UP #94: Overcoming Addiction and Reclaiming Your Self with Katherine Maas

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

I have a confession, I love speaking with people on the path of self-exploration; people who are hungry to live authentically from their purest essence. This week I have the honor of speaking with Katherine Maas, a long-time Unplug podcast listener living in the beautiful country of Switzerland.

Katherine’s story is one that so many can relate to. She grew up feeling lost, confused, and not understanding her place in the world. She felt disconnected from herself and found solace in food and alcohol. At the age of 19, her father died and the grief she denied removed her further from her core.

Katherine suffered from a wide range of conditions including: depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Like so many in today’s culture, she lacked the necessary awareness for healthy self-expression. Her decision to numb out became her coping mechanism in a world that was too dark and difficult to navigate.

After 10 years of battling food and alcohol addiction, she had an internal epiphany that demanded she stop her self-sabotaging ways. Many past attempts to break free from the grips of her addictions were unsuccessful, but in that one pivotal moment, everything changed.

After years of deluding herself, she decided to live authentically with full transparency. She’s since been on an extensive journey of healing and self-exploration that has empowered her to be more of who she’s always been meant to be. She’s now sober, anxiety-free, and hungry for self-expansion.

At its simplest, addiction is attachment. Attachment comes from the denial of truth fueled by the mind’s habitual tendency towards distraction from the authentic self. This is what creates the spiritual bankruptcy that Katherine once struggled with.

This week’s Unplug podcast is an exploration of our culture of addiction and how we’re taught to disconnect from our inner world at the expense of our souls. When we feel lost and afraid, we often search outside of ourselves for something to fill the void: food, alcohol, drugs, exercise, shopping, gambling, sex, and the list goes on and on and on. But as many of us know, these behaviors only lead to a greater internal disconnect. They not only hurt ourselves, they hurt our world.

This week’s conversation is raw, candid, open, and vulnerable. We delve into a wide range of topics including:

• The lost, invisible child syndrome.

• Seeking safety and control through addictive behaviors to fill internal vacancies.

• Eating disorders as a tool for emotional release.

• Stopping the binge/purge cycle.

• The cultural theft of our souls.

• The cultural coma of self-disconnect.

• Seizing the threshold moment of change.

• What is spiritual bankruptcy?

• How breath and meditation can eliminate anxiety.

• What is authentic intimacy?

• The transformative power of sharing our truth.

• The empowering space of awareness between reactivity.

• How changing your thoughts changes your world.

• Following the breadcrumbs of life and saying yes to yourself (repeatedly).

• Breaking through fear and creating more expansive comfort zones.

• The quiet presence of courage.

• What is GOYADI and how it can change your life.

This week we speak openly about being lost and found, and how the road to our authentic Self—our capital “S” Self—is expansive, deeply fulfilling, and unending.

Enjoy this authentic and open-hearted conversation with a beautiful young woman who had the courage to say yes to her Self!

SHOW NOTES:

• Within the Flow Yoga. Katherine’s website.

• Louise LeBrun’s WEL-Systems website.