The Wellness Circle

08/10/2025

The wounds of childhood don't always leave visible scars.

When a child is regularly screamed at, shamed, or criticised, they cannot process it with logic. Their developing brain does not have the capacity. Instead, they feel it - deeply and viscerally - in their nervous system.

This chronic stress becomes the blueprint. It shapes brain development, wiring a child for survival, not for safety. Their system learns to be on high alert, to anticipate threat, to please and appease. It is a brilliant, adaptive response to an overwhelming environment.

Years later, we give these brilliant survival strategies clinical names: anxiety, depression, complex trauma. We pathologize the symptom, often missing the root - a child who was simply trying to find a way to survive with the tools they had.

Our early world writes the first, deepest language of our nervous system. But it does not have to be the final word. Healing begins when we meet these old, protective parts not as disorders, but as wise, young guardians. It’s the gentle, somatic work of teaching the nervous system, breath by breath, that the danger has passed. That safety is possible now.

01/10/2025

Te Rerenga Wairua, Cape Reinga - where the land itself is a threshold between worlds.

Here, the wind carries more than sea spray; it carries the whispers of a thousand spirits on their final journey home. Māori tradition tells us this is the leaping place, where the soul descends the roots of an ancient pōhutukawa into the ocean below, beginning its voyage back to the ancestral homeland of Hawaiki.

This isn't just a story. It is the living memory of the land. You can feel it in the wild, meeting currents of the Tasman and Pacific, and in the evidence of centuries of human settlement who understood this place's sacredness.

From the great navigator Kupe who named this pathway, to the lighthouse that now stands as a silent guardian, this land breathes with layers of history. It is a place that reminds us we are all part of a vast, interconnected story, walking on a land that holds the footsteps of ancestors.

To stand here is to be humbled. To listen is to hear the soul of Aotearoa.

23/09/2025

Mental health is not a landscape lived only from the neck up. It is a full-body experience, orchestrated by the wise, often unheard, whispers of your nervous system.

When your body feels safe, your mind can finally rest. This is the foundation of all true healing.

12/09/2025

Family Constellation Therapy ✨

It's to remember what your body sounds like when it is no longer speaking the language of inheritance.

To feel a breath that is entirely, unquestionably your own.

This is the homecoming that awaits.

08/09/2025

Still feeling the gentle hum of Saturday’s gong bath - the collective quiet, the shared breath, the sacred pause we created together on the lawn outside The Concourse.

A deep bow of gratitude to every soul who showed up. To those who arrived curious, who settled into the mats, and who allowed the sound to guide them home to themselves - thank you.

There’s a special kind of magic in gathering as strangers and leaving as a quiet community, hearts a little softer, nervous systems a little calmer.

It’s an honor to hold this space for you. May the resonance carry you gently into the week ahead.

- Sylvia

04/09/2025

This is your reminder about where to find the Gong Bath on Saturday morning, as part of Chatswood Street Fair's Wellness Hub! You can learn more about the event and Sylvia here -

Take a moment for yourself and explore the power of wellness and self-care.

03/09/2025

A gentle reminder for your weekend: stillness before celebration 🌿

Join me this Saturday at 10am for a free Mindfulness Gong Bath Meditation at the Chatswood Street Fair / Emerge Festival. We’ll meet on the lawn outside The Concourse - mats provided.

Let the sound wash over you. Let your breath settle. Let your nervous system remember its natural rhythm before you step into the day’s joy.

No experience needed - just you, exactly as you are.

See you there, beautiful souls.

29/08/2025

Attending the Chatswood Street Fair or Emerge Festival this Saturday, September 6th?

Before you dive into the festivities, come breathe and reset with me. I’ll be hosting a free Mindfulness Gong Bath Meditation at 10am on the lawn outside The Concourse.

Mats are included - just bring yourself and let the vibrations of the gong guide your nervous system back to calm, so you can fully embrace the joy and energy of the day. ✨

Perfect for beginner and experienced meditators; it's a chance for the perfect pause.

See you there - let’s begin the day deeply present.

24/08/2025

August 8th Lions Gate & Full Moon Group Sound Bath Sessions.

Lovingly created for nervous systems that need deep rest, nourishment and connection.

Lions Gate~ There's a gate in the sky beckoning you to open its door. For here you'll find a Lion resides. Waiting for you to listen...

“Decide for yourself who you are and what you will create in your life and on the Earth, and then focus on that. Do not be drawn by the energies of anything that is not in alignment with what you wish to create.”

22/08/2025

The Virgo New Moon arrives - not with a shout, but with a whisper. A call to come home to the sacred alignment of your mind, body, and spirit.

As the poet Matshona Dhliwayo wrote, “A tree's roots are its crown buried in earth; its crown is its roots raised to heaven.” This moon invites us into that same embodied wisdom: to be deeply grounded while reaching toward our intentions.

This is the first of two moons in Virgo - an opening at 0 degrees, pure as untouched soil. It invites us to plant seeds of intention with gentle hands. Then, next month, we’ll return at 29 degrees to harvest what has ripened within us.

Virgo doesn’t ask for perfection. She asks for presence - connection. To meet you where you are to lean in tothe courage to feel where your life is - and isn’t - in harmony.

I’ve shared a simple somatic practice on the slides (“Roots & Crowns”) to help you ground into this energy. No equipment needed - just a willing body and a few breaths.

Swipe through to explore the meaning of this moon and a ritual to welcome her.

Wondering where to start? Begin by standing still. Listen. Your nervous system already knows the way.

20/08/2025

I felt uplifted by my community from afar and felt so very blessed to be part of systematic family constellation work earlier this year. The diversity opened my awareness to appreciate the ancestor lineages, unconscious patterns and uniqueness of different ethnic groups in my work as a therapist.

I began to feel a sense of lightness as I dove deeper. It was a feeling of liberation from a restricted mind and ego state. The threads became clear and healing became deeper when I surrendered to the somatic experience and energetic patterns that were emerging in the present moment.

I remain so grateful to you both, Efu Nyaki & Dionísio Moormann. For your deep wisdom and humility.

“I open myself to a situation in darkness, not knowing what is going on. The question is: How do I get to a truth concealed in darkness? I dive into a flowing field; I become part of it, and it reaches out beyond. Things move in the field, some into area of light, revealing something of what IS. I open myself to that and wait for something to come to me. An image for this process is: I feel my way in darkness along walls until I find a door. When I find a place of light, I try to describe what is illuminating me with a word that is full and ripe. When the right word is found, those for whom it came grasp it at a level beyond rational thought. The right word touches and moves them, even when they don’t understand how.”

19/08/2025

Healing is not a straight path - it’s a spiral, returning you to yourself with new wisdom each time.

In our sessions, we weave together:
✧ Talk therapy to honor your story
✧ Somatic Experiencing® to gently reset your nervous system when fight/flight/freeze arises
✧ Sound, touch or breath to help you transition back to your day with regulation and grace

Every choice is yours. Every step, honored.

Because true healing isn’t about fixing - it’s about remembering how to be whole.