Elena Castellucci, holistic health and energy coach, will be an essential part of our unsichtbar retreat “Embracing all of your Body: What true harmony, self-love and healing can achieve” geared towards people who have experienced trauma through sexualized violence or assault. The retreat will take place on November 26th 2022. Here is what Elena will contribute to this unique retreat:
What tools do you use in your sessions? And what practices do you envisage offering the retreat participants?
The number one goal is for the participants to leave the event feeling more connected to their bodies: more love, more compassion, forgiveness towards themselves. For them to feel inspired, loved and cared for. And above all, to be able to rejoice! Like a warm summer sun type-of-feeling.
For this to happen, a variety of tools from the holistic health and energy field are utilized. Starting from breath work, for example: how to breathe either to relax or energize your body; or tapping (Dr. John Diamond’s technique) which involves clearing various negative emotions in your body associated with different organs; and then I also integrate visualization as a healing tool. Also, a beautiful technique from one of my mentors, Raymon Grace, who has helped so many women around the world with trauma and abuse: it utilizes the power of flowers by visualizing them to help heal women and their bodies. Then we also have methods from Lisa Nichols, who is a renowned international motivational speaker: she created a method called the ‘Mirror Method’ which I wish to incorporate into the retreat as well. They will have other participants be their mirrors, so it is about really knowing what you forgive yourself for, what you are proud of and what you want to commit to. This technique normally is done facing yourself in the mirror in the morning, and you would go and say: ‘I am proud of myself for… I forgive you for… I commit to you that…’ And these are just some examples that could be relevant, but there is so much more.
What kind of transformation did you observe in the past with your clients (did you receive feedback from them/ what kind of change did they observe themselves)?
For me personally, all examples of change are very beautiful. In some sessions you see small shifts, but in fact every session is worth having; and if you as a coach are loving and courageous, if you are there for a person and give honest answers and are vulnerable yourself, you have given everything that person needs. And in fact even in sessions when it seemed that clients went home more immersed in their own thoughts and you could see the inner struggle and fight for growth going on, they reached out to me 1-2 days after saying that they felt absolutely amazing, something changed or they just were able to look at life differently.
As an example, I had a client who had a true fear of flying and going through sessions we managed to bring her to the point where she stopped taking heavy medication before any flight, and she became able to stay awake during and even enjoy the flight!
I’ve had clients whom I have helped in really tough situations, some of them were in very dark places. It is so important to have someone by your side who is there to take you seriously and not to pity you or encourage a victim mentality or attitude. Those are all tough conversations which are highly necessary. It is about offering to look at the situation from various perspectives and in depth and at who you are, at the origin of your pain or any other issue clients might bring with them, and also clarify your strengths and your support systems.
One last example I feel is important especially in regards to the body and trauma: I had a client who had been displaced and forced out of her home country. After she arrived in Vienna she began experiencing panic attacks and had a variety of physical issues. By utilizing some of the techniques I named before, she was able to be much more grounded/present and have a better understanding of what was behind her ailments. Now she is doing so much better and is achieving incredible things in her life!
What guidance would you give to people dealing with trauma?
Trauma is such an individual experience, every person experiences trauma on a different level, it’s very bio-individual. That is why there is not something specific that I can recommend to anyone, except for two things that have helped me personally a lot, and they have helped every single person I have recommended this to: The first one is to be in Faith. Being in faith for me personally means to have faith in God. This can look different to different people. For example, a powerful tool I like to use for myself is prayer. The beautiful thing about prayer is that you can use whatever powerful, healing words you want and feel you need and create your very own daily verse, so to speak. Prayer is something that has helped me so much, using your own words to uplift yourself, your circumstances and others! It is not about positive thinking, it is about stating what you are actually going through, all the tough moments and events in your life and then stating all the incredible, powerful resources you have and hold to counter that. There is always something, not only to be grateful for, but to make life worth living.
And the second recommendation is Nature. Nature is such a powerful healer. And for people who are too stressed, do not have enough time, have too much work, I wish to kindly tell you that this is exactly why you have to take time out and go into nature. Ground yourself and enjoy all the incredible colors and sounds. Go with people who appreciate and respect you, or if you need some alone time to heal, then be by yourself. It is definitely one of the most powerful places where you can heal – outside in nature.
These are the two things that I can recommend in general, even to people I do not know personally: Faith and Nature. One of the best combinations out there!
Further infos
Want to hear and learn more about Elena? Visit her website!
Want to join our retreat “Embracing all of your Body: What true harmony, self-love and healing can achieve”? You can find further infos here.
