Redefining “balance” after series of burnouts: The journey to restart my authentic life

On the surface, things looked perfectly fine. I was a thirty-something single woman, chasing my dream in the premier business hub of Southeast Asia.

As an Indonesian, I have made small and big decisions to chase my dreams and live my life to the fullest. Since I was a kid, I believed that the only way to achieve them is to be unstoppable. It worked quite well until I experienced a series of burnouts that put me in the position of finally restarting my life and redefining “balance”. With the help of Astuti, I have started my healing journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the past 10 years, I experienced three burnouts – emotionally, mentally and physically.

 

I moved to two different countries for study and work and was in autopilot mode all along. I felt extremely exhausted. It was a totally devastating situation when I could not function at my highest quality. This usually followed with fatigue, demotivation, tiredness and a series of mental breakdown. 

A friend referred me to Astuti a year before I had the courage to speak with her.

As an Indonesian, I understood talking to a therapist would be equal to being abnormal because of the stigmas on mental health. I relied on my best friends, boyfriend and family. However, the situation was far from ideal.

My friends are amazing but they were mostly struggling with their thriving careers, newborns, moving into new houses or building businesses. Though they were always supportive, I could not always call them to tell them how I feel.

My relationship was on the edge because I started projecting my stress onto my boyfriend on a daily basis, accusing him of not understanding my situation and demanding more than he was capable of giving.

My parents are loving and supportive, yet they were not familiar with my situation. They offered their shoulders to cry on and gave some religious and motivational notes. I loved it all but I was not progressing and day by day it became more difficult.

 

I moved on from my first two burnouts by taking a break but I had never truly gotten over it.

I barely understood that there were underlying issues. After experiencing a major burnout that caused me physical pain, I decided to consult with Astuti.

I reached out to her in April 2020, just when the COVID-19 outbreak has made us permanently work from home.

She was compassionate in listening to my issues and taking into consideration that I was not easy to open up and not knowing the root cause of the problem. Fortunately, she understood my social, religious, cultural values and context as an Indonesian, and also was capable of assessing my situation and my unique past experiences.

 

To address the issues, we went ahead with Body Code.

During the sessions, Astuti enabled me to locate and release blocked emotions that caused pain and disease in my body. I really enjoyed the sessions because it made me understand my family system, their traumas – and mine.

The result was amazing; I am at peace, mindful and relaxed. I made exponential progress mentally, and importantly, I feel so much better physically! I did not know that diseases always start in the mind and emotions first before they manifest into physical sickness.

 

The months I was proceeding with my sessions, the COVID-19 situation got worse, and both of my personal and professional plans were put on delay. There were a lot of adjustments on the way we do business due to the new normal. At the same time, I had less interaction with my friends and family due to social distancing. Surprisingly, I become much calmer. I see more positive sides of the challenging situation and feel compassion with myself. 

 

Astuti set up coaching calls in between the first and second treatment to refine my intention and purpose.

This was a very critical moment for me and I really took my time. There was so much wisdom in those moments when I looked into my inner self and questioned all things. I researched, opened my old journals, blogs and checked my family system as well as their traumatic experiences. I eventually observed the interaction between my family and my inner monologue. One of the hardest challenges that I faced was to finally accept myself the way I am without tying that love to any external achievements. 

 

With a refined foundation, Astuti and I went ahead with the Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) session as the second phase of the treatment. This session allowed us to deeply analyse my childhood memories and replace my limiting beliefs with positive and uplifting ones.

The result of the hypnosis and recording was above and beyond what I expected from healing. I am not only more connected to my mind, body and soul but I’m also more in tune with my intuition and essence. This also enabled me to become more conscious of my thoughts and body in order to live my life to the fullest. 

 

The inner journey is not over, and the healing itself is a full-time job. I am grateful that I have experienced the burnouts so that I could finally find my own truths. When we unlearn a lot of things about ourselves, we will be granted with the best gift that we are beyond what we think we are. With this new point of view, I am able to redefine balance and restart my journey with a laser focus on authenticity.

Anyone who is pursuing dreams, goals and careers or building their families, yet facing fear and roadblocks should talk to Astuti. Especially during a difficult time such as COVID-19 pandemic. She is compassionate, kind, and intuitive, yet professional and attentive. Mental health is as important as physical health and do not hesitate to seek help!

 

Soraya 

Singapore/Jakarta

 

To hear more details about Soraya’s healing journey, listen to this podcast episode (in Indonesian/English languages)

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Working with Astuti

I met Astuti a few years ago during training in Brighton, UK. I am a coach myself and since that time we have stayed in touch, regularly helping and “coaching” each other.

 

Astuti enriches each call or meeting with her wisdom, her uplifting energy, and her warm nature. She allows you to be vulnerable and 100% yourself. I always feel at ease in her presence. Apart from that, Astuti is also very knowledgeable and intuitive.

All this has meant that I have learned so much from each session with Astuti.

 

She has helped me to let go of past emotions I was still holding onto, become more grounded, and have helped me envision exciting future goals. She has enabled me to raise my energy both spiritually and physically to better support myself in managing my energy and therefore I’m able to serve others better.

Thank you so much Astuti for all your generosity, kindness, and wisdom.

 

Annette Paterakis

www.annettepaterakis.com

London, UK

 

 

 

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Manifesting a thriving business and personal life

I have tried numerous coaching and energy psychology approaches for various issues in my business and personal life, but I have often ended up feeling like “All these techniques seems to work for everyone, except for me”!

Astuti kindly suggested that we’d try Body Code work together, and to be honest my hopes were not that high.

Little did I realise how powerful and transformative this process would turn out to be for me!

 Astuti led me with her calm and steady presence, helping me clear subconscious beliefs that were holding me back.

She managed to locate and unblock these trapped emotions, often inherited from my family system or from traumatic events in my own life.

The results have been truly amazing on so many levels, and way beyond my expectations!

My business is now thriving, and more importantly, I now feel so much more at peace.

 

 

Astuti is a highly experienced and knowledgeable transformational coach, and I can warmly recommend her to anyone needing new tools and perspectives in their lives and careers.

 

Karin Andersson Hagelin

Zurich, Switzerland

 

 

 

 

 

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The deep dive journeys in becoming a heart-centered leader

I signed up for Astuti’s Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) in late 2019 upon a friend’s recommendation after inquiring for inner child therapy that I was immediately looking for.

 

At that time I just finished a leadership retreat that was using ancient and modern modalities to enable a more heart-centred leadership. During this retreat, I discovered my own fears, limiting beliefs, and past traumas that hindered my full blossoming as a heart-centered person/leader.

I subsequently excavated deep into my soul for what was wounding me and inhibiting me from living my full potential. It was apparently rooted in some childhood moments and experiences, which required hypnosis to address and heal them. I felt called to immediately do hypnosis because I had learned that it was one of the only ways to recondition the subconscious mind and access the inner child.

 

Our RTT session was a little bit pleasantly surprising as I had some qualms about hypnosis with regards to it being notoriously misused for manipulation. Her RTT session proved it otherwise and I journeyed deep into my childhood and addressed many wounds and re-parented my inner child to inculcate him with more uplifting beliefs. I felt relieved and viscerally liberated during and right after the session. 

The follow-up treatment of RTT to recondition my subconscious mind was the real gem, however.

For 21 days, I was immersed in a content that was so loving, generous, kind, and transformative to my mind’s operating system; something that I realized was quite fundamental in readying my brain to shape shift my current subconscious mind.

I can almost guarantee whatever she did with her therapy was partially responsible for the current benefits of equanimity, calmness, and inner peace that I can proudly and gradually reap from on a daily basis right now. Of course, I have had to do ongoing continuous inner work myself. But her offerings built the skeleton for that inner work.

 

I later benefitted from Astuti’s Body Code sessions, which significantly altered my preconception of what emotions are and my perception of how emotions and epigenetics could do to our current state of being.

Her generosity in healing and guiding me, through excavating my past emotional baggage, be it intentional or inherited, was very helpful in resetting my kinks to fully live an uplifted life. 

 

Astuti’s compassionate, friendly, and heart-centred approach towards therapy and coaching is a treasured novelty in my life and my journey with personal development.

I highly recommend for anyone who seeks to live a more fulfilling life, beaming with activated potentials, to seriously consider what Astuti can enable you to become. Trust her and she will do some magic to your subconscious mind!

 

Jourdan

Singapore

 

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Healing my beautiful Arabian horse from shock, trauma and grief

I met Astuti, a former colleague of mine for lunch, when she told me that she was qualifying in „Emotion Code“.

 

I had heard about the method of releasing trapped emotions in our psyche and body and was fascinated. When she told me that it also works with animals, I seized the opportunity and asked her if she would work with my horse Ghazal. She did and I am so glad I asked her.

 

My horse, Ghazal, is from Egypt. I fell in love with him on a trip to Cairo in 2002 and brought him to Germany in 2003 in an adventurous journey.

 

He was already 15 years old and I knew very little of his prior life, only that he had belonged to a 16 year old girl from a noble family in Kuwait and sold to the stable in Cairo a couple of weeks before I met him.

 

The trip to Germany by air plane was traumatic and it took him 2 years to adjust to his new home, the climate, food, English riding method and certainly the culture (no Muezzin singing at 5 am every morning, no camels, no donkeys running around and no horses galloping through the narrow streets of Gizeh). 

 

Ghazal and Canazei

Everything improved when he met Canazei, an old, wise English Thoroughbred, ex racing horse like Ghazal.

They formed an instant bond and became inseparable – until…..a beautiful sunny day, on February 17th,  Canazei, who had the box opposite Ghazal was unable to get up. 

He struggled for hours and even with the help of four strong stable hands, could not get up. For horses this is practically a death sentence because being on the ground too long, causes their organs to fail and they die. 

Ghazal witnessed all this and was very anxious, calling out for his friend and running back and forth in his box.

Canazei died with his head in the lap of his life long owner, my best friend, in the evening. After everybody was gone, Ghazal was let into the box of his dead friend to say a last „Good Bye“. 

 

Ghazal was in shock, he grieved deeply and aged years before my eyes within a week. I tried everything to cheer him up, but nothing worked. It was like he was seeking refuge deep inside himself and nothing and nobody was able to coax him back to life.

All his mischievousness, his joie de vivre had suddenly left him and what was left was an empty shell of the horse I had known.

 

Astuti did 4 full remote sessions with him and the effect was incredible!

She unraveled the shock, anger and grief of abandonment, where it was lodged in his body in the first session.

But then it was like peeling an onion, she peeled away layers of hurt, trauma, hatred, loss, confusion, humiliation, (hidden) vulnerability, sadness and she was able to see where the emotion were trapped in his body.

It came as no surprise to me that all the trapped emotions were in parts of his body where he has had former injuries, or was always tense. 

What was really amazing was the immediate effect it had on him.

 

Ghazal

While before, he had been depressed, his eyes had lost the spark and shine and he was without energy, after the session, he was totally changed.

He was fully present, awake, full of energy and it was like he was finally back. With every session, he got stronger, livelier and out of a sudden, he was back, naughty, sparkling, ALIVE!

This horse looked years younger again, he kept his head erect, his body was full of energy and he was running, jumping and „dancing“ again. 

 

Since Astuti’s sessions, Ghazal has never „fallen back“ into depression. Her work did, in fact, heal him completely from his past trapped emotions.

I am eternally grateful for the fantastic work Astuti did for me and Ghazal.

 

D.S

Zurich, Switzerland

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Letting go procrastination, feeling of being “out of time” and trauma for INNER PEACE

I worked on the following topics with Astuti: procrastination, feelings of being “out of time” or “stuck in the moment” and overcoming trauma.

After having a discussion over these various symptoms, Astuti suggested for me to access my subconscious mind memories and to heal my birth journey.

 

While walking through my birth process during a hypnosis session with Astuti, and then while listening to the recording that she prepared for me based on that session, I found an amazing feeling of inner peace. This came along with an increased sense of self-esteem and reassurance that I can do what I plan to achieve while enjoying not only reaching a result but also enjoying the process of getting there.

The session with Astuti has freed my mind of thoughts that were pulling me down, not allowing me to thrive, or thoughts that were not allowing me to enjoy having achieved something (for the fact that the process of having actually reached the goal had been so exhausting due to procrastination and self-doubting). 

Subconscious mind reprogramming session with Astuti has also provided me confidence in terms of accepting and embracing what my journey and timeline in life has been. It has been like finding the key that opened the box that held the missing piece of the puzzle that made things make sense.

 

There are a number of impacts the session has in my life.

In terms of personal relationships, I have the feeling of being in the “driver seat” of my life, with the assurance that where I am is where I want to be.

The session with Astuti also helped me see that in order to truly overcome trauma and in order to be in a healthy relationship with someone else, I first needed to be at peace with myself. During the session, I felt that peace, and as a consequence, my relationship with my partner is at the point where we are ready to continue building the future together. 

In terms of impact at work, because of this increased sense of self-esteem, I feel more confident when facing stressful situations at the office, and I am enjoying the challenges that those bring along. I feel more productive as well.

As if by cleaning the “blur in my mind” (the worry of struggling with the feeling of not being sure to be able to get things done, postponing things for when I found a better moment to complete or address issues) I have become more efficient.

 

Astuti was very caring, and she was very clear in terms of how the session and hypnotherapy would work, and also very open in terms of what can be achieved through the therapy.

We discussed alternative paths for tackling the matters at hand, and upon deciding what was the best way to go based on her recommendations, we commenced work.

 

I would advise you to give Subconscious mind reprogramming a go. Every balanced human being struggles these days to find the time to connect with his/her own self and inner voice because life gets busy and it might be difficult to set the time with ourselves and introspectively consider where we stand in life, how we feel, what we want to change and or want to do better, or simply differently. Doing this can help you exactly do all that in a very effective way. 

 

NN, Legal Council

Zurich, Switzerland

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Finally free!

I lived most of my life in prison.

Not a prison with bars and guards, but rather imprisoned within my own mind. There was just something blocking me from the freedom of an unencumbered life.

 

I vividly remember the morning of August 2, 2010, staring into the mirror after another long weekend of revelry and escape. Those sad and fearful eyes belonged to a man now long gone, still the eyes of a child really, someone who had almost given up too many times to count, someone who had just lost a whole decade to the dark depths of a crippling depression and corrosive substance abuse.

 

In that moment, however, despite the burdens of self-loathing and despair, a long-lost spark was somehow reignited, and a promise was made to keep trying.

 

What followed was a dogged, nearly decade long search for meaning. The journey began with sobriety and exercise, fueled further by incessant research on the mind, body and soul. I eventually found and developed a relationship with meditation, yoga and various other esoteric ideas and ways of thinking. My life situation was slowly and steadily improving but somehow, I still couldn’t break free. I wondered if I ever would.

 

In July of 2018, I attended the Mind Valley University conference in Tallinn, Estonia. One of the workshops was run by Marisa Peer, a well-known hypnosis therapist and founder of the RTT method. She led the room on a guided hypnosis exercise which was startlingly impactful. I felt this experience and technique might somehow be useful, then several months later decided to investigate whether someone was practicing this technique in Zurich. Thankfully, I found Astuti and scheduled an appointment with her on April 9, 2019.

 

I am writing this just six weeks later, May 21, 2019.

I cannot begin to describe the impact our session has had on my life. I tried so many things before, and although I am certain those efforts contributed to the triumphant success of the hypnosis therapy, the breakthrough that occurred was truly remarkable.

Astuti expertly and compassionately guided me through all the difficult emotions trapped deep inside that had been clogging up my operating system after so many years of confusion, sadness and struggle. Facing and embracing the pain allowed me to develop a new relationship with these emotions, and to construct a healthier and more accepting internal narrative. This new narrative is based on understanding and love, a brilliant change from the anger and fear of the past.

 

The changes are astonishing.

My energy is intense and pristine, physical weight is falling off and I am so much more present. I was always an empathetic and kind person, buy my sincerity is now palpable and I am constantly noticing ways to be of service to others. Whether someone needs a smile, a simple helping hand or significant offer of support, I sense an innate duty to share love and kindness wherever and however possible.

 

My life now has a foundation of gratitude and appreciation.

The anxiety, stress and self-concern have gone away, and I can now look at even the most difficult periods in my past with more peace because the journey ended up here.

I have no regrets, and now see life as a giant karmic jigsaw puzzle where each piece, however painful, was and is a necessary part of the whole. I am no longer so obsessed with my own deficiencies and struggles, and when I look outward, I see a wide-open mosaic of awareness and love.

As I reflect on all the people who were there for me along the way I am overwhelmed at the kindness in this world. I can no longer relate to how I viewed life on April 8, 2019. It’s as if Astuti helped me wipe the slate clean, and at 39 years old I just started all over again.

 

The most important lesson of all is to never give up. If I had, I would have never met Astuti, never tasted this new reality. There are many ways to heal, hypnosis therapy being just one of them. But whatever you decide to try, you must commit to it.

Commit to being one with love in this world and it can happen for you too. And if you truly commit, you will one day run into someone like Astuti who can help you break on through to the other side.

 

I’d like to share a quote from Terrence McKenna which has been inspirational for me these last years:

“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.”

 

Adam Pierce

Zurich, Switzerland

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Finding courage to leave my job and start afresh

I worked with Astuti to overcome the feeling of being stuck in life, especially in my job. I didn’t like my job, but I needed the money. My work motivation has been declining since the beginning of 2017. The feeling of being in a rut became stronger over time.

After being coached and had hypnotherapy session, I felt lighter. I was toying with the idea of leaving my job and going back to my home country to be nearer with my family, and naturally, this idea made me scared. The sessions with Astuti helped me in understanding what I really need in my life, and why sometimes I have fears when I want to achieve something. She helped me dealing with my fears in a peaceful manner. After the sessions, I felt reaffirmed and stronger. Astuti helped me formulate constructive thoughts and build a plan for my future.

What main take away for me from the journey is that I should never hesitate to seek help and guidance from God. It didn’t feel much at the beginning, but after a few months – and it coincided with the holy month of Ramadhan – I started reading the Qur’an more often and started to listen to religious lessons from Islamic scholars. Then the pieces seem to slowly fall into place. My transformation started happening. I also felt courageous to make the decision to resign from my job. I could now focus on what I would be gaining by doing the right thing for me.

As a therapist, Astuti was very structured and a good listener. She gave guidance on how to approach different obstacles, and made the sessions feel comfortable, safe and relaxed.

I advice that more people get life coaching and/or hypnotherapy. It can really help in deconstructing stubborn thoughts that may be an obstacle for someone to achieve their goals.

Hypnotherapy is useful you have been having a recurring problem in, to gain understanding why the problem keeps recurring, and to solve it once and for all. This may not be achieved in a single hypnotherapy session.

With consistent support from the therapist, transformation happens!

FK Sari, Finance Manager

Singapore

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Feeling safe and confident in following my passion and build a floristry business

I’ve always had trouble with confidence. I used to feel defeated even before trying something.

 

Astuti helped me to overcome it especially when I was facing a dilemma whether to start my own creative business or go the conventional way of trying to find a job that satisfies my parents.

 

Through the sessions with Astuti, I found the underlying reason of my lack of confidence. As I listened to the hypnosis recording, I progressively felt relieved. I felt content more and more content and accept me the way I am.

 

After the sessions, I decided to pursue my own floristry business. This was a huge step for me. After months of unsuccessful job searching, I realized that the truth was I did not want a corporate job.

 

With more confidence in me, I decided to take a leap of faith and started my own business, doing what I love: Floristry. This is my own decision that I am really motivated to work on. Starting a business that 100% reflection of me now felt like the most natural step for me.

 

More importantly, I accept that I am different from the rest of my family. I am creatively inclined. My relationship with my family got better as I opened myself more.

Prior to the session, I hesitated in asking for help. Now, I’m opening myself in receiving help from other people, which greatly benefits me.

 

I felt grateful toward Astuti as she was very helpful and understanding. She gave relevant advices but never forced her opinion on me. I felt free to tell her my problems without fear of judgment.

 

If you are considering hypnotherapy, I strongly suggest giving it a go.

 

 

IP, Flower Wizard

Jakarta, Indonesia

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Up-leveling my team’s confidence in public speaking

I lead a team of trainers for our Bank’s wealth managers.

In the past, I ran 95% of all the trainings and seminars. The fact was I presented too much and my team too little. We wanted to change this proportion as a way for all of us to grow.

I decided to try group hypnotherapy to address the roadblocks the team had in public speaking. We invited Astuti and Selina to hypnotize our team and myself in our office.

This helped! Combining the group hypno session together with our team goal of getting my team out on stage definitely had an impact.

The proportion of the work has shifted to me doing only 70% of the training. This is a great achievement!

Astuti and Selina were very understanding, knowledgeable and challenging in a good way. Their profound banking background made it, of course, easier for them to understand the corporate world and the issues we face when presenting to and training “corporate soldiers”.

If you are thinking to have a group hypnotherapy session for your team, my recommendation is to define your goals precisely and encourage your colleagues and team to be open-minded. Give it a try. There is nothing to lose!

 

Annik Kapila, UBS Wealth Management

Zurich, Switzerland

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