The Full Story

About Layla Minoui

"Music was a key component to my healing"

My Story...

In November, 2020 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. During that time, I was a newly single mother to my one year old after having gone through a divorce only two months prior. I feared the thought of leaving my son behind and was ready to do whatever it took to battle the cancer. After 6 months of ongoing chemotherapy, for which I was told would have a 98% curable rate, I was left with "residual disease" and was considered high-risk and was told that I'd be needing a stem cell transplant for any chance of survival.

This was the moment everything shifted for me...

In that moment, I recognized how much I had been giving my power away, searching externally for all the answers. Only then did I realize that the answers were within me the entire time. I realized that I do have a choice, in what felt like a completely choice-less circumstance. I could either choose to feed into the fear and anxiety of what this cancer will do to my body, choose to dwell on the past of why this had to happen to me, or I can choose to be here, right now, in this present moment. In that moment, life suddenly looked and felt different. I went home, and realized the absolute gift I had to be in the presence of my 2 year old son, to embrace his innocence, freedom, and sense of play. In the experience of seeing life through his eyes, I began to find play within myself, and tapped into my own inner child. Though I chose to continue different types of treatments, my entire perspective of healing cancer changed, and led me down a new path of integrative healing through a holistic lens. I incorporated somatic and spiritual practices, nutrition, focusing on the mind-body connection, and mental health. I began asking my own body for guidance, and what it was needing of me. Through that deep listening is when I learned how to fully surrender and to trust the process. I began to see cancer and all of my pain, not as a problem I needed to fix, but rather as an opportunity to reconnect with myself, and ultimately heal my body. Two months later, I was in full remission.

My Mission...

Journey to Rebirth is a passion project that I’d like to share with the world as part of my mission to help in normalizing discussions of mental health. After my battle with cancer in 2020/21, and through a lot of deep inner-work, I recognized a very strong need for supporting mental health. I realize what a profound impact is made when personal stories are shared about the internal struggles we all face. This is particularly crucial in industries- such as creative fields, where constant judgement, seeking approval, and grappling with peer comparisons are daily battles. As an Iranian woman film composer in a male-dominated industry, my own experiences have highlighted the ways in which I've stretched myself beyond healthy limits in pursuit for visibility, recognition, and value. To that point, I put my health at risk, both mentally and physically, as I continued to fight for my seat at the table. With that, came a great amount of underlying anxiety that eventually manifested physically. This, I believe, is what led to cancer.

Music was a key component to my healing. It allowed me to to possibility to be in the full expression of my self, and through that expression, I was able to reconnect with my inner-child, the true essence of who I am, and speak my voice loudly. And now, I'd like to use my background in the creative arts field as a way to help others, to inspire connection where it's been lost, and to give people the courage to speak their voice from their true authentic selves.

Now, in full remission and through the deep soul searching, I’m finally stepping into my true authentic self without this underlying need for validation. Because of this new recognition, I feel called to be in support of all of you. In addition to my work as a film composer, I am currently on a new path in becoming an expressive art therapist as a way to serve my community through the creative arts.