From Overdose to Deacon: Marla’s Dance of Recovery

From Overdose to Deacon: Marla’s Dance of Recovery

What drives someone to seek a life without substances and turn that energy into service, dance and community? This episode follows Marla Hermosillo — "DJ, deacon from the Church of Music and just a badass Mexicana" — as she talks openly about a fentanyl overdose, the serene near-death moment, and the long road that followed.

Marla shares how she used music and movement to cope: "Music has been my religion since I was a kid" and she turned Sunday Church of Music dances into a true practice, showing up week after week to "transmute" grief, fear and shame through her body.

She’s candid that the overdose didn’t instantly fix everything; she kept using for a while, sitting in living rooms "passing a plate around" before finally realising, "Yo, I don't want to keep doing this… I'm over this." You’ll hear how volunteering and sober leadership at Church of Music became her turning point.

As a deacon, she helps keep services substance-free while creating lineups that are half feminine and/or minority, and organising community actions like filling a 26‑foot truck with wildfire relief donations on the one‑year anniversary of her overdose. Marla also talks about yoga, celibacy, and channeling sexual energy into DJ sets that let people "shake ass" while she goes home alone, using creativity instead of chaos.

She speaks about reconnecting with indigenous roots, working at Bravo Family Mortuary to support families around death, and starting a new role with San Diego Youth Services to support at‑risk young people. If you’re juggling recovery, culture, spirituality, psychedelics, and party spaces, this honest conversation might feel like sitting with a friend who says, "I don't judge you.

I accept you wherever you are in your healing journey." It may leave you asking: how could music, service and sober spaces reshape your own path?