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NANGELI THERAPY

Remembering your way back home

Therapy for individuals, couples and families

Book a free 30 minute discovery call

About Jaisy

Jaisy is a licensed counsellor and Psychedelic Integration Therapist who provides trauma-informed counselling for anxiety, depression, grief/loss, issues specific to first and second-generation migrant populations and psychedelic integration counselling for those who have experienced psychedelics.

Her services aslo include clients who are self-managed or plan-managed under the NDIS.

"The healer you have been looking for
is your own courage to know and love yourself completely"

- Yung Pueblo

Canberra is Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country,

I live, work and dance on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands

I honour the navigational tracks of the land, waterways, and skies, created by spiritual ancestors and giving story to the land

This land was never surrendered. It has always been and will continue to always be Aboriginal land.

Contact

Are you one of those people who feel everything?

👉Do you go to the mall and feel drained because it all feels too much- the lights, the sounds, the smells?
👉Do you feel overstimulated and bone deep exhaustion at the end of the day after being in office spaces that are brightly lit (improve productivity) and glued to screens.
👉Do you always feel everyone else is fine and coping with life and why am I so weak?

If this resonates chances are you are an intuitive.

Are you an intuitive?

Joshua Schrei of the Emerald podcast in the two part podcast series called “The Intuitive” discusses the pathologising of sensory overload, the deeply felt sense of knowing of what everyone is feeling around you - just being one’s innate intuitive self.

He delivers a rousing recitation of story medicine weaving history,mythology and poetry discussing the forces that led to the marginalisation and pathologising of hearing voices, having visions and premonitions which were normal and translated to day to day experiences in many traditions and cultures over millions of years. He brilliantly shines light on modernity’s difficult relationship with intuition and the norm being to override your intuition, prioritising rational understanding.

I see many intuitives in my work- they present almost always overwhelmed, anxious, depressed and often suicidal. They have been told too many times that they are dramatic,over sensitive and too much…
Joshua in this podcast also shares about how the intuitive in the modern context is

👉Living in trauma response (fight,flight,freeze,fawn)
👉neurodivergent
👉hypervigilant

If you are an intuitive and feeling it all please know that your sensitivity is your superpower 💜

You need to learn to work with these sensitivities though. It’s a shame this is not taught at school.

So please reach out if you are struggling…

Link in bio 😊

#canberracounsellor #sensoryoverwhelm #workplaceconflict #relationshipconflictcounselling #IFScanberra #somatichealing

Are you one of those people who feel everything?

👉Do you go to the mall and feel drained because it all feels too much- the lights, the sounds, the smells?
👉Do you feel overstimulated and bone deep exhaustion at the end of the day after being in office spaces that are brightly lit (improve productivity) and glued to screens.
👉Do you always feel everyone else is fine and coping with life and why am I so weak?

If this resonates chances are you are an intuitive.

Are you an intuitive?

Joshua Schrei of the Emerald podcast in the two part podcast series called “The Intuitive” discusses the pathologising of sensory overload, the deeply felt sense of knowing of what everyone is feeling around you - just being one’s innate intuitive self.

He delivers a rousing recitation of story medicine weaving history,mythology and poetry discussing the forces that led to the marginalisation and pathologising of hearing voices, having visions and premonitions which were normal and translated to day to day experiences in many traditions and cultures over millions of years. He brilliantly shines light on modernity’s difficult relationship with intuition and the norm being to override your intuition, prioritising rational understanding.

I see many intuitives in my work- they present almost always overwhelmed, anxious, depressed and often suicidal. They have been told too many times that they are dramatic,over sensitive and too much…
Joshua in this podcast also shares about how the intuitive in the modern context is

👉Living in trauma response (fight,flight,freeze,fawn)
👉neurodivergent
👉hypervigilant

If you are an intuitive and feeling it all please know that your sensitivity is your superpower 💜

You need to learn to work with these sensitivities though. It’s a shame this is not taught at school.

So please reach out if you are struggling…

Link in bio 😊

#canberracounsellor #sensoryoverwhelm #workplaceconflict #relationshipconflictcounselling #IFScanberra #somatichealing

I have appointments available for Wednesday the 23rd of January. From the 24th - 29th I will be offline, away at a retreat being in ceremony, being with Self and communing with nature.

Time away from devices and deep immersions in nature are a source of deep nourishment that is necessary self care when engaging in this work.

Cultivating a nervous system capacity that can engage trauma work everyday, is a devotional practise engaged in daily. For me this is through dance, movement based meditations, breathwork, time alone in nature and journeying with sacred plant medicines. The privilege I have in being able to do all this is not lost on me. I am so deeply grateful.

So back on the 30th of January fully charged and ready to roll for 2024.

I live, dance, play and work on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands. This Is Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country 💜

I have appointments available for Wednesday the 23rd of January. From the 24th - 29th I will be offline, away at a retreat being in ceremony, being with Self and communing with nature.

Time away from devices and deep immersions in nature are a source of deep nourishment that is necessary self care when engaging in this work.

Cultivating a nervous system capacity that can engage trauma work everyday, is a devotional practise engaged in daily. For me this is through dance, movement based meditations, breathwork, time alone in nature and journeying with sacred plant medicines. The privilege I have in being able to do all this is not lost on me. I am so deeply grateful.

So back on the 30th of January fully charged and ready to roll for 2024.

I live, dance, play and work on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands. This Is Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country 💜

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Nangeli Counselling 👋
A tiny tour of my office space and Daisy Lane (made in memory of my Mother Daisy who passed away in 2020) which is also your waiting room if you come early 🧡 .

I look forward to meeting you on beautiful Ngunnawal Country.

#canberracounsellor #psychedelicassistedtherapist #somaticcounsellor #IFS #couplecounselling #depression #anxietysupport

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Nangeli Counselling 👋
A tiny tour of my office space and Daisy Lane (made in memory of my Mother Daisy who passed away in 2020) which is also your waiting room if you come early 🧡 .

I look forward to meeting you on beautiful Ngunnawal Country.

#canberracounsellor #psychedelicassistedtherapist #somaticcounsellor #IFS #couplecounselling #depression #anxietysupport

Hello everyone

For those of you who are new and to those who have been following me for a while just wanted to come in and say hiya…
I wanted to put a face to Nangeli Counselling and introduce myself briefly. I realise I have been posting many of my reflections but never really posted any videos of me.
This is going to be an exciting year for me with many collaborations, group and community based work brewing.
I genuinely look forward to connecting with you all in person or online.

I work at Canberra Child Psychiatry, Deakin. Canberra on Tuesdays.

All other days I am available in person / online internationally via my private practise

Welcome 2024 🧡

#canberratherapist #psychedelictherapist #somatictherapy #IFScanberra #healingthebody #traumaawaretherapy #traumatherapyandcounseling #counselling #counsellors #counsellingcanberra

Hello everyone

For those of you who are new and to those who have been following me for a while just wanted to come in and say hiya…
I wanted to put a face to Nangeli Counselling and introduce myself briefly. I realise I have been posting many of my reflections but never really posted any videos of me.
This is going to be an exciting year for me with many collaborations, group and community based work brewing.
I genuinely look forward to connecting with you all in person or online.

I work at Canberra Child Psychiatry, Deakin. Canberra on Tuesdays.

All other days I am available in person / online internationally via my private practise

Welcome 2024 🧡

#canberratherapist #psychedelictherapist #somatictherapy #IFScanberra #healingthebody #traumaawaretherapy #traumatherapyandcounseling #counselling #counsellors #counsellingcanberra

I have been so quiet around here and I also realised I haven’t posted any pics of mine and so here are some random nice pics of mine 😅
Well let me tell you what woke me up from my slumber. It’s a movie ya’ll.

When art moves and incites and fills you with rage and grief and keeps you up all night well what can I say except that it is exciting

The movie Kaathal - The core is a must watch.

This malayalam movie is a moving portrayal of the life of a gay man set in Teekoy not so far away from my home town in Kerala. His wife of twenty years files for divorce citing denial of her sexual needs as grounds for divorce. The impact of one decision (father heeds advice from the medical professional that marrying off the gay son should sort him out) on three generations and how grief and loss moves silently, confusingly stealing youth and the layering of love and grief and loss.This is a slow but intensely moving no flourish real deal movie.

For me I saw the faces of many of my clients - individuals, couples, young adults and their parents who have sat in my office bereft , depressed and holding the weight of so much loss resulting from well intended parents continuing to blindly follow/listen to what then becomes abuse that is socially and culturally sanctioned .
It’s truly time to stop.

So this is a message for all of my followers from collectivist cultures where arranged marriage is employed by families to manage mental health issues and LGBTQI+ people.

If your son/daughter identifies as LGBTQI+ marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter has depression marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter is addicted to porn marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter has behavioural problems (anger/chronic avoidance) marrying them off will NOT sort them out.

Marrying them off as a management strategy is NEGLIGENCE and ABANDONMENT

If you entered an arranged marriage and your sexual needs are not met SEEK HELP from a qualified professional.

I work with individuals, couples and families online and in person to help with all the above discussed scenarios.

Please find link in bio.

Happy New Year everyone.

I have been so quiet around here and I also realised I haven’t posted any pics of mine and so here are some random nice pics of mine 😅
Well let me tell you what woke me up from my slumber. It’s a movie ya’ll.

When art moves and incites and fills you with rage and grief and keeps you up all night well what can I say except that it is exciting

The movie Kaathal - The core is a must watch.

This malayalam movie is a moving portrayal of the life of a gay man set in Teekoy not so far away from my home town in Kerala. His wife of twenty years files for divorce citing denial of her sexual needs as grounds for divorce. The impact of one decision (father heeds advice from the medical professional that marrying off the gay son should sort him out) on three generations and how grief and loss moves silently, confusingly stealing youth and the layering of love and grief and loss.This is a slow but intensely moving no flourish real deal movie.

For me I saw the faces of many of my clients - individuals, couples, young adults and their parents who have sat in my office bereft , depressed and holding the weight of so much loss resulting from well intended parents continuing to blindly follow/listen to what then becomes abuse that is socially and culturally sanctioned .
It’s truly time to stop.

So this is a message for all of my followers from collectivist cultures where arranged marriage is employed by families to manage mental health issues and LGBTQI+ people.

If your son/daughter identifies as LGBTQI+ marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter has depression marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter is addicted to porn marrying them off will NOT sort them out.
If your son/daughter has behavioural problems (anger/chronic avoidance) marrying them off will NOT sort them out.

Marrying them off as a management strategy is NEGLIGENCE and ABANDONMENT

If you entered an arranged marriage and your sexual needs are not met SEEK HELP from a qualified professional.

I work with individuals, couples and families online and in person to help with all the above discussed scenarios.

Please find link in bio.

Happy New Year everyone.

Caroline Myss speaks the truth…

This is why I was so drawn to somatic therapy when I was doing my Master of Counselling. Psychedelics then became a powerful gateway into the intelligence of the body.

Healing our bodies is healing the earth.

Many of us show up with so much gusto to clean up the ocean and pick up rubbish and march for climate change…
This is great!

But sacred activism for the earth can be so much closer to home..

What if I told you that your body is the earth 🌎?
There is an ocean 🌊 within your body!
Your body is the soil…

Why won’t you tend to her?

Every single ache and pain
every moment of breathlessness, every spark of anger, sadness, disgust

says a story about your body because the language of the body is the language of emotions.

Healing your body is healing the earth, Healing your body is healing your ancestry
Healing your body is healing your children…

Are you called to listen deeply?

If your are contact me via link is bio.

One of the most courageous acts that you can engage in is to tune into your body and slowly begin to notice all the somatic expressions.

I use the word courageous very intentionally.
This is not easy.

When we can’t stop
reaching for the cookie
Scrolling through social media
Pouring that alcohol…

Especially deep down when we know we are

Not hungry
feeling numb
overwhelmed …

It is NOT easy to pause and tune into the body and stay with the sensations. So it is an act of great courage to sit with the unpleasant sensations of the body.

In therapy we explore the various somatic expressions of your body.
We work within your window of tolerance.
We titrate the process.
So this is not as hard as you might think.

This is a call to courage.

I dare say there is an element of fun in dating yourself through your body.
If only your body could speak through words…
Ahh the stories she would tell…
When we really begin to listen It’s beyond wondrous and kinda addictive I might add 😍
#somatichealing #bodyisintelligent #soma #healthebodyhealthemind #canberracounsellor

Caroline Myss speaks the truth…

This is why I was so drawn to somatic therapy when I was doing my Master of Counselling. Psychedelics then became a powerful gateway into the intelligence of the body.

Healing our bodies is healing the earth.

Many of us show up with so much gusto to clean up the ocean and pick up rubbish and march for climate change…
This is great!

But sacred activism for the earth can be so much closer to home..

What if I told you that your body is the earth 🌎?
There is an ocean 🌊 within your body!
Your body is the soil…

Why won’t you tend to her?

Every single ache and pain
every moment of breathlessness, every spark of anger, sadness, disgust

says a story about your body because the language of the body is the language of emotions.

Healing your body is healing the earth, Healing your body is healing your ancestry
Healing your body is healing your children…

Are you called to listen deeply?

If your are contact me via link is bio.

One of the most courageous acts that you can engage in is to tune into your body and slowly begin to notice all the somatic expressions.

I use the word courageous very intentionally.
This is not easy.

When we can’t stop
reaching for the cookie
Scrolling through social media
Pouring that alcohol…

Especially deep down when we know we are

Not hungry
feeling numb
overwhelmed …

It is NOT easy to pause and tune into the body and stay with the sensations. So it is an act of great courage to sit with the unpleasant sensations of the body.

In therapy we explore the various somatic expressions of your body.
We work within your window of tolerance.
We titrate the process.
So this is not as hard as you might think.

This is a call to courage.

I dare say there is an element of fun in dating yourself through your body.
If only your body could speak through words…
Ahh the stories she would tell…
When we really begin to listen It’s beyond wondrous and kinda addictive I might add 😍
#somatichealing #bodyisintelligent #soma #healthebodyhealthemind #canberracounsellor

The research base for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy is continuing to grow and as a psychedelic assisted psychotherapist in the making, I field a lot of queries around this.

It is truly important to note that it is not and never has been just about the drug. I always reflect about this in integration work as when you are in the trauma vortex it is hard to fully understand the impact of trauma experiences. Particularly hard with small t traumas. I have done a post about small t traumas earlier. You are welcome to check that out 😊

The research on the therapeutic effects of psychedelics highlights the extra- pharmacological factors and conditions that contribute to positive outcomes. Accompanying psychotherapy is essential to bring about meaningful behavioural changes to life along with psychedelics.

Liknaitzky(‭2023), a ‬researcher on psychedelic treatments, observed, recent trials include up to 40 h of psychotherapy in conjunction with supervised dosing with psychedelics.

Breeksema et al.(‭2020, p. 926) note, ‬the safety, clinical benefits and therapeutic outcomes of psychedelics are fundamentally reliant on a supportive environment and extra- pharmacological factors such as expectation, intentions, preparation, environment and integration of the experience.

There are many people who go from one retreat/psychedelic experience to another without taking the time to integrate the experience. This then becomes another form of escapism just like alcohol and food and media.

If you are circling in this pattern or know someone who is please reach out. Help is available in person in Ngunnawal Country or online internationally
Link in bio.
#psychedelictherapy #psychedelicintegration #canberracounsellor #therapist #somatictherapy #ifstherapy

The research base for psychedelic assisted psychotherapy is continuing to grow and as a psychedelic assisted psychotherapist in the making, I field a lot of queries around this.

It is truly important to note that it is not and never has been just about the drug. I always reflect about this in integration work as when you are in the trauma vortex it is hard to fully understand the impact of trauma experiences. Particularly hard with small t traumas. I have done a post about small t traumas earlier. You are welcome to check that out 😊

The research on the therapeutic effects of psychedelics highlights the extra- pharmacological factors and conditions that contribute to positive outcomes. Accompanying psychotherapy is essential to bring about meaningful behavioural changes to life along with psychedelics.

Liknaitzky(‭2023), a ‬researcher on psychedelic treatments, observed, recent trials include up to 40 h of psychotherapy in conjunction with supervised dosing with psychedelics.

Breeksema et al.(‭2020, p. 926) note, ‬the safety, clinical benefits and therapeutic outcomes of psychedelics are fundamentally reliant on a supportive environment and extra- pharmacological factors such as expectation, intentions, preparation, environment and integration of the experience.

There are many people who go from one retreat/psychedelic experience to another without taking the time to integrate the experience. This then becomes another form of escapism just like alcohol and food and media.

If you are circling in this pattern or know someone who is please reach out. Help is available in person in Ngunnawal Country or online internationally
Link in bio.
#psychedelictherapy #psychedelicintegration #canberracounsellor #therapist #somatictherapy #ifstherapy

What is psychedelic integration and how do I support clients in this space?

Psychedelic integration sessions are for those who have experienced psychedelics recreationally or legally in countries like Peru and Amsterdam and need help integrating the experience.

Currently, psychedelics are illegal in Australia and Nangeli does not encourage or endorse illegal activities.

Nangeli offers harm minimisation support through therapy to assist with both preparation for psychedelic journeys and integration after psychedelic journeys. Nangeli draws from the four wisdom lenses working with cognitive, sacred, embodied and relational lenses in trying to understand trauma from both a personal and an intergenerational perspective.

Psychedelics are NOT for everyone. There are many risks associated with using these powerful substances. So please work with your GP, or psychedelically informed therapist and follow organisations like AMAPP (Australian Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners) for information about clinical trials and treatment options.  
There is a lot going on in the psychedelic space, particularly now with Australia being the first country in the world to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin from Schedule 9 to Schedule 8 and can currently be legally prescribed by psychiatrists.

Please check link in bio and find many more resources on my webpage.

Disclaimer
Nangeli acknowledges that the recreational use of psychedelics continues despite a long history of criminalisation. Nangeli does not encourage or condone recreational use of psychedelics. Nangeli provides harm minimisation interventions and psychoeducation to those who make it their choice to do this.

#psychedelicintegration #plantmedicinemagic #psilocybin

What is psychedelic integration and how do I support clients in this space?

Psychedelic integration sessions are for those who have experienced psychedelics recreationally or legally in countries like Peru and Amsterdam and need help integrating the experience.

Currently, psychedelics are illegal in Australia and Nangeli does not encourage or endorse illegal activities.

Nangeli offers harm minimisation support through therapy to assist with both preparation for psychedelic journeys and integration after psychedelic journeys. Nangeli draws from the four wisdom lenses working with cognitive, sacred, embodied and relational lenses in trying to understand trauma from both a personal and an intergenerational perspective.

Psychedelics are NOT for everyone. There are many risks associated with using these powerful substances. So please work with your GP, or psychedelically informed therapist and follow organisations like AMAPP (Australian Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Practitioners) for information about clinical trials and treatment options.  
There is a lot going on in the psychedelic space, particularly now with Australia being the first country in the world to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin from Schedule 9 to Schedule 8 and can currently be legally prescribed by psychiatrists.

Please check link in bio and find many more resources on my webpage.

Disclaimer
Nangeli acknowledges that the recreational use of psychedelics continues despite a long history of criminalisation. Nangeli does not encourage or condone recreational use of psychedelics. Nangeli provides harm minimisation interventions and psychoeducation to those who make it their choice to do this.

#psychedelicintegration #plantmedicinemagic #psilocybin

Are you talking to the trees Jaisy?

Now this is a running joke in my intimate social circle where everyone likes to laugh about how Jaisy talks to trees.

About 7 years ago, when I worked as an academic librarian, the book “Of water and the Spirit” by Malidoma Some an African elder, found me. I was born in Africa and so Africa always has a soft corner in my heart.

There was an account in the book about how the healer of the tribe would sometimes walk down to the forests and commune with the trees and plants for hours or even days before they came back with remedies for specific illnesses, as they listened deeply to the wisdom of the forests.

Nothing about this was strange to me. I had no trouble believing this and I shared this story from the book at a party and realised how no one else thought this way 😂. Surprise! The joke about Jaisy talking to trees stuck!

Enter Suzanne Simard, forest ecologist who has now proven,beyond doubt, that trees communicate with each other- that the forest is a single organism wired for wisdom and care. Simard found that processes that make for a high functioning forest, mirror the map of human brain that we are also just now drawing. She calls the mature hub trees in a forest “mother trees” - parenting, eldering, in a mode of mutuality and reciprocity, modeling what we know of to be true of genuinely flourishing human ecosystems.

All of this again catching up with the intelligence of long held aboriginal science.

In therapy, I draw unapologetically from the sacred wisdom lens along with the somatic, relational and cognitive wisdom lenses. When people hear the term sacred or spiritual there is still a lot of discomfort.

When I started as a therapist, I hid the fact that my approach also looked at presentating concerns through the sacred wisdom lens. I amplified my cognitive knowing to sound professional.

Today as I begin to land in my knowing of my personhood, I recognise that one of my biggest strength as a therapist lies in my ability to be in reverent curiosity with the unknowable.If cognitive based therapies haven’t fully met your needs please reach out.

Link in bio🌹I work online internationally.
#counselling

Are you talking to the trees Jaisy?

Now this is a running joke in my intimate social circle where everyone likes to laugh about how Jaisy talks to trees.

About 7 years ago, when I worked as an academic librarian, the book “Of water and the Spirit” by Malidoma Some an African elder, found me. I was born in Africa and so Africa always has a soft corner in my heart.

There was an account in the book about how the healer of the tribe would sometimes walk down to the forests and commune with the trees and plants for hours or even days before they came back with remedies for specific illnesses, as they listened deeply to the wisdom of the forests.

Nothing about this was strange to me. I had no trouble believing this and I shared this story from the book at a party and realised how no one else thought this way 😂. Surprise! The joke about Jaisy talking to trees stuck!

Enter Suzanne Simard, forest ecologist who has now proven,beyond doubt, that trees communicate with each other- that the forest is a single organism wired for wisdom and care. Simard found that processes that make for a high functioning forest, mirror the map of human brain that we are also just now drawing. She calls the mature hub trees in a forest “mother trees” - parenting, eldering, in a mode of mutuality and reciprocity, modeling what we know of to be true of genuinely flourishing human ecosystems.

All of this again catching up with the intelligence of long held aboriginal science.

In therapy, I draw unapologetically from the sacred wisdom lens along with the somatic, relational and cognitive wisdom lenses. When people hear the term sacred or spiritual there is still a lot of discomfort.

When I started as a therapist, I hid the fact that my approach also looked at presentating concerns through the sacred wisdom lens. I amplified my cognitive knowing to sound professional.

Today as I begin to land in my knowing of my personhood, I recognise that one of my biggest strength as a therapist lies in my ability to be in reverent curiosity with the unknowable.If cognitive based therapies haven’t fully met your needs please reach out.

Link in bio🌹I work online internationally.
#counselling

As a psychedelic therapist in the making, my work with plant medicine has led me to discover and understand the impact of intergenerational trauma (a continuing process) in my lineage connecting the impact of colonialism and forced conversions to Christianity in Kerala, South India that led to the loss of connection to land, loss of ways of knowing and loss of wisdom that is deeply connected to the cycles of the earth and living in reciprocity with nature.

Books like Helen Epstein's "Children of the Holocaust" written forty years ago and more recently Gabor Mate's "The myth of Normal" and Resma Menakem's book "My Grandmother's Hands" all validate what indigenous cultures had known for centuries that trauma is passed on from generation to generation.

"The medicine is already within the pain and suffering. You just have to look deeply and quietly. Then you realise that it has been there the whole time."
saying from the Native American oral tradition

In working with the threads of what was lost in my ancestry I can say without any doubt, that many of my behaviours were passed down as trauma responses that I didn't recognise and therefore accepted as normal.
When we begin to realise and recognise our traumatic inheritance we truly begin to heal. As a therapist, my biggest joy is to see my clients break patterns with more ease as they wake up with compassion for themselves, their parents and their grandparents as they begin to clearly witness their traumatic inheritance. In this witnessing, stubborn addictions and behaviour patterns that earlier would not shift begin to have more spaciousness around it.

Clinical psychologist and researcher Eduardo Duran's work connects experiences such as poverty, illness, alcoholism, family separation and emotional and mental health conditions to traumatic inheritance and shows that no matter how private or personal the pain and fear and grief might feel like it is never an individual problem.

#intergenerationaltrauma #gabormate #psychedelictherapy #canberratherapist #gnunnawalcountry #traumaticinheritance

As a psychedelic therapist in the making, my work with plant medicine has led me to discover and understand the impact of intergenerational trauma (a continuing process) in my lineage connecting the impact of colonialism and forced conversions to Christianity in Kerala, South India that led to the loss of connection to land, loss of ways of knowing and loss of wisdom that is deeply connected to the cycles of the earth and living in reciprocity with nature.

Books like Helen Epstein's "Children of the Holocaust" written forty years ago and more recently Gabor Mate's "The myth of Normal" and Resma Menakem's book "My Grandmother's Hands" all validate what indigenous cultures had known for centuries that trauma is passed on from generation to generation.

"The medicine is already within the pain and suffering. You just have to look deeply and quietly. Then you realise that it has been there the whole time."
saying from the Native American oral tradition

In working with the threads of what was lost in my ancestry I can say without any doubt, that many of my behaviours were passed down as trauma responses that I didn't recognise and therefore accepted as normal.
When we begin to realise and recognise our traumatic inheritance we truly begin to heal. As a therapist, my biggest joy is to see my clients break patterns with more ease as they wake up with compassion for themselves, their parents and their grandparents as they begin to clearly witness their traumatic inheritance. In this witnessing, stubborn addictions and behaviour patterns that earlier would not shift begin to have more spaciousness around it.

Clinical psychologist and researcher Eduardo Duran's work connects experiences such as poverty, illness, alcoholism, family separation and emotional and mental health conditions to traumatic inheritance and shows that no matter how private or personal the pain and fear and grief might feel like it is never an individual problem.

#intergenerationaltrauma #gabormate #psychedelictherapy #canberratherapist #gnunnawalcountry #traumaticinheritance

What does hitting rock bottom look like?
I have had many clients who are referred on to me and in that first session who spent most of it in tears unable to get many words out. Both men and women. We are talking 40 minutes of just tears all the way.

Most of the time they are so shocked about the vulnerability of their uncontrollable eruption of grief and sadness that they start apologising for this expression.

It’s never easy to get this message across.
But I try saying this.

Hitting rock bottom is a great place to start.
Just fall apart y’all
Just fall apart…

When the going gets tough
Get in the car
Put on some music and just let it rip…

Ask the God you believe in to give you a fu*king break.
Let the car be your temple.
No candles needed
No rote prayers

Your tears are plenty.

So my prayer for you is that
You.hit.rock.bottom.

💜

Does counselling help?
Simply put yes it does.
When someone holds nonjudgemental attention and presence and listens to you and reflects back to you what is heard and understood, so many more perspectives come to life. If Nangeli can help do not hesitate to check out the link in bio. I see clients in person in Ngunnalwal Country (Canberra) but also work online nationally and internationally.

#counsellingservices #canberratherapist #psychedelicintegration #hittingrockbottommakesyoustronger #prayerlife

What does hitting rock bottom look like?
I have had many clients who are referred on to me and in that first session who spent most of it in tears unable to get many words out. Both men and women. We are talking 40 minutes of just tears all the way.

Most of the time they are so shocked about the vulnerability of their uncontrollable eruption of grief and sadness that they start apologising for this expression.

It’s never easy to get this message across.
But I try saying this.

Hitting rock bottom is a great place to start.
Just fall apart y’all
Just fall apart…

When the going gets tough
Get in the car
Put on some music and just let it rip…

Ask the God you believe in to give you a fu*king break.
Let the car be your temple.
No candles needed
No rote prayers

Your tears are plenty.

So my prayer for you is that
You.hit.rock.bottom.

💜

Does counselling help?
Simply put yes it does.
When someone holds nonjudgemental attention and presence and listens to you and reflects back to you what is heard and understood, so many more perspectives come to life. If Nangeli can help do not hesitate to check out the link in bio. I see clients in person in Ngunnalwal Country (Canberra) but also work online nationally and internationally.

#counsellingservices #canberratherapist #psychedelicintegration #hittingrockbottommakesyoustronger #prayerlife

My maternal grandparents Varghese and Elamma. With love and fond remembrance 💜

Homecoming

My Dad is a doctor
My Mum was a nurse
They both fell in love in Med School
And then there was us
My brother and I.

This post is about my mother though.
Her name was Daisy
She was the daughter of Elamma and Varghese. They didn’t have a lot. A humble home with a toilet outdoors. Elamma loved cows and plants and soil. She used to help deliver calves in the neighbourhood. She was also an Ayurvedic potion maker and a plant whisperer I am told.

These stories of Elamma only came to me after my Mum passed. Stories buried and silenced because she had to make space for the doctor’s wife. These stories had no place in her new life.
I never knew my grandmother as Elamma just the generic Ammachi.My girls have never been to my maternal home. So much loss!

So these days I look up and whisper a prayer of radical acceptance
Of my story
my mother’s story and I say…

I am sorry Amma that you had to bury your stories in your lifetime
for acceptance
for validation
for love.

I am claiming these stories because they are mine too and my girls will carry them forth. Stories of Elamma and Varghese will be shared with pride and joy and sass!
To be repeated for generations to come.
To never be forgotten or buried…

This is homecoming
This is coming home to Self.

Our family stories shape who we are. When we disown some stories we also disown parts of us too. As someone who has lived with wealth privilege, I now recognise the structures within which I grew up that focus on power, money and entertainment as the substance of self. I am more able to acknowledge the dominant cultural narratives which see poverty as a personal failure, rather than a result of the exploitation inherent in capitalism, systemic oppression and lack of social services. Laura Northrup writes more about this in “Radical Healership”.

Are you claiming your story?
Even those that are shamed by dominant cultural narratives that fuel class barriers?
Are you in debt so that you can look the part?

Reach out. Link in bio💜

#healing #radicalacceptance #radicalhealership #psychedelictherapist #IFS #somatichealing

My maternal grandparents Varghese and Elamma. With love and fond remembrance 💜

Homecoming

My Dad is a doctor
My Mum was a nurse
They both fell in love in Med School
And then there was us
My brother and I.

This post is about my mother though.
Her name was Daisy
She was the daughter of Elamma and Varghese. They didn’t have a lot. A humble home with a toilet outdoors. Elamma loved cows and plants and soil. She used to help deliver calves in the neighbourhood. She was also an Ayurvedic potion maker and a plant whisperer I am told.

These stories of Elamma only came to me after my Mum passed. Stories buried and silenced because she had to make space for the doctor’s wife. These stories had no place in her new life.
I never knew my grandmother as Elamma just the generic Ammachi.My girls have never been to my maternal home. So much loss!

So these days I look up and whisper a prayer of radical acceptance
Of my story
my mother’s story and I say…

I am sorry Amma that you had to bury your stories in your lifetime
for acceptance
for validation
for love.

I am claiming these stories because they are mine too and my girls will carry them forth. Stories of Elamma and Varghese will be shared with pride and joy and sass!
To be repeated for generations to come.
To never be forgotten or buried…

This is homecoming
This is coming home to Self.

Our family stories shape who we are. When we disown some stories we also disown parts of us too. As someone who has lived with wealth privilege, I now recognise the structures within which I grew up that focus on power, money and entertainment as the substance of self. I am more able to acknowledge the dominant cultural narratives which see poverty as a personal failure, rather than a result of the exploitation inherent in capitalism, systemic oppression and lack of social services. Laura Northrup writes more about this in “Radical Healership”.

Are you claiming your story?
Even those that are shamed by dominant cultural narratives that fuel class barriers?
Are you in debt so that you can look the part?

Reach out. Link in bio💜

#healing #radicalacceptance #radicalhealership #psychedelictherapist #IFS #somatichealing

Heard of small-t traumas?
90% of my clients have small-t traumas with only 10% having experienced big T traumas like rape, physical abuse, domestic violence etc.

Many of my clients can’t quite work out why they feel so exhausted, disconnected, stressed and unhappy even though they feel their life is kinda good .
They say…
“I shouldn’t complain. I had a good childhood and my parents did their best”.

But when we begin to unpack both cognitively and somatically, stories of seemingly small transgressions enravel.

👉I couldn’t join the school dance team when I was young because they said I was too fat.
👉Mum kept telling me how great my best friend’s marks were. She compared always.
👉Dad did not talk to me much because I am not the sporty kind like his side of the family.He never really liked me.
👉My brother pretended he didn’t know me at school and insisted I don’t approach him.
👉I shoplifted with my school mates because I wanted to be part of the cool gang but I hated doing it and hate myself for it.

These are some examples of what Gabor Mate calls “less memorable but hurtful and far more prevalent misfortunes of childhood”.

The loss is hard to recognise because it happens slowly, over time. The adaptations to these hurts are gradual, gets internalised and forges a fractured view of the world.

Traumas separate us from our bodies and the disconnection manifests as anxiety, depression, panic attacks to name a few commons symptoms.
Behaviours like self harming, emotional eating, using alcohol, substances, sex and media as distractions all become adaptations to manage the disconnection.

As these stories are brought to awareness the healing and sense of relief and therefore ability to notice and break patterns become the new norm.
Let’s make some new normal 🦋.

Please seek help if you experience symptoms of disconnection.

If you think Nangeli can help click the link in bio 💜.

Heard of small-t traumas?
90% of my clients have small-t traumas with only 10% having experienced big T traumas like rape, physical abuse, domestic violence etc.

Many of my clients can’t quite work out why they feel so exhausted, disconnected, stressed and unhappy even though they feel their life is kinda good .
They say…
“I shouldn’t complain. I had a good childhood and my parents did their best”.

But when we begin to unpack both cognitively and somatically, stories of seemingly small transgressions enravel.

👉I couldn’t join the school dance team when I was young because they said I was too fat.
👉Mum kept telling me how great my best friend’s marks were. She compared always.
👉Dad did not talk to me much because I am not the sporty kind like his side of the family.He never really liked me.
👉My brother pretended he didn’t know me at school and insisted I don’t approach him.
👉I shoplifted with my school mates because I wanted to be part of the cool gang but I hated doing it and hate myself for it.

These are some examples of what Gabor Mate calls “less memorable but hurtful and far more prevalent misfortunes of childhood”.

The loss is hard to recognise because it happens slowly, over time. The adaptations to these hurts are gradual, gets internalised and forges a fractured view of the world.

Traumas separate us from our bodies and the disconnection manifests as anxiety, depression, panic attacks to name a few commons symptoms.
Behaviours like self harming, emotional eating, using alcohol, substances, sex and media as distractions all become adaptations to manage the disconnection.

As these stories are brought to awareness the healing and sense of relief and therefore ability to notice and break patterns become the new norm.
Let’s make some new normal 🦋.

Please seek help if you experience symptoms of disconnection.

If you think Nangeli can help click the link in bio 💜.

As a counsellor, one of the pillars of my practice is a commitment to shadow work through meditations and movement based practices.

Sometimes clients show up due to conflicts at work, in partnerships or with children etc. As the stories emerge, I witness the Shadow Self appearing as shame, blame, compulsions, manipulation and defence mechanisms such as denial, avoidance and repression. This list in obviously not exhaustive. By the time they come to me, the Shadow Self has been suppressed for so long that they are highly anxious, depressed and their nervous system dysregulated that they are barely functioning.

What is Shadow work?

Carl Jung created the archetypes model to make sense of a person’s fragmented psyche.Two major archetypes as per this model are Persona and Shadow Self. The persona is what we like and how we would like to be seen in the world. The Shadow Self is a place within us and part of the unconscious mind where we bury our repressed ideas, impulses, weaknesses, desires to name a few. As part of the cultural socialisation process, parts of us that seem unacceptable to our society are hidden away and become our shadow.

How do you know that you have touched on your shadow?

Notice your triggers. It’s simple. If you are triggered by someone or some event/situation and there is a reaction in your body

Pause.
Notice.
Take a step back.

Viola you have landed on your shadow :).

Is it that simple?
Yep it is!

The world of the Shadow is a space worth investigating because if we ignore or bury their existence we may live out our life in fear, guilt and shame, all of which have significant impact on our health and the quality of our relationships and therefore our lives.

Next time you are triggered and your body is doing the “thing” (sweating, breathing heavily, shutdown responses) and you are stewing in violent, dark thoughts and you are engulfed in anger or sadness or overwhelm …

Put your hand on your heart
Pause
Take a step back

Give yourself a little smile.
Say hello to your shadow.
Ask questions
Be curious
Be kind

If the going gets tough and you need help reach out to Nangeli. Link in bio

As a counsellor, one of the pillars of my practice is a commitment to shadow work through meditations and movement based practices.

Sometimes clients show up due to conflicts at work, in partnerships or with children etc. As the stories emerge, I witness the Shadow Self appearing as shame, blame, compulsions, manipulation and defence mechanisms such as denial, avoidance and repression. This list in obviously not exhaustive. By the time they come to me, the Shadow Self has been suppressed for so long that they are highly anxious, depressed and their nervous system dysregulated that they are barely functioning.

What is Shadow work?

Carl Jung created the archetypes model to make sense of a person’s fragmented psyche.Two major archetypes as per this model are Persona and Shadow Self. The persona is what we like and how we would like to be seen in the world. The Shadow Self is a place within us and part of the unconscious mind where we bury our repressed ideas, impulses, weaknesses, desires to name a few. As part of the cultural socialisation process, parts of us that seem unacceptable to our society are hidden away and become our shadow.

How do you know that you have touched on your shadow?

Notice your triggers. It’s simple. If you are triggered by someone or some event/situation and there is a reaction in your body

Pause.
Notice.
Take a step back.

Viola you have landed on your shadow :).

Is it that simple?
Yep it is!

The world of the Shadow is a space worth investigating because if we ignore or bury their existence we may live out our life in fear, guilt and shame, all of which have significant impact on our health and the quality of our relationships and therefore our lives.

Next time you are triggered and your body is doing the “thing” (sweating, breathing heavily, shutdown responses) and you are stewing in violent, dark thoughts and you are engulfed in anger or sadness or overwhelm …

Put your hand on your heart
Pause
Take a step back

Give yourself a little smile.
Say hello to your shadow.
Ask questions
Be curious
Be kind

If the going gets tough and you need help reach out to Nangeli. Link in bio

I had the privilege of being part of the “Boys on bikes” parade with my friend Harley at my first ever Sydney Mardi Gras 🏳️‍🌈. I rocked up in a grungy sari and DOC martens outfit and was definitely a minority if not the only person of colour in the “Boys on Bike” parade. As an #lgbtqially it was an experience of marinating in the collective effervescence of just being human. The feathers and glitter and leather made it so much fun
🤩

It had me thinking about social stigma and shame that is still so prevalent in south Asian communites associated with being #lgbtqiaplus.

In my work as a therapist, I also hold space for those who identify as #lgbtqia offering individual and family therapy to assist with understanding the impact of shame and stigma on individuals and families and fostering just,equal,diverse and inclusive ecosystems that allow for the complexity that this human experience is.

If you know of anyone who needs help please find link in bio. 🏳️‍🌈

#lgbtpride #lgbtqially #sydneymardigras #loveislove #justbeyou

I had the privilege of being part of the “Boys on bikes” parade with my friend Harley at my first ever Sydney Mardi Gras 🏳️‍🌈. I rocked up in a grungy sari and DOC martens outfit and was definitely a minority if not the only person of colour in the “Boys on Bike” parade. As an #lgbtqially it was an experience of marinating in the collective effervescence of just being human. The feathers and glitter and leather made it so much fun
🤩

It had me thinking about social stigma and shame that is still so prevalent in south Asian communites associated with being #lgbtqiaplus.

In my work as a therapist, I also hold space for those who identify as #lgbtqia offering individual and family therapy to assist with understanding the impact of shame and stigma on individuals and families and fostering just,equal,diverse and inclusive ecosystems that allow for the complexity that this human experience is.

If you know of anyone who needs help please find link in bio. 🏳️‍🌈

#lgbtpride #lgbtqially #sydneymardigras #loveislove #justbeyou

Transitions part 2

In my previous post I shared my personal experience of what it felt like to have my daughter leave home. My experience might have felt excessive and too much when you read, but for me that is exactly how I felt, however it might be perceived.

I see many parents who come to counselling, presenting with work related conflicts and wanting to figure it out. But when we begin to deepen into different aspects of life, what emerges is stories of sadness and grief around change in role and identity due to empty nesting or other life transitions such as divorce or career change/job loss etc to mention a few.
Many a time, particularly with mothers, transitioning from being a full time parent to an empty nest can be incredibly difficult. They say that they are not done mothering…

How do we honour these transitions?
Do we need more rites of passages to honour role transitions?

The late Malidoma Some, an African elder has written and taught much about the importance of rites of passages and rituals to honour the changing phases of life.

It is important to honour transitions as big as a child leaving home or divorce or any big change.

It is important to pause and honour the immensity of feelings that come with it and what it means to sit in the sacred pause before one launches into the next thing that shows up in life.

Are you mindlessly throwing yourself into work?
Is the emptiness too much and you can’t stop eating/ drinking alcohol/ watching Netflix?

Is there too much anxiety and control issues in relationships both at work and home?

Check in with yourself…

Are you honouring the transitions?

If Nangeli can help please reach out. Link in bio.

#ritesofpassage #controlissues #anxiety #depression #comforteating #addiction #loss #grief #roletransitions #mediaaddiction #shadowwork #sacredpause

Transitions part 2

In my previous post I shared my personal experience of what it felt like to have my daughter leave home. My experience might have felt excessive and too much when you read, but for me that is exactly how I felt, however it might be perceived.

I see many parents who come to counselling, presenting with work related conflicts and wanting to figure it out. But when we begin to deepen into different aspects of life, what emerges is stories of sadness and grief around change in role and identity due to empty nesting or other life transitions such as divorce or career change/job loss etc to mention a few.
Many a time, particularly with mothers, transitioning from being a full time parent to an empty nest can be incredibly difficult. They say that they are not done mothering…

How do we honour these transitions?
Do we need more rites of passages to honour role transitions?

The late Malidoma Some, an African elder has written and taught much about the importance of rites of passages and rituals to honour the changing phases of life.

It is important to honour transitions as big as a child leaving home or divorce or any big change.

It is important to pause and honour the immensity of feelings that come with it and what it means to sit in the sacred pause before one launches into the next thing that shows up in life.

Are you mindlessly throwing yourself into work?
Is the emptiness too much and you can’t stop eating/ drinking alcohol/ watching Netflix?

Is there too much anxiety and control issues in relationships both at work and home?

Check in with yourself…

Are you honouring the transitions?

If Nangeli can help please reach out. Link in bio.

#ritesofpassage #controlissues #anxiety #depression #comforteating #addiction #loss #grief #roletransitions #mediaaddiction #shadowwork #sacredpause

For Sera my daughter who is going on an adventure away from home to university at Sydney.
I read this out to her at her farewell dinner party. I share this here because this stuff is hard.

Hmmmm… this going away has been brewing for a while. I knew over a year ago that Sera would be going away. So it sort of isnt a surprise that this moment is well and truly here. But what is surprising is the intensity of the accompanying heartache.

One would think that if we tell ourselves early enough and often enough that she is leaving , somehow that would prepare us with an armour of resilience and stoicism which would see us through tough moments like this. But I am now learning that this is not true.

For a couple of weeks now the heart has felt heavy and hot and a bit yucky. I felt I didn’t want to carry it in my body so I would pretend to leave it on the table. But then I also didn’t feel like me without my heart.So i put it back inside.
There is no winning this mothering game! Jeez whoever signed up for this job! I guess if we knew none of us would have kids!!!

Anyway, in this moment here I am standing and holding the tenderest heart everrrr. I also recognise that this tenderness is a testimony to the magic of having birthed and tended to a magical being called Sera for nearly 18 years.

Letting her go is hard but also a lesson in how truly when there is such potent love there is also unimaginable grief and sadness. There is no one without the other.

So now I wear my pain like a badge of honour. I got to love this child and see her grow into this incredible , big hearted , explosion of a young fiery woman.

I wish I could inoculate myself from feeling so destroyed. But such is the nature of love.

So Sera off you go
Have fun!
Get drunk!
Meet fellas and break their wretched hearts !! and maybe you will break yours too.

We will be here with our love missing you bitterly and also in some strange way assured in the knowing that you are very deeply held by forces beyond my knowing … and also that your journey is going to be wild and fun and adventurous!

May you know that you are super loved.

We will miss you
X

#lettinggo #griefisagift

For Sera my daughter who is going on an adventure away from home to university at Sydney.
I read this out to her at her farewell dinner party. I share this here because this stuff is hard.

Hmmmm… this going away has been brewing for a while. I knew over a year ago that Sera would be going away. So it sort of isnt a surprise that this moment is well and truly here. But what is surprising is the intensity of the accompanying heartache.

One would think that if we tell ourselves early enough and often enough that she is leaving , somehow that would prepare us with an armour of resilience and stoicism which would see us through tough moments like this. But I am now learning that this is not true.

For a couple of weeks now the heart has felt heavy and hot and a bit yucky. I felt I didn’t want to carry it in my body so I would pretend to leave it on the table. But then I also didn’t feel like me without my heart.So i put it back inside.
There is no winning this mothering game! Jeez whoever signed up for this job! I guess if we knew none of us would have kids!!!

Anyway, in this moment here I am standing and holding the tenderest heart everrrr. I also recognise that this tenderness is a testimony to the magic of having birthed and tended to a magical being called Sera for nearly 18 years.

Letting her go is hard but also a lesson in how truly when there is such potent love there is also unimaginable grief and sadness. There is no one without the other.

So now I wear my pain like a badge of honour. I got to love this child and see her grow into this incredible , big hearted , explosion of a young fiery woman.

I wish I could inoculate myself from feeling so destroyed. But such is the nature of love.

So Sera off you go
Have fun!
Get drunk!
Meet fellas and break their wretched hearts !! and maybe you will break yours too.

We will be here with our love missing you bitterly and also in some strange way assured in the knowing that you are very deeply held by forces beyond my knowing … and also that your journey is going to be wild and fun and adventurous!

May you know that you are super loved.

We will miss you
X

#lettinggo #griefisagift

I am beyond amazed! Australia becomes the first country in the world to reschedule MDMA and Psilocybin allowing these medicines to be used therapeutically by authorised psychiatrists in a controlled medical setting 💜

So much work still needs to be done but this sure is a great start!

#psychedelicassistedhealing #plantmedicine #sacredmushroom

I am beyond amazed! Australia becomes the first country in the world to reschedule MDMA and Psilocybin allowing these medicines to be used therapeutically by authorised psychiatrists in a controlled medical setting 💜

So much work still needs to be done but this sure is a great start!

#psychedelicassistedhealing #plantmedicine #sacredmushroom

Part 2 of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and integration work

In my previous post I shared briefly about how psychedelics have profoundly enhanced my life. In listening to Tara Brach who has influenced my meditative practices long before psychedelics entered my life, I was struck by the parallels between her experiences and mine, in both meditation and psychedelic journeys.

Tara Brach Shares about her experience using psychedelics in her conversation with Roland Griffiths and says “If we can deepen attention we can unhook” referring to experiences and behaviours that keep us hooked, that are no longer serving us. She also talks about how psychedelics supercharged the experience she has had many times as a contemplative during meditation. Initially resisting the unpleasant sensation of fear and then surrendering to it through breath without resistance,allowing the fear to melt into grief and emotional release. This then allowed for a profound shift in identity.

Walsh and Thiessen (2018) found in their narrative review of literature that PAP is informed by theoretical concepts and practices that are rooted in contemplative spiritual practices and share change mechanisms similar to Third Wave Behaviour Therapies (TWBT) such as ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). The mechanisms of change have been identified as enhanced mindfulness, recentering, emotion regulation and distress tolerance.

Nangeli acknowledges that the recreational use of psychedelics continues despite a long history of criminalisation. Nangeli does not encourage or condone recreational use. Nangeli provides harm minimisation interventions and psychoeducation to those who make their own choice to do this. In psychedelic integration sessions, I draw from the four lenses working with cognitive lens, sacred lens, embodied lens and relational lens to assist clients with practices that help with “unhooking” and allowing.

Ref:
Walsh, Z., & Thiessen, M. S. (2018). Psychedelics and the new behaviourism: considering the integration of third-wave behaviour therapies with psychedelic-assisted therapy. International Review of Psychiatry, 30(4), 343-349.
#harmreduction #psychedelictherapy

Part 2 of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and integration work

In my previous post I shared briefly about how psychedelics have profoundly enhanced my life. In listening to Tara Brach who has influenced my meditative practices long before psychedelics entered my life, I was struck by the parallels between her experiences and mine, in both meditation and psychedelic journeys.

Tara Brach Shares about her experience using psychedelics in her conversation with Roland Griffiths and says “If we can deepen attention we can unhook” referring to experiences and behaviours that keep us hooked, that are no longer serving us. She also talks about how psychedelics supercharged the experience she has had many times as a contemplative during meditation. Initially resisting the unpleasant sensation of fear and then surrendering to it through breath without resistance,allowing the fear to melt into grief and emotional release. This then allowed for a profound shift in identity.

Walsh and Thiessen (2018) found in their narrative review of literature that PAP is informed by theoretical concepts and practices that are rooted in contemplative spiritual practices and share change mechanisms similar to Third Wave Behaviour Therapies (TWBT) such as ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). The mechanisms of change have been identified as enhanced mindfulness, recentering, emotion regulation and distress tolerance.

Nangeli acknowledges that the recreational use of psychedelics continues despite a long history of criminalisation. Nangeli does not encourage or condone recreational use. Nangeli provides harm minimisation interventions and psychoeducation to those who make their own choice to do this. In psychedelic integration sessions, I draw from the four lenses working with cognitive lens, sacred lens, embodied lens and relational lens to assist clients with practices that help with “unhooking” and allowing.

Ref:
Walsh, Z., & Thiessen, M. S. (2018). Psychedelics and the new behaviourism: considering the integration of third-wave behaviour therapies with psychedelic-assisted therapy. International Review of Psychiatry, 30(4), 343-349.
#harmreduction #psychedelictherapy

Part 1 : Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and integration work

This pretty little thing called the psychedelic mushroom is sold at Space Kitchen in Canberra. What is it doing on my kitchen bench?
Well dear friends these days are always reminded of me when they see mushrooms 😅. Thanks @honeygram2811 for treating me to this delicacy 💜

A year ago psychedelic mushrooms found me through a series of synchronous events mostly led by very compelling research studies while doing my Master of Counselling.

Needless to say I was blown away by the power of the sacred mushroom to illumine your subconscious and allow us to look at our shadows. Life changing! Period!

Subsequently I ended up in Peru last September on a three week pilgrimage walking the Andes and communing with various plant medicines mostly in silence. My Dad was aghast but supportive. My husband was also aghast 😅 but he had witnessed too much good change in me I guess! My girls just went - Just go mum… More big life changes!

Currently I am doing a Psychedelic Practioner Training with Synthesis Institute in Amsderdam where the use of psychedelic mushrooms is legal. The hope is that I will be able to do some meaningful work in this space legally in Australia soon. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽.

I recently watched this long and very moving conversation between Roland Griffiths( leader in researching the clinical effects of psychedelics on those impacted by cancer, depression or addiction) and Tara Brach(psychotherapist and contemplative) on YouTube called Meditation,Psychedelics, Mortality :A conversation between Tara and Roland.

They explore the relationship between meditation and psychedelics and how they serve profound spiritual awakening and deep inner freedom. Roland has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and how in the face of mortality he has found deep inner freedom. Absolutely worth a listen 🥰

Nangeli acknowledges that the use of psychedelics is currently illegal in Australia.Nangeli does not endorse or encourage use of psychedelics

#psychedelicscience #meditation #contemplativelife #sacredmushrooms

Part 1 : Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy and integration work

This pretty little thing called the psychedelic mushroom is sold at Space Kitchen in Canberra. What is it doing on my kitchen bench?
Well dear friends these days are always reminded of me when they see mushrooms 😅. Thanks @honeygram2811 for treating me to this delicacy 💜

A year ago psychedelic mushrooms found me through a series of synchronous events mostly led by very compelling research studies while doing my Master of Counselling.

Needless to say I was blown away by the power of the sacred mushroom to illumine your subconscious and allow us to look at our shadows. Life changing! Period!

Subsequently I ended up in Peru last September on a three week pilgrimage walking the Andes and communing with various plant medicines mostly in silence. My Dad was aghast but supportive. My husband was also aghast 😅 but he had witnessed too much good change in me I guess! My girls just went - Just go mum… More big life changes!

Currently I am doing a Psychedelic Practioner Training with Synthesis Institute in Amsderdam where the use of psychedelic mushrooms is legal. The hope is that I will be able to do some meaningful work in this space legally in Australia soon. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽.

I recently watched this long and very moving conversation between Roland Griffiths( leader in researching the clinical effects of psychedelics on those impacted by cancer, depression or addiction) and Tara Brach(psychotherapist and contemplative) on YouTube called Meditation,Psychedelics, Mortality :A conversation between Tara and Roland.

They explore the relationship between meditation and psychedelics and how they serve profound spiritual awakening and deep inner freedom. Roland has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and how in the face of mortality he has found deep inner freedom. Absolutely worth a listen 🥰

Nangeli acknowledges that the use of psychedelics is currently illegal in Australia.Nangeli does not endorse or encourage use of psychedelics

#psychedelicscience #meditation #contemplativelife #sacredmushrooms

Welcome to 2023! There is something about 2023 that just brings a smile to my face. Not sure what it is but I am staying with it.

On the last day of 2022, I walked a trail in Ngunnawal lands barefoot and felt an immense gratitude for the humble feet. We make contact with earth daily literally through our feet. I was grateful for the sensation of feet on the earth – grounding me. Somatic practices like walking barefoot, I have learned to not take for granted because I recognise that it is the simple practices done with presence that cumulatively make all the difference. So, thank you to the soles of my humble feet for all the sensations – the cool grass, the warmth of the dry summery Australian earth and for unfailingly taking me out of my head and grounding me firmly in my body.

My daughter who just finished year 12 and is moving to Sydney for Uni said so wisely “Amma 2023 is going to be the year of the body for me. I am going to attend to my body this year”. I echo her wise words. For me too… Deepening into the wisdom of the body is going to be what 2023 is all about – through dance, through movement, through sound and through the simple act of conscious breath. So simple and yet so difficult.

Bare your feet
Feel the earth
Ground Yourself
Happy 2023 from Nangeli.

Welcome to 2023! There is something about 2023 that just brings a smile to my face. Not sure what it is but I am staying with it.

On the last day of 2022, I walked a trail in Ngunnawal lands barefoot and felt an immense gratitude for the humble feet. We make contact with earth daily literally through our feet. I was grateful for the sensation of feet on the earth – grounding me. Somatic practices like walking barefoot, I have learned to not take for granted because I recognise that it is the simple practices done with presence that cumulatively make all the difference. So, thank you to the soles of my humble feet for all the sensations – the cool grass, the warmth of the dry summery Australian earth and for unfailingly taking me out of my head and grounding me firmly in my body.

My daughter who just finished year 12 and is moving to Sydney for Uni said so wisely “Amma 2023 is going to be the year of the body for me. I am going to attend to my body this year”. I echo her wise words. For me too… Deepening into the wisdom of the body is going to be what 2023 is all about – through dance, through movement, through sound and through the simple act of conscious breath. So simple and yet so difficult.

Bare your feet
Feel the earth
Ground Yourself
Happy 2023 from Nangeli.

I spent Saturday morning at the exhibition at National Museum of Australia aptly titled “Feared and Revered”. It is so worth a visit. Here is a picture of kali expressing her allness.

This post is more than about the exhibition though. My last post about processing grief and loss has had many contact me with so many wonderful questions. One common thread was about “why bother?” . Why not just let it all lie there quietly in the body? Why scratch and wake up the dormant ? Such a good question.

Peter Levine , founder of Somatic Experiencing has written a whole book called “Waking The Tiger” about the price paid by humans for locked up grief, anger, sadness, frustration and the whole host of emotions that are part of the human condition that is exiled and othered as not worthy of attention. The body remembers what the mind has forgotten.

Eckhart Tolle philosopher and author of “The New Earth” immortalised this locked up emotion in the body as “ pain body”. Unexpressed pain bodies may show up as anxiety, controlling, exhaustion, comfort eating, numbness and so much more affecting oneself and our loved ones. The medicine in all unexpressed emotions is powerful. Lean into the discomfort . Discomfort could just be a little child in you needing to be heard and listened to.
All we need to do is to attend and listen and allow.

Grief and loss work is not limited to loss through death. Loss of identity, loss of partnership, loss of what one thought marriage should be , empty nesters struggling with the emptiness of “not done parenting” , loss due to cancer, loss of love, loss of childhood, loss of friendship, loss of sisterhood and brotherhood and so much more.

If you think Nangeli can help please reach out . Link in bio.
#grief #griefwork #nangeli #wisdomofthebody #somaticexperiencing

I spent Saturday morning at the exhibition at National Museum of Australia aptly titled “Feared and Revered”. It is so worth a visit. Here is a picture of kali expressing her allness.

This post is more than about the exhibition though. My last post about processing grief and loss has had many contact me with so many wonderful questions. One common thread was about “why bother?” . Why not just let it all lie there quietly in the body? Why scratch and wake up the dormant ? Such a good question.

Peter Levine , founder of Somatic Experiencing has written a whole book called “Waking The Tiger” about the price paid by humans for locked up grief, anger, sadness, frustration and the whole host of emotions that are part of the human condition that is exiled and othered as not worthy of attention. The body remembers what the mind has forgotten.

Eckhart Tolle philosopher and author of “The New Earth” immortalised this locked up emotion in the body as “ pain body”. Unexpressed pain bodies may show up as anxiety, controlling, exhaustion, comfort eating, numbness and so much more affecting oneself and our loved ones. The medicine in all unexpressed emotions is powerful. Lean into the discomfort . Discomfort could just be a little child in you needing to be heard and listened to.
All we need to do is to attend and listen and allow.

Grief and loss work is not limited to loss through death. Loss of identity, loss of partnership, loss of what one thought marriage should be , empty nesters struggling with the emptiness of “not done parenting” , loss due to cancer, loss of love, loss of childhood, loss of friendship, loss of sisterhood and brotherhood and so much more.

If you think Nangeli can help please reach out . Link in bio.
#grief #griefwork #nangeli #wisdomofthebody #somaticexperiencing

That is my Mamma. Her name is Daisy. She loved gin and tonic and she definitely had a fierce zest for life. The last pic was from her wedding. Check out the crown 😅!
She passed away nearly three years ago in Jan 2020 just before Covid changed the world.

This time of the year my heart begins to get heavy and the grief so inconveniently surfaces. This process is very body led and I sometimes just hold my body and say- can we just wait until after Christmas to fall apart yet again? 🤔🫣 But the girl has gotta do what she’s gotta do I guess! I have been in a grief portal for a week now remembering what it meant to be mothered and loved and doted on by her unconditional larger than life love. How this love has shaped my sense of who I am and the safety I feel in my body quite significantly at a deep somatic level as a result of her. Above all how I desperately missed her physical presence.
I resisted the call to deepen into grief because I felt if I went in there I wouldn’t be able to come back up - also I have a job to do and family to look after! You know …

But then I finally did surrender to the wisdom of my body because I knew that at this moment this was what the body needed - for an entire week.
Damn that was exhausting but goodness me at the bottom of the grief I also found how truly the depth of your grief enlightens you to your capacity to love and be loved. How much as humans we resist leaning into love because the price you pay for deep love can also mean a lot of pain and grief. That they are both two sides of the same coin. There is no one without the other.
Now that I am standing on the other end of the grief portal I feel a larger capacity to give and receive and understand love.
Grief work if taken the time to deepen and presence can truly teach us to love and open more to life.
Holding clients through their unrelenting grief and seeing them come through the other side lighter and brighter is something I have been blessed to have witnessed many times.

May we find the courage to deepen into grief and listen to the teachings that lie within 💜

If Nangeli can help reach out(link in bio).

That is my Mamma. Her name is Daisy. She loved gin and tonic and she definitely had a fierce zest for life. The last pic was from her wedding. Check out the crown 😅!
She passed away nearly three years ago in Jan 2020 just before Covid changed the world.

This time of the year my heart begins to get heavy and the grief so inconveniently surfaces. This process is very body led and I sometimes just hold my body and say- can we just wait until after Christmas to fall apart yet again? 🤔🫣 But the girl has gotta do what she’s gotta do I guess! I have been in a grief portal for a week now remembering what it meant to be mothered and loved and doted on by her unconditional larger than life love. How this love has shaped my sense of who I am and the safety I feel in my body quite significantly at a deep somatic level as a result of her. Above all how I desperately missed her physical presence.
I resisted the call to deepen into grief because I felt if I went in there I wouldn’t be able to come back up - also I have a job to do and family to look after! You know …

But then I finally did surrender to the wisdom of my body because I knew that at this moment this was what the body needed - for an entire week.
Damn that was exhausting but goodness me at the bottom of the grief I also found how truly the depth of your grief enlightens you to your capacity to love and be loved. How much as humans we resist leaning into love because the price you pay for deep love can also mean a lot of pain and grief. That they are both two sides of the same coin. There is no one without the other.
Now that I am standing on the other end of the grief portal I feel a larger capacity to give and receive and understand love.
Grief work if taken the time to deepen and presence can truly teach us to love and open more to life.
Holding clients through their unrelenting grief and seeing them come through the other side lighter and brighter is something I have been blessed to have witnessed many times.

May we find the courage to deepen into grief and listen to the teachings that lie within 💜

If Nangeli can help reach out(link in bio).

If you are going through a quarter life crisis this is a must watch. I see so many young adults who suffer from debilitating anxiety and come to me and say - I have a job I like and I make tons of money , my partner is amazing but why do I feel like I don’t wanna do any of this anymore.
It’s like the world sold them a lie - crazy busy workplaces, endless Insta perfect night outs and repeat. They are also increasingly noticing that this is really not doing much to help with the emptiness and sinking feeling in the heart( I hear this statement soo many times!) this video is for you. @chloehakimmoore Ted talk just nails it perfectly.

https://youtu.be/rKQLBiylsn8

Take time out to notice and be with the sinking feeling in your heart - there lies the medicine. Full stop.

If you are going through a quarter life crisis this is a must watch. I see so many young adults who suffer from debilitating anxiety and come to me and say - I have a job I like and I make tons of money , my partner is amazing but why do I feel like I don’t wanna do any of this anymore.
It’s like the world sold them a lie - crazy busy workplaces, endless Insta perfect night outs and repeat. They are also increasingly noticing that this is really not doing much to help with the emptiness and sinking feeling in the heart( I hear this statement soo many times!) this video is for you. @chloehakimmoore Ted talk just nails it perfectly.

https://youtu.be/rKQLBiylsn8

Take time out to notice and be with the sinking feeling in your heart - there lies the medicine. Full stop.

Highly recommending this book by Tara Brach 💜 . In this book she mentions one of her favourite quote “To be kind, you must swerve regularly from your path”. During this eclipse there are so many versions of our shadow self surfacing. Take time out to be with yourself. Take time to tell your loved ones how much they matter. Spread the love. May we all be kind to ourselves and others 🍀

Highly recommending this book by Tara Brach 💜 . In this book she mentions one of her favourite quote “To be kind, you must swerve regularly from your path”. During this eclipse there are so many versions of our shadow self surfacing. Take time out to be with yourself. Take time to tell your loved ones how much they matter. Spread the love. May we all be kind to ourselves and others 🍀

Definitely a big fan of growling 💜. Sometimes it can truly shift some big happenings in the body. If you can access a deep growl from the depths of your tummy or sacrum or root this can truly help move some stuckness. Exaggerating anger or frustration, in private, through growling - a must try! #growling #maketimetogrowl

Definitely a big fan of growling 💜. Sometimes it can truly shift some big happenings in the body. If you can access a deep growl from the depths of your tummy or sacrum or root this can truly help move some stuckness. Exaggerating anger or frustration, in private, through growling - a must try! #growling #maketimetogrowl

This is so true…When one begins shadow work of all kinds meeting the unconscious parts of the psyche and recognising how certain behaviours like people pleasing and fawning were a way to manage fear of confrontation and helplessness experienced especially during childhood this is a very common response. Recognising helplessness and witnessing memories as an outsider can lead to a lot of nausea and 🤮 . Staying in the discomfort of it can bring a lot of healing 💜. Big fan of nausea in somatic sessions! ☺️

This is so true…When one begins shadow work of all kinds meeting the unconscious parts of the psyche and recognising how certain behaviours like people pleasing and fawning were a way to manage fear of confrontation and helplessness experienced especially during childhood this is a very common response. Recognising helplessness and witnessing memories as an outsider can lead to a lot of nausea and 🤮 . Staying in the discomfort of it can bring a lot of healing 💜. Big fan of nausea in somatic sessions! ☺️

There are many adolescents that I have spent time who , as we move into more conversations express a simmering rage within. When explored further it more often than not lead to not feeling a sense of belonging with peers and disconnection from family. This then lead to behaviours that create havoc at home. Devices play a big part in furthering this disconnection. This African proverb reminded me of the rage. Sometimes I look at their young faces and wonder how so much rage can emanate from a human.

There are many adolescents that I have spent time who , as we move into more conversations express a simmering rage within. When explored further it more often than not lead to not feeling a sense of belonging with peers and disconnection from family. This then lead to behaviours that create havoc at home. Devices play a big part in furthering this disconnection. This African proverb reminded me of the rage. Sometimes I look at their young faces and wonder how so much rage can emanate from a human.

Tara Brach wrote about the practice of RAIN (Recognise Allow Investigate Nurture) in her book Radical Compassion. The series of meditations teaching how to practise RAIN as a meditative practise can be found on Tara’s website. This practise of investigating triggers can radically change life and bring awareness to behaviour patterns that don’t serve anymore. The practise is not easy as one need to be able to sit in the discomfort of the trigger to transmute it. It takes a lot of practise as we are wired to seek distraction when the discomfort sets in.
Tara’s sermons are a favourite of mine. For years instead of watching Netflix or YouTube videos I would listen to her sermons before sleep. It felt like a bedtime story ritual. I think her voice is the female equivalent of David Attenborough 😄. There is a magical quality to it 💜Check her out at www.tarabrach.com . #tarabrachmeditations

Tara Brach wrote about the practice of RAIN (Recognise Allow Investigate Nurture) in her book Radical Compassion. The series of meditations teaching how to practise RAIN as a meditative practise can be found on Tara’s website. This practise of investigating triggers can radically change life and bring awareness to behaviour patterns that don’t serve anymore. The practise is not easy as one need to be able to sit in the discomfort of the trigger to transmute it. It takes a lot of practise as we are wired to seek distraction when the discomfort sets in.
Tara’s sermons are a favourite of mine. For years instead of watching Netflix or YouTube videos I would listen to her sermons before sleep. It felt like a bedtime story ritual. I think her voice is the female equivalent of David Attenborough 😄. There is a magical quality to it 💜Check her out at www.tarabrach.com . #tarabrachmeditations

Last week was carer’s week. It had me thinking about mum and the time I spent caring for her intermittently in 2019 and particularly the last two months of her life. When we think of carers we think about the elderly and the terminally ill.But a chance conversation with a friend reminded me of the number of parents who are caring for their children, teenagers and younger, who suffer from mental health issues - depression, anxiety, panic attacks and so much more. It’s important for these parents to remember that they are a carer too. The constant worrying, helplessness, inability to affect change and witnessing the suffering of one’s child can take a toll on parents. Additionally I meet many parents who engage in unrelenting self blame and silently suffocate under the weight of the shame and sadness of feeling like it’s their fault and they got it all wrong. 2 in 5 people aged 16-24 had a 12 month mental health disorder in 2020-21( ABS). Parenting in this digitally connected but disconnected-with-self environment is not easy or intuitive.

Some symptoms of carers fatigue are lethargy, fatigue, feeling a lack of joy, uninterested in activities that used to be interesting and bingeing on food, Netflix, easily triggered into emotional states of anger or sadness or shutdown.

Talking through with a mental health professional( Employee Assistance Program at work etc) can really bring perspective to one’s experience and help identify coping strategies that can make a whole lot of difference.
If you are struggling don’t hesitate to reach out to Nangeli. Link in bio.

Last week was carer’s week. It had me thinking about mum and the time I spent caring for her intermittently in 2019 and particularly the last two months of her life. When we think of carers we think about the elderly and the terminally ill.But a chance conversation with a friend reminded me of the number of parents who are caring for their children, teenagers and younger, who suffer from mental health issues - depression, anxiety, panic attacks and so much more. It’s important for these parents to remember that they are a carer too. The constant worrying, helplessness, inability to affect change and witnessing the suffering of one’s child can take a toll on parents. Additionally I meet many parents who engage in unrelenting self blame and silently suffocate under the weight of the shame and sadness of feeling like it’s their fault and they got it all wrong. 2 in 5 people aged 16-24 had a 12 month mental health disorder in 2020-21( ABS). Parenting in this digitally connected but disconnected-with-self environment is not easy or intuitive.

Some symptoms of carers fatigue are lethargy, fatigue, feeling a lack of joy, uninterested in activities that used to be interesting and bingeing on food, Netflix, easily triggered into emotional states of anger or sadness or shutdown.

Talking through with a mental health professional( Employee Assistance Program at work etc) can really bring perspective to one’s experience and help identify coping strategies that can make a whole lot of difference.
If you are struggling don’t hesitate to reach out to Nangeli. Link in bio.

Hurl yourself into the abyss and discovering it is a featherbed… the only way is through ❤️

Hurl yourself into the abyss and discovering it is a featherbed… the only way is through ❤️

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