After living in London in Berlin Olivia settled firmly in Leicester 10 years ago, she discovered breathwork whilst on her own healing journey.
She found the tool so useful that she set on a path to share the powerful tool with others. Likened to the experience of taking psychedelic drugs but using your breath she shares a way to escape and heal pain and trauma through one to one sessions in her space or via Zoom.
Olivia created Soul Library, a weekly book club where like-minded womxn meet to journey together through soul-nourishing, spiritual books. Invited to listen with your heart and not your head, Olivia has created a warm space to support and champion other people.
Hi Olivia, it’s so great to get to speak with you about your world.
You have so many wonderful workshops focusing on creating peace within oneself whether it be through breathwork, communal reading groups or art. We love what you do but could you tell us a bit more about your work for those who aren't familiar?
Each of my offerings is born from my own personal healing journey from substance addiction/ self-harm and depression. My intention is to share with others the tools and modalities that have been instrumental in my haling. I believe deeply in our wondrous often untapped, innate capacities to heal ourselves to the modalities I work with are about empowering you.
Can you tell us about your Soul Library?
The Soul Library weaves together my love of books and my love of community. It is a book-lover’s weekly healing circle, where together we journey through soul-nourishing spiritual books. It’s an enchantingly tender space, free from judgement, interjection or advice.
We share our stories and our hearts – our aim is not to ‘fix’ ourselves, but to make peace with the ebbs and flows of growth, of life and transitions, of being human. Our conversations are based on the books we read, but extend and encompass so much more. We breathe life into the words on the page.
It's like having a team of personal cheerleaders supporting and encouraging you through your joy and your pain. We support and champion each other through the full rainbow of human emotion, through achievements, transitions, grief and sorrow. We listen with our hearts not our heads and experience in a deeply embodied way that we are not alone.
What inspired you to start the Soul Library?
I wouldn't be where I am today had I not been surrounded by the love and support of other people on this same journey. We are wired for connection, we are not supposed to do this alone. So I offer this space as a way of deeply connecting with other like minded women, also on a personal healing journey.
If someone would like to join the soul library, what do they need to know?
There are in-person and online options for The Soul Library - Wed 7.30-9pm in-person, Mon 7.30-9pm UK on Zoom. Each group is closed with a maximum of 8 members. I open up for new members when we change books. Some people stay for a season, some stay for a life time. We meet every week and share loosely on what we've read, reflecting on how it resonated, our feelings and experiences. There is space for everyone's voices. We learn from the books but mostly we learn from each other.
What can we expect from a session in Breathwork?
The most powerful of healing modalities I have worked with, contributing to a greater depth of transformation than I ever thought possible. Breathwork works powerfully and quickly, allowing us to drop out of our heads into our bodies and hearts. My teacher likens it to the experience of taking psychedelic drugs. Breathwork shifted me out of a place of stagnancy in my recovery, where I was still stuck in my head and suffering a lot of the time. I’d found other types of meditation really challenging, as they magnified being in my head which was excruciating. Then I found breathwork, or it found me. It burst me wide open and from the first session I was hooked.
Breathwork is magic. It’s a way to meet ourselves beyond the pain, beyond the stories, beyond the trauma. We can meet all of that with vast amounts of tenderness and uncover what’s underneath. It has the capacity for huge emotional release, and experience of blissful, euphoric peace and a space for clarity and deep insights. It’s transformed my existence from one of suffering to one of love. Self-love, self-compassion and self-acceptance are no longer illusory concepts, they are my reality. I am comfortable in my skin, can navigate my boundaries and relationships in a far healthier way and can identify and meet my innermost needs.
I trained in to share this alchemical practice with others. I work with one specific pattern of breath, taught by world renowned healer David Elliot. It is not about relaxation, it is about deep healing.
How can someone get started with breathwork?
I mostly work 1:1 with my clients but am intending to introduce more group sessions. 1:1 Breathwork sessions can be done in-person or via Zoom, whichever feels most comfortable for you. We start with having a short conversation about what's weighing on your heart, then move into the active breath for 25 mins during which I will intuitively guide and support you. This is followed by a deliciously nourishing 10-15 min relaxation and integration, after which there will be time for questions and sharing about your experience.
I offer one off sessions or a 3-6 month healing bubble, during which you have access to my support in between sessions as well.
You also offer creative mindfulness workshops too, could you tell us a little about those?
My creative mindfulness workshops are a colourful, joyous oasis of calm in an otherwise overwhelming, chaotic world. I want to encourage and give people the time to take care of themselves, to stop, to slow down, as when we nourish ourselves, everything else feels easier, softer, more manageable.
Art has been a big part of my recovery. As a child and teen I was always drawing but my addiction robbed me of this joy. It has been a beautiful way to connect with my inner voice, to explore unseen parts of myself, and also as a way to experience peace.
How can someone take part in a creative mindfulness workshop with you?
Art workshops are in-person and offer an immersive, enchanting experience in a lovingly decorated rainbow art studio, surrounded by twinkly lights, lots of plants and free flowing herbal teas and coffee. It’s an opportunity to drift off into a thought-free landscape against a backdrop of chilled out, soul-nourishing melodies, and forget about the outside world.
I currently run groups for womxn but would love to start a new group for men (all genders welcome) depending on interest.
What is the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself through your healing journey?
I see the lessons as being universally true for us all. That we contain the antidote to pain and suffering within our bodies. That self-love is the foundation for everything else - the more we can shower ourselves with love, gentleness and compassion, the easier and softer life can feel. That meeting our 'dark side' with love and acceptance dissolves self-loathing and shame. That we are mind, body and spirit and all of these need attention if we are to heal from our trauma. That depression is rooted in unmet needs. That feelings and thoughts aren't facts. That the past will always intrude on the present. That pausing when agitated is the greatest gift we can give ourselves, and those with whom we are in relationship. That just because something always has been, doesn't mean it always will.
Thank you so much Olivia for taking the time to speak with us today. What you do is incredibly special and must be so powerful for those you work with on their journeys.