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Like most people I was a shallow breather!
 From
an early age I felt called to help heal the vulnerable (Albert
Schweitzer and Maria Teresa were my heroes) which led me to
my vocation as an R. N. I worked as a pediatric intensive care
nurse in Europe until I became a mother and homesteader in
Canada.
I continued my passion for the healing arts together with living a wholesome lifestyle. My interests, which I dived into, included in nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathy, TCM, anthroposophy, (Rudolf Steiner), and especially anthroposophical medicine plus yoga, meditation, Reiki, Listening hands therapy and many more alternative modalities.
I also traveled on the path of self-improvement; self help and became a spiritual seeker. Over those twenty years of sincere seeking I accumulated knowledge, but never found what I was looking for - to live in total harmony.
In 1997 I met a teacher Garuada*,
who spoke passionately about the importance
of deep breathing and was himself an excellent example.
I immediately recognized that this important aspect of my
life was the missing link! To breathe deeply naturally all
of the time made complete and total sense to me.
I had difficulty breathing deeply at first and I soon realized that I had been holding lifetimes of tension in my body. My strong armour deluded me into thinking that I was just fine. All the therapy and workshops I had taken to this point in my life were purely on the psychological level and ignored the body. The breath became like a torch that melted the ice (armour) bit by bit, and I felt that Garuda was an archeologist unearthing hidden treasures.
This breathing work started to transform my life as nothing
before. I became Garuda's full time student and apprentice
for the next three years. For the following two and a half
years we worked together giving sessions,
workshops and retreats in Canada,
USA and Australia.
Doing this work, which I have named "Breathe and Heal", enables us to live with total trust, empowerment, well-being, love and compassion for ourselves and others. Fear, anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, resentments, regrets, and self-pity can’t have a hold on us any more, and that to me is freedom.
My greatest reward in having had the courage to do this work,
and enter "the dark night of the soul" for a period of time,
is my union with David, my life partner. We have a relationship
that is 'a dream come true'. It is easy, effortless, loving,
caring, honouring each other, supportive, and every positive
way of being together that we can imagine. And I feel extremely
blessed to have great relationships with my three wonderful
teenagers. My only wish is to share this work with as many
fellow human beings as possible. I now know that when we live
with these principles we are on our way to a peaceful existence,
and a rediscovery of our humanity. I totally agree with the
saying “we teach what we most need to learn”.
And I want to add to that: Everybody has the capacity and
the birthright to restore full respiration and experience
a life free of stress, constant fear and conflicts.
“ A heart that breaks open has compassion for the whole world ” Unknown
* Garuada
(PhD in clinical psychology, author of several books,
student of Alexander Lowen, trained with Fritz Perls
at Esalen)
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