FACILITATORS AND GUIDES OF THE HEALING FESTIVAL 2025
MAA / Yara De Dannan & Naël Elhage (CRI/LBN)
"Healing is not a destination, is the journey" - MAA / Yara De Dannan & Naël Elhag
Can one word carry the memory of body, voice and earth?
In many cultures, "Maa" is one of the first words a child utters. It's instinctive, ancient and familiar at the same time. In Sanskrit, it denotes beginning and end, breath, creation and comfort. The human mother and the cosmic mother.
In the MAA project, this word is transformed into practice. It represents a way of listening to one's own body again, facing pain with tenderness and truthfulness, and returning to what has been lost.
Yara De Dannan and Naël Elhage have created MAA as a space to slow down and return to the physicality that is at the heart of being human. They work with voice, silence, movement and deep listening. Yara leads gently and sensitively, respecting the body's natural intelligence. Naël creates support, holds structure and brings calm attention. They don't teach a method, but open a space where everyone can find their own path again through voice, breath and conscious touch with themselves.
MAA is not about performance or spiritual labels. It is both practical and profound work with the body as teacher. Work that reminds us that we are not separate from ourselves or the earth we live on.
MAA is not here to perfect you. It’s here to hold what’s true. To gently unhook from the wellness culture that tells us to “fix” ourselves in order to be whole, healed, or worthy. Instead, we invite the paradox: That we can feel broken and full. That we can grieve and grow. That healing might look like making space for what hurts, instead of trying to disappear it.
- MAA / Yara De Dannan & Naël Elhage