Please note, this is an automated transcript so it is not 100% accurate.

Katherine:
So decided to dive into the swimming pool didn’t realize that that was the very shallow end of the pool and smashed my head on the bottom Your break is so bad that for every thousand people that have that break, only one person will walk. And I was insistent that that was going to be me. We have infinite potential when it comes to our own healing. that has just been proven to me time and time again throughout my life.

Katherine:
If I can heal through something like that, I can do anything. Like there is nothing I’m not capable of doing. there is no endeavor of greater importance than the journey to know yourself. Guy here. Today I welcome to the show the beautiful Katherine Anderson and if ever there’s a podcast that will leave you feeling inspired, hopeful and wanting to take action and lean into this work, this is the episode. Her journey is remarkable and the way she shares so authentically and beautifully about her story and how it comes full circle. Is gorgeous. And if you are wanting to learn spiritual practices that apply into our daily life and how we can apply them with the willingness and intent to do so, then I feel this podcast is definitely for you. If you do enjoy this conversation with myself and Catherine, please be sure to let me know in the comments below.

If you’re watching on YouTube, hit the subscribe, a like, help share these conversations. I feel they’re so important. Let me know as well where in the world you are watching this from. It is great to connect. So it’s not just the internet per se. And to round it all off, we have got one more five day retreat here in Australia.

In the Byron Bay Shire of Northern New South Wales here in September 2024. Come and join us. You will not regret it. I promise you. If you’re looking for a tribe and heart centered people that dive deep into this work and you want to see the best of humanity, this is one of the places to come. I promise you.

Anyway, links are below for more details. Enjoy this conversation. Much love from me. And hopefully I get to meet you and hug you in person someday, somewhere.

Guy:
Oh, we’re recording. We’re live. Catherine, welcome to the podcast.

Katherine:
So good to be here.

Guy:
Beautiful. Is this your first podcast, by the way? I didn’t ask.

Katherine:
Actually started running some podcasts myself with my brother. Um, we have a business together, an online wellness platform called one quest. So we’ve just started doing some podcasts ourselves, which has been really interesting to step into, but this is the first time I’ve sort of been interviewed.

So yeah, I’m really excited for

Guy:
Yeah, it’s definitely different. That’s for sure. Well, look, I really appreciate you coming on. Obviously, we’ve gotten to know each other over the last few years and, and, um, Over that time, I’ve slowly been finding out more and more about your journey, you know, from, from the very time you first stepped, I believe, into, was it a one day workshop you first came to?

Katherine:
Absolutely. I,

Guy:
And how long ago, how long ago was that?

Katherine:
Oh, I think that was 22. I, I just found you through Facebook. um, it came up and I was sort of went to lean in and I thought, Oh, I’m not sure. And, um, it just kept coming up and I was like, okay, it’s time. So yes, it was, it was a

Guy:
Yeah.

Katherine:
Started the whole, that whole path with, with Live and Flow.

Guy:
Yeah, amazing, because what I’ve noticed and just to help people, the listeners bring up to speed for everything to so we can dive into your journey, you know, I remember you came to the one day and then you came to the retreat and and There was something you could just see that your level of commitment to the work and to the journey and the path you were on and When people walk through the door with that kind of willingness and readiness and like i’m all in kind of thing you can it really stands out and that’s where I get excited when you see people just like Where can I take these tools and and these practices and and in our lives and you know And you’ve been supporting us since as well.

We reached out not to support and You And, um, and we just all came back from Bali and I know Bali was a very, um, I guess It was a big deal for you to go there So maybe let’s start there because you kind of I guess maybe close the chapter on bali without with our recent retreat So let’s take us back as we were sitting in the car I don’t know when it was when you were giving me a lift back from the last retreat And you started telling me everything that happened.

I was like, oh my god. I did not know this So please so start wherever you want to

Katherine:
Bali. was a really interesting retreat to go back to. So I’m just shy of 30 years, maybe like two months off 30 years since I was in Bali previously., I was not in a great space. back then. just had had, had a really tough couple of years. ,I think, you know, for, for a lot of people, that teenage time can be, can be pretty rough., but I’d sort of come off the back of some sexual trauma and then straight into, um, a scoliosis diagnosis. And I was pretty angry. Um, I was not in a,

Guy:
Wow

Katherine:
in my, my head. And I guess the prognosis moving forward, I was sort of being told all of these crazy things like, um, you know, you’d need, you’d need to have a rod put in your spine from the scoliosis that by the time I was 40, I’d probably be in a wheelchair. I was, I was pretty upset and angry to be honest. Um, almost felt like my body was sort of, um, against me in some ways.

Guy:
And scoliosis is curvature of the spine, you were saying?

Katherine:
so it was a little bit unexpected. It wasn’t something that I’d sort of had any issues with up until that time. And then, you know, it was one of just one of those screenings that they do at school that picked it up. But that sort of sent me down a path of, of all, you know, this is really doom and gloom and this is not a good thing. So, um, I’d been put in a fiberglass brace for a year to try and stop the curve getting any worse. I was having lots of regular appointments with the orthos, um, I was supposed to step into having, um, a rod put in my spine.

And two weeks before I did that, I decided to can the whole thing and just that I was just going to sort of wing it and

Guy:
Whoa. How old were you at this point, Catherine?

Katherine:
been about 17.

Guy:
And that’s when you had the year in that fiberglass as well.

Katherine:
younger before, so I was probably more like sort of 15 when that happened. Um,

Guy:
Wow.

Katherine:
back then. And so by the time I got to Bali and I was there holidaying with my family, I wasn’t in a good headspace at all. I’d been saying to myself for quite some time leading up to it, I just need to go somewhere like escape everything and find out and work out who I am. And it just kept playing in my head like I needed to escape. I didn’t realize at the time that I was just trying to escape myself. I thought I was just trying to escape my circumstances. But I think that’s something over the years that I’ve learned that our circumstances actually don’t need to change.

It’s just a support that we have to help us, you know, find a path through it that, that needs to change. And, and that that’s really what we need. So, um, heading into Bali, I, um, I sort of didn’t know where life was taking me and, I, I’d had a woken up with like a rash all over my body, went to the infirmary, got some antihistamine, um, wasn’t told at the time that maybe I shouldn’t be drinking when I’m on antihistamines.

So that night around the pool had a drink and really didn’t feel well. So decided to, um, dive into the swimming pool refresh myself, didn’t realize that that was the, um, very shallow end of the pool. It was only about a meter deep and, and smashed my head on the bottom. So, um, Um, that was led sort of to a chain of, of events that was really unexpected.

I, um, I ended up in the infirmary, I sort of passed out in the pool, but then sort of woke up just sort of sitting, holding my neck, um, ended up dragging myself out of the pool and passing out again. And then was dragged to the infirmary and they sort of stitched me up. But I, I didn’t understand what was going on.

I was in a lot of shock at the time. I thought I was okay, um, but I just knew that I was in a lot of pain.

Guy:
No one else saw it when you were, when it happened or?

Katherine:
and they were the ones that took me to the infirmary. There were actually some family friends that were there on holiday with us that helped get me there. Um, enough, that the guy that stitched up my head was a vet, which was really funny because I mean, this is Bali 30 years ago. Um, and, and he was sort of the nurse there. So, um, it, it was interesting cause I was in so much pain. I just didn’t want to move from there. I actually slept on the bed in the infirmary for the rest of the night and then sort of made my way back up to the room after that. I ended up knowing that something was really not right. Um, and, and, in a cabin with my mum and going to the x ray department and um, finding out there that I’d broken my neck. So that was about 24 hours after the incident had occurred. Um, my mum and dad knew about a guy who, who was um, in Sydney uh, who also knew the registrar of the Prince of Wales Hospital so ended up getting in touch with them. And, um, in Bali, they wanted to put me in hospital for three months in a, in a cast sort of from a neck to my waist. And he just said, no, let’s, we we’ve got to get her out of Bali. So they medevaced me to Singapore. Um, once I got to Singapore, there was, it was only, um, the only hospital, I think other than one in, in the States that was in the world that at the time had a 3d CAT scan. They were able to put me through this CAT scan machine and see exactly what had happened. And I’d, dislocated and broken the C4, 5 and 6. So it was three bones in my neck. And the one in the middle had broken like a, like a pie into four pieces. it was all just sort of sitting there floating. Um, All of the

Guy:
Oh.

Katherine:
cartilage and the ligaments had all displaced. It really wasn’t in a good place. And at the time I had a lot of tingling and um, and numbness through all my shoulders and my arms. So we knew that it was pressing. But I was super lucky that, um, that that was sort of the only issue that I had at the time. They, um, they put me in traction while I was there, which is they, they drill some holes into the side of your, your skull and they, it’s like headphones. So they put these metal headphones into your head and then they hang, some, some weight off the end of the bed, you know, pulley system. So the idea is that you lie completely straight at the ceiling, um, and you stay there [00:12:00] for a couple of months until the, the break, break, break heels. And yeah, and see what happens.

So when we were, when we were in Singapore, they were pretty concerned. They wanted to do a spinal fusion while I was there. uh, the guys in Sydney said, no, we just want to monitor her, get her home. So.

Guy:
What’s a spinal fusion?

Katherine:
is where they take some

Guy:
Oh,

Katherine:
normally sort of like your hip or something like that. they go through the front, so they take out your throat and they go in and they fuse the bones together to try and give it some stability. Um, the idea being that without that stability, the, the chance of it actually breaking into your spinal cord is, is pretty, pretty high. Um, Yeah. So, and look, in the end, they, they got me back to Sydney after being in intensive care in, in Singapore for 10 days. They took nine seats out of a jumbo to get me [00:13:00] back. Um,

Guy:
was going to say, how do they transport you without you being able to move your head? And

Katherine:
and just tied my head to the back of the, like they, they had like a, a pole at the back of the bed and they. They, they ambulanced me to the, the airport. They, they put me in through the baggage section, you know, where they, they put all the bags up and they take all the food up into back of the plane and they took out nine seats and they laid me there.

So, um, yeah, it was, it was big at the time. And um, once I got back to Sydney,

Guy:
you’re, sorry, and you’re 17 at this point now? 17, 18? What’s going through your mind at that point? Like if you’re an 18 year old laying there and all you can do is stare at the ceiling. I mean, because you can’t move.

Katherine:
Yeah. And that’s, that’s the interesting part is like, I was so trying to escape my circumstances and escape my life. And it’s like the universe heard me and they were like, you know what? We’ve got the perfect antidote for that. We can really give you the time that you’re looking for to work yourself out.

And that’s exactly what I got. You know, here I was, I had booked to go to like on a Contiki tour to go to Europe. Um, not long after I had my accident, I ended up having to cancel it because I was still in hospital and I thought that was going to be what I needed to, to kind of find myself, but it wasn’t, it was actually having time to work through, you know, the trauma that I’d had and you really work out who I was and what I wanted in my life and, and what was actually sacred, what was important to me. And, and it took something that big to actually slow me down and stop me and say, Hey, you know, you’re not on the path and on the direction that you want to be. And we need to do a total 360 and change direction. So it was a really big path adjustment for me. And

Guy:
I can imagine. And we’re, yeah, and so I’m just trying to place myself in that, that space at that age. And, and we’re like people bringing in self help books to read or where you’re listening to anything to inspire the way you were thinking or to help you navigate to find yourself again. Because some people could just lay there and go absolutely crazy, you know?

Katherine:
and that’s what was interesting when I got back to Sydney. I, I had all the support of my family and I had friends coming in to visit. Um, my auntie gave me a Louise Hay book. It was the You Can Heal Your Life. And that was really phenomenal. Um, that really gave me, I guess, the agency to understand that I was in control of how I saw the world.

And I was in control of my perception of, of things that had happened and how I was gonna, how I was going to take that on board what I was going to make of those experiences. So that was really interesting. Um, my mum had also just come off the back of a trip to, to Camp Eden. And one of the things that she taught me while I was in Singapore and then back in Sydney was a beautiful breathwork technique you breathe in a golden light and you really imagine and envisage this golden light coming through then wrapping itself around the bones and around the break in the muscles. and using it like a healing energy. And then as I breathe out to actually breathe out all the inflammation and all the broken bits and anything that wasn’t helping my healing, I didn’t have a lot of lot to do other than, you know, things like that and reading.

Guy:
Practice that.

Katherine:
so that was

Guy:
Hmm.

Katherine:
did every day and it was really interesting that at the beginning what I visualized was very different to what I was visualizing by the end.

At the end I was really seeing that the break had mended itself. I used to imagine it knitting itself back together and that everything was coming back into alignment. so that was a very powerful practice that actually gave me. Really a tool that I felt like was empowering to help me, you know, really sort of get

Guy:
Wow. So you weren’t laying there thinking, Oh God, is this going to heal? I’m fearful, but you were actually leaning into an envisaged outcome or were you dancing between both?

Katherine:
really I use that as a tool that I I did have And my mom had even brought a crystal for me to wear around my neck and she told me this is a healing crystal. It’s going to help you heal. So I had all of these kind of little tools that I was trying to use because I felt like I really didn’t have anything else.

Guy: Hmm.

Katherine:
interesting being in an environment like a spinal ward. You, you’re sort of sitting there in between an acute area and an area where people come back in for sort of maintenance who are, quadriplegics and paraplegics and they’re coming in and out and they would, they would come down in their wheelchairs and they in next to where my bed is.

And they’d have a talk to me and we’d share experiences. And I felt such gratitude that I was lying there. And even though had this happen, just knew that I was going to walk out of there where These are people that I was talking to that were feeling sorry for me that didn’t have that. So it was a time when I became extremely grateful for what I did have, instead of on what I didn’t have or harping on, you know, the things in my life that I wasn’t happy with. Um,

Guy:
Yeah.

Katherine:
it was, very humbling to be in that environment and to, To see people in there that done such small things that had caused these massive accidents for them. Like, one lady that was in there had fallen off the first step of a two step stepladder, um, and broken her back. Uh, like, things that were just so minimal. and had caused these life changing effects. And I was there with people who were never going to walk again. So I just, I just had to dig really deep to know that I was going to walk out and nothing was going to stop me in my whole life was about to change.

Guy:
Wow. And last question on that. With the breathing and the visualization, because it’s such a powerful tool, at that time, how long, like, you said you were doing it daily? Would it be for just 10 minutes? Were you there for an hour? Were you fully present? You know, how did it look like for you when applying that?

Katherine:
I did do it daily. Um, it was something I probably spend about half an hour in that visualization, maybe a bit longer. Sometimes I

Guy:
okay. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm.

Katherine:
tried to imagine very, very clearly what was happening that, um, that it was healing and mending. what was fascinating about that is that when I go back to Sydney, they sort of said to me. Your break is so bad that for every thousand people that have that break, only one person will walk. So I already knew how lucky I was. And I was insistent that that was going to be me. That one person, why can’t that be me? all the way through that, they were also saying, look, we’re going to likely have to do a spinal fusion at the end anyway. Um, cause the chance of it still being stable is pretty slim. Once that healing time is sort of finished and we’ve done everything leading up to, that sort of screening, preparing for an operation.

And I just kept saying, I’m not going to need it because it’s healed. the morning of the, um, The morning of that screening, I woke up and that crystal that my mom had given me had broken in two on my, my chest, which is, I still to this day find really interesting because I couldn’t roll over. I couldn’t move.

I was just lying on my back. And yet here I am with this crystal completely split in two on my chest. And when I went to the screening, they said it was a miracle that it healed and that I didn’t need a fusion. So, to this day, I’m still awe of that. And I guess that was the moment that I first realised that there was something so far greater than I was that was sort of puppeteering and orchestrating all of this in a way that I couldn’t even begin to imagine. And really then started to lean into that.

Guy:
Wow. How so? How long was that window? That was three months before. Once they moved you back,

Katherine:
that I was, um, from the time it happened till I, I left hospital,

Guy:
were, were you, were they, were you getting much pressure externally anyway? Like, like, ’cause they feel like, I get torn when I hear these stories because I understand that they need to lay out the facts to you but when you start hearing. Or only one in 1000. You’re probably you’re never going to probably going to walk again You’re you’re going to need this you’re going to need that like it it can be very condemning at the same time and i’m torn where like I I wouldn’t know how if I was you know in the medical system how to be dealing with these situations because it feels like you know, basically they’re saying you’re fucked and You There’s no other way, because this is all we see.

But not leaning into the possibility of, well, what is that one in the 1, 000 person actually doing differently? Can we support you with tools or something to, to nurture that time while you’re laying there?

Katherine:
Completely. And I think when you’re surrounded with it too, in an environment like that, and you’re seeing people that aren’t the one in 1000 everywhere It is very, very challenging. And yet there was something inside of me that just wasn’t going to accept that. Um, and I think, you know, that can be the power of, of mindset. And I think that that was the interesting part for me. And that’s what continued to play out in my life. That the more I lean into what that like inner voice is telling me that that’s not going to be you, you don’t need to be that. Um, The more that the miracles just continue to unravel and unfold, I don’t think we can really put anyone in a box and say, this is what’s, what, what is going to happen. Because the reality is that, you know, we have so much more control than what we think we do. And, I truly believe that if we have the right mindset around it and we can put the right belief system in place and using things like, you know, energy work and breath work to really be present and really be in with our bodies. It’s unfathomable what is, is able to be accomplished. You know, we have infinite potential when it comes to our own healing. that has just been proven to me time and time again throughout my life. And it’s something that I think once you Once you see it and it’s proven to you, you never come back from that.

You can’t look at things the same way anymore, because you realize you have so much more power than you ever thought was even possible.

Guy:
Um, totally. So what did that, before we kind of go full circle to you coming back to Bali, like you said, nearly 30 years on, um, what did that accident and that experience change in you? So when you left the hospital and you, you know, you step back into the world, because you spoke about at the time you were very lost and searching, um, Was that person still innate in you or had it really shifted a part of you that sent you on a different trajectory? What happened?

Katherine:
did totally change my trajectory. It took a while. You know, we, we often talk about this at retreat. There was an integration period afterwards where I felt pretty lost and messy and I didn’t really know who I was or what path to take now. It’s like when you have that massive path adjustment, it’s like that sliding door moment. Everything shifts in such a profound way. Sometimes it’s hard to sort of get your feet back on the ground. But over time, I guess that power that was within me was something that I really wanted to explore more and my life circumstances completely changed. I felt like I really got back on track worked out how I wanted to feel and who I wanted to be.

And I felt like I’d been given this new opportunity and new lease on life that I didn’t have before. And it was like a second chance, and a chance to To redo, you know, so much of what I felt like had been taken away from me for all those years. it was a, uh,

Guy:
Hmm.

Katherine:
I feel now looking back, such a pivotal time in my life.

I couldn’t possibly be who I am today without it. as much as it was really hard to go through, um, I draw on that now as a real pillar of strength. Like if I can do that and if I can survive and get through that, and if I can heal through something like that, I can do anything. Like there is nothing I’m not capable of doing. And I that’s a belief that is so deeply embedded in me now. Um, I love to lean into it and I like playing with that now because it’s, it’s such a strength.

Guy:
Yeah, absolutely. So, from that point on, did that then set you on a path of spiritual inquiry more or did you kind of put it to bed for a while? Because, you know, you spoke about traumas before the neck break, then obviously the trauma of the neck break itself, you know, and you kind of, you go on this different trajectory, you integrate, you start living your life.

Was it always something you were hungry already kind of just let it subside and then it picked back up later in life?

Katherine:
it more, although it did sort of down to a bit more of a simmer for a while. And, you know, I had kids and a family and, um, and that sort of I guess that was a distraction for some time, although I still had it running in the background and I was still stepping in and still interested and still actively involved. then I think as, as things started to change in my life again, it became very, very necessary for me to step back into the, into this sort of work in a much, much greater way. Um, I’d started having some challenges in my relationship, I really started having to question who I was again, and, you know, am I the person that I actually want to be?

Am I, am I really showing up in [00:29:00] my most authentic self? have I kind of lost my way a bit again and become a role? You know, a mother, a wife, uh, a businesswoman. Have all of these things, you know, Have they kind of clouded who I am and what I need in my life? And if I let those things really of get in the way of me Continuing to evolve and and grow and I felt like that it definitely happened.

So I Started really sort of stepping back into the spiritual side became a meditation a meditation teacher did some training in that Really sort of stepped up my yoga practice Started doing some sort of breath work and some rebirthing sessions and really lent into this sort of more energy space and working with becoming really present and having much more of a mindfulness practice in my day to day life, which shifted everything again.

Guy:
Yeah. And then at what stage of that was when you walked into the one day workshop in Newcastle with us and living flow.

Katherine:
a few

Guy:
Um, yeah,

Katherine:
I had a dedicated meditation practice. I had a great sort of daily routine where I was really learning to have sort of to be back in my body again. I think after so many years of, you know, had a lot of chronic pain leading out of that broken neck. I had to do a lot of work on staying back in my body. Um, And I just felt as though something was missing still. And I felt as though that there was something so much more that I still wasn’t tapping into. And I kept getting hints of it, but it’s like, I felt, I felt as though I just couldn’t quite dive in. Like there was still some there for me to really kind of connect in and, and, you know, feel that, I guess that divine energy. Even with the meditation practice, I just felt as though like this, there’s something more here that I’m just not tapping into. And I felt like I was trying to do everything and it just kind of wasn’t, wasn’t quite happening. So that’s when, quite

Guy:
in there.

Katherine:
the living flow came, came through and, and I stepped in even after,

Guy:
I, I got two, sorry, I got two questions because you opened a couple of loops in there. One was, what do you mean by really getting back in your body? If you could explain that for people, I know what you mean, but I think it’s a really good thing to dig into a little bit. And the other question is, had you experienced that divine energy before at that point?

So we can lean into that as well.

Katherine:
getting back in my body, I think after, after I had that, the broken neck and that trauma and with the things that had gone on as, as a teenager, I felt like I became very disconnected from my body, almost like there was a polarity where my brain was over here and my body was over here. it had caused me so much pain and grief and suffering that I felt like I’d sort of put a blanket over the whole thing and I just stopped feeling it. I think when, when you have that sort of daily chronic pain, it gets to a point where you just feel as though. You don’t know whether you’re actually going to be able to cope with it knowing that in the future that’s just always going to be there, that that’s not going to change potentially. Um, and, and when you’re in that situation, it’s very, very confronting at the thought that this is what your life is going to be like. that you’re going to have all of this pain and all of this suffering within your body. Like, how do you deal with that? for me, the easiest way to deal with it was actually to not deal with it and almost ignore it. It’s so much so that I wasn’t listening to my body at all, that I was actually able to like totally disconnect from it, almost as though I didn’t have a body. And it wasn’t until I, I didn’t even realize that I had been doing that for so long until I started doing a Vipassana meditation one day when I was doing my meditation teacher training. um, Um, that for pastor meditation, it’s like, it’s called an insight meditation. So it’s a, a choiceless awareness where you sit in meditation and in your head, you just note all of the senses that are coming in.

So if you smell something, if you hear something, if you feel something, um, and you just sort of label it in your head. So I’m getting to this meditation and I think, okay, great. is interesting. Something new. I’ll give it a go. And I close my eyes and I’m open awareness. And then I get feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, And I just burst into tears. And I realized suddenly that my body was screaming at me Trying to get me to listen and I had just been completely ignoring it like to keep myself safe in this safe little bubble. I had actually like totally disconnected from it. that was such a powerful moment to realize that here I was trying to cope with things by actually disconnecting.

So that was the beginning of really starting to get back and know my body again and feel safe inside of it. And now I have to have a really strong practice of, of yoga and getting into ice baths and for walks and doing everything I can [00:35:00] and trying to do one of those things on a daily basis to really help me stay in my body, feeling it, aware of it. Listening to it, knowing when it’s not feeling great, when something’s uncomfortable, and learning how to just sit with it, hear it, love it, acknowledge it, and just let it, let it go. Um, and that has been, in itself, powerful. I know it’s something we step into a lot in retreat. And I, I can’t, I can’t undervalue like it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s so important me.

It’s been

Guy:
That’s it. It’s yeah. I get that. No, you articulated that so beautifully. Thank you. It’s, it is critical, isn’t it? And it comes to repetition is key. You’ve really got to want it and move into it and create the real estate in the body to allow that energy back in to really bring it home to ourselves because at the end of the day if we are divinity having a physical form if we are light or photons in this physical body which is It’s own entity to then the way I kind of envisage it now is as we heal our trauma release that we’re creating real estate to really start to come home to ourselves and develop that connection.

And how many people do we see at the retreats and the events that. don’t feel safe in their bodies, are completely disconnected to it, have no idea or awareness around it that they even don’t feel safe in their bodies because it becomes so much of the known and familiarity, the way they’ve accepted, believed and surrendered into the current status, that it’s, it’s, it’s mind boggling that this isn’t more prevalent in our society, that this work is becoming more available, but it’s so key.

It really is.

Katherine:
in so many ways. And I feel as though really, that’s that path back to your heart too, because that’s the feeling part that we, Bye. We don’t listen to it enough. But we need to listen to our bodies too, to be able to really connect in with our hearts. So I feel as though that’s really hand in hand. And once you’re really starting to feel that, that’s when you can start really understanding your energy and how your energies work and how your emotions affect your energy and your vibration. And there’s a beautiful synergy that then starts to happen when you open that door and can step into it because you become connected to something far greater than what you are by just being back in your body again, that disconnect disappears.

And there’s a coherence That starts to happen where really, it sort of up levels your consciousness in so many ways because you, you become really, can

Guy:
Yeah.

Katherine:
present because you’re, you have this awareness of your body, you’re aware of how you feel, your emotions are, where your energy’s at. And then you can have the mindfulness to actually change that and to work with that. And if you’re not feeling how you want to feel, you realize you can change that and that there are practices and tools that you’ve got there that you can actually use to, to embody a different feeling or a different emotion and that, that that’s all a choice that we actually have choice in all of that instead of just being so blindly guided by it. What, what our heads say that we should think we can actually stop and say, wait a second, I don’t want to feel like that. And I don’t want to perceive it like that. I’m going to change that and actually start taking those active steps to, to shift the way we see things. It’s so powerful. Um, and I know you mentioned about, you know, have that divine connection. Um, that’s something that I’ve played with on and off over the years. And I think knew it was there and I’ve had moments where I felt so connected into that universal consciousness and I knew that that’s what was happening but I didn’t know how to engage in it more actively when I wanted it. It was more, I would accidentally fall into it under certain circumstances. Whereas now, after doing, you know, um, a lot more sort of self exploration, can step into that. whenever I like. In fact, on a daily occurrence, I can can step into that connection and ask for that, that beautiful guidance and wisdom at any point. it’s like, it’s so available to me whenever I want it. Whereas I thought it was something that kind of had to be divinely given or ordained.

Guy:
Yeah.

Katherine:
completely the opposite. It’s actually now so much part of my life and my existence that I can’t imagine a time in my life when I didn’t have it. That’s true.

Guy:
complete sense. So, moving forward then to the recent Bali retreat we just ran. When we had put Bali out there and you saw it, And so right What what feelings emotions did that bring up for you? Because obviously I don’t I believe you hadn’t been back to bali since right since the accident right, so So clearly then there must have been still some healing to do or to create some peace with that to come full circle with that experience of what you, you shared.

So yeah, I’m, I’m intrigued to know what did it bring up for you? Why did you decide to go and what did you get out of it?

Katherine:
come up multiple times leading up to your announcement that you were going to run a retreat there. It, was something that I’d been working through in the background. I’ve been doing, um, a lot of breath work, which is sort of the new name for rebirthing. And a lot was coming up for me then when I was, um, um, when I was doing the breath work, I was really through a lot of the things that I was still stuck with that I was still holding on to and, and when I do breath work, I find it really interesting that I get in that to that connected breath, the information that comes through is so beautifully channeled, whether it’s from my higher self or, or from something greater than that. The intelligence that comes through about where I need to shift, the way I need to change my perceptions and what I’m still holding on to is so profound. every time I step into it, I walk away just absolutely blown away. So a lot of the things that I’ve been working on in those sorts of sessions were around things that I was still holding on to from Bali. Um, for example, when, when I’d had my accident from that moment on, I stopped dreaming. Um, I didn’t dream at night at all, and I’d been told at the time that a lot of people, when they get that direct hit to the head, that, that happens to them as a form of protection so they don’t keep reliving their, um, their trauma over and over again. In one of the breathwork sessions that I did, it came through that the reason I was, I was, um, not dreaming anymore was because when I was sort of stitched up that it had created like a block there where that divine flow just wasn’t able to to happen properly. So within that session we actually did a visualization of it being unstitched so it was like a spiritual unstitching that that took place and for the next month or two after that I felt like I didn’t even sleep because Every [00:43:00] night, the dreams that came in was so full on and so much.

It was like, Whoa, slow down. It was like, really, it was incredible. It was like, I’d had, you know, 20 years worth of dreaming came through in, in about two months time. So some of the experiences that I had leading up to Bali were amazing. And there was such a, a sort of. Removing of the layers of, of issues that I was still sort of holding onto.

And, and I thought I’d kind of got rid of a lot of it and worked through a lot of it, but it’s amazing just the little, those little experiences that still hold, hold you. You know, really felt as though I’d, I’d had that accident, I’d left a lot of my trust and faith that the universe had my back. in Bali. So even in one of those, um, breathwork sessions, we did a soul reclaiming where I actually went back and reclaimed that part of me, that, emotionally broken side of me, that I felt that I left by the side of that pool and reclaimed that. And that was extremely powerful because it gave me the ability to then surrender into belief that there was, that the universe had my back and that there was something so far greater than me that going to be able to guide me and that I just, the more I trusted and the more I surrendered to that, the more, um, the more those synchronicities would continue to happen, you know, and my life would be in so much more flow. So a lot of the work was being done in the background and Bali just, it just kept, it’s like knocking on my door. It’s like, Oh, we’re thinking of going to Bali and wouldn’t it be good to go to Bali? And I had sworn that I would never go back. And then, um, um, When you announce that you are having a Bali trip, it was just like, okay, okay, I’ll go. I will go. So, um, I plan to go anyway. And then Matt rang me and said, Hey, we’d love you to come and support at Bali. And I was like, of course you would. Cause now I can’t not go. So it was, um, it, it was perfect. It was just the universe coming in and saying, it’s time to revisit that and to let go of. anything that you’ve got left, we’re going to get rid of all of that because none of that serves you anymore. And what I love about that opportunity is that you’re up until then, it was still part of my story.  And now

Guy:
Hmm. All

Katherine:
it just feels like, and it was a, it was an event that happened in my life. Not that it’s by story anymore. that’s a truly powerful. place to be, to be sitting after all this time to be able to let go of something that I still felt I had, you know, cords of attachment to. They’ve just fallen away now and I feel, I feel whole again after revisiting it and re experiencing it. It’s been, yeah, amazing.

Guy:
right. It’s yeah, thank you for all that. It’s incredible and it’s just Honestly, I it’s incredible to witness the the dedication that you’ve you’ve put in just for yourself and and The exploration because even when we talk you’ve been like, oh i’ve been studying this i’ve been trying this i’ve been doing that Like you’re constantly exploring, curious, but then when the way you show up at the retreats and I, and I watch you, like I’ll clock you and I’ll see you going into a process and you’re fully committed.

You’re all in, you’re like, right, let’s go. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s, this, what I witnessed being in front of thousands of people is that there’s so much intrepidation. There’s so much nervousness, which is natural, um, as well. And I can see people I really concerned about committing to the practices, you know, because obviously there’s a, there’s a fear and a trauma that’s sitting underneath, but [00:47:00] once we start to understand that navigation, and it’s actually for our highest good, and we can work with that, then, then we can kind of throw ourselves and be all in.

And once we’re all in, that’s, I feel where the magic’s happened. Once we made up our mind to say, no, that’s it, I’m in and have that mindset. You know.

Katherine:
That, that all in is so

Guy:
Do you It’s massive it’s massive and and I I joke about it sometimes because I worked in the fitness industry for a long time So I would get people complain to me or the program doesn’t work.

I’ve followed this I’ve tried this but then i’d sit with them and watch them and say well, you’re not putting any effort in You’re actually not you’re just going through the motions. Like are you going to show up for yourself and give this gift to yourself and work at it or Or just sit hoping something’s going to change, you know, and

Katherine:
feel as though you’ve got to be the change you want to see in the world. know, I’d have big goals and big visions. We’ve got one, one life and it’s so finite. I just don’t want to live the same life 75 times and, and not take those chances. It’s, it’s, it’s. think all like my journey has really continues to prove to me that I’m not all in, then it’s such a missed opportunity and, and, you know, if I can perceive it, I know I can receive it.

It’s, it’s, it’s such an important part of showing up. And I know that my level of consciousness and. You know, how I, how I turn up energetically and how all in I am is, is going to directly impact my result and how I feel. I just don’t know that there’s another way to do it other than be all in. I’m just not

Guy:
Yeah,

Katherine:
by the sidelines and let this opportunity [00:49:00] pass me by without giving it my all.

Guy:
yeah, beautiful. Hopefully people listening to this will be inspired enough to go, you know what, I’m going to dive in. I’m going to dive in. What are the, do people within your family and friend circles and things like that, have they noticed, or is it just Catherine being Catherine, you’ve just gone about things and it’s just going on or are people Um, seen what you’re doing with yourself and the changes, how’s it been navigating that kind of personal space, I guess.

Katherine:
fascinating to watch. Um, when I really started sort of leaning into this work, my focus was just on me trying to be the best version of myself and to show up in the cleanest, clearest way possible. Um, and to really be able to be a better support for other people as well. And what’s been fascinating in is that, you know, I thought this was really about my own personal growth and yet the amount of lives that that’s touched just by my interactions with my own family and how the dynamic and the energy has changed in our interactions and, and the way that. that of, we work together, like has this completely changed? And then they show up differently in their lives and they have different connections as well. So it’s become so obvious that when we start doing this, this self care and this sort of really connecting into divine and that sort of universal energy. more we do that, and the more we’re showing up for ourselves, the more we’re showing up for our families and our whole communities. And it’s creating a, a shift like in, in so much more than just our own lives. It comes back to that. that concept of sort of duality. I feel like the more we do this, the more we become just one consciousness and the more we’re all joined together and we’re all moving forward together as a group.

And it only takes one person to start that chain reaction because it’s infectious. Um, it just, it just spreads. And that’s something that’s become so fascinating for me and so transformational that, um, that’s where I’ve stepped into, to building this online wellness platform with my brother. You know, the concept of OneQuest was the ability for me to be able to actually come in and help give other people tools to help them support themselves and then their families and their communities. you know, when you start thinking of that concept of, of potentially, um, you know, touching the lives of a billion people, that’s not, that’s not such a bizarre concept because one person, And affecting and changing one person that affects their families and then their families, families, and then their friends and then their community.

And the ability to create those waves of change is, is just phenomenal. And it just takes stepping in and stepping up and saying, I want more, I want more. And I feel more. And I know that, um, you know, by, by really sort of understanding that. I’m more than just my body. I’m more than just my mind. I’m beyond my five senses and that I have that the universal wisdom and that quantum wisdom right there that I can draw on whenever I want. Like that’s what changes lives and that’s what will change this world. I truly believe it.

Guy:
Yeah, absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. I, um, one last question for you before we wrap up the podcast, Catherine, and that is, you know, you, you, We’ve got a, um, I don’t know when this podcast is going to go live, but we’ve got one more retreat in Australia this year in mid September, there’s five days. You’ve just spent six days with us in Bali.

You know, people listening to my podcast will definitely be clearly on the path, you know, and, um, we’re Get so many questions around the retreat and things. What would you say to someone about I guess the importance of the work or leaning into actually coming together for five days with people out of your own environment and what that can do for someone?

Or how do you even explain it to your family members or people when they ask you, did you just go to a cult? I mean, that’s quite often.

Katherine:
You know, I truly believe that there is no endeavor of greater importance than the journey to know yourself. that that is, that is the pivotal point stepping into these retreats and having the ability to go through, you know, sound healings and inner child work and meditation and really start to learn who you are, what makes you tick, how you perceive things, and being able to actually start looking at your life through a different lens, as well as starting to understand know, that we’re, we are all connected in a way that maybe we hadn’t realized is, is so profound and life changing that after one of these retreats, really, you can kind of rewrite your whole life, how you want it to be, how you want to feel, how you want to show up in this world. And, and that’s where the power is. When you suddenly realize that you can change your whole life on a dime, all you need to have is, is the willingness. And, and be open minded, be prepared to, to give things a go. at things from a different perspective. It’s um, yeah, it’s breathtaking.

Guy:
Yeah, beautiful. And if people want to find out more, because I have no doubt people are going to want to connect with you after this podcast, Catherine. So where can we send them? If people want to reach out, say thanks, or find out a bit more about what you’re doing.

Katherine:
that sounds great. Um, I have a website, onequest. life. so, yeah. that the one quest platform is is really designed to help bring transformational coaches together and and provide questers with the ability to, you know, really unlock their infinite potential. So that’s something that’s really my passion project at the moment and something that I’m working, you know, really hard to help get out there because I know that these tools can can so support other people. Um, so that’s probably the best place to jump in and have a bit of a look and connect with me through that.

Guy:
Yeah, beautiful. Uh, the links are always in the show notes anyway. And, um, Catherine, thank you so much. Uh, wow. I’m so glad we got to get this down on a podcast today. Really, really appreciate it.

Katherine:
Guy.

Guy:
Beautiful.

Katherine:
and, and I can’t thank Live and Flow enough for, um, you know, bringing this, this possibility to people. It’s, um, it’s just amazing. And it’s, it’s been life changing for me. And I know it will be life changing for thousands of other people who get the opportunity to step into this.

It’s just amazing. Whatever you do, don’t delay. Step in. This work is amazing. Love it.

Guy:
know, I know. I wish I could just drag everyone there, but we need to be there on our own accord. I know. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Catherine.

Katherine:
Beautiful. Uh, uh, uh.