As a somatic coach, I don't just support my clients to "heal" from the emotional and nervous system impact of past experiences. Yes—I support you and your body to digest and metabolise the residue of past experiences. AND—a huge focus of somatic coaching is reconnecting with your most instinctive ways of being.

I had been trying for YEARS to resolve my self-doubting, self-criticising tendencies at the level of the mind. Through talk therapy, a degree in psychology, post-graduate study in psychotherapy, thousands of hours of meditation, affirmations, attempting to "manage" (control) my thoughts.

What I didn't know, is that thought patterns and beliefs are held in place in the body—by somatic residue from past experiences and by nervous system patterns.

If you’ve ever thought, “Why can’t I just get it together?" or felt like something was wrong with you for feeling so much, let me tell you: you’re not alone. Many of us deep feelers carry the belief that we’re flawed because we feel so different to the people around us.⁣

But here’s the truth: you make perfect sense.⁣

These experiences aren't flaws, they're a reflection of your deeply feeling nature.⁣

Until we land in the knowing that every single part of us makes perfect sense & every feeling, reaction & limiting belief holds wisdom for us to integrate—we’ll never get off the healing merry-go-round. ⁣

When we're living with an ongoing incongruence, misalignment or inner conflict, all the wellness practices in the world can't help us.

If I could time travel and share one piece of wisdom with my younger self, I know what it would be. 

I would tell her that I’ve discovered there’s one thing worth pursuing more than anything else in this life. 

There’s one thing, that once you start to cultivate it, will help you to experience a sense of peace, an absence of tension, beyond what you thought possible. 

Fast forward to today, having done many years of meditation & deep healing work, there’s something I know deep in my bones about low mood and joy. ⁣

They are two sides of the same coin. ⁣

The extent to which we face our shadows & emotional pain is the extent to which we have access to joy. ⁣

I spent most of my life doing what my subconscious belief systems programmed me to do - search for happiness outside of myself. (Spoiler - it didn’t work).

The last few weeks have been a time of death and re-birth for me.

Two weeks ago, nature, speaking to me through my body as she does, told me loud and clear that something very precious to me had to come to an end.

While lots has unfolded in between which I’ll get into soon, this ending created the space for the most beautiful, unexpected re-birth. The ending created space for something far more rich and alive to be born.

Here's the thing about change - and why I promise it is not just you who feels resistance when considering changing a habit, a routine, a job or living situation.

And here’s the most important part (in my opinion). Once we understand that fulfilment is an inner state of being, accessible only within the self, not only do we stop looking for fulfilment outside ourselves, we become an exporter of fulfilment rather than a seeker of fulfilment.

One of the great Vedic rishis (seers), Pantanjali, is known for distilling a vast body of Vedic / yogic philosophy into 196 Yoga Sutras. Each Yoga Sutra is a simple, yet deeply layered statement intended to guide the spiritual seeker towards greater realisation of their highest nature and away from mind-induced suffering. 

The more deeply we come to know ourselves through meditation, the less hiding we're able to do from what feels good and true to us.

What I learnt, was that in order to change a deeply ingrained pattern, like the pattern of control that I’m describing, it’s not enough to simply think about wanting to change it, or talk about wanting to change it. We need to take action. We need to do something that gives our brain and nervous system the experience of a different way.

In order to create change, we have to do things differently. Changing how we think and feel requires us to step out of the ever-repeating comfort zone and start to do things differently. New habits come about not only through reflection but through taking action. Vedic meditation is a practice of surrender. By practicing surrender in our daily meditation, we teach ourselves how to surrender to the flow of life outside of meditation.

Most of the most profound shifts in my inner world that I've experienced to date, have been in communion with other humans. In moments where I have felt truly seen and understood. 

When we are well rested, grounded, present and mentally clear, we are able to be of far greater service to the people in our lives than when we are tired and stressed.

The best investments I’ve ever made are those that have given me knowledge and practices that support me to feel safe in my body, to have space between me and my thoughts, to know myself deeply. To stop living in the past and the future. To stop seeking happiness in possessions, titles and relationships and find happiness at its source: inside myself. To be self-sufficient for my own happiness.

I've come to learn through my own experience and with the great honour of being a Vedic meditation teacher, that relaxation is our natural state. Stress is a common state that we have normalised, but it's not normal.

The Veda teaches us that your spontaneous interests and desires are informative. They are clues as to how best to use your unique nature and life experiences to bring more unity and evolution to the collective, moment by moment. This ancient knowledge flies in the face of the ways in which many of us are conditioned to “be a good girl/boy”, to “do what we’re told”, to achieve and succeed in a formulaic way - to exist in a way that is geared towards (conditional) acceptance rather than authenticity.