Not being able to do the things that we used to do, especially those activities that we love and have become part of our identity can be heartbreaking. It can turn our world upside down. We’ve heard about athletes, dancers, who have been physically active their entire lives, made careers out of their passion for movement, but suddenly shift after getting injured or “physically worn out.”

This episode’s guest had a similar awakening—Shawn Flot, a triathlete and physical therapist, one day found himself in debilitating pain, his physical prowess crumbling irreversibly. But his struggle, with the guidance and support of communities working on mobility and movement like the Lowen Systems, yoga, and breathwork, brought him to a deeper understanding of trauma, physical and physiological dynamics, and ultimately, to help people now.

This insightful conversation reminds us that there can be so much going on beneath the surface simply because our bodies are designed to hold the pressure up to a certain threshold. Symptoms and pain don't show up until the body can't adapt anymore. And so, as we look after our wellbeing—which is not confined in the facets of the physical needs—we have to be aware of and master the other realms that help to support us.

Movement, hands-on work, breath work are some promising interventions that we can to support healing and recovering our optimum function. But at the end of the day, these are but reminders of the infinite gift of this world for us to live fully. Because we have somehow forgotten that we coexist for a reason: we belong to each other and are dependent on each other.

Bridging the healing arts of Yoga, physical therapy, and manual therapy, Shawn shares his wealth of experience and knowledge through his programs within Moving Into Harmony with a mission: to create space and options for people to take back their power over their bodies; to be back in the body.

• Shawn M. Flot Website
• Watch Video of the Podcast
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!

• 03:34 - 09:27: Journey to discovering movement, forces, and harmony

• 10:51 - 12:07: Understanding the Body and Pain

• 16:05 - 21:15: ‘Hearing’ the body and creating space for options
• 21:29 - 23:41: The Well-Explored Life: For those who are interested to actually be in their bodies.
• 25:51 - 34:11: Breathwork: Constant expansion-contraction is the way of life.

• Symptoms, pain doesn't show up until the body can't adapt anymore. The facets of our wellbeing aren't just physical, diet, etc... There are so many other realms that help to support us. We may look like we're doing well, but something else may be under the surface. - Shawn Flot
• The advantage of a hands-on setting: the patient feels being heard and the body knows it. People do feel the shifts. It is like giving back the person and their body options to heal. It's up to them through movement, like yoga, to implement and integrate those new options. - Shawn Flot
• We've been so self-made, individualized, but we forget that we belong to each other and are dependent on each other. It's no harm if you can't move correctly and someone else assists you. - Alexandra Kreis
• Breath is so intimately close to wounding in traumatic events. Breath is divine, always available. Use the breath to reopen the aperture - that's healing. - Shawn Flot
• Don't force yourself to strive to get rid of the trauma but be with it. This body has so much amazing love for you and potential. The more we can be with it, the more companionship will support us. - Shawn Flot

Shawn M. Flot, PT, MPT is mobility and movement practitioner who bridges the healing arts of Yoga, Physical Therapy, and Manual Therapy in his Moving Into Harmony programs and solutions. He runs a clinic in Southern Oregon, USA, and also offers his programs through www.movingintoharmony.com

Artists not only create works of art. History has shown the important role they played in shaping our consciousness and environment. Every piece of art will resonate with someone, somewhere. It initiates dialogue and conversations; it stimulates action; it inspires change and growth.

To this episode’s guest, Jörg Reckhenrich, therapy, coaching, and deep self-inquiry can come through art. You can apply and implement art thinking for business, entrepreneurship, everyday problem-solving...to practically everything!

While Jörg is an artist himself and became a gallery owner, he didn’t like art books or theories in his younger days. Observing artworks and going deep into conversations about perceptions was what drew him into this lane. To him, it's not about the artwork itself, it's about the resonance of the person who's looking at that piece of art.

Experiencing the power of art, it became important for Jörg to share it with people and spread positivity. Combining art coaching, positive psychology, and systemic attitude has become his wonderfully pieced together work-of-art to scale learning, education, and leadership.

Coaching through art starts with a free conversation about a general topic before questions are posed. But it’s not like the conventional coaching process—the coach doesn’t always have to be the one who asks and the coachee answers. It’s a multidirectional learning process; from observation to context and real-life questions and problems.

And as the landscape for learning is changing, especially these days, coaching through art has become even more relevant and effective. Especially because in art, it's not about knowing better, but daring to be out there and just doing it; trying to shift the world with the simplest notion.

Links mention in the podcast

• Jörg Reckhenrich Website
• Watch Video of the Podcast
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!

Podcast Highlights

3:00 - 6:47 Discovering his love for art and perceiving art

8:00 - 10:30 Understanding Art for Therapy, Learning, and Leadership

11:00 -  20:10 Coaching Through Art

20:30 - 28:00 Digital Art Solutions for Growth and Empowerment for Young Women of Uganda

• It's not about the artwork itself, it's about the resonance of the person who's looking at that piece of art. - Jörg Reckhenrich 
• Many artists, especially visual artists, are incapable of telling about their art. Always start with pure perception and the dialogue will emerge. - Jörg Reckhenrich 
• Let go of the things why you observe an art piece. The choice you do has so much to do with your own ideas, questions, your involvement. - Jörg Reckhenrich 
• It's not about knowing better, but daring to be out there and just doing it. Trying to shift the world with the simplest notion. - Alexandra Kreis
• Have the courage to try out before you think too much. If you see and sense something that interests or stimulates you, go for it. Do and make a new experience, and then learn from it. That's the artist's way. - Jörg Reckhenrich

Jörg Reckhenrich is an artist, systemic consultant, and business coach. He is the founder of PParts, a consultant company that combines positive psychology with Art Thinking. Jörg is a member of the faculty at CEIBS (Zürich Institute of Business Education) and visiting lecturer at IMD Lausanne, London Business School, ESMT, and ESCP Berlin. Reckhenrich has been listed as one of the world’s “top 25 management thinkers” by the journal Business Strategy Review. He is a member and network driver of the BMW Foundation, responsible leader network, and BMW Alumni foundation. He is also a member of the advisory board of the MBA program at the Quadriga University Berlin and holds a permanent teaching position at the coaching and leadership academy, Berlin.

Math and physics—or ‘hard science’—can be intimidating to some (or many). Because most of the time, it is approached as abstract concepts and principles detached from reality. This area is often a space your kid may not feel too confident.

But to Ulli Helmstetter, teacher of mathematics and physics, these are like lenses to see through this perfectly uncertain world. It’s the knowledge that ties us closest to understanding nature because they are nature itself.

Having to tackle seemingly rigid concepts, it was easy to fall oblivious to your environment and self. No other subject could even frustrate you as mathematics. But Ulli understood these from a perspective that brings him back to the very purpose of knowledge: to be able to live in this world and live in it fully. Math and physics, in their essence, teach about the fundamental principles of nature; problem-solving and adaptation; of the truth, spirituality, and profoundness of life.

And as a teacher, he took it as his mission to share this lens with his students and encourage them to re-discover the infinite magic of the world that we live in as he did when he first fell in love with science.

The whole world is like a hologram. Every piece resembles the qualities of the whole. Like the tail of the elephant—you touch it and you know it's an elephant. No matter where you look if you look clearly and healthily at things, you're always connected with the truth. It doesn't matter which method you use to get or stay connected.

Just like how science is—that it is not a set of information that we have and can hold in our hands. Understanding it is an infinite process as it is ever-expanding. But the basic principles are what we can hold and learn. After all, these principles, math, and physics, are just anchors to the higher intelligence that have let us thrive amid the horrors and wonders of this world!

life Understanding the World of Meditation through Math and Physics

The first intro to physics and spirituality was a book by Vienna Heisenbeck The Path and the Home; changed the course of my life

Was in physics but the mechanic aspect but this book opened a new perspective.

All the old concepts that we have of nature were completely upside down.

I like to be puzzled and shocked. And this book did that to me.

Mainly about the uncertainty principle. Things are uncertain. They are not clearly defined that a particle is not at one place but at different places at the same time. The world became magical again.

A lot of us are dealing with the fear of possibility.

It's a mission to bring this to my students. To bring an understanding of the changes in paradigm - what an open, mystical world we are in.

Science is not a set of information that we have and that we know most or almost everything in the world. We hardly know anything. It's an infinite process. It's fascinating to have the feeling that we can take part in this process.

People like my teaching because I'm open to what is happening - the ability to bring the magic of math physics to them. It is not a fixed system that is boring and invented by mankind. This is nature itself.

No matter where you look if you look clearly and healthily at things, you're always connected with the truth. There's no escape. It's just a matter of being connected. It doesn't matter which method you use to get or stay connected.

One reason we're here is to enjoy this world - to live in it and to live it fully.

Is insane feeling bad or not acting according to the rule?

There's an instinct, impulse, or built-in ability to adapt.

To be in this world means to be in situations that can be horrible. But we are also naturally adaptable. We have a much higher intelligence that lets us comprehend and adapt to those situations. I trust with this higher intelligence. In the end, it's trust. It's not philosophy. It's trusting that intelligence.

You can only give them what you have yourself.

How do you change habits to make you a more whole, profound, and happier being?

If you run full speed

Switching gears

No other subject that could frustrate you as mathematics. In Math, you reach a point As soon as you take something as the chance to take the next level,

You learn how to approach problems. Math is like a lens for looking at your life.

Links mention in the podcast

• Ulli Helmstetter website
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts! 
• Reawaken Your Body - Discover New You

Podcast Highlights

• To bring an understanding of the changes in paradigm—understanding what an open, mystical world we are in—has been my mission to my students. - Ulli Helmstetter
• Science is not a set of information that we have and that we know most or almost everything in the world. We hardly know anything. It's an infinite process. And it's fascinating to have the feeling that we can take part in this process. - Ulli Helmstetter
• Math and physics are not a fixed system that is boring and invented by mankind. This is nature itself. - Ulli Helmstetter
• No matter where you look if you look clearly and healthily at things, you're always connected with the truth. There's no escape. It's just a matter of being connected. It doesn't matter which method you use to get or stay connected. - Ulli Helmstetter
• Math is like a lens for looking at your life. You learn how to approach problems. - Ulli Helmstetter

Guest Bio:

Ulli Helmstetter is a dedicated teacher of mathematics and physics. He has taught in schools in Germany, Costa Rica, and Kenya and over the past 30 years. Aside from teaching inside the classroom, he coaches kids on the more practical skills that kids need to reflect their school performance in exams

Re-Authoring Your Trauma

With Veronica Maurel

Any experience can lead to a loop inside you. The more you ignore it, the more it gets ahead. - Alexandra Kreis

Veronica Layunta Maurel, an Ayurvedic health consultant, yoga teacher, storyteller, and writer, tackles trauma from an insider’s perspective. Trauma is like a huge portal—to other past traumas, to the deepest levels of the self, and to everything that we need to work on.

Searching for her healing, Veronica found re-authoring her story is pivotal in addressing trauma. It’s how you tell your story and how you tell it to yourself.

When we think of trauma, we imagine horrible things. And people undergoing these are sometimes stigmatized. But we have to realize and be conscious that trauma is much deeper than that. Trauma can change the way we see things. We can have the same experience but the effect will be different. To some of us, it can be a stepping stone to be stronger. To some, it triggers an onset of trauma. It’s up to us how we author our lives around wounds like traumas and the space for healing that is always there for us.

Breaking Free from Trauma

With Adair Finucane

“There is nothing wrong with me.”

Growing up in an average, normal family, Adair had never imagined that a deep-seated trauma was behind her rage, anxiety, and depression. How could that be? This isn’t trauma—she kept denying it to herself. She refused to honor her own experience and feelings. All that despite her being a trauma researcher.

It’s easy to fall for the same lie about ourselves. We don’t or sometimes, we just refuse to, think something IS wrong or special in our experience or situation. Just like the social-worker-turned yoga-healer Adair, sometimes it takes being in a safe space to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough...to let your eyes see the fact that has been staring at you. 

Innate Resources for Healing Trauma

With Patrick Haraghy

Seek help. Life is not a rehearsal. And so life should be lived in its full potential. There's a good life out there to be lived. - Patrick Haraghy

With trauma, whether it’s developmental or shock trauma, a lot are out into the unconscious. And our first instinct is to protect ourselves from it by avoidance, pushing it aside, brushing it off under the rug. Even persistent pains in the body are telling of a trauma hiding somewhere waiting to resurface or erupt. But there are different ways of working on these traumas.

Patrick, a therapist specializing in trauma, offers practical pointers to resources innate to us, human beings, to address trauma. If trauma is just right there hiding, and so is healing.

Aisha Harley

Coming Home to Yourself after Severe Trauma

“Being alone and meeting my anxiety face-to-face helped me find my happiness and my peace.”

From pain to love, Aisha, a former photographer, and doTERRA leader realized that healing has to start with the self.

Struggling from Lyme disease, stress, and pain from toxic relationships, Aisha was afraid to leave an abusive situation because she was afraid to be alone. She thought peace existed outside herself; her happiness depended on some other person. 

But in her journey, she learned that putting herself first, working on her boundaries, and taking her power back were the first pieces in the puzzle of her healing. Others came in to build her picture of happiness and peace soon after she decided that, yes, she could heal, and she can do it by herself.

• Watch video of the podcast
• Patrick Harraghy Website
• Veronica Layunta Maurel website 
• Adair’s website
• Aisha’s website
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts! 
• Check out my online workshop – Ayurvedic guide to self-care!

‘An empath—but what are you really?’

This was Maskarm’s question to herself before she embarked on that first ride out of Ethiopia. She knew she always had this incredible gift of being able to put herself in someone else’s shoes and feel things as if she was them. She understood her ability to see, hear and feel things. But in her world back in Ethiopia, there was no place for such. And so she went out to fly.

Deeply sensitive, intuitive, good listener, self-sufficient. These were the qualities that had let her successfully sail across pan-Africa and beyond as a couch-surfer, meeting people along the way who either challenge her chosen way of life or think alike. But more importantly, it was indeed an outer travel to journey towards what within her.

Maski was born and raised in a religious and traditional Ethiopian family. From the very start, traveling was her dream but it was not something comprehensible in her family and their culture. But she knew she had to be someplace and went for it. To her, it felt as if someone left her here on Earth by mistake and that being in one place for a prolonged period of time is not her safe space.

Traveling gave her inspiration and a feeling of oneness. It unpacked for her so many things about herself, her childhood and traumas, her connection with her family, especially her mother. Traveling was her healing until she arrived and became ready to recognize her identity and share it with others (through writing and her book, Abyssinian Nomad).

But it wasn’t all happy and exciting. Along her journey, Maski found out she has fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. To her, maybe it was a way of saying ‘I'm done here and now it’s the body’s time to heal.

For years of searching, Maskarm lived in total freedom. But she also learned that there are things that needed to happen and shouldn’t be refused and ignored to preserve that perceived freedom. Especially if that comes from within—a voice that wants to be heard, a thought that needs to be shared and read, or even a feeling or pain that has to be tended to. Letting it all out is freedom in itself.

Links mention in the podcast

• Maskarm Haile website  
• Watch video of the podcast
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts! 
• Check out my online workshop - Ayurvedic guide to self-care!

Podcast Highlights

• I felt like someone left me here on Earth by mistake and they're going to come back and take me. I felt this is not my place. That was the feeling the entire time except when I'm traveling. - Maskarm Haile
• It was my dream to travel. But it also became like a pilgrimage for me. Most of the time, I don't know why I'm in one place, I just know I have to be there. It just unfolds. The experience of it makes me feel I need this more. - Maskarm Haile
• During the lockdown, I do miss some things but I also see it as a grace to us. It's like an opportunity given to us to go within and search for more.  - Maskarm Haile
• If it keeps showing up, don't ignore it because it will catch up. - Maskarm Haile
• Being wise is about listening, sharing, and being sensitive. Not just knowledge. - Alexandra Kreis

Guest Bio:

Maskarm Haile is an empath and traveler from Ethiopia who wandered across pan-Africa and the world in search of her identity. She is the woman behind the book Abyssinian Nomad. Maskarm, in her book, incredibly wrote about her priceless memories and experience.

Traveling never ends, when you are wandering the forgotten path. It's the curiosity and bewilderment that propels us forward, not the one thing that we want to solve. But as we go into our inner sanctuary, we realize there is nothing to resolve. It's just all a play of life. After all, life is so hard to fit into a shoe.

This week's guest - a fellow traveler - wandered to the forgotten spaces wanting to learn more about life and the life that exists beyond her experience.

Jolanda Todt, an artist, designer, cultural educator, went around getting away from and, eventually, wanting to reconnect to her memory of her father. Jolanda became a spiritual researcher, a truth-seeker in her own right.

Losing her father to suicide as a result of his long-running mental health situation, Jolanda realized how difficult situations in our lives make us reach out and reach deeper. And these experiences are what sailed her through life and brought her to immerse in the indigenous community and culture of shamans—something her father wouldn't have thought she will do but she certainly has grown to love doing. She learned that psychological illnesses have complementary spiritual counterparts.

But the ceremonies in these communities forged a strong connection to Jolanda and her experiential understanding of life. The two women singing, praying, and chanting for hours left a strong impact on Jolanda. In her culture, women are fighting for their space and place. But in these indigenous cultures, women have such a beautiful space, expressing their spirituality, in such a very authentic way.

Being part of this community gave Jolanda invaluable nuggets of wisdom - the like that doesn't resolve questions but moves you through the unending quest for learning. The like that she proudly brings in her journey from sorrow to understanding the life that her father had.

Links mention in the podcast     

• Watch Video 
• Jolanda Todt Website   
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!       
•  Invite your Friend for FREE and Enjoy Ayurvedic Cleanse together

Podcast Highlights

• Difficult situations in our lives make us reach out and reach deeper at the best times. - Alexandra Kreis
• Trauma can be passed on to generations. - Jolanda Todt
•  In our culture, women are fighting for their space and place. But in this culture, these women have such a beautiful space; they are expressing their spirituality, in such a very authentic way. - Jolanda Todt
•  The bigger the questions are, the bigger answers required. - Jolanda Todt

• Life is so hard to fit into a shoe. Travelling never ends. It's the curiosity and bewilderment that propels us forward, not the one thing that we want to solve. But as we go into the inner sanctuary, we realize there is really nothing to resolve. It's just all a play of life. - Alexandra Kreis

Guest Bio

Jolanda Todt, an artist, designer, and cultural educator from Berlin. She studied communication design and has done exhibitions, performances, and lectures in Germany, Iceland, and London

Breathing is one of those instinctive things that we know and do. So instinctive that we seldom pay attention to how it supports everything else in our system. So constantly done that we almost neglect the dynamics that it plays to other aspects of our core such as our voice.

In this episode of Outer Travel, Inner Journey, Regan O'Brien, vocal coach and performing artist, and singer, inspires us to rediscover our breath and voice.

Growing up with an innate love for music, singing was that one thing that brings Regan to her element—but she does it alone. She even recalls being so shy she couldn’t speak and join in conversations. Her nerves would always get in the way because she didn’t look at singing as sharing her voice and story with other people. To the younger Regan, it was something she had to do to meet someone else's expectations.

Until she discovered breath and voice work.

The thrive that she found among friends cheered her on to studying speech and drama. This opened her to a world of resources and support to build more strength and confidence in her ability. And there, she discovered her gem: realizing that finding her voice was a core experience of attuning to her sense of comfort and identity. And as she began to consolidate that identity, she felt more certain about the ‘I’ in all of her work.

Today, Regan partners with people on their journey towards connecting with their voice in a meaningful way. She works with people and the poetics of their voice—the preverbal movement of the voice and the body, sensing inward, feeling the actual physicality of producing voice within the body, and finding the path of least resistance to creating support for that vibration with breathwork and strengthening exercises.

Through her lived experience and example, Regan inspires people to step into the flow, rather than control it, and to immerse in the nervousness and rawness of the moment. With the right support, allowing ourselves to move with this flow while staying present in the movement is what gives depth to the breath and voice.

Voice work, vibrations, resonances—all of these, there's movement in it that attunes us into our internal landscape. Sensing our voice vibrating in our body is such a practical and effective way of understanding ourselves. Our voice is our main vehicle of expression, not only of our thoughts. It ushers our emotions, our identity, the life within us to come out and come free.

Links mention in the podcast     

• Watch Video 
• Regan O`Brien Website   
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!       
•  Invite your Friend for FREE and Enjoy Ayurvedic Cleanse together

Podcast Highlights

• As time went on, I began to realize that finding my voice was a core experience of attuning to my sense of comfort and identity. - Regan O’Brien
• Your breathing is the rhythm of your life. - Regan O’Brien
• Voice work is controlling and supporting the out-breath on a vibration. And there's something very intimate about it because we are so attached to our sound. The embodied voice work is very important because it gives a sensory experience.  - Regan O’Brien
• Healing doesn't need to come through one path - you can do it through breath and voice work or deep diving. - Alexandra Kreis
• Everyone is capable of expressing their own meaning and truth. We don't have to rely on words to do that. There are so many other art forms and practices that allow us to do that. - Regan O’Brien

Guest Bio

Regan O’Brien is a musician, a vocal coach, and a creative facilitator. She performs her compositions throughout Ireland and Europe. She has lectured in performance studies and taught vocal and movement practices at school and post-graduate levels. She facilitates a creative and therapeutic voice coaching service called Vocal Movement Ireland.

Many times, the things that you're scared of usually aren't as scary as you think they are. The thought of the thing is usually scarier than the actual thing.

Astrid Walsh’s journey to save her vision was witness to this. Having been confronted one day by a diagnosis that meant she won’t be able to do many of the things that she loves doing and a possibility of being derailed from her passion for the visual arts, Astrid allowed herself to be scared off by what she thought would be the worst.

While being treated conventionally for Lyme disease, she noticed episodes of flashing in her vision. Later on, she was told it was a detached retina and surgery is the only way. But that night of the soul pulled her inwards to wait and hear an answer, led her to discover a world that taught her that healing occurs so much deeper than and after the treatments and interventions that we do for our body.

Astrid took her health on her hands: for better or worse, she relied on what she feels. She had the inner knowing but had to find out what it is. So Astrid researched and found Ayurveda as the only healing modality that looked at the senses specifically. Alexandra, as a long-time friend of Astrid, introduced her to that world and went deeper—into Panchakarma.

Astrid spent weeks in a tiny village in India, being taken care of by Dr. Ashwin Shastri and practically the whole village. These weeks led her to discover so much about herself and the world we live in. Panchakarma and all the detox she went through taught her that healing is about creating space for and letting in what could heal us and letting go of the things that intoxicate, not only our bodies but also our mind and soul.
More than the interventions, big and small, Astrid learned that it was really about tuning in to the self, about attachments and sufferings, about the way we look at life and death. And ultimately, about letting go.

This whole journey, for Astrid, brought closer together two worlds—traditional medicine and Ayurveda—to teach her most precious take away: let in, want something, but let go of the necessity to get it and you’ll find peace in your decision.

Links mention in the podcast   

• Watch Video 
• Astrid Walsh Website 
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!     
• Time to spark power your immune system through the eyes of Ayurveda!

Podcast Highlights

• Every illness brings death with it to a certain degree. Dr. Ashwin Shastri showed me the terror of death, blindness. As a visual artist, I overly relied on my eyes and blindness equaled to death. I was coming to grip the reality of death. - Astrid Walsh
• I came from a culture where death was the absolute worst-case scenario. Whereas from Ayurveda and India’s cultural perspective, there's rebirth. The way we see it isn't necessarily the only way to see it. - Astrid Walsh
• In modern times, we live in a very fast-paced environment that we almost have to learn patience. - Alexandra Kreis
• You can only have the energy to do these things for yourself, it's all self-responsibility in making the choices every day. But you can only actually do that if you're supported in some way. Big interventions can give you a good place to start. Because sometimes, you just have to act now, in a big way. But then after that, you have to integrate it into your new reality. And that takes time and patience. - Astrid Walsh
• Ayurveda gives you the stability to be able to face health problems and not get panicked. The sickness can't travel so deep if you keep an eye regularly on what is falling out of shape in you and what needs amending. - Astrid Walsh

Astrid Walsh is an amazing visual artist from Ireland. She has done numerous individual and collaborative exhibitions across the country and received awards and recognitions for her work. She started first started her healing journey and discovering Ayurveda when she was undergoing treatment for Lyme disease in 2003. Later on, she was diagnosed with a detached retina and that’s when she dove really deeply into Ayurveda, which she practices until today.

Sleeplessness, anxiety, unhealthy eating habits—we often regard these as just part of the “modern life”. But these can have more far-reaching effects on our well-being. And many times, people don’t realize that these often disregarded factors can be traced from an unaddressed trauma.

The discourse around this becomes extra important as the world navigates a 180-degree shift in our lives as individuals and societies to cope with a pandemic. People explore a newly evolving world of work, mostly, with uncertainty and a small support system.

But this episode’s guest, Patrick Haraghy, a therapist specializing in trauma, is out to take listeners through it with his five resources to stabilize our lives, whether traumatized or not.

For Patrick, these five key resources—exercise, food, engagement, relaxation, and sleep—may seem simple and have always been a part of the health and wellbeing narrative. Yet people continue to take for granted many of them, especially sleep.

A lot of healing happens during sleep—both for physical and mental healing. But trauma—whether developmental or shock trauma—often messes up one’s ability to get a good night’s sleep. And hence, the lack of it affects the body’s ability to recover and heal. And so it is important to know and practice some techniques to get a good night's sleep.
Practicing sleep hygiene would usually involve small habits such as not having caffeine in the evening, not eating late, not taking alcohol, trying to go to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time (so activate the internal clock), and preparing for sleep like a baby like going for a bath and doing something but not watching TV, etc.

In Ayurveda, this has been discussed in Samhita—how you run your day, creating an evening routine, and creating the atmosphere for sleep.

But dealing with trauma is a long-haul flight. It can be activated later in our lives. The body tends to protect us from that trauma, shifting us to avoidance mode for so long, but then something might come and trigger it. A lot of people become self-reliant because of trauma and develop difficulty in reaching out. Hence, creating a safe space and opening up the self to external support is key to addressing the trauma for good. And of course, practicing these five resources works wonders!

To Patrick, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeking help. Life is not a rehearsal and so life should be lived in its full potential. There's a good life out there to be lived.

Links mention in the podcast  

• Watch Video
• Patrick Harraghy Website
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!    
• Time to turn off Netflix and try 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 course – CHECK HERE!

Podcast Highlights

• A lot of healing happens during sleep. - Patrick Harraghy
• Self-care is very important, so I can be more available for the clients. - Patrick Harraghy
• With covid, a different kind of stress builds up within the home, especially with people working from home. Get out for a walk, even for just 10 minutes. It's important to get out of the environment and respect boundaries. - Patrick Harraghy
• Don't freak out; reach out. We all struggle. But life is there to be fair. We're all just human beings. - Alexandra Kreis
• 
  Seek help. Life is not a rehearsal. And so life should be lived in its full potential. There's a good life out there to be lived. - Patrick Harraghy

Patrick Harraghy is a psychotherapist at Centre Professional Therapy, specializing in trauma. His practice deals with trauma caused by traffic accidents, industrial accidents, shootings, sexual abuse, bullying, etc. Patrick is currently in Ireland and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Irish Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy(IACP). Patrick met Alexandra in yoga with a common interest: to help people in their journeys for a more stable, well-lived life.

Art and science, indeed, can become one. Daria’s journey tells us that.

This heartwarming conversation with Philipa Daria Filip traces back the strokes of that interesting moment of discovery of her art. It also dances us to the intricate details of how her artistry has been married to her world of science and philosophy of living sustainably.

Her moment of truth was that long journey from Poland to Paris—almost like an exposure trip to her unlived childhood days captured in countless photographs in an attempt to vividly store its beauty intangible memory—that went straight to a vernissage. But Daria’s art and science started even way back.

Although Paris, and its beauty and promise of sustainable living, is the cradle of Daria’s art, her motivation to marry art and science transcends beyond her artistry and this city. It is actually about her philosophy. Inspired by David Rocks' Quiet Leadership, she lives by the lesson that we don't learn on a linear curve; it's more parabolic. We have to focus our attention to make the space to make mistakes until we hit the curve. More like in art.

Coming from the logical corner—from studying and practicing engineering to teaching math and physics, and coming from a family who did the same—Daria found herself grabbing the camera and pouring out all her artistic side into it as her way of expression. But not only that. It is also her way of communicating details and of teaching science to the public eye. She has brought all these things together and calls it art is science and science is art.

To Daria, we can use common knowledge to understand the foundational principles (in math, science). And by slowing down and paying attention to the details—not doing shortcuts—we get so much more and higher quality understanding. In a way, sustainable learning.

Beyond Daria’s mind for details, she leaves an important trick to muster: Know when to focus on the detail and when to be a master of the subject to be able to appreciate and teach it. Know when to pull back and look at the big picture and how all pieces fit together. Not being a specialist in anything and trying to work and teach on it is equally dangerous as being a specialist in just one thing.

And above all, Daria inspires listeners to apply artistry to life: “Do not be afraid to try something new. Let it flow. Do not be afraid to take a chance.”

Links mention in the podcast 

• Daria Filip Website 
• Support me on Patreon and receive great gifts!   
• Powerful Wintering routines to consolidate your mind with your body – CHECK HERE!

Podcast Highlights

• With art, I've never felt so refreshed and rejuvenated. It further bolstered this concept of arts and science and how it impacts life. - Philipa Daria Filip
• The symbol of the delta, which means change, appears everywhere in science. We can use the common knowledge to really understand the foundational principles. By slowing down and really paying attention to the details, not doing shortcuts, you get so much more and higher quality understanding. - Philipa Daria Filip
• The trick of life is knowing which quote to follow when. When do we need to focus on the detail and be a master of a subject to be able to appreciate and teach it and when to pull back and look at the big picture and how all pieces fit together. Not being a specialist in anything and trying to work and teach on it is equally dangerous as being a specialist in just one thing. - Philipa Daria Filip
• Do not think that you have to choose one or the other. Just dabble in your art or artistry and however, it shows itself. See how that makes you go about your day to day life. You can find ways to combine it. - Alexandra Kreis
• Do not be afraid to try something new. Let it flow. Do not be afraid to take a chance. - Philipa Daria Filip

Guest Bio

Philipa Daria Filip is a teacher at the American School of Paris. Born in Toronto, Canada and to parents who emigrated to Canada from Poland/Ukraine after WWII, Daria had always longed to revisit her roots and explore Europe. She grew up in a family with an inclination to science—her mother always wanted her to be an engineer. She worked for three years in Western Canada and at the University of Waterloo and had a lot of experience working in industrial plants and factories. But in 1998, she switched to teaching math and science in high school and since then taught in different schools until she found her way to the American School of Paris.