Saira Hussain is a Holistic Henna Practitioner, Artist, art director, energy worker, award recipient &radical self-worth advocate. She is an annual donator and affiliate of Parkinson'sCanada and Sunnybrook’s Alzeihmer’s division. She is deeply motivated by the abilities to access emotions to choreograph and create powerful visual stories.
As a holistic henna practitioner and vessel of creativity, she has integrated the ceremonialways of henna, aromatherapy and energetic modalities to help her clients evoke their ownself-compassion while addressing their emotional blockages. While avidly learning TCM &shiatsu practices, Saira is a highly-enthused life-long student where she is often seenresearching about the human brain, alternative medicine and reversing the symptoms ofParkinson’s disease.
She commits 20 hours a week to help her clients vocalize their need ofemotional support by offering holistic health guidance through an individualizedcombination of guided meditation, chakra assessment and henna meridian work. A practiceshe developed in 2021. Since 2006, she has committed over 400,000 hours to womenswell-being through art.Since 2006, Saira has helped over 25,000+ women (including trans and non-binaryidentifying women), mothers, brides, athletes, widows, refugees, entrepreneurs find reliefduring transitional periods of their lives.
Some of the areas that Saira focuses on include:stress relief, anxiety relief, grief support, healing from insomnia, spiritual dissonance, self-esteem, self-compassion and worthiness, releasing healthy anger, independence and her favorite self-identity and self-worth.
Currently, Saira runs a Creative and holistic consultancy where she hosts health workshops, integrating emotional wellness programs with art therapy for womxn and persons + majorly focuses on brand growth, design and storytelling as an art director.
As of 2022, as an art director and set production designer, Saira has completed two CBC television series; 'Get Up Aisha' and 'Bollywed'. You can now stream Bollywed on CBC GEM every Thursday starting January 12th at 8 pm and 8:30 pm est.
On November 12th 2022, She is being awarded the Mind, Body and Soul award as a Women's wellness advocate for her extensive work within communities surrounding minorities and women who are victims of domestic abuse and refugee crisis. The charity gala is hosted by the Brilliant Minded Women Network in Vaughan, ON.
As of 2022, she has facilitated workshops with Sakeena Homes and the Women’sCouncil of Erin Mills featuring members of parliament and 100+ women. Fusingelements of expressionistic art, spirituality and meditation to help others find healing, relief and restore balance in their bodily systems and minds.
Art is powerful!'It has the ability to weave all our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste and hear) collectivelywith the act of presence. Art helps us build confidence to address our emotions while in solitude. While we are alone, weare able to witness our truths and become our compassionate witness. We are able to facefear with compassion..it is a life long journey..' Saira mentions.
As a second generation immigrant, Saira's mission to elevating henna as a medicinal,alternative healing modality now feels possible as she grows her art practice with community, education and research.
She ispresently on her chosen journey in furthering her studies in alternative medicine as aCertified Holistic Health practitioner (2022), Registered Clinical Counsellor and Art therapist (2024). She is anentrepreneur, a companion, a free-spirit and an avid supporter for womxn migrating through their transitional life paths and adversities. Having spent countless nights, months and years on improving her own mental health, sheevolved her approach to Henna while experimenting in her university classroom and as astreet Artist while meeting with other womxn who had or were experiencing poverty, immigrationissues or homelessness.
She developed her self-esteem with the earth-bound medium in times of scarcityas her family suffered significant financial losses, which delayed her graduation, but gifted her her individuality and time to develop her own voice. She followed her intuition and became a full-time Artist in 2017reaching a 6 figure income. Taking on appointments far and wide (destination weddingsincluded), she is acknowledged by hundreds as an energetic vessel to help womxn celebrate their life transitions in marriage, relationships, health and work achievements.
She discovered that the power to healing was not only in the therapeutic process, but thepractitioner and the plant itself. She reached out to her colleagues in the wellnesscommunity to grow and furthermore began to offer 'holistic henna readings' in 2016within schools, community spaces, which led her to offering her Henna meridiansessions involving shiatsu, reflexology and art therapy. Henna is ancestral as is her purpose to help womxn resurface their powers through this sacred art form. She has been on this journey of exploring henna as a modality since she was 18. She isnow 34.
When she is not helping others release toxins (emotional blockages) from their body withhenna or helping a client alter their limiting beliefs, she is expressive in her work as a multi-dimensional art director while working with other colleagues and artists. Having collaborated with photographer Tara Noelle in 2019, she co-curated the 'DNAPROJECT' .which was first exhibited at a fundraiser with Soch Mental Health inaddressing the mental health of marginalized south-asian and Tamil womxn. The eventraised over $10,000 in sales featuring other speakers and Artists.
Her first, self-developedand virtual event; SISTERHOOD SUMMIT featured two panel discussions (with 16facilitators in well-being and the arts), a full-moon meditation, a spoken word segment andvisual-energetic bath within the pandemic. 200 womxn had attended this event inSeptember of 2020.
She facilitated and launched the Love Letter Community in 2020 with daily hand-writtenlove letter workshops for 25 weeks during the pandemic and pivoted from solely being in thewedding industry to healthcare communities, and shelters for womxn. Weekly workshops were conducted, complimentary to all who were able to join includingwomen of all ages, cultures and identities. Adversity has always fuelled Saira as she grew upin Hamilton, ON where she was marginalized on her appearance, religious choices and expression. It wasn’t until OCAD University (2007) where she found her voice, individuality as aCanadian-Pakistani womxn through the medium of henna on canvas, body and textiledesign in galleries and group exhibitions. She has been published in Toronto Life, Vogue,Toronto Star, Zardozi, MASHION, and many other publications while featuring her owndirected works on biculturalism and identity. She is a public speaker on self-worth and womxn’s health.
She described her experience ...'as a mock-tail of a deeply-wounded womb, painted withthick slacks of intergenerational trauma and grease - the grease you can't wash out, evenafter cutting your hair. Their fibers now rest above my scalp and I’m learning how to livewith them. Each day, a new fiber is shed as I learn to integrate new learned habits andholistic modalities into my day.
Henna has helped her share a new opportunity of livingwith over 25,000 women to help them mitigate symptoms of depression, adhd, fear,loss, anxiety, and dismantle the patriarchy from their roots in the last 10 years.Her future plans are to have a Holistic henna clinic and sanctuary where women cancome together for safety, a new skill, learn new healthy habitual practices that they canthen take home and share with their families and communities. A space for alternativehealthcare and art to coexist. She’s changed the narrative of henna.
In her interview with Preim beauty, Saira shared ...“We haven’t looked at henna holistically,” she says. Indeed, most of us don’t perceive hennato bear such healing powers, but perhaps that is due to a lack of education, as Saira pointsout.
She describes the multi-faceted experience one can have if we shift our perspective andbegin to view henna as a form of therapeutic healing – starting with the actual henna powder.
“The henna plant has cooling properties”. Now, imagine combining this with water, lemon juice, essential oils, and physical touch. Theresult? “A beautiful sensory experience.”