Our Story

The Warrior Sanctuary was born out of the unconditional love that we (Chris “Kanyini”, and Paige “Zai’ra” Benson) have for one another, the divine rights of our communities, and the sovereignty of our Divine Pachamama (Mother Earth Spirit) that holds space for our growth.

We met in the summer of 2018, and from the moment our hands touched on our first meeting, we were inseparable. Amongst the many things that we connected on, was our infatuation with the journey inward, as we both had experience with shamanism to heal ourselves of traumas we had experienced in our lives. As our love grew for one another, so too did our journey inward, and we were honored to cross paths with our elder and colleague Itzhak Beery, who also has dedicated his life to supporting Pachamama. We both also became Reiki practitioners, and earnestly started our Shamanic training with Itzhak right around the time that Covid struck the world and New York City in early 2020.

It was at this time that we began building a virtual sanctuary for our community with the creation of Soul Beatz Sanctuary, an online Twitch channel where we weaved Chris’ (AV8) love for music with Paige’s passion for movement with her yoga practice, Soul.Beatz.Body.

The pinnacle of this journey in community building came with our engagement! When we surprised our family, friends, and many community members with this incredibly touching moment live, we saw how much the purity of our love connected with those around us. And it was in this moment that we realized, humbly, that it is this *unconditional love* that can heal our communities, and in turn help to heal the world, and protect our planet. Shortly after, The Warrior Sanctuary was born.