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#76 - Nicola Donnellan: the power of meditation
675 Plays1 year ago
In this episode I chat with Nicola Donnellan. Nicola is a Reiki master, meditation expert and owner of Bre Reiki.
Most of this conversation centres around meditation, it's benefits and why it is more necessary in today's society than ever before.
We chat about:
-meditation
-breathwork
-childhood trauma
-inner child work
-fear and the pain of life change
-anxiety and how we can heal ourselves through meditation
-self-discovery
I hope you enjoy this conversation and can take from it what you need to live your best life!
If you'd like to connect with Nicola, you will find her on Instagram @brereiki
Music by LiQWYD Free download: hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb Promoted by FreeMusicPromo / @freemusicpromo1
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode and Guest
00:00:08
Speaker
Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast. So in today's episode I chat with Nicola Donnellan.
Nicola's Studio and Work in Ireland
00:00:16
Speaker
Nicola is a Reiki master, a meditation expert and owner of Brae Reiki, which is a Reiki and meditation of Breathworks Studio in Brae, Cantu Iclo in Ireland. We have the most amazing conversation about so many
Meditation's Role in Modern Life
00:00:30
Speaker
things. Most of this sent this conversation centres around the topic of meditation and its benefits and how life-changing it really can be and how essential it really is in our modern lives.
Breathwork and Inner Child Work
00:00:42
Speaker
We had the most amazing conversation around breathwork, meditation. We talked a little bit about, you know, childhood trauma and inner child work. We talked about kind of fast-paced modern society and why meditation is so important. We talk about
00:00:58
Speaker
fear and pain of like the pain of life change and like how uncomfortable making changes in your life really can
Meditation for Anxiety and Education
00:01:05
Speaker
be. We talk about anxiety and how we can heal ourselves through meditation. We talk about our children as well and how what the power of meditation would have in introducing meditation more mainstream into our primary skills and the difference
Exploring Life Purpose
00:01:24
Speaker
that that would make. And then we talk a lot about just going on that search, that inner search within ourselves to discover why we're here, what our purpose is.
00:01:33
Speaker
And I wanted to get into the whole topic of Reiki, but as we started to run out of time, I realised we need a whole other episode for that. So Nicola is going to come back for a part two very soon where we will talk all things Reiki and the seven chakras.
Details of Reiki and Meditation Practices
00:01:49
Speaker
So for today's episode, please enjoy this episode that is based around the power of meditation.
00:01:59
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. Eventually we got all the stars aligned. you know this is This is long overdue and I've been trying to, I've been convincing you to come talk to me for a while now, really, haven't I? And you're like, yes, I'm with you. Any minute now. but we're here and I'm really, really looking forward to this conversation. and So I suppose before we get into this conversation, because I think it's going to be quite a heavy not a heavy one, but it'll be a deep one. Do you want to tell everyone a little bit about you and what you do?
00:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So my name is Nick Lan. I'm the owner of Ray Reiki, a new wellness studio in Bray. um where we well I work on doing Reiki one-to-one um in group sessions, and then we also do meditation, breathwork, and also a lot of kind of the Celtic festivals. We do something to honor each of them as well. so we been open in November, 2023, when I took my first client. I think he was one of the first ones that's okay. and ah We've been flying along yeah and the class has gotten really busy and it's brilliant. Amazing, so yeah we do one-to-one work and so you Reiki is is obviously one-to-one practice and then
00:03:17
Speaker
meditation is the group is the group sessions mainly meditation classes is it? Yeah so the group classes would be breathwork initially so you come in you lie down loads of our women come in and their pajamas to the evening class literally lie down put on an eye mask um a big huge snuggly blanket and lie down and then we coach them through breathwork exercises for 20-25 minutes and then move into a meditation. So essentially everybody's, as I always say, if you're not snoring during my class, I'm offended on a Wednesday evening because people just need that break. Like we call it inner peace and it it literally is that, you know, it's just the breath work helps to give your brain a break. So you actually shut it down because you're just focusing on the simple task, breathing in, out, in, out and listening. You're being prompted as well.
00:04:09
Speaker
And so all of those intrusive thoughts, your daily list, everything goes out the window and you're just focused on that. And that's such a good way then to segue through into the meditation because then with the meditation, I bring us through a guide of meditation. We are anything we could be doing a walk on the beach. floating in water, you could be looking in the night sky or in a forest. or So it's just giving yourself that permission of one hour a week to step out of the day today and really focus on your you know your own mental health. And within a couple of weeks of doing it, you know you have just that little bit more space, you know you've a little more room left in your cup that you can pour from.
00:04:50
Speaker
So people come into Reiki and into the meditation and breathwork classes and they're usually searching for something or they've come some way along in
Nicola's Personal Journey
00:05:00
Speaker
their own journey. So when people are searching, you know, I did it for a long time. um Who are you? What is your sole purpose? Why are you here? You know, how can I add value? um I find a lot of women anyway certainly that I've met so far being in their 20s, 30s and 40s and it can be where they have kids or some of their circumstances change in life and then all of a sudden it's a big question of like well who am I? Like who am I if I don't have that? Who am I if I don't you know if my kids are all gone to school now who am I now? You know I've spent
00:05:37
Speaker
decades looking at them and getting them all to that stage so a lot of people that come through looking for reiki or spirituality and looking for meditation and breath work you know it's everyone's searching for something and usually it is boils down to who are you and why are you here? ah What are we doing here? um And for me, I spent a long time in my own life running, just, you know, partying, and drinking.
00:06:08
Speaker
you know, very disordered to eating. I was just unable to prop that thing that had happened in my life and, you know, low self-esteem. And again, through counseling, therapy, life coaching, I tried everything, everything, every modality to get to where I am. Now I still have such a long way to go, like the certainly not some levitating guru here, absolutely not, but, you know, who I was three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and who I am now are their polar opposites, you know? and But it all just does boil down to that, like, who are you and what is it that you want here from your time on Earth, from your relationship, from, you know, your relationship with food, your friends, everything, you know, who can just
00:06:58
Speaker
be looking I think it's inherently part of human nature that we're always looking you know like you think back to ancestors looking at the stars attacking movements of planets and we're inherently curious you know which is obviously why were the apex creatures on the planet I guess now Yeah, I love this. And I think the work that you are doing is so important because I think, yeah, like as a species, we are curious, but we're also extremely distracted and stressed out in this modern society, in this modern
Impact of COVID-19 and Personal Reflection
00:07:34
Speaker
world. And I think this is why everybody, not everybody, so many people are getting sick with mental health problems and you know physical health problems. It's this fast paced, literally not at having time to slow down.
00:07:47
Speaker
and fucking things straight like. Absolutely and there's also you know the information we're being fed now is relentless it's coming from everywhere you know I work in marketing as well and I remember hearing 15 years ago about the novel idea of dual screening which is where you'd be watching your tv and have your phone on the go whereas now you've got TVs on, you've got laptops, you've got multiple phones, you know, it's not just dual screening anymore. So the information we're taking in is relentless and we're engaged in it again with this curiosity that we have as a species, but it's not
00:08:27
Speaker
where is the break? Where do you get to stop? And that, you know, really for me, it was COVID where a forest stop happened in my life because I would have just, I'm sure this would have happened eventually. You know, I would have run a team or I would have, something else would have happened. The one thing that knocked me over, you know, that I i had to stop and I had to look at it. And for me, it was Covid hitting and you know all of the lockdowns that really enforced the stuff for me. So I had always avoided the stillness because you know in the quiet you have to think and to think I had to think of you know different things that had happened in my life. i
00:09:09
Speaker
you know suffered from a lot of grief quite young. and I lost my stepmom in a car crash and we lost a friend when I was 18 and you know grandparents and that as well and I just for me I i had never had the tools to deal with it. I think probably being an 80s child the tools weren't available then though I just ran and I used lots of different things you know there's through counselling and, you know, Reiki, I've learned that, you know, I used to be like, what's
Overcoming Trauma and Community Building
00:09:42
Speaker
wrong with me? Why can't I just do that? Or why aren't I getting on in life? Or why aren't I, you know, and then you just actually learn to be like, well, actually, that is it. That is a coping mechanism. Yeah, it's not, you know, in a vertical is the right one, but I still survived. I'm thriving. I've
00:09:59
Speaker
a happy family, I've built a great life for myself. So while they're not, you know, textbook, my coping mechanisms are certainly something that has brought me a long way in my journey where I've learned, I've met some incredible people and friends and, you know, there's nothing that I wouldn't do again. because it's gotten me to where I am now. And I think where I am now is it's given me a maturity that, you know, people I think that don't go through trauma and have journeys and painful, you know, memories, et cetera, and things happen in their lives, you know, that it it gives you a depth of character that I think most people do end up getting, but, you know,
00:10:43
Speaker
By age 20, I just had gone through an awful lot that it had really it impacted me, you know, and now I'm in my 40s and I feel that I'm now in a position to build a community for other men and women that are are also looking and are dealing with things poorly or, you know, suffering themselves. So I created the studio to give that safe haven, you know, to give the stillness back to people in a safe way, um where they are secure, where they they don't have to talk about things, but they can come in here and we can work on their energy. We can give them an hour stillness and inner peace for the night. and You know, where people don't sleep and they come to the classes and they do sleep afterward.
00:11:32
Speaker
which to me is just one of the biggest compliments anyone gave me about the work that I do because to gift someone's sleep is just incredible, you know. so it's bright look It's priceless. that really you know if you If you don't sleep in yourself or you have a different scenario in your life that stop you from sleeping, though I always am thrilled when I hear any of our clients go home and have had a great night's sleep, even just for one night, it makes all the difference the next day.
Inner Child Work and Healing
00:12:05
Speaker
Yeah, even to gift someone the gift of space to not have to think, to literally just, to to gift someone that somewhere safe to go to just be, where it's okay to just unapologetically be themselves and to sit with their emotions and like I have been to one of your classes and it i would I found it extremely ah like emotional, it brought a lot up in me yeah and and like I remember remember when you were doing the guided meditation, now I know I'd done Reiki beforehand and then straight into the breath work and then its so I've done a lot.
00:12:41
Speaker
And for that I would literally got this like jump in the middle of the meditation. It was like a resistance in me to properly let my energy flow. There was like blood still like energy coming from me. i am But I think to be able to provide people with a space like that is amazing. and And I just want to bring it back to talk a little bit about kind of, you know, childhood trauma or, you know, young person trauma in general from childhood up to where we're at. I think. we all have a certain amount of trauma. I think some people think they don't have trauma. Well, I had a great life. Why you know why are yeah I experiencing these blockages or this these self-esteem issues? It's like trauma for someone can be a horrific death in the family, yeah or it could be
00:13:28
Speaker
you know bullying in school or it could be something that happened to you that you might not even remember and this is what can arise isn't it with the likes of Reiki and with you know there's so many different modalities to to explore but and I really believe that our whole purpose on this planet is to but is to come home to ourselves. I think, you know, as like as a teacher, you know, I learned that and children are like, you know, your subconscious mind is pretty much formed by the age of eight. So by eight
00:14:03
Speaker
which is fucking scary. And so like, you know, we've done most of the damage to the children by the time they're eight. And then what happens like, and I have a six year old boy and I'm very, very aware of, he's still so innocent. And I know what's coming up to older kids and how much that's going to change. here And And I find it really sad to watch like because I know it's coming. and kids often and if you think Anyone who is listening who has kids, if you think about it, up until they're about seven, they're little. They look at the world through big wide open eyes and they're unapologetically themselves. yeah And then when it happens, they start to condition themselves for other people. so And little things that happen from age seven
00:14:47
Speaker
or at our age eight all the way up to our adult lives we start changing ourselves to fit in to be better to be enough and we move away from our true selves and it's funny because i'm doing a lot of work on myself at the minute and um what's really triggering me at the minute is inner child work. Now on we've only started tapping at it a little bit, like there's a lot of work to be done. yeah But it like even just the tipping at it is becoming highly emotional for me.
Chakras and Self-Care
00:15:17
Speaker
and and i But I do really believe that what we need to be doing is finding our way back to our true selves, which are ourselves at age
00:15:27
Speaker
seven or eight. Yeah and it's funny because in Reiki a lot of the women and I know for myself as well you know like Reiki you have seven chakras in your body and they start at your root chakra which is at the base of your spine and that's like your home, your safety, your security feeling, your sacral chakra which is just below your belly button or your womb space in and around that area for women. and And that is all about your inner child, your joy, your passion, your, you know, creativity. And a lot of women that come to see me, their sacros are blocked. Mine included, you know. And I can do Reiki until the guys come home for you and we can get things moving. But that inner child, that literal
00:16:14
Speaker
going in mentally, getting your inner child by the hand and telling them that it's okay. So with your sacral chakra, you know, it's so important to do that inner child work that you were talking about because, you know, really that's where we store her, you know, and it is little Kate and it is little Nicola and it's little everyone, you know, I see mine as like the seven year old girl that not baby baby, but has the world has started to come in on her, you know, and it, there's meditation work you can do, there's journaling, there's a lot of a lot of things that you can do to really focus on us, but you know really it is you that has to go in after this little you. And you're the person that has to go in and tell them that they are safe, they are secure. And you know for me, I told them I built a life that is safe for us, that it is, you know you can come out now, we can have fun, we can have joy. and
00:17:12
Speaker
You do that work and then, you know, you do have to prioritize the joy of your own. So not for your kids, not for your work, not for your family, not for, um you know, things that you feel you should be doing. It is literally a think back to when you were seven. What did you love to do? And it can be going for a walk on the beach. It can be eating candy floss. It can be running through, you know, collecting ladybirds. eat This is the level of small joy we're talking about. It doesn't need to be big. It doesn't need to cost money. It doesn't even need to take a lot of time. Sometimes I say, you know, it's the people that I do work with for Reiki that have their cycle, Thakras Blot, you know, sometimes it's actually the decision. Something yourself is as
00:18:01
Speaker
getting to an hour of doing something. So if your joy is going and standing in the back garden when it's raining, walk out the door and do it for three minutes and walk back in the door and you will have filled your heart, filled your sake up and given yourself back something that is just singularly for you. And it's not time-based, it's not money-based, it's not it's hard to put the obstacles in your own way when it is literally just that decision. You're choosing joy for yourself and for your inner child. and just get it done and you do it once and then it's easier to do it the next time but it is always just that little decision to just be selfish and
00:18:40
Speaker
Fortunately, I think especially for women, we're preconditioned that selfish is bad. And selfish isn't necessarily bad when it's for yourself and for you for your better good for your higher self. and you Just to know that you're putting in boundaries and also gifting yourself that time back is the ultimate thing you can do for yourself. Think it we can have a responsibility as mothers to, you know, children learn by what they see. yeah and you're And you need to look after yourself to be the best version of yourself and for your children to see you look after yourself so they know that they should look after themselves. Absolutely. You know, growing up, 80s parents, you know, it was always the, well for her, isn't, you know, well good for some, isn't it? You know, that kind of, ah that one, she's very kind to herself, her notion, you know? Yeah. You know, that she just wanted to get her hair cut.
00:19:40
Speaker
shouldn't go for two weeks, you know, on a holiday somewhere. But even that basic level, and it is generational, it is ancestral, you know, our parents are carrying their parents and where there wasn't enough money and it was war-torn in Ireland not that long ago. and You know, that all rolls down. It stays in the DNA. And, you know, there's people that, you know, awaken and that you become the cycle breaker for these behaviors where you're giving your children permission ah to do what it is that
Personal Growth and Empowerment
00:20:09
Speaker
makes them happy. And, you know, it took me and you until our thirties, you know, later into the early thirties to find this permission there or to even give ourselves the permission. You know, all I've spent my whole life looking for the adults.
00:20:24
Speaker
and then got a shock when I was the adult, you know, but it's giving yourself that permission um to take it and to role model for our parents, not just our parents, for your friends. Like, I'm sure you've seen that yourself as all case were. you know, as you've changed and evolved and bettered yourself, you know, you bring people along. I'm along on your journey. You're along on my journey. And we meet new friends, you know, you build this new tribe and community as well, which is fantastic. Where you think, you know, five years ago, you never would have thought you'd have it. And it all starts with just giving yourself that permission to do something for you. And you can build empires on us.
00:21:05
Speaker
Yeah life like really is like for me has really become an adventure since just allowing myself to be myself. First of all like like you slowing down during Covid just when everything stopped and slowing down and really yet like not being able to ignore thoughts and feelings and it's like, wow, OK, I really need to start listening to myself and start taking action. And it's it's amazing. ah And since I've really started listening to that inner voice, I don't think I ever heard that inner voice until everything stopped. And then it was like, OK, I'm going to listen to this. yeah And then I started making like decisions
00:21:51
Speaker
quite impulsively. It's like, all right, I'll sign up to this nutrition course. Tape's like, OK, why? It's because I want to. And I would just I just did it. And I'd like more decisions. And but and like I i found decision making became really easy because I was listening to this. Yeah, you were not right. Yeah, yeah. And it it's the same even opening the studio, you know, it's something I've always wanted. have been thinking about doing, I've tried different, you know, small businesses, you know, with the, did festival arts with biodegradable glitter and, you know, just different trying different things. But like with the studio, once I made that decision, I, you know, kept saying to the universe, send me a sign. Okay. Send me another sign. Send me another one.
00:22:35
Speaker
And once I just listened and did it, it just feels like the last, and I can't believe it's not even a year, it's only six months, but everything just all of a sudden just went into hyperdrive, like decisions were just falling naturally. Everything got so much easier in terms of the decisions when I, like you, just stopped and listened to what it was that I wanted. And also stop letting the fear get in, you know, and that's there was another thing for me is the fear of it. Yeah. But what if? And it's like, but what if it doesn't work? What's going to happen? You know, what's the worst that can happen? And you can correct everything, but you know, really with debts. Like for me, it was just believing in myself and using my intuition.
00:23:25
Speaker
and yeah And I think as well a huge thing for me was not asking other people for advice. yeah This was huge because I would have always like second guessed myself and always asked for for like leaned on my sister for advice or leaned on my parents or leaned on Dave or whoever for advice. Whereas like a lot of the decisions I made when you know I started making a career change and You know, just in general changing different aspects of my life, I didn't rely on those same people because I knew what they would have told me. yeah And it would have been very much out of love and protection, but I just did it anyway yeah and it felt right and didn't talk to anyone.
00:24:09
Speaker
really about it until it was each decision was done. And I think what's interesting about when you're taking a risk, like starting a business or just you know making a change in your life in whatever way it is, it's so important for you to believe in yourself because no one else is going to really believe in you. Yeah, I think very much you when you need people to believe in you, when you're making big decisions like this, people won't and people will talk you out of it because it's risky and it does it kind of go defies sense, you know especially if you've got a family or you've got a mortgage, whatever these big decisions that you're making and that sound risky, you have to believe in yourself.
Breaking Societal Expectations
00:24:48
Speaker
because And it's funny, what's happening to me now is, like my parents are, you know wow, how have you done this? This is amazing. that you know
00:24:56
Speaker
Whereas like before, I think they thought I was having a midlife crisis. Yeah, but your this is totally foreign. you know to And to even not just parents, a lot of people that that you would want to step out of, the and you know safe job, the pensionable job. and work on doing things online or work with people. Like I tell people I'm an energy healer and, you know, i I've lost friends over it really where I've moved on with my life and they haven't and, you know, they just can't do it. They think I'm absolutely bonkers. But, you know, it is what it is, as we said, like when you're aligned to what you're doing.
00:25:39
Speaker
It's so easy and it's so easy to make it work. You know, sometimes I'm like, Oh God, what have I done? You know, they're adding stress and time and all of the rest. But like when I'm down in the studio and I'm doing Reiki. and with people like it's just it's like a adrenaline I'm buzzing afterwards you know I get so much energetic feedback from it that it but my mum wouldn't know what to even ask me about it you know she she's just like okay Nicola's doing her thing exact same as you probably thinks I'm having a midlife crisis and it's ah it's gonna end any minute now you know but I think
00:26:20
Speaker
And what I've enjoyed actually about making the decisions on my own is actually surprising people, you know, where people are like, wow, you have done that or, you know, one yes like it's a shock to them. And I don't think it's a shock to them that you Nicola or Kate that has done this thing. It's that.
Embracing Loneliness and Fear
00:26:40
Speaker
it's the people within their, say like they had everybody pegged in their whole, you know, oh, this is who they are, this is who they are. And then you step out from that and and people, it does make them uncomfortable. They don't know what to do. And whether that's your parents, your family, your friend, you know, they don't quite know how to handle the big shift or difference that does happen.
00:27:01
Speaker
um in you and but then as we've both learned you all to make new friends and make your new communities as well with like-minded people. Yeah. And I think it can be a little bit of a lonely journey at first when you're making changes in your life that, you know, that you don't quite fit in where you used to be. Yeah. And you're not quite where you, you're going. Yeah. And sometimes you're in the middle and you don't, you're not even sure where you're going exactly. You know, you're going somewhere and you can feel it within you and you know, like right now, you know, I know I'm on the right path. I know I need to keep moving forward.
00:27:38
Speaker
I don't know where I'll be this time next year. I can't see it at the minute and I'm okay with that because I can feel it and I know it's right. yeah But it it's quite a lonely place where you spend quite a lot of time on your own, not not have a whole lot of friends, not really fit in anywhere. people some Some people will treat you a little bit differently and I don't even know if they're aware of it. course But it happens. I've spoken about this a good bit in our classes. And there's actually a period, I think, of grief. And it's for who you used to be, the years you were that person that maybe now you're like, I didn't have to be that way, is particularly if you're talking about like anxiety or you know depression and mental health or just that kind of lost who am I. And then for the people that you do,
00:28:28
Speaker
distance from and lose along the way but you know it is lonely and there is definitely a grief process in it and it does make me sad but it also makes me happier to be who I am and the people that are in my life are my relationship with them has you know has drastically improved you know. Yeah. And I think I have never been more okay in my own company as I am now. Whereas I remember, like I remember when Jayden was born, my oldest, guy he's 14 now. I know I would have been in the pits of anxiety after having him when he was a little baby. Like at first, like the first few weeks, I was terrified of being left alone with him because I didn't want him alone. Like I didn't
00:29:15
Speaker
And it wasn't him I was afraid of. I was afraid of me. I wasn't afraid I was going to do anything to him, but I was afraid of my own thoughts and my own insecurities and my own... yeah it was you know I used to very much dislike being on my own because I had to listen to my fears I suppose. It's that silence, it's that you know and it's the silence part of when everything around you goes quiet, then all of a sudden, all of the thoughts that you've been able to shove away, because you're busy, busy, busy, I have to do this, I have to do that.
00:29:46
Speaker
all of a sudden they can come flooding back in particularly if you're going through a period of anxiety because it's just heightened and your brain is on fast forward it's like a freight train of all of your intrusive thoughts are coming in kicking fast and it can be excessively difficult to deal with that and that's where people get panic attacks and yeah it's through learning not just like look this is a holistic a holistic studio and I think you would never be like don't be going like absolutely go to your GP absolutely go to counseling get professional help but also utilize holistic places and holistic healers etc as well because like the practice of meditation which can be incredibly difficult when your brain is so busy
00:30:31
Speaker
you get like your brain should never be quiet and that's a huge misconception with meditation. So my brain's always thinking of course it is you're alive it's going to be thinking but what meditation practice and the big word there is practice is that with practice you learn to control it and one of the ones I use is like I literally tell people to put it on a cloud and push it away or blow it away from you. So like intrusive talk comes in and you're like no thank you I'm giving myself 20 minutes to just lie down. Same as you tell your husband to go away or your kids to go away or your phone on airplane mode so you can get something
Meditation Practice and Benefits
00:31:09
Speaker
done. That's all you're doing. You're literally just give giving yourself that little bit of time to do it and that's why people find it so hard to slow down and to stop because as soon as you do those thoughts come in
00:31:23
Speaker
And with the practice of meditation, what you're doing is you're training your mind to just control those thoughts a little more, to give, to take back the power from them and to stop them. It's only short term, you know, they're going to come back You're not going to lose your shopping list or you're not going to lose your to-do list or that thing you told you forgot about. Don't be in there, but what you're doing is just focusing your mind to give yourself that little break from all of these thoughts that can just overwhelm us.
00:31:53
Speaker
um And then to just put them on the plow, to push them away and go back into your either breathing, your meditation. And again, just giving yourself that little bit of standby mode really for your brain where it's not being overrun all of the time with negative thoughts. are and They don't even have to be negative thoughts, they're just thoughts. But your brain is supposed to be thinking. you know And as I said, that's a common misconception of why people think, oh, I can't meditate. No, you can't, it's just, you know, you think that your brain should be absolutely pitch black and silent, and it shouldn't be. You know, a lot of the meditation journeys you go on, you should be visualising yourself on a beach and you should be, you know, either memories bringing it up, you know, you can see colours, there's lots of things that you can see and that's all okay, you don't just go into like a TV that's being turned off.
00:32:47
Speaker
the charity man at the stamp. That's not what meditation is. you know It's just big to control those thoughts a bit more. The more you do it, the more you practice it. And like look, I have my own studio. I don't get to do meditation every day. oh you know I just i don't. Life is too busy. That's fine. But it's just taking the time when you can to use it. and to do it well, you know, whether it's a 12-minute one or whether it's a 30-minute one or an hour if people really want to go in for it. I find my kind of sweet spot is in and around the 30-minute mark. and I find I naturally come back out after 30 minutes. i I don't go back into that. and I find it harder to control my thoughts or the sounds around me start
00:33:32
Speaker
getting in on my head or whatever, and whereas I would go, you know, deep enough and then really enjoy it because I don't know where I'm off to of different galaxies. Yeah, no. And I find I i just have an app now at the minute that I'm using, but I am trying to and I've actually kept the habit in place. I get up really early in the morning to get a bit of work done before the kids get up. So I'm usually up at about 5 a.m. But before I start work, when I'm still in that kind of sleepy mode, yeah I will sit down at my desk And I just press play to the app. Now I literally do like 12 minute meditation but there's literally. And in fairness, that's about all I'm ready for because then I'm eager to get started up my work. yeah But I do find it sets me up for the day. It's like ice. It slows me down before.
00:34:19
Speaker
I kind of catapult into my day and I've also tried then to do a little bedtime kind of even if it's like a sleep story or like a a short little meditation when I'm going to sleep as well. Is it like so there is truth isn't there in that time before sleep and straight after sleep is a good time to Oh well to get that key. Absolutely and it's again it's just setting your mind up for like there's all different it depends on the music in it and that there's like data waves and binaural etc and they use those in the sleep meditations and it's I always say I feel like my brain has gone squonky like
00:34:56
Speaker
when you lift to them and it's the voice and all of the rest. Like I love sleep time meditations are one of my favorite ones to do. And I just think that they're so helpful and you're guaranteed to go under, you know, and I'm sure if you look at your fitness, the night you do it, that's actually interesting. I'm going to look going to do that this week. I'm going to look at my Fitbit and see the nights I don't do a nighttime meditation and the nights I do and see if there's a difference in what way I go into my deep sleep straight away or if it's later on. and
00:35:28
Speaker
Because like for me, sleepwise, i just I have my son who just likes to get up at 4am sometimes, like this morning. and so for my while he picked me because you know It can be quite broken and it can be short term because I don't always go to bed at seven o'clock. Sometimes I have to because I'm absolutely exhausted, but I'm busy and I want to have some form of adult life.
Breathwork Techniques and Emotional Release
00:35:55
Speaker
So I would go to bed at about 11 and then sometimes it gets up at 3 a.m. So it'll be interesting actually to see what way the meditation impacts my sleep. Because there's definitely studies done, certainly those, the binaural
00:36:11
Speaker
and beats and there there's delta waves and theta waves, theta waves, theta waves, they're excellent for your sleep, they're excellent for just getting your brain to shut down. um A lot of neurodivergent people would use them because actually their brain could be like quite busy and frantic all of the time, frazzled and they'll binaural be, they slow their brain weights down. It's just phenomenal when you think the power of sound, you know, Yeah, that's amazing. And i really like I'd be interested as well with your little Fitbit experiment. Let me know yeah about your your resting heart rate as well. yeah My resting heart rate is very low. like Well, it's in the 60s. Do all the meditation you're doing.
00:37:00
Speaker
But yes, so no i must I'll check my resting heart rate and the and the benefit of the meditation sleep meditation on my deep sleep, because I don't get a lot of that. I probably only get an hour an hour to that. And then my my resting heart rate, even though it is quite low. long days if it goes any lower but yeah exactly the meditation and the breath work like the breath work as well is um like your cardiovascular you're like your lung capacity you're breathing like your exhalations just become so long from doing it you know because you're doing up to two minute hold um
00:37:37
Speaker
jaring ah during the breathwork classes and I've just found that it's a really expanded my breathing and my lung capacity and then it has like that's helped with my walking and you know it's given me it's stretched out. Probably after Covid as well I always felt like I had quite a tight chest um and I don't like it takes a lot longer now to kind of get out of poverty. So with the breath work, you are, so you focus on like breathing in for a certain amount of time and you you focus on holding your breath for a certain amount of time and then releasing for a certain amount of time, is it? And then you do this through a guided practice. Yeah. So there's all different kind of, um,
00:38:19
Speaker
breathwork exercise that you can do some of them are really quite energetic or you'd literally be like you know filling your lungs the whole way up and then you're kind of like pushing it back out and there's one called holotropic and that is where they are you're just you're hyperventilating your overall bathing yourself and you're getting rid of all of the carbon dioxide your hands go numb your face goes numb you got all tingly you're lying down but you're still dizzy and you know people can literally bring on you know trippy trippy experiences through doing it.
00:38:54
Speaker
and Yeah, we had, on the on the podcast I had, you know, and Kathy Scanlon. She's an active reservoir coach, but she came on and and and with on the podcast and talked about this. But she did a session with us actually as well in, and in like, Kate Hampton Health on one of our Zoom calls. But yeah, it is. But she says, like, it can is can simulate, can it can be quite similar to, like, taking, what's your, the acid or mushrooms. Yeah. Waterrooms, yes, that's the one. What's the one that everyone's doing now? Iowaska. Iowaska, yeah. Yeah, so it is, but generally, because it's a small space in the studio, I'd be reluctant to bring people on that kind of a level of a journey. i do think that we've got I've gone and done those classes myself and they're usually in a bigger or higher ceiling whenever, so we do a quite calming one.
00:39:47
Speaker
um so they would do kind of breathing in, holding at the top, breathing out, holding at the bottom, and then you do kind of you do box breathing in for four holes before, out for four, a hole for four, they are doing like figurative of the box and there's lots of different ones is that hyperventilation one as well and so it just depends like during the day it would go hard like you would go faster um and kind of longer holds or whatever is so Like with the holes, you breathe in, then you push all the options all the way out into your lungs, they're on empty and then you hold and it it's quite claustrophobic at the start. I don't like it. Yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker
like julia yeah i mean I obviously really need it, but I find that I find it so hard, particularly on the exhale hold. i And I actually know that it brings it back when we did the breath work and then into the meditation. I think I found I remember finding that even you we were I was only doing short little holds compared to what everyone else was doing. yeah But it like I really do struggle with the holding of the breath. Yeah, it can be and it's very but and it's very much a mind ah over matter kind of thing. I think a lot of that with breath work is
00:41:00
Speaker
is mind over matter. And then with Brettwork, it can release a lot of trauma, similar to how Reiki can help you release trauma. But a lot of people cry during Brettwork. We had a lot of people crying during Reiki, but a lot of people cry in the Brettwork class. Why? That's interesting because you're not thinking. So as part of the kind of breathwork in the classes, it can help bring up a lot of trauma, a lot of emotion that are kind of held within your body. Some people can feel like they get a constricted throat.
00:41:32
Speaker
um and We'll talk about it again, that can also tie into like throat chakras as well, where the energy is blocked there or the emotion is blocked there. And that's where you're not speaking it. You're not advocating, you know, you know, speaking up for yourself or letting your feelings be known. So people that when you're doing the breath work, you're not thinking, you're literally following this like basic instinct. Your body does the breathing all of the time by itself. And it's just bringing you through this. You're being guided through these, these exercises.
00:42:03
Speaker
And a lot of people cry, and they're just saying, solvent on the floor. A lot of people will be lying on the floor, covered in their blanket with their eye mask on, having a cry. and just And some people get up, and they're like, I don't even know why I was crying. And it's like, you know we swallow it down all the time, particularly as adults, kids are that wonderful. They're going to burst into tears whenever they want. and I know. It's mad, isn't it? Actually, my six-year-old, we we laugh about it. like he i i one of my kid One of my older kids said, Has there ever been a day where he hasn't cried and like though they reckon like they're counting it They think that he has literally cried every single day of his life. Yeah
00:42:42
Speaker
hey but um your but He's authentically himself there like cry baby. He's authentically himself and he's letting his energy flow and cries every day. Exactly and that's who just goes back to what you were saying that it's you know around that seven mark that they do start getting influenced by you know people around them and they will stop crying at the drop of a house and they won't you know, they won't be able to let us, you know, they should be the big boy, the big girl, which thankfully, I think the mindset of that is
Meditation in Schools and Timing of Growth
00:43:11
Speaker
changing. I know what in our house, Alex just had free reign. We all have to listen to all of us feeling. But he still gets courage, you know, and for I think our generation, a lot of us weren't hurt, our feelings weren't hurt. And it was just like,
00:43:27
Speaker
just be the big girl, just do it, you know, or the catchphrase, children should be seen and not heard. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, it's, you know, I think, again, just goes back to that break and cycle and not that, you know, we are breaking up for our children. Our children don't have to do that. You know, your six year old can cry every day. My six year old can tell me how disappointed he is with me on the record. You know, you never want to dream of it with your man. I know. Yeah. And actually, and my six year old does that too. He's like, I am so mad at you. Or he'll say to his dad, i what he said recently was, I want to delete you from the family. I was like, wow, that's it that's one way to express yourself.
00:44:12
Speaker
but true
00:44:15
Speaker
I don't know, maybe that's too many computer games, I'm not too sure. But if yeah not sure how he what is but we're we're not afraid to express ourselves. bo like sorry All jokes aside, I'm bringing it kind of back to, I suppose meditation, out whatever about breath work, but can you imagine how different the world would could be? if we introduced meditation to children at a really young age in schools and it was done. And like I i did did medication medication, I did not do medication with kids. I did meditation. I did meditation with kids as and when I was teaching. and and But like I always taught kind of third class and up, so it was always a little bit harder.
00:45:00
Speaker
and and But I think, you know, if you get them when they're really young, you know, junior infants, senior infants, yeah you know, age four, five, six, and doing regular, a short little daily five minute meditation and taught them how to do that. yeah But it would that it was compulsory, just like English and maths, that it it had to be done again. Make a part of the religion. You know, I know in my son's class, it's 30 minutes a day for religion. Make five of those with meditation. you know a bit of about all religions right you know just a different approach to it instead of it just being this like siloed information just about what our culture knows and nothing else you like i just think it would be so powerful for a kid
00:45:45
Speaker
to just grow up with that, like, expanded mind that we've had to battle through all of the hardships to get back to, you know? And we are born with us. We just lose us through society, the expectations of us. We do lose it and we push it back and we push it down, which is why then we spend months and years going after our inner child and, you know, doing all of this inner work that we then focus on. Like, you could just cut out. two decades of struggle for kids you know and unfortunately it's you know it depends on what your influences are but I know that Alex will always be that kind of like little wear kid and especially when his mom
00:46:30
Speaker
McChrystal's and yoga and Reiki and meditation and you know with like he comes down to the studio and runs around and it's funny like he just he'll pull out a yoga mat and lie down on us and that child never stops moving so for him like even at home he's on the trampoline until if you put him to bed like he's moving constantly and when he comes into this space which has been very specifically set up for that peace of mind and for that illness, he just takes out and his yoga mat and lies down on it, you know. Now, then I'm like, let's do meditation and he runs off.
00:47:04
Speaker
you But you know that that's what's done there. He does yeah and you know when it is funny because sometimes it does challenge him a lot because he's like it also takes me from him so there's that kind of duality in his mind so he comes through the door and there's also a centroid down here so he's like can we go to the centre of the studio for a treat something like your anything for an easy life down here but It also takes me from him, so he does struggle with that a bit. And so I've had to explain what it is that I do here, and I just try and say that I help people here. So I think as he he grows up, that that's just part of his everyday life, is that empathy and that helping of people, that it's kind of, it's not a a foreign i idea to him as he gets a bit older. And and it was mind matures in that as well. That that's just part of his daily rhetoric is that you're kind and you help people.
00:48:01
Speaker
you know and I think that alone as well will go a long way for very the next generation as well, for their little mindset. I love that. yeah yeah just being and Children in general. at that age, they it they are inherently kind. it's It's in their nature to be kind until they learn it. butness yeah and one learn that They the opposite from others around them, older people around them.
00:48:32
Speaker
and But in relation to, you know, like what you were saying there, but like what we were saying about meditation, and I do, and I know like Bresi is doing a lot of work, isn't he, would within the schools, like he's trying to bring his programme into the schools, and and and I had a good chat with him on the podcast about that, and I think it's amazing, but I really think that it needs to come, from it needs to be in the curriculum, like it needs to come from government. And until they listen, it's like, it's just, it's no matter how many people like Bresi get in there with their programs and, you know, and are not gaining any money from it, if anything, probably costing them money and doing their best. it's It's not, it's not going to be enough to make these changes that need to be made. But anyway, aside from that.
00:49:16
Speaker
I wonder, like, yes, I think it's so important, obviously, to get this Jung, but I don't know that it would prevent the detour that we go on. Because I want i wonder... Because if you think about anyone who is kind of on this self-development journey with you, or I think of any of my clients that are, you know, drawn to me and my style of coaching where it's very much centered about, you know, coming back to yourself and being your true self. No one is really under the age of 30. So I wonder are our brains not developed enough till our thirties?
00:49:50
Speaker
yeah much desire Is it a certain part of our evolution that when we hit about 30 plus, like not everyone at 30, but, you know, 30, 40, 50, whatever, that our brains are developed um enough to to have that kind of reflection, I wonder. Absolutely. And i I think as well that you lose the, or it certainly reduces that you're not as caught up on what everybody else thinks about you either. So you were able to take these strides and grow for yourself and not for anybody else. um And then, you know, there's karmic theories, et cetera, that you're here on earth to learn something or to to do something, you know, so it can be
00:50:33
Speaker
that's part of your journey. So you have to hit this, you have to learn what it is that you need to learn and it's different for everybody and it can be huge life-changing things or it can be small things, like who knows what it is. So yeah, no, I don't, I do think that you have to come a certain... way along in your life for you to be able to start with that self-reflection. It doesn't even have to be an age, it can just be things that you go through in your life that prompt this in you. you know when Anyone who's come to me, as I've said, there's generally a reason that they're looking for more, that they're searching for ah spirituality, they feel stuck in their lives, they don't know who they are as a person outside of their job.
00:51:17
Speaker
being a mum, a daughter, you know, ah a wife, you know, any of these, girlfriend, husband, whatever, i like there's men and women that come here, but like everybody has gotten to a certain point and then they have to feel that duck feeling and then that's where they start actively looking at for a way to shift it and you know what meditation is a way to give you that illness that you can think through things and you know you get thoughts and that through it and it's a way also to trust your intuition um because we were kind of told not to trust our intuition that you know you're wrong or you know you should be asking other people's opinions on things that that are where like the majority of time you know what's wrong she you know there's a reason it's like your gut feeling and
00:52:02
Speaker
And I think for people on their journey, that there's you have to come that certain amount of distance before you're able to look back or realize that you even need to look back. Some people here, like they never even get to the point where they look back. They're just living their lives, going to work. whatever drinking football like just into this like you know the hamster ball life of just like go go go go go go go and they're completely happy enough but like the day you do start asking the question the day that you're not going to be happy with that anymore and you know we always say in studio that it's like do you remember the matrix it was like the red pill and the blue pill and it's like which
00:52:45
Speaker
You know, you can take this and forget that you started asking the bigger questions or you can go down the rabbit hole. And if you landed here with us, if you're going down the rabbit hole or you're, you know, you've realized that there is a rabbit hole and that you're happy to start giving yourself that time to ask the questions and to do the work for yourself because there's something that's amiss in your life. and And it's extremely, like, I'm extremely privileged to have this studio and to meet the clients and the people that I do so far, that it's just been spectacular. And everyone that comes through the door, I just, you know, I end up just loving them so much. and
00:53:28
Speaker
getting on so well with them and just really loving being able to help them in any way that I can. you know worse It doesn't any of the modalities. You can spend thousands of euros and go from a like from one to the other to the other to the other to the other until you do that inner work. you know It's just a waste, I'd say my counselling, it's a waste of time. Until you realising your own head that you have to do this and there's a reason and you want to do it now you have to do what you want to do it otherwise you're brushing money down the toilet you know it's not it has to all come from you we just help you along the way and free up some of that kind of energy for you and get rid of some of the old stuff and again it would be very emotional like my first ever Reiki session I literally cried for
00:54:20
Speaker
ah day afterwards i was in tasco but my son got bo ander sobbing, pushing my trolley around, sobbing. But it was, oh, it needed to come out. And I knew it needed to come out, you know, but hadn't been able to let us come out for years. I just push it, shove it down again and run again. I think what you're saying there is like, it I can relate to this as a coach as well. You know, if someone comes someone comes to me because they want to lose weight or they want to get fit or they want to get healthy and Tesco's with my sunglasses on. But at the end of the day, I'm there to support, like, you're there to support on this spiritual journey. and It has to come from the person. If it doesn't come from you, it's not going to happen. but And everyone's journey is different. And what I find so amazing is, like, I started on this journey yet looking to get fitter and look better. And it's led me down this road of personal development and spiritual development. So, i like, I think it's all very tied. Fitness has health, nutrition, Reiki, meditation, what and wellness. like it's all If you're searching for something and you really are you really keep stepping forward in this journey, what is meant for you will so will come into your path and you will just you just have to keep taking action.
00:55:37
Speaker
And it is exactly that, because I was similar. I was like, if I just lose weight, I'm going to read this. If I just lose weight, I'm going to be happy. If I just lose weight, I'm going to have confidence. And I would do counseling, weight loss, all of these different things. And then it turned out that actually the weight wasn't the issue. It was around self-esteem, self-confidence. Again, that question, who am I? Who is Nicholas? And then being led me down the road of of reiki like of meditation and like i started of meditation first then doing reiki couples with counseling and then started doing um like retreats and things that might work and that and again it's all was it all all of these things where you're searching for something to fix
00:56:27
Speaker
you to fix your life, to fix what you think it is. Like a lot of us, when you do your why, it all boils down to, you know, who are you and what is it that you want? And like, once you can get those two things, like your values and your beliefs aligned, you know, you're everything else to start slotting in then, because it's very easy to say no to things that aren't for you, instead of just filling your time with everything because you have no boundaries, you don't know how to say no, or you know whatever. is So like it is funny that for me, it started as a weight loss journey. I have a wellness teacher, though. you know It is funny how the world works. and Yeah, and it was true, your programme that I ended up meeting, obviously I've known you since we grew up braid together in our childhoods, but meeting someone else that recommended the woman that I went to for Reiki,
00:57:20
Speaker
But then I went to Reiki and then I was doing kind of thing.
Invitation for Future Episode and Closing Remarks
00:57:23
Speaker
And then, you know, she was like, do you ever think of this? And I was like, oh, God, you know, how would that be? Like, how could me, you know, and then and now look where I am. And it's only a couple of years. And it's just insane that that that start of the journey for me was weight loss, because that if I fix that, I'll be happy. And it wasn't because it wasn't ever about the weight loss. It was about the lack of identity of myself for me. So yeah and that was like the stepping stone. And I think I do think yeah everything comes in front of you at the right time when you are ready. And you this is why i you know I think it's really important for people to have goals, but you need to not have it all planned out to a tee. You need to be able to see what comes in your path and go from there. Absolutely.
00:58:12
Speaker
Yeah now i and I want to do a huge deep dive into Reiki and we have run out of time and anyone listening to this hopefully you can't tell but we've literally been cut off so many times so this is like a jigsaw puzzle putting these pieces together so I think if it's okay with you would you come back for a part two and we will deep dive into what Reiki is? what you do and how it can help and talk about the seven chakras a bit more and what they represent, what they do and I think we have a full episode in that, what do you reckon? Yeah absolutely, I would love to do that and I'd love to hear all about Reiki and the magic of it and how it can help in life and just
00:58:53
Speaker
little things you can do yourself, you know, you don't even necessarily need to come to somebody and they're just things every day that you can do to feed your souls, feed your energy. Yes, OK, looking forward to that. So we will set that up as soon as possible. So in the meantime, if while everyone's waiting for part two, if they want to check you out, and anyone who's local enough to the Bray area, and where is the best place to find you and the information about your studio? Yeah, sure. So it's at BrayRaky on Instagram. And then I have a Stan store where you can book i am All different, you can book one-to-one sessions, you can come to our meditation classes. and We have a bundle offer on at the moment where it's for meditation classes for 50 euros, so that's the saving of 10 euros. And then, yeah.
00:59:38
Speaker
you can find out all of our information. We do videos and you can kind of see what to expect from Reiki and from meditation classes to the videos on our on my Instagram as well. Amazing. Nicola, thank you so much for your time and for your patience with this jumpy and recording that's happened. and Thank you so much and I'm really looking forward to part two. I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. It really means so much to me that there are people out there actually listening to what I have to say and to the conversations that I'm having and with others. So thank you so much. If you are enjoying the podcast, could you please make sure that you are subscribed? And if not, if you could hit that subscribe button, it really does make that much of a difference. Also, if you would like to leave a review
01:00:22
Speaker
on any of the episodes that you listen to that you particularly enjoy, I would love to hear what you have to say. And also, if there's an episode that you've enjoyed, please do share it on your social media, in your WhatsApp groups, with your friends. If you're sharing it on your stories, please tag myself in it and whoever I'm interviewing. And this it would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you're interested in working with me and my wonderful team, please do you contact me about applying for coaching. So you can contact me at Kate Hamilton Health at gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all Kate Hamilton Health and you will be able to apply for coaching. We can organise to have a chat and see if it's a good fit for you and get you moving towards your goals.