By Meleni Aldridge, executive coordinator, ANH International
Welcome to Episode One of the 2023 August Acceleration interview series. I’m thrilled to introduce you to my first guest, Xandra Hawes, who describes herself as a psychotherapist and psychic medium. An unusual combination of disciplines, but Xandra has spent years exploring the intersection between psychology and spirituality and is more than qualified to share her perspective on emotions being a bridge to consciousness and healing. She also references how the language may be different in different disciplines, but the effect being discussed, whether in psychotherapy or shamanism for instance, is similar. I also like to think of emotions as our internal navigation system.
Whether you’re watching this on YouTube or listening as a podcast, please join Xandra and I for a deeply insightful conversation around emotions and how to navigate them. We are given precious little guidance in normal society on how to handle and work with our emotions, how to trust ourselves and how to cultivate our emotional sensitivity — our emotional intelligence. Let alone gaining any kind of understanding of how to use this inherent and powerful internal navigation system we have been gifted. One of the best kept secrets in healthcare today is that we need to ‘feel to heal’. The results of our emotional mishandling and overwhelm are to be seen all around us, reflected too in the spiralling chronic disease and mental health rates.
“The more we’re willing to be in our emotional centre and not overly feed our emotions, but be with them, with courage and with love, being able to hold ourselves, the more we move towards emotional freedom — and the more emotions don’t get stuck within. Emotions move through the body much quicker if we don’t get hooked into them and we’re not so afraid of them.”– Xandra Hawes LPC, O.M.
Modern life doesn’t really equip us with a full toolbox to handle our emotions and far too many people are living with increasingly challenged mental health — a far cry from being able to step into their empowered, sovereign selves to create the kind of life they want to live. In this interview, Xandra weaves together the many threads of emotional wellness and covers the gamut from those with extreme sensitivity (the empaths) to those that have disconnected due to trauma, and lots more in between. Xandra also discusses how to establish a healthy connection to emotions, and in so doing, reclaim our inner wisdom – and our happiness.
We need to heal in order to feel whole, but true healing always involves doing the emotional shadow work too and in so doing, learning how to use our emotions to reclaim our intended and inherent potential.
Listen to the podcast
Emotions: The Bridge to Consciousness with Xandra Hawes
About Xandra Hawes
Xandra Hawes is a licensed therapist, psychic medium, and spiritual mentor with over 10 years of experience in the field of mental health and wellness. She is the founder of the Soul Essence Centre, a virtual platform that offers intuitive development, energy healing, and spiritual guidance to individuals and groups. Xandra’s approach to psychotherapy and mentorship is holistic, combining evidence-based techniques with psychology, spiritual principles, and intuitive insights. She believes in empowering her clients to tap into their inner wisdom and connect with their soul’s purpose, while also providing practical tools and strategies for navigating the challenges of everyday life. As a sensitive person herself, Xandra excels at teaching empathic people to manage their sensitivity and to cultivate, as well as trust, their intuition. Xandra is also the host of the Soul Essence Centre podcast, where she discusses mental health topics from a spiritual and Buddhist psychology perspective.
In 2014, Xandra received a graduate degree in Holistic Health Studies from St Catherine’s University. In 2017, she graduated from Naropa University with her MA in Clinical Mental Health Counselling, with a concentration in Contemplative Psychotherapy & Buddhist Psychology. She is a Licensed Professional Counsellor (LPC) in the state of Colorado and an Ordained Minister through the Psychic Horizons Centre, where she has completed several advanced programs in clairvoyance, ministry, trance-mediumship, and energy healing. She has trained with three Shamanic Practitioners within the animism-based journey school of Sandra Ingerman. Xandra studied Folk Herbalism and Ancestral Healing through ritual and wildcrafting in Ireland, as well as Norse Mediumship through the Seidr tradition with Betsy Bergstrom in the Summer and Fall of 2019. In the Winter of 2019, she completed Past Life Regression Training with the renowned Hypnotist and Coach, Zoilita Grant. Xandra sees clients both online, and in her office, located in downtown Boulder, Colorado.
Connect with Xandra
Her Soul Essence Podcast, is available on:
