This week I wanted to start by thanking everyone who's joined us here recently, it's been a busy few weeks and I'm grateful for that - welcome! 🤗 So, for this edition, I thought it would be interesting for you to learn more about me, where I'm coming from and why I'm sharing body liberation practices with you. Because so many of us suffer silently from stress that overwhelms us. From anxiety that sometimes takes our breath away. From worries that keep us awake at night. From small or major physical ailments that handicap us more and more. From the feeling of being so different that we feel alone, vulnerable and lost. Because there are more and more of us going through difficult times, feeling helpless, disconnected, with no clear direction to move towards. ***
From a very early age, I experienced a feeling of stress, worry and intense, persistent anxiety when faced with everyday situations, even though they were 'banal' in the eyes of others. Even as a nursery school child, I used to have anxiety when I went to bed, for fear of what would happen the next day. I had a dread of enforced naps, forced meals and other children making hurtful remarks. I was petrified of all that for days on end. As an adult, I learnt to completely suppress this sensitivity. Going from one success to the next, finishing my baccalauréat with the best average in my school, completing my Masters at Sciences Po Paris with great distinction, climbing the ladder of multinational companies for nearly 10 years (and so on) - all the while feeling petrified and drained of all vital energy - only strengthened my beliefs. Everything led me to believe that the key to success in a hyper-competitive society, greedy for titles and distinctions, valuing material trophies as signs of success... lay in suppressing my emotions, my feelings, my physical sensations. I had learnt to dissociate myself from my body in order to survive, to function and perform as those around me, my mentors and my bosses expected me to - most of them with a great deal of love, hope and belief in my overflowing potential. Except that instead of feeling like I was growing, I felt like I was shrinking. Instead of expanding, I felt compressed. By trying so hard to fit into the mould, I suffocated myself. No matter how much my body spoke, I didn't listen. No matter how much it screamed, I silenced it. Until one day, my body just stopped. Repeated episodes of anxiety, intense fear and even terror ended up as panic attacks. A generalized inflammation of the body that physically immobilized me to the point of not being able to get out of bed. Episodes of heart palpitations that landed me in hospital for observation. I was so ashamed... what a failure! After years of superhuman effort, everything collapsed overnight. I was exhausted. Drained. Completely lost. It took me 9 months to get out of that dark night of the soul. Nine long months... the time it takes to give birth ! The birth of a new version of myself, the start of a new life, a new 'Ana', closer than ever to her feelings and perceptions as a child. Certainly more in touch with my anxieties and fears too, which I'm still working through. But also closer to my intuition, my sensitivity and my healing powers. Today, I'm passing on all these wonderful discoveries to you - in bits and pieces via Youtube videos, tailor-made private coaching sessions and intensive retreats that I'm organising here in Portugal (and soon via online programmes 🙌🏼 ). *** My deepest wish? 🌹 That you stop missing out on your life because of the incessant stress, fear and mental turmoil that robs you of your energy and power as the Creator and Sovereign being you are. Bring ease and fluidity back into your body and your life through body-based healing and liberation techniques, such as somatic therapy and yoga-inspired movement, body meditations, breathwork and nature therapy. My specialty ? 🦋
Help you to leave behind a state of survival and dare to enjoy the sweetness of life and the feeling of being fully and wonderfully ALIVE !
Help you get out of those physical, emotional and energetic blockages that I know all too well and continue to experience, because life is movement and nothing can ever be taken for granted
Help you to move beyond that state of stuckness or overflow that causes your cup to spill, leaving you feel stifled
Recreate harmony between your body, mind and soul when you've dissociated to protect yourself
New Youtube Flow of the week 🎥
Join me for a "comforting, night-time" flow 🌙 with
cradling movements and self-hugging postures to soothe your stress