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Biography & Background

My Background:

 

In life we each encounter a moment of awakening or perhaps several key moments of awakenings. In the Fall of 2018, I went through my most recent personal transformation, which would become the doorway to my path as a facilitator for transforming & awakening in others. 

 

I was a professional singer, living solely from live concerts when I had lost my voice due to a simultaneous infection of laryngitis and pharyngitis. As a singer, losing the voice was the worst thing that could happen to me! But after some kicking and screaming, I finally surrendered to the lesson in the silence. This challenging situation catapulted me into a journey of deep soul-searching, eventually leading me to the powerful and transformational world of meditation. My voice came back; I started singing again; but something also profoundly changed: a doorway to the angelic world or I could say, the “other side” began opening up for me. I started experiencing phenomena beyond my 3-dimensional senses, which would begin to guide me as I embarked upon this intriguing new path in life. 

 

Since that serendipitous moment, I have explored several meditation techniques from various traditions and teachers and have been divinely guided in creating several transformational meditations and breath techniques myself. I have also travelled to India for my teacher's training in yoga, finalized my first education in energetic healing, and continued to expand my interest in emotional healing via a hands-on education in breath therapy.

 

Education & Inspiration

  • Bachelor of Arts in Biology (UCSC, California, USA, 2005)

  • Non-Violent Communication under Founder Marshal Rosenberg (San Francisco, California USA 2004)

  • Motherwave Personal Development (Drama Therapy, Art Therapy, Re-programming thought patterns, breath work, exercises in self-acceptance/self-love, and more...) (California 2003 - 2004)

  • Professional Dance Education (Vienna Austria, 2009)

  • Babaji's Kriya Yoga (Austria 2019 - to be a life-long practice)

  • Vinyasa Yoga & Yin Yoga Teacher's Training (Goa, India, 2020)

  • Various Osho Meditations, Osho Meditation Center (Pune, India 2020)

  • Ananda Energetic Healing Education (Vienna, Austria 2020)

  • Breath Therapy Education (Atem Pädagogik Ausbildung) (Vienna, Austria 2020)

BA Biology Degree Stephanie Smith
Yin & Vinyasa Flow Yoga Certificate Stephanie Smith
Energetic Healing Certification Stephanie Smith

Relevant Life Experience & Influences 

  • Babaji's Kriya Yoga since 2019

  • Professional singer since 2014 (Jazz, Soul & Standard dance Music)

  • Professional Dancer/Dance Teacher. Over 8 years' experience (Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Hula, and Tahitian Dance)

  • Hare Krishna World Tour in 2002 (England, Italy, Russia) with Guru, Shrila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev Goswami Maharaj, Shri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (in the Vaishnav/Hare Krishna Tradition)

  • Years experience with various dietary plans (Candida Diet, Vegan, Vegetarian, Non-Vegetarian, including 9 months as Vegan Raw Foodist )

  • Private Personal Trainer. 1 year experience - in outdoor sports, running, swimming, biking, stretching (Santa Barbara, California 2005-2006)

  • My Cherokee Native American roots– somehow this connection to nature and the spirit world has always been significant to me...maybe through my native blood...but I believe we all have this connection regardless of our genetic heritage! The Native Americans as well as the Hawaiians, have a very-earth-centered culture, which has greatly influenced me, and continues to inspire me.

  • Spending my most informative years at my mother's healing retreat center in Hawaii, where I experienced the magic of the aina and aloha spirit and began dancing Hula at age nine.

  • Deep Connection to India and Yogic Traditions. I have always had an affinity to India and Yoga. My first yogic teacher was Paramahansa Yogananda. Later I would spend a significant amount of time at the Hare Krishna temple in Soquel, California, before joining their world tour in 2002, where I enjoyed early morning Kirtan singing and daily Darshan (knowledge and stories about the Gods, Goddesses, and other personalities of this tradition). After my initiation into the Hare Krishna spiritual path, I still continued to learn from several traditions (including Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Sufism, and Shamanism), but it wasn't until my own spiritual “upgrade” occurred in 2018, that this direct divine connection opened up for me in a very personal and life-changing way.

 

Moving Through My Own Shadows

 

I have experienced extremely traumatizing and life-threatening incidences in my life, years of carrying around deeply painful weights of suffering, and have had to find ways out of falling into moments of depression and anxiety. These challenging experiences have also helped shape who I am today and my deeper understanding of the human journey. Moving through our shadows are the greatest moments of transformation and vital for our paths to enlightenment. So I am deeply grateful for these experiences and for the tools I have learned also to be able to help others during moments of transition.

My Perspective on Wellness & Transformation

First of all, we have all been endowed with our own willpower, and there is a reason for this! You must decide yourself that you want to change - noone can decide this for you and noone is allowed to decide this for you. Once you have decided that you want to change, you can reach out and request others to support you on your journey. There are so many resources out there! And of course everyone has different needs. 

 

What I offer is a unique combination of three powerful wellness modalities (addressing the emotional, physical and spiritual bodies), which, in combination can lead to a life of completeness, greater inner peace and total wellbeing. 

In my opinion and from what I have experienced, the external world is a mirror often reflecting our internal universe - or perhaps challenging us to shift internally. I see each one of us as a diamond which is being polished over the course of our lifetime. The more polished you become through your personal developmental processes, challenges and successes, the shinier you become and the easier it will be to manifest your deepest desires. So, if you would like to change your outside experience, the place to begin is within. Once I realized this myself, I was finally able to find my true path in life - plus it's so much easier to start with yourself and just allow the outside world to shift as a result.

 

Transforming or healing is a process unique for each individual depending on the depth of trauma or extent of suppression one has experienced. Sometimes healing means changing one's personal relationship to something which is not meant to "physically" change; other times healing means physically transforming something. From my observation, transformations on the energetic level or mental level naturally transform the physical body as a direct result because all the "bodies" are inherently interconnected. The more people I work with, the more I realize how much power each person has within them! It is so fascinating and inspiring to observe the transformations people undergo! 

Pilgrimage to Badrinath, Indian Himalayas Sept 2023

Pilgrimage to Kataragama, Sri Lanka (Jan. 2024)

Yoga Education, Goa, India (2020)

Babaji's Kriya Yoga Ashram, Quebec, Canada (2023)

Pilgrimage to Egypt (Cairo & Luxor, 2021)

Fun at the OmSpiriTri Yoga Retreats

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