ourselves, too.

#healingjourney #eczemaawareness #blackskincare #wellness #eczema by @cassandre_durand

When I sing with her, I’m sending a signal to my vagus nerve: you are safe. You are home. My nervous system downshifts. My body softens. My anxiety lowers.

This is nervous system regulation. Not from apps or breathing exercises. From joy.

Affirmations work the same way 😊positive thoughts literally rewire your brain. Neuroscience calls it neuroplasticity. When you tell yourself “I am worthy,” you’re not just saying words. You’re reprogramming how your brain thinks about itself.

And here’s what matters: my daughter doesn’t know she’s doing any of this. She just knows singing with her mom feels good. That feeling becomes the foundation of her nervous system for life.

So when we talk about managing anxiety 🎼❤️sometimes the answer is just singing badly with someone you love and remembering that your body knows how to feel safe. #nervoussystemregulation #motherhood #healing #momlife #motherdaughterlove by @cassandre_durand

Happy Halloween 🎃😅😱 #halloween #familytime❤️ #spooky #trickortreating #funnyreels by @cassandre_durand

To close out Eczema Awareness Month: what’s one feeling you’ve been holding in? Name it below. You don’t have to explain it. 🤎 #eczema #eczemaawareness #somaticexperiencing #mentalhealth #healingjourney by @cassandre_durand

Never forget how beautiful you are. Not just in the way you look, but in the way you exist, the way you love, the way you rise after difficult days, and the light you bring into the world.

You are worthy of admiration, tenderness, and love. Don’t wait for someone else to remind you of your beauty. See it, own it, and celebrate it every single day.

Thank you @storiesbyzebrina @artbyzebrina for capturing this moment 🤍❤️ #selflove❤️ #youarebeautiful #motherhoodjourney #youareenough #healingjourney by @cassandre_durand

What’s your morning ritual that instantly makes your spirit glow ? #zouk #haitian #danceislife #morningvibes☀️ #nervoussystemregulation by @cassandre_durand

Cabo love (also called Cabo zouk) is the romantic, slow-tempo zouk that Cape Verdean musicians developed from the late 1980s onward, sung mostly in Kriolu.

The roots (1980s). It starts with French Antillean zouk. Kassav’ from Guadeloupe and Martinique made zouk a worldwide hit in the 1980s, and that sound drew heavily on Haitian kompa. Zouk spread fast through Lusophone Africa and its diaspora, and the slower, sensual style known as zouk love caught on especially.

The Cape Verdean twist (late ‘80s–‘90s). Cape Verdean artists, many living abroad in Rotterdam, Paris, Lisbon, and Boston, blended zouk love with their own traditions. They brought in the melodic, bittersweet feel of morna and the rhythm of coladeira, along with Kriolu lyrics about love and longing (sodade). Gil Semedo, based in the Netherlands, is usually credited as a key pioneer. Grace Évora, Suzanna Lubrano, and later Mika Mendes and Nelson Freitas helped make the sound the soundtrack of Cape Verdean parties and weddings across the diaspora. #zouk #zouklove #haitian#capeverde#musicismylife by @cassandre_durand

We all are fighting our battles . Remember to be kind to one another and especially yourself 🤍❤️ #stutter #findyourvoice #selfconfidence #healingjourney #useyourvoice by @cassandre_durand

Thank you @ocean_olive_ for gifting me this one. 🤍

When my skin flares, I don’t want a long ingredient list I can’t pronounce. I want something gentle, honest, and rooted in what the earth already gives us. 🌿

#eczemarelief #sensitiveskin #sensitiveskincare #eczemaawareness #eczemacare by @cassandre_durand

Kolé Séré was the soundtrack of every family barbecue growing up. Back then, it played in the background while the grown-ups danced.

This morning, I chose it on purpose. Morning sun on my skin, hibiscus tea in my cup, and nobody to dance for but me.

Nostalgia hits different when you stop just remembering joy and start practising it.

Bon dimanch, fanmi. Lavi a dous. 🌺 #zouk #haitian #zouklove #danceislife #sundayritual by @cassandre_durand

I grew up on Leila Chicot 🤣 I can still picture my mom singing this track like no one is watching 😜 #haitian#zouk #haitianmusic #zouklove #caribbean by @cassandre_durand