For me happiness is something I have been working hard for throughout my life…it has not always come naturally.
I was born into a family of amazing artists and brilliant minds that also struggled with mood disorders… I myself, like many members of my family, am very sensitive and seem to have a predisposition to struggling with depression and anxiety.
So I have spent my adult life searching for the cure… and my journey became a spiritual one.
The biggest breakthrough occurred when I went through Yoga Teacher Training with my guru, Maria Ortega-Murphy (OM). I had a spiritual awakening as I learned to witness my emotions and awaken to my true nature as a spiritual being.
I discovered that the opposite of depression is love… self love. Because when we are depressed we are really just not loving ourselves. Not accepting ourselves as we are and feeling helpless and hopeless because we are thinking that there is something inherently wrong with who we are.
When we awaken to the truth of who we really are we can love ourselves again. Because the truth is that we are not these physical bodies in this 3D world… We are eternal souls living here just for a little while having this experience on Earth so that we can learn lessons and feel all the things that humans get to feel…
But we are not our feelings. Nor our thoughts. We are energy. We are the higher self, the spirit that is connected to all other spirits including the source of energy we all sprang from.
You could also say that the opposite of depression is connection (as Johann Hari wrote about in his book, Lost Connections.) Because when we feel disconnected from our true selves and disconnected from God and disconnected from love and hope and community, that is when we suffer.
Yoga means Union. Yoga means connecting our consciousness with Universal Consciousness and we do that by uniting the mind, body and spirit. We unite the breath with intentional movement. We connect back to our true selves. And that is why a yoga practice (a true yoga practice which includes spiritual devotion and meditation) can alleviate depression.
Over my years of study and practice I have discovered other modalities that have also helped me to connect to my true self. Dancing for me is a spiritual practice, through dance I can channel my divine feminine energy, soothe my nervous system, and get into a flow state where I can turn off my brain and feel into the wisdom of my body and my higher self.
Reiki is also a powerful tool that can connect us back to how miraculous and powerful we truly are. We can heal ourselves and help others do the same by channeling Reiki, Universal Life Force Energy. It is truly remarkable.
Holistic Happiness was born from this idea, that as humans we can utilize these modalities and live happier lives, holistically, through mental, physical and spiritual practices that have been passed down through the ages.
I am eternally grateful for all the masters that have gone before and passed down this wisdom. Without these practices I don’t know that I would have survived or been able to become a wife, mother and teacher.
I am excited to be working as a partner with Maria OM, my mentor and teacher, as we now join together to share our love for this work with the community.
We are excited to announce the opening of Holistic Happiness, a semi-private wellness studio located in West Milford, NJ. We are offering courses and workshops in many different holistic modalities such as yoga, bellydance, Reiki, Pilates, meditation and other spiritual modalities. We are utilizing our combined 35+ years of experience in the wellness industry to create a space where we can nurture a spiritual community and help our students find their own path to holistic happiness.
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