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Stefania Ceolin - Yoga & Psychotherapy
170 Plays2 years ago
In this week's podcast episode, Stefania and I explore the intersection of yoga and psychotherapy in the context of trauma healing and intuition. We begin by discussing Stefania's personal experience with yoga and how it helped her connect with her inner knowing. We then dive into the ways in which trauma can disrupt our sense of self and how the practices of yoga and psychotherapy can complement each other in facilitating healing and restoring that connection.
Throughout the episode, we emphasise the importance of listening to one's intuition and finding a path that works best for them. We also discuss how incorporating mindfulness and body-based approaches can enhance traditional talk therapy approaches and how seeking support from qualified professionals is essential in the healing journey.
Overall, this episode offers insights into the potential benefits of integrating yoga and psychotherapy and how they can help individuals navigate their unique healing journey. We hope that it inspires listeners to explore these practices and prioritise their own self-care.
Don't forget to like and follow for more episodes.
Take care, folks.
Where can you connect with Stefania Ceolin
Email: stefania@sunshinewithin.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefania_sunshinewithin/
Books Mentioned
The Body Keeps The Score - Bessel van der Kolk
Psychosynthesis: A Collection of Basic Writings - Dr. Roberto Assagioli
Awareness - Anthony de Mello
When the Body Says No - Gabor Mate
This Body is Not an Apology - Sonya Renee Taylor
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Trauma and Healing Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
So I want to welcome everybody to today's episode of the Trauma and Healing Podcast and it is my pleasure to welcome today my guest, Stefania,
00:00:11
Speaker
Kaelin? No. And Chilin, very close. Chilin, oh God. This is the third time folks that I have done this. I have asked her, I didn't have any time. I'm so sorry, Stefani. No. Yes, this is Stefani and she is a talented yoga teacher and psychotherapist. And Stefani, thank you so much for coming in
Stefani's Journey into Yoga and Psychotherapy
00:00:31
Speaker
today. Thank you for coming on the podcast. I have had the pleasure of having conversations with Stefani about
00:00:37
Speaker
What yoga brings to people, how it helps? Of course, as a psychotherapist, we meet on a lot of things. So for anyone listening that doesn't know who you are, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? How did you come to train in yoga and psychotherapy? How has it helped you?
00:00:54
Speaker
Well, first of all, Claudia, thank you so much for the invite. At the moment, I feel, I feel that my body is responding to this new experience with excitement, but also a bit of fear, I have to admit, but I will shake it off after the podcast. So the, well, first of all, the surname is actually, it's actually an Irish word that means a little music, but it's the niche and surname.
00:01:23
Speaker
So you weren't wrong, really, when you said quillain, which is little music in Irish. And that's how... I wanted to say quillain. In my mind, I keep going for the Irish of quillain. Yes, exactly, exactly. And that's how I landed in Ireland. But that will be another material for another podcast, I guess. But anyway, the yoga and psychotherapy. Well, I experienced, like many therapists probably do and did,
00:01:52
Speaker
in their lines, I experienced obviously trauma, childhood trauma. And at the age of 15, I started to research and bear in mind when I was 15, I didn't have access to internet because internet was not fair. So basically what I did was I was researching ways of coping with mental illnesses or distress.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I found this theme book, which I don't remember the title, but it was talking about yoga and psychotherapy and how yoga is a tool basically that could help self self-regulating in stress. So again,
00:02:42
Speaker
was late 90s. And that's, that's giving away my age. But anyway, it was late 90s, rural Italy. And so yoga was not as popular as it
Transformation through Yoga and Psychotherapy
00:02:53
Speaker
is right now. So by coincidence, a few couple of years after I read that I, I joined a yoga class. And again, I arrived there in a very
00:03:08
Speaker
interesting and unexpected way. I remember clearly what I
00:03:15
Speaker
felt the minute I was on that month. Well, actually not right when I started because at the beginning I felt it was just weird, you know, you're a teen and you're surrounded by these adults and they're chanting on and you're like, okay, what is this? Am I joining a cult or what is that? Right. I couldn't really, I couldn't really understand and I was intimidated by it. But then at the end,
00:03:43
Speaker
I felt that spaciousness in the, in the silence. And it was the first time that I experienced that in that way. And I got, I got very, very curious, especially coming from traumatic events at the young age. I don't feel I was ever, you know, that kind of happy, happy child or happy teenager. I was very,
00:04:09
Speaker
torn and traveled for a lot of things that have happened up to that point. But that silence was so loud and clear. And so I got hooked. And I wanted to study therapy back then.
00:04:27
Speaker
But again, life as different, you know, made different decisions or I made different decisions actually. So life took different turns and probably I had to go through more pain, more joy, more experience to then be even better. I feel equipped as a person to understand therapy. So
00:04:53
Speaker
In a sense, my psychotherapeutic journey started on the yoga mat and the degree arrived later, but I feel that these two beautiful and amazing disciplines
00:05:08
Speaker
they've been extremely transformative for my life. And I've gained so much knowledge and understanding with both of them. And I couldn't imagine my life without therapy or without yoga. And so, yeah, this is, this is how my yoga and therapy journey started. And both of them, they gave me some
00:05:34
Speaker
important insights of just how to be in the here and now, in the now and where there was that moment of complete silence and that moment of introspection. So I'm extremely grateful for the way it went.
Timing in the Healing Process
00:05:53
Speaker
Actually there was a time in my life when I was
00:05:56
Speaker
you know, vision myself up for not starting college straight after, you know, high school. But again, maybe I had to be in another mental health space and maybe I had to practice before in terms of yoga, before actually deciding to jump on it or to start college.
00:06:25
Speaker
You know, for whoever are listening, and I know some of us are, sometimes we are great of beating ourselves up for not making the decisions at the right time, but they always are, they're always at the right time. You know, like things come when they're meant to, and I know it sounds like those kind of buzzy words.
00:06:48
Speaker
They come when you're ready, they come when they have to come. And I wouldn't change anything despite the trauma, despite the tears, despite the sorrow and the desperation that I experienced in some of my years. I wouldn't change anything. And again, it comes back to the wounded healer archetype, right?
00:07:13
Speaker
most of us as therapists, we do go through that. And that's why we do our job in the way we do, because we experience that. So. Seeking to heal ourselves. Exactly. Yes. There is that part of us that it's seeking to heal ourselves. And yeah, I, I am extremely grateful for these two, for these two disciplines.
00:07:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it sounds fantastic. And I mean, it's quite clear, you know, you're quite young when you refer strong to this, but it was quite clear that your intuition drew to this knowing there was a knowing that this was what you needed. It sounds like you're aware from a young age of
00:07:56
Speaker
your experience of the world and there's something more. I can trust that there's something more and I can understand something more that can help me go through this.
Emotional Regulation and the Mind-Body Connection
00:08:09
Speaker
And again, Clodagh, I still cannot get my head around it, how I landed there, to be completely honest, because I wasn't exposed to yoga as we are exposed now. I wasn't exposed to that type of knowledge.
00:08:24
Speaker
But like you said, there was a knowing, there was a desire to heal, to heal the trauma. And my soul has found a way and tools to do that. And so, you know, sometimes I feel that whatever we are seeking with a deep desire, it will come to us in some shape or form. So I'm very,
00:08:53
Speaker
Again, I know I've said that three times already, but the word that keeps coming up for me is grateful. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that because I do think, you know, we do need to give ourselves permission to follow, follow our feelings, follow our intuition to go. There's a yearning, there's a knowing, there's a something inside of us that's telling me
00:09:20
Speaker
where I am right now is not where I want to be. I'm not quite sure where it is I want to go. But let's follow it. You know, that curiosity you had as a young person, like it served you so well. We can trust ourselves that we will know if we go on the wrong path, and we can recreate correct ourselves to go back on the way we need to. And it's powerful in the end, where we can end up.
00:09:46
Speaker
And yoga and psychotherapy are tools that help us to get in touch with that knowing. Like they're tools that they peel away all those conditionings, all those layers of trauma and sorrow that blinds us. And basically there are ways for us to, maybe I would,
00:10:12
Speaker
tentatively use this word but self-actualized in a sense of, you know, bringing our soul to the journey that we are supposed to be an experience. So the more you practice
00:10:29
Speaker
the more you're in therapy, and I'm obviously still in therapy proudly. The more you're into these journeys, the more you are getting in touch with what you like, what you don't like, and you get more attuned with what aligns with you and what doesn't. And so in a certain way, you make better decisions or more
00:10:57
Speaker
solved informed decisions or, you know, body informed decisions, because obviously the body tells you, we know very well what something doesn't feel right. And why are we not following that? Because of obviously all the triggers, conditions, conditionings and blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth. And trauma that disconnects us.
00:11:21
Speaker
Absolutely, yes. Fabulous answer. Thank you so much for that. That's so rich. It sounds like it's been a long journey for you to get from here to there. But that, I think, is a gift if you can get quiet enough to be able to listen, to be able to hear what's being said within and know that feels good. That doesn't. I don't want to do that anymore.
00:11:48
Speaker
and allowing yourself followers, giving yourself permission to follow. That, again, is a gift. And that's what I think, you know, yoga and psychotherapy can offer people is that connection to yourself, that deeper connection to yourself. Absolutely. And these layers, the more attuned you are with your life, really, it's fascinating.
Yoga and Therapy in Self-Regulation and Healing
00:12:16
Speaker
that intuition, it gets stronger the more you are exploring the self. That could be through yoga or it could be through therapy. And as I was saying, for me, they are complementary. I couldn't imagine my life without one of them. They're part of the same deal for me.
00:12:38
Speaker
And what I often say to people in the therapeutic practice, but also in the yoga practice, what do you feel right now? That's what therapists would say, right? What do you feel? What are you experiencing right now, in the right now, in the moment? And in that moment, when we were quiet, in that silence, we could always hear the truth.
00:13:04
Speaker
You know, we could always hear what our soul craves for in that silence and it's so precious and it's so healing. Again, coming back to healing, the healing piece, the trauma piece, that silence, the expansiveness of that silence. Yeah.
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, trauma can disrupt so much. You know, it disrupts emotional regulation, our ability to regulate. It disrupts that mind-body connection because we were born connected to ourselves. The increase in shame or self-blame when trauma happens. Even increase in pain or illness due to the immune response in the body.
00:13:43
Speaker
And if we are, you know, go so long, so disconnected, we have no, we have no sense of it. We have no sense of why we're, you know, I've lost the head and I don't know why I did, you know, there's obviously a lot happening before that moment, but we're so disconnected from ourselves. So, and there's this piece of, you know, well, in terms of yoga,
00:14:06
Speaker
and actually psychotherapy so it's kind of these simplistic views yoga is just stretching yoga is just you know it's about exercise or I'm sure why would I go to therapy I have my friends that I can talk to all of these as somebody that's sitting there listening they're not really doing anything but what yoga and psychotherapy can do is reconnect
00:14:28
Speaker
You know, you're the yoga teacher, so you can speak to this, but the benefits of yoga towards emotional regulation, helping you and know what your emotions are in order to regulate them, helping you in that mind-body connection. Can you speak a little bit on what you've seen, how yoga and therapy helps someone with these disruptions?
00:14:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, obviously, as probably most of your listeners, they would know and as you would know, probably, that there's been an extensive number of researches on how breathing pranayama, so breathing exercises, kasana, so the aspect of yoga and obviously the meditation.
00:15:16
Speaker
they all help to self-regulate the body. And it's, you know, I feel that that's a pretty common knowing at this point, right? There is a lot of, there is a lot of, there are a lot of researches and writing around that. But what I feel it gives you that people might not be aware of or maybe they, they, they, they go to yogurt, they go to therapy and
00:15:45
Speaker
And maybe they haven't experienced that yet, or maybe they do experience, but they haven't put their attention into it. So that is the limitations that we feel within the body and within the therapeutic process. But in simple words, when you are, when the class is finished or when therapy is finished, just before therapy ends, you would ask the person, the client, how do you feel?
00:16:13
Speaker
Most of the time, not always, but most of the time they say something like, well, I feel lighter. I feel I have more clarity. And the same thing, it's usually in the yoga practice.
00:16:28
Speaker
At the end of Shavasana, at the end of the full relaxation, you ask a person, they would probably, most of the time, they would say something like, well, I feel lighter, I feel calm. So obviously that's not always the case. And there are good reasons why it's not always the case. Sometimes in both of these practices, you know, you could feel
00:16:51
Speaker
differently. You could feel angry, you could feel tired, you could feel energized, you could feel too energized, you know. But generally speaking, most people would experience that. And even if they don't experience that, that calmness, but they do experience anger, they do experience something else that was their previous state when they come in. It's amazing. Something has shifted.
00:17:16
Speaker
which is really, really good. So that in itself proves that those two disciplines and practices are extremely helpful in very, very simple words. But of course, then we could talk about all the amazing researches and amazing studies that have been done.
00:17:38
Speaker
especially in the past 20-30 years, when yoga gained a lot more popularity and therapy became more accessible to people. So again, if you think about your own clients, I'm sure you would agree with me that vast majority of them, they would say, well, I feel calmer, I feel a release.
00:18:00
Speaker
and they often talk about their release. And same thing after yoga classes, I usually stay with people for a few minutes afterwards and we talk about it, how it went, how it was for you. And I'm always amazed by the faces of some people that they look so, you know, the forehead's so open and the big smile and the body feels,
00:18:29
Speaker
just more aligned. So that in itself to me, it's a proof that these two disciplines are extremely helpful for self-regulation.
Trauma-Informed Approach in Healing
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And it touches on another kind of, if you're entering into this for trauma work, the need for trauma-informed practitioners. Because as you say, yes, there's a lot of positives that can be felt. And at the end of a class feeling, you know, I feel lighter, I feel, but it can actually, if you have been disconnected from your body, if you have been disconnected from the emotions for a very good reason,
00:19:09
Speaker
that reconnection can feel really overwhelming sometimes. And I'm wondering, you know, what are your thoughts on being trauma-informed in these spaces? Well, I feel it's extremely important, especially, well, I would say, you know,
00:19:27
Speaker
In therapy, I think it comes with the training. So most of the trainings would give you tools and skills to support people and to know or understand what trauma is. Where in yoga, I feel
00:19:49
Speaker
because of the nature of maybe teacher trainings or preparation, I feel there is a little bit more to do. We need to train teachers, in my opinion, to be more informed because obviously some asanas, some postures, some breathing exercises and some sequencing, they can open up stuff for people.
00:20:17
Speaker
And obviously, with teachers, they don't need to feel that they need to become therapists in order to support, but just to just to be aware that that could be the case that I remember for example, 23 years ago,
00:20:36
Speaker
In the yoga classes, vast majority of people were crying. I don't know the first four or five years of my practice we were all crying all the time. What is this? And then all of a sudden we stopped crying and you see people coming with their
00:20:53
Speaker
fancy gears and ready to you know rock and roll and there is a different spin to it which is amazing it's good i i feel i i love that i love that kind of fun element of this practice but yeah we need to always remember that these are extremely ancient
00:21:15
Speaker
poses an ancient way of detoxifying the body. So I'm never surprised if he cries after my class or somebody feels upset because it can happen. I mean, it's something that wouldn't happen often, but it does happen. And I feel we need to welcome that. We need to welcome the tears. We need to welcome the openness of
00:21:44
Speaker
old wounds and maybe the purification of those. So yeah, coming back to your question, I feel both therapists and yoga teachers, in a general sense, would be amazing if both of these two professions were well, well trained on trauma. So I think we're heading towards that anyway. I think there is a lot more discussion about that and the connection
00:22:13
Speaker
between the body and the mind, it's now, you know, it's getting kind of common knowledge. So it's amazing and starting from also he's recognizing that. So it's everything moving around us, right? So it's undeniable. I mean, it's undeniable. There are so many studies confirming that, so.
Acceptance of Limitations in Healing
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And there is, there's, as you say, there's a, there's a greater awareness now and what was coming up as you were talking, you know, you have to feel it to heal it.
00:22:44
Speaker
And the welcoming of that going, well, this is actually positive, even if it doesn't feel great at the moment, but being able to be held in that. But also I think I'm thinking of myself when I was going through my own healing, I didn't know a lot of the time what was going on.
00:23:01
Speaker
And to have somebody tell me, this makes sense. This is actually part of the process. And this is how you might be feeling as a result of, you know, again, the disruption, the disconnection of mind and body. I always found that grounding for me. So the reason why I asked about the trauma informed is that, you know, having somebody
00:23:23
Speaker
hold that for you and know that it's okay you can begin to trust it in yourself because if you're around somebody who doesn't know that well actually I don't know what's happening for you it can be very it can be quite scary I think so yeah the feeling it to heal I love that saying but yeah in both aspects in psychotherapy and in yoga
00:23:44
Speaker
that there is a greater movement towards, I feel trauma-informed healing rather than it just be, it's a class for exercise. It's for both. It's for, as you say, those stretches, those asmas, they can put you into, I'm just, forgive me, because you're the expert in this, but like these heart-opening pose can feel quite vulnerable. And if you feel vulnerable in your body,
00:24:13
Speaker
your body will remember the last times you felt vulnerable and it can really start to bring up stuff. And I think it's important to know that that is normal, that that is okay. And if you need support in that, yes, complimented with psychotherapy. It's not always necessary, but even just to know there's nothing wrong. It's absolutely normal that emotions will come up that you didn't know were there.
00:24:40
Speaker
And therapy and therapy verbalizes what the body is feeling and yoga in terms of asanas because then yoga obviously has a lot of different elements and asana is just one of them but asanas in terms of poses can be a way for the words to be expressed through the body so
00:25:02
Speaker
That's why, you know, sometimes people ask me, oh my God, but they're two different professions. And I said, yes, they are, but they are the same thing. You know, they're, they're just, they're just the two faces of the same point for me, because they make sense to me in my own experience.
00:25:18
Speaker
how both of these two have been so helpful. Like whatever I was experiencing, I then, you know, go to my therapist, talked about it, review it, cry it, verbalize it, put in the right words of understanding. And then whatever happens on the math, it happens on the math where I felt it, where I felt that, and I still do. And
00:25:43
Speaker
Obviously one of the biggest lesson for me in both of these two worlds is that there are limitations and the limitations that I experienced on the math are actually the same that then I experienced in life, right? Sometimes I go through phases where I'm extremely inflexible and I'm like, okay, where am I also inflexible in life? And then if I experienced nice acceptance that
00:26:10
Speaker
my body is built in a way that I will never perform a certain asana, a certain pose in a certain way. The same thing is with therapy, probably I will never reach something that it looks so unattainable and perfect, but I can just be good enough. And
Healing as a Personal Journey
00:26:34
Speaker
I can be good enough in both of, in the math, on the math,
00:26:37
Speaker
any of my therapeutic space with my therapist, where I accept that there are some limitations. I feel that we went through this very interesting phase where therapy has been made accessible, which is amazing, but also some ideas of therapy or psychology have been turned into something
00:27:04
Speaker
a little commercialized in a sense of being sold as the cure for everything. It's not really, we're not talking about curing, we're talking about healing, that it's a different concept and maybe
00:27:20
Speaker
healing also means accepting that something will always trigger me. It will trigger me in a different way. Maybe I will understand it better. I will understand that this thing comes from that traumatic event.
00:27:36
Speaker
and I can respond better, but it doesn't mean that we'll go away. So this idea, you know, overcoming your limits, I feel it's a bit misleading and it could lead into perfectionism, into this obsessive chasing of perfection in the therapeutic space and in the yoga space, right? I'm a very
00:27:59
Speaker
a kind of a tall woman. And so as a tall woman, yoga wouldn't be necessarily right there.
00:28:08
Speaker
the physical practice for a tall woman. Because usually if you're shorter, the asanas are a little bit more accessible. So there are things that my body will never perform, will never do. It could train 20 hours a day. It will never happen. But it's okay. My body has limitations.
00:28:32
Speaker
my mind as limitations, my understanding of healing as limitations, and they evolved all the time. So I don't know if this makes sense, but... Yeah, it does. I mean, it's an invitation to accept what is, whether on the mat or in the room, and the therapist. And I really hear you about that curing piece. And I almost get a sense sometimes, the curing piece is about, when am I not going to feel this?
00:28:58
Speaker
What am I not going to, if I have a feeling that is too much or a feeling that I don't want or I see as a negative, then I failed in some way. I haven't done it right and I have to keep going harder, faster, you know, learning more. When the healing, when the living part of this is, I will have emotions every day of my life until I die. That is part of what makes us human.
00:29:24
Speaker
Well, if my ability to accept them is compromised, if I see them as less than as, as too much as, as, as negatives, then I'm always going to be in battle with myself when it's just purely human. If we can invite ourselves to accept our humans on the mat, in the room, you know, brushing our teeth. That's where, that's where we'll heal. I, I a hundred percent agree with you.
00:29:53
Speaker
And I think that it's a more authentic, a realistic view of healing. It's not, when am I going not to feel that? When am I going to do a handstand? When am I going to meditate for five hours? It's nothing good to do with that. It's acceptance piece that, yeah, I would feel like upset. I might be triggered, but my understanding of all of this
00:30:21
Speaker
it increases when we spend more time with ourselves. And both of these two practices are, yeah, solo in a sense, like the therapeutic process, it's a lonely process. And the same thing with the yoga mat. Yes, you can, obviously it's amazing and beautiful practicing with other people. It's phenomenal, the energy, it's totally different.
00:30:49
Speaker
But again, it's an individual experience. And it's the same thing when you are doing group therapy. You feel the support from the group. You feel the love and the hate. You feel all of these things from the group. But at the same time, it's a solo experience. It's an individual experience.
Curiosity and Openness in Healing Journey
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah. And it's, yeah, you, how you do it is not wrong. It is just how you're feeling in the moment. And it is a learning opportunity. It is a, is that a way, it's a way to meet yourself and going, you know, I'm feeling this in the moment while the curiosity get into that going, what is this trying to teach me? You know, it's not something that needs to be punished or pushed away or pushed down. Yeah.
00:31:37
Speaker
Okay, so if somebody was thinking of starting their healing journey, so I have a feeling I don't have to ask you, you know, do you think healing is possible? I think I know the answer to that. So if someone is taking a start in your healing journey, what advice would you offer them? You know, if today was their first day on that step? To be curious, to be open, to be surprised.
00:32:04
Speaker
but what comes up, often in the therapeutic room, you know, clients, they would come, they would bring something and then all of a sudden we are somewhere else. And so it's a very interesting journey because yeah, it's a journey of curiosity. Both of them, both of them are the yoga practice and the therapeutic practice are practices of
00:32:33
Speaker
curiosity and then coming back again and again it comes back to me acceptance not compare yourself and then obviously in the yoga room if you're practicing with other people that's where your mind often goes like okay oh
00:32:53
Speaker
it's one next to me is doing this and that. And, and it's very, very cool because whatever we are thinking of experiencing on the yoga mat, it's actually how we operate outside that yoga mat. So are we comparing ourselves? Are we basing our value on
00:33:15
Speaker
merely performance of an asana or are we experiencing the asana for what it is? And obviously, you know, Instagram doesn't help because all these yogis or this therapist that they look so that they all have it all together and they can perform this amazing asana or they can talk so eloquently about amazing concept
00:33:45
Speaker
Ultimately, how are we experiencing our own individual experience? How are we living that experience? So I feel, yeah, if a person would, the only advice that comes up, the only advice, the few advices that come up in my mind are obviously curiosity, acceptance, and yeah, both of them are,
00:34:14
Speaker
a journey of self-discovery and what you find, you don't know. You don't know what you're going to find. And I think if I can add in that, just having compassion for what you may find and how you may feel going through it, because you can, you know, that curiosity and acceptance, but having compassionate acceptance can really go a long way and heal that journey, even heal that relationship even with yourself.
Recommended Books and Resources
00:34:44
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So if anybody listening to us today, I wanted to know more, do you have any books or resources that you'd recommend? I have so many books and it's, it was hard to, it's hard for me to think about just one. You can choose as many. I will. Well, there are all the
00:35:09
Speaker
you know, the body keeps the score. That's extremely beautiful. There are few Roberto Saggioli psycho synthesis that I find it fascinating. Like Saggioli was a contemporary of Jung and psycho synthesis. It's a very, very interesting branch of psychotherapy and in some ways incorporates yoga in some ways. But the one that was life changing
00:35:39
Speaker
And I read it when I was 18. It's called Awareness. And I mean the Melo. The Melo, I've heard of that one. Yeah. Yeah. It's a book that I would often recommend to friends or even to clients or yoga practitioners. It's not necessarily a super wordy and
00:36:04
Speaker
you know, fancy book, but in this simplicity, it really hits the spot. I find that book straightforward. And as I said, I love that book because that book represents to me my healing journey. And as I said, I read it when I was very young, so it really
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah, it really evokes in me that beautiful and warm experience of awakening, but not awakening. But starting to open my eyes, let's put it this way. Yeah, beautiful. I love when a book does that. You never forget that first book that you read and it was like, oh, there is another way. There's something different out there. There's, again, speaking back to that intuition piece.
Conclusion and Reflections
00:36:58
Speaker
your intuition will guide you to what you need and if you can trust yourself on that and go with it, it's magic what you can find. Okay any other books you wanted to mention before I move on from that? Well we talked about body and of course there are so many beautiful body psychotherapy things
00:37:21
Speaker
including when the body says no, the body, but there is another book that I find it's, it's an easy read, but I really, really enjoyed it. The body is not an apology. Oh, that's been on my list actually. I keep meaning to get that. It's, it's a, it's a very, very nice book. Yeah. That's an American, isn't it? That wrote it. Yes. Yes. It's Sonia Renee Taylor.
00:37:50
Speaker
There you go. Yeah. I knew I needed someone. Okay. That'll be, that'll have to go into the mix now pretty soon because it keeps coming back to me. It keeps getting recommended. That's great. Okay. Great. So then I suppose anybody listening that wants to either, you know, thinking about starting yoga, it's thinking about going to therapy and wants to contact, where do they find you? Where, you know, do you do yoga classes? Where do you do them? Where do you conduct your therapy?
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm based in Dublin, Ireland. My website is sanctionwithin.com. And I was, as I was explaining before that, that name came from my first yoga class and I experienced that immense light and that beautiful silence. And so I wanted to honor that because it has been the most transformative journey for me. And I wonder.
00:38:48
Speaker
as well. I'm sure many, many of your listeners that they practice yoga, oh, they're in therapy. They felt that and maybe you felt it yourself, that beautiful light, that silence, that joyful moment of nothingness, which is amazing.
00:39:09
Speaker
It felt like home. Yeah, exactly. It feels so much like home, right? It feels like, okay, this is work. This is who I am. Yeah. This is who I am. So yeah, definitely within .com that's my, my website so they can reach there. Otherwise I'm based in Dublin for now, then who knows? Me, boss.
00:39:35
Speaker
I'm teaching into a couple of studios. So probably Instagram will be the most updated of information. So where you can find me. And that will be Stefania underscore sunshine within. I put all of that in the show notes so people can find you quite easily. Thank you. Thank you so much. I feel like there's, there's, there's so much in what we were talking about today. And I feel like actually we could talk for another era, but another million questions that, um,
00:40:02
Speaker
I could ask, but perhaps you'll come back on again because we have been talking and I know if you want to tell people you're doing a retreat in Italy in May, is it?
00:40:14
Speaker
Yes, yes, we're doing a retreat in May for the days. And of course, I'm extremely excited to actually host the retreat in my own country and bringing people there. So I'm so excited, but I'm planning other ones in other parts of the world or maybe in Ireland, see how it goes. But that's my plan for each year and the next year to hold a space where people can experience yoga
00:40:42
Speaker
and the therapeutic aspect of yoga so yes the having a healthy it's to me it's it's wonderful but it's a byproduct of obviously a deeper deeper experience and I hope I hope with my classes or with my therapeutic process that people can
00:41:05
Speaker
can feel that, can experience that. That's what I'm hoping that these sessions, the sessions holding and the retreat can facilitate that. Because I feel everyone have that sunshine within everyone as that dies. And as you said, rightly so, it's home. It's our true source. We were born with that ability to experience that.
00:41:35
Speaker
And it doesn't matter how long we've been disconnected, that true essence of who we are is always going to be there. We just have to unearth it. You know, as you say, go down through the layers and it is there waiting for us. And that might sound very woo woo, but I do believe it. So yeah.
00:41:55
Speaker
Thank you very much and I do think we'll be talking again for perhaps another episode because as I say I have loads of questions coming up there and yeah is there anything else you wanted to say before we finish up?
00:42:07
Speaker
Yes, Claudia, I'm going now to shake off my body because it was a very terrifying, beautiful experience. As I said, it's my first podcast. English is not my mother tongue. I'm dyslexic. Oh my God, you did brilliant.
00:42:25
Speaker
So there is all of this, right? And so I'm going to give my body a well-deserved shake. And yeah, it's been amazing and I hope was helpful to your listeners.
00:42:41
Speaker
No, I think it will be. I think a lot of people will get a lot out of this. And I think it'll spark a lot of people to get into either therapy or yoga, but for a different reason now. So thank you. I really appreciate that. And watch the space and watch out for the sunshine within and where it goes, because it sounds like it's going to go worldwide soon enough. Thank you. Thank you, Clodagh. Yeah. Thanks. Bye.
00:43:10
Speaker
Well, that's it folks. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. And perhaps that's inspired you to take that young chance to reconnect. Perhaps it's to follow that whisper, telling you there's something else or something more out there. Thank you again for listening and don't forget to like, follow and share. Thank you so much. And I will talk to you very, very soon.