Unlearning, to Love (Ebook)

“Freya Shi is on a huakaʻi wailua — a soul journey… Her healing becomes my own.”

– Manulani Aluli Meyer, Hawaiʻi, author of Hoʻopono

What happens when your mind becomes your prison?

I was trained to think critically, to understand the world through theory and philosophy. But academic knowledge left me detached from my body, my emotions, my life. I could explain suffering but not transform it. I was brilliant, but miserable. Anxious. Depressed. Afraid.

To survive, I had to unlearn everything I thought made me intelligent. I had to fall into the wounds I'd spent years avoiding. I had to let old versions of myself die, again and again, through crises that broke me open.

This is the story of that breaking. And what emerged on the other side.

Through critical theory, depth psychology, somatic practice, astrology, and spirituality, I found a way back to my body, back to the world, back to a life I could actually feel.

The poison became the medicine. The depth of the wound became the source of peace.

Unlearning, to Love is a memoir and a guide for anyone trapped in their thinking mind, anyone who knows something needs to change but doesn't know how. It's for those carrying wounds they're afraid to touch, and those ready to discover that healing comes from descending into the depth of what once seemed impossible.

This is a journey of intellectual empowerment, emotional healing, and spiritual transformation. And it's a journey every one of us deserves to take.

About the author: Freya Shi (she/they) is a writer, poet, art practitioner, and holistic wellbeing facilitator using meditation, astrology, tarot, and critical theory in service of collective liberation. Informed by their lived experience across two oceans, three continents, and four languages as a neuroqueer migrant of ESEA heritage, Freya’s work centers care, transformation, and worldbuilding. A 2026 Barbican Young Poet and 2024 British Council Venice Biennale Fellow, Freya's work has appeared on Afterall and Moving Discourse, and they write the newsletter Mythopoetics for the Living where critical and spiritual thoughts meet questions of how we live. Unlearning, to Love: An Academic's Memoir on Truth, Meaning, and Spirit (2026) is Freya’s debut book.