Episode Summary — Be Your Own Healer with Areena of Soulful Healing Journey In this episode of The Divinely Inspired Woman Podcast, host Patricia Wald-Hopkins welcomes Areena, founder of Soulful Healing Journey, for a rich, heart-opening conversation on becoming your own healer, transforming trauma, and living as a sovereign, spiritually rooted woman. Guest Bio Areena is the founder of Soulful Healing Journey. She is a Somatic Hypnotherapist, Intuitive Counselor, Family Constellation Practitioner, Reiki Master Teacher, and Trauma Therapist certified in Compassionate Inquiry with Dr. Gabor Maté. For over a decade, she has guided people through deep transformation, helping them heal trauma, dissolve old patterns, and reconnect with the peace and clarity within themselves. Her work weaves together science and spirituality for truly holistic healing. Meeting Purpose To explore Areena’s holistic healing journey—from her earliest wounds to the creation of her multidimensional practice—and to share her methods and a live compassionate inquiry process that helps listeners begin to be their own healer. From “Love Is Distant” to Deep Connection Areena begins by tracing her healing journey back to a powerful inner-child encounter in meditation. Sent to boarding school at age five, she realized her younger self had formed the belief: “Love is distant.” With her parents as her first experience of love and physical distance separating them, that belief quietly shaped her adult life—especially through repeated long-distance relationships that never quite worked. She explains how unresolved childhood patterns replay in adult relationships, often most intensely in romantic partnerships, until we consciously begin to heal them. Her desire to understand and shift these patterns is what led her to the healing arts. At 27, Reiki “found” her: she became a practice client for a Reiki practitioner and, in a second session, was inspired by the woman’s dream of being a Reiki master on the beach in Croatia. This vision awakened something in Areena—a longing to live in freedom and service. What many don’t know is that her path started even earlier: at 15, her mother gave her a Tarot deck, and she began reading intuitively. Over time she organically layered her modalities: Tarot for intuitive insight Reiki for energy healing Hypnotherapy to support more analytical clients in accessing the subconscious Family Constellation work for ancestral and systemic healing Along the way, she questioned whether she needed a psychology degree to be legitimate. Guidance came from both Spirit and the human world: in a past-life regression, her guides clearly said no, and psychologists and psychiatrists who became her clients began telling her that the shifts she facilitated would take them years to achieve. This affirmed that her intuitive path was not only valid but deeply effective. Science Meets Spirit: Compassionate Inquiry & Trauma in the Body A key turning point came when Areena discovered Dr. Gabor Maté’s documentary The Wisdom of Trauma. Hearing a physician openly discuss bodywork, energy work, hypnosis, and plant medicine was the bridge she had been seeking. She immediately looked him up, found Compassionate Inquiry, and enrolled. This modality provided a scientific framework for what she had long practiced intuitively: Anxiety, physical tension, and emotional overwhelm are not “problems” to fix, but inner-child parts that want to be seen, felt, and heard. You don’t always need to dig up the first memory or origin story of a wound; healing can happen simply by offering presence and compassion to what’s here now. Areena emphasizes that trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind. Western medicine tends to focus on thoughts and cognition, but: Suppressed emotions show up as palpitations, sweaty palms, tightness, heaviness When we keep pushing them down, they can crystalize into chronic pain Over time, that may evolve into more serious illness Her work therefore integrates mind and body, science and spirituality, roots and spirit—honoring that we are part of nature and must stay connected to our bodies and the earth, not just our thoughts. Sovereignty, Higher Self & Finding Your Own Way Patricia invites Areena to share how she’s always lived close to Spirit. Areena talks about growing up in a house filled with spiritual energies—later discovered to be built over a graveyard—and how at some point she unconsciously blocked her third eye to cope. At 15, Tarot and self-study in occult and new age books helped her reopen that doorway. She also shares a charming story from boarding school: when conflicts arose in the dorm, she would throw a blanket over herself and “channel” answers for the girls. Even as a child, she was practicing being a channel for guidance. For those who feel torn between science and spirituality—or who are afraid to show their spiritual side—Areena’s advice is: Develop a deep relationship with your higher self through meditation, journaling, and presence (even a conscious walk can be a spiritual practice). Trust that you will find your own way with any modality you learn; your expression will always be uniquely yours. Stay rooted in your body and root chakra so you feel safe, secure, and able to open your heart and throat to express your authentic self. She echoes Dr. Maté’s wisdom: when you become truly authentic, you may lose some people—but the real question is whether it’s worth sacrificing your true self to keep relationships that were never fully aligned. The Alchemist Archetype & Real-Time Magic Patricia shares that within her Voices of Gaia archetypes, Areena resonates with The Alchemist—the one who rewires patterns, transmutes energy, and leads from a rooted, sovereign heart. Areena agrees, saying she often feels like a magician during sessions: She drops in and channels guidance from her spiritual team. She can sense timelines, origins of traumas, and energetic imprints through visuals, feelings, and inner knowing. She watches clients shift from tightness to ease in real time as the energy moves. She describes her toolbox—hypnosis, family constellations, energy work, Compassionate Inquiry—as a set of allies she can intuitively select from: there is no script, just attunement to what the moment and the client’s system need. Guided Compassionate Inquiry: A Practice for Being Your Own Healer Areena then leads listeners through a live Compassionate Inquiry practice designed to help them begin being their own healer: Ground: Feel your feet on the earth, the support beneath your body. Scan: Gently scan from head to toe, noticing any tension, tightness, heaviness, pain, or emotional charge. Anchor: Place a hand on the area where you feel it most, to connect with it. Acknowledge: Tell that part, “I see you. I feel you. I hear you.” without judgment or rejection. Ask: With kindness, ask, “What do you need or want?” Receive: Trust the first message, image, or feeling that arises. Offer: In your visualization, give this part what it needs and notice any shift. Patricia shares her experience: a familiar tension in her neck—linked to her third eye—told her, “You don’t have to strain to see the path ahead anymore.” As she received that message, her third eye felt like it opened and the tension released, inviting her into deeper trust and ease. Areena explains that this is the heart of the work: giving space and attention to the part is often enough for real alchemy to occur. If needed, one can stay longer, ask whether the sensation is familiar, how old it feels, or when it first appeared. Community, Awakening & Manifestation They also touch on the loneliness of spiritual awakening, especially during a “dark night of the soul,” and how vital it is to find community and spiritual spaces where you don’t have to walk that path alone. Patricia reflects on how the expansion of the internet helped her realize there were many others on a similar path, which changed her life. Areena closes by sharing details of her December 19 manifestation event, where she’ll use hypnosis and journaling to help participants reflect on a year of deep shedding and set grounded, subconscious-aligned intentions for 2026. Register here https://www.soulfulhealingjourney.com/manifestation-live-class Final Pearl of Wisdom When Patricia asks for one closing message, Areena offers a simple, potent truth: “Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself.” That, she says, is the most important lesson she’s learned—and the foundation of becoming your own healer. Connect with Areena Website: soulfulhealingjourney.com Instagram: @soulfulhealingjourney This episode is a living invitation to trust your inner wisdom, listen to your body, and reclaim your role as your own healer, supported by both the science of trauma and the magic of Spirit.
