Smiling Again

Sixteen years in a dysfunctional marriage, Tony never knew what he was going to find when he got home. WiIl she be dead or alive? Tony Newell shares the roller coaster of emotions that he lived through while married to an alcoholic.  He describes battling cancer as being easier. In this raw interview, Tony wholeheartedly shares all that he felt as he tried to help his wife through her recovery from alcoholism, forgetting about his own wellbeing. Then a turning point came and he started to care for himself, going from the darkness into the light.

Hearing things from another perspective always  helps to improve our understanding and compassion towards others. In this episode of the Smiling Again podcast, we hear  things from another perspective as Martin Roscoe, an alcoholic in recovery, shares his recovery story and how mindful writing helped in to keep in check with where he was at in his head.  We talk about the impact his illness has had on wis wife and his two daughters.  We also can begin to draw parallels between his healing and my own healing journey, reminding us that we are all human, trying to do our best. 

Breathwork is one of the most powerful tools we have to get out of our heads and into our body. Breathwork can also help change how we feel in any given moment. Just as your breath changes with your emotional state, you can change your emotional state by changing the way you breathe. Join us live as Breathwork coach Jacki Mundrawala shares how emotions can get stuck in the body and how breathwork can clear them. Join in with a simple breathwork practice. 

Oliver Hojas shares his story of being the big brother, growing up in a home where his mom was an active alcoholic. Challenges at home resulted in a life lacking structure and security for the children. Sent off to boarding school by the state, Oliver discovered art. After leaving school to  build his life and independence, he starting working in Zurich, where he explored different jobs which ultimately led him on a healing journey. This is a story of forgiveness, self-love, compassion and finding the courage to be the one to break the generational cycle of alcoholism in the family.  Today, Oliver is living his dream life as an inspirational artist.

Do we only get one big love?  When we hold space for a very special person a love so deep that we hold on to them tight, even through the addiction, and when they are suddenly gone, its excruciating. In the months or years that follow you begin to question will I ever love again?  In this episode I’ll reveal how to unleash the hope that you will find big love again. For a moment today, there was honestly a part of me that didn't feel hopeful at all about finding love again. and that’s a really big thing to voice.  This is a super personal episode where i reveal the whole truth about 

Trauma. When you love an addict or an alcoholic, you can experience many, many circumstances, which really can be quite traumatic. Whether it's a big trauma or a series of small traumas, which can take place over years, it has an impact on us mentally, emotionally, and physically.  Trauma can get stuck in your body and to really recover, we need to unwind and release all of that trauma.So how do we do this? Christine is going tell us how.  If there is one word that I would use to describe Christine, there's actually so many I could use, but the one that's at the top of the list is resilient.  Christine is an author.  She has written the book called Blinded by an Angel, which is her story. Christine has been a keynote speaker at mental health conferences, hospitals, addiction facilities, yoga studios, and universities, where she's openly has shared her story of resilience. Her story reached thousands of people in 2018. When she was featured in Canadian living magazine. She's also been a mentor to many in the field of addiction and recovery. She specializes in trauma informed yoga and is also the coauthor of clinical research gathered on residential treatment programs. If you have been traumatised or have held trauma in your body for a very long time, you haven't connected physically with your body. And so there's some neglect there. And the reason you probably haven't is because you don't want to feel. You have to feel the heal. Listen to the full episode to find out how. Links mentioned in this episode:Join the Blossome CommunityYou can connect with Christine on social media:Instagram- Christine YankeFacebook- Christine YankeVisit her website Blinded by an Angel: One woman's inspiring true story of resilience through grief, addiction, and trauma. (Available on Amazon Worldwide)Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

Just let the whole thing go. To release the past. We must be willing to forgive, but it's easier said than done. Welcome to season two of Smiling Again, where we'll be exploring the 12 areas of self care. And today it's all about forgiveness. I will be speaking with Chad Mierau, who is the author of a novel called Surviving the crash. I have to say that I believe this is going to be a challenging conversation for many reasons, and all the more reason for us to have this talk because of the positive impact that it can have on so many. Just over six years ago, Chad lost his sister, her husband, and their two children in a car accident. They were hit by a drunk driver and in Chad's book called surviving the crash. He shares his story of forgiveness and personal personal journey of growth through that, through that experience.

Creating space is a practice that opens up your physical space as well as your time and energy to allow more room to live, to create and to enjoy life.But how do we create space beyond physical space? Creating space can be challenging, mostly because it requires us to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It requires us to let go of things we’ve become comfortable with, the  familiar.  It’s in the layers we shed that we find space to heal. Shedding or letting go may even feel like a loss, but remember that the space created opens us up to something new, something healthier and more joyous.Listen to this episode to discover how to create space to heal.  This is the first episode of Season 2 which is all about self-care.