Olivia Besson
Holistic Therapist & Life Coach
SOUL MISSION
As a change-maker and New Earth visionary committed to Unity Consciousness, my mission is to hold space for individuals who are ready to open their hearts, expand their minds and surrender to their own self-healing journey.
holistic therapy and life coaching
Come as You are. A space where all of You is welcome. To Be in the tenderness, to have the courage to lean into the depths, and to re-emerge like a new day.
I offer 1:1 support and group facilitation for men and women who are seeking spiritual and personal growth, greater emotional intelligence, and are ready to create change in their lives.
We actively participate in the journey of self-healing and self-liberation by tapping into and remembering our own innate wisdom. Deep within our psyche, we already possess all that is needed to restore harmony in our lives. We all possess divine intelligence. My job is to create a safe space for you to access these answers, help you See and co-create the way forward. Within your own Heart-space holds the keys to your Resonant Truth, which is the gateway to navigating a life with expansion, fullness, joy, resilience, and love.
"I love to facilitate from the premise that you are already this perfect soul, and that your experiences through this life and past lives leave impressions on your energy body that restrict the free flow of life force in your body. This results in energetic tensions, tethering you to 'things' that weigh you down. Our mindset becomes limited. The result is - we lose our sacred power."
A little about me...
I am an adventurer. As a teenager and young woman, I had an impelling vision to travel and explore the world. With the same curious nature, I've loved the inward journey of personal and spiritual growth. My adventures take me to far away places, geographically, cosmically, and to the vastness of my inner landscape.
At 23 years old, I was in an horrific car accident, compressing & breaking my spine in 6 places, crumbling the vertebra of my lower back. Along with whiplash and trauma, I endured this process with all of my family. It also marked the end of a psychologically challenging relationship which left me very 'spent'. Physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, massage, counselling, reiki... these were some of the therapies that supported me during this time. It was also when I was introduced to yoga, which offered me a sense of wellbeing, and the greatest amount of relief from my pain and trauma. This ancient practice empowered me to take charge of the outcomes of my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing for the rest of my life. For over 20 years, yoga was my true compass to lead me in my aligned direction. Now, yoga has its roots in my being, but I have stepped into my Soul Mission to support people in a deeper way.
Today I live in Flaxton, on the mountains in the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland, with my husband and two daughters, and my toy poodle, Stella.
Bio
B.BUS | RYT | CYT | NLP
Studying Masters of Counselling; Life Coach; NLP Practitioner; Senior Yoga Teacher & Therapist, Spiritual & Mindset Mentor, Chakra Educator, Reiki Certified.
Traveller, wife, mum of two, lover of adventure and nature, curious mind, and bringer of peace.
The flower of life is the sacred geometry symbol of creation. Sacred geometry is kind of like the mathematics of consciousness. Its pretty cool. Whats special about this symbol, for me, is that my soul was drawn to it when I was a teenager and completing my 12th grade Textiles and Design major project upon which I quilted this design into it. I found it on a picture of an old wooden chest that had the flower of life as a carving, and it felt captivating to me. It was a remembrance.
The Flower of Life connects everything. Just as the circles originate from the centre, the pattern represents that all life stems from one source . You can experience this by simply drawing The Flower of Life. This sacred symbol is said to contain vital information on the secrets of the universe and all living things. It is dated back to 535BC, seen painted in red ochre on the Temple of Osiris in Egypt. Here is a quick video if you wish to learn more.
Spirit Science: The Flower of Life. Or a long video: click here.
The Flower of Life
modalities
masters of counselling*
* Not yet qualified. Certificate level qualified September 2024. Diploma - early 2025. Masters - end 2025.
Counselling draws on a person centred approach to therapy and offers a safe environment to unpack challenging thoughts, behaviours and emotions that may be causing disregulation, upheaval, or overwhelming emotions in your life. As a natural mediator with a inherent desire to help people find their peace, counselling is a modality that draws on most of my previous life experience, and brings it all together into a mainstream health modality. More to be updated once certified.
life coaching & MENTORSHIP
Life coaching focuses on identifying specific goals that you wish to work towards, and creating a plan to get there. This process may involve identifying aspects of your life that no longer serve you, and taking inspired action to walk towards a life with a greater sense of freedom. Mentorship is a similar process, however is slightly different in that I offer guidance for those who may wish to further themselves in a modality or lifestyle that I can support you with. In the past I have mentored yoga teachers through their Foundational Yoga Teacher Training, and provided ongoing support for teachers on their career. I have also mentored women who work in other areas of therapy or support.
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING
Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, was developed in the 1970s and today has become widely used to assist in helping people to bring about change in their thoughts and behaviour. It works on the notion that we function via internal “maps” of the world, the way that we have programmed ourselves through our conditioning to filter the world through our sensory experiences.
Our brain is nothing short of incredible! Every second, it processes over 2 million bits of information. The pre-frontal cortex filters this information so that only the most important stuff gets through. These filters include beliefs, values, your attitude, current mood, attention, your blood sugar levels, stress state, internal dialogue and the way your own language translates mental states into words and as such can delete, generalise, and distort information.
NLP utilises outstanding communication tools and skills to build rapport with the client, to 'chunk' ideas into broader or more specific focus so that we can connect bits of information or 'see' it differently; it uses metaphors, framing and reframing of thoughts and ideas. NLP facilitates emotional mastery by promoting a change in state, developing anchors to elicit change, and to build a 'neurological bridge' as one moves from an ineffective emotional state into a more effective one ie procrastination to action. There are also techniques that can be used to facilitate behavioural change by recognising triggers, routine, and reward. Powerful transformations can be achieved.
THE NEUROSCIENCE OF YOGA
The neuroscience of yoga incorporates the emerging paradigm of brain science that explores neuroplasticity, systems thinking (biology), neural networks/whole brain participation, the notion of the embodied brain, and the exploration of the glial cells (non-neuronal/nerve cells that provide physical and nutritional support to the brain's neurons). Pretty fascinating hey! You may ask - and how does this relate to yoga?
"I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me." Albert Einstein
And...
Yogas citta-vrtti-nirodhah. Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. Yoga Sutra 1.2
Then...
tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam. Then the seer can rest in its true nature. Yoga Sutra 1.3
The practice of yoga becomes very much an intention of returning to homeostatis and stability in our mind, body and spirit; and as such the truth of who we are or who I am arises.
With an understanding of the brain, we can select yoga practices to align us to our truth as a source of wisdom. In summary, the hindbrain is our most primitive part of the brain and controls automatic functions such as breathing and heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, unconscious movement, motor control and balance. Balance poses, inversions, digestive therapeutic practices like twists and forward bends, structural breath and pranamama are all great for the hindbrain.
Yoga can also support the midbrain (connects forebrain to hindbrain). The midbrain helps to process seeing and hearing and coordinate top down information with bottom up movements of your body. Think of all your habitual and addictive behaviours that could very much make use of some top down information to bring awareness into these and initiate positive change! A yoga practice that adopts an attitude of curiosity, that moves slowly and mindfully with awareness, and gives you the opportunity to notice the sensations in your body and hear the sound of your breath, all supports your midbrain. Being aware of what motivates you to practice, and how your body feels rewarded and supported by your yoga practice is exactly what we want.
The forebrain processes all your sensory information, plus your memory, reasoning and executive function. Ways that yoga can support the forebrain is by directing your focus on the movement, on the breath, and both at the same time. Movement with breath. Notice how long the movement lasts with the breath, and whether the breath initiates the movement. Does it guide the movement? How do you interpret the sensations in your body? Observe where your attention is drawn and the feelings that arise. Also consciously drawing your attention to places where you may not typically pay attention too - like the back body.
Yoga can also support other centres of the brain such as the limbic brain, cerebral cortex and corpus callosum with embodied cognition (approach your body with kindness and nurturing), and cross-crawl movements which help to to promote hemispheric integration. And finally, lets not forget that neuroscience encompasses both the central and peripheral nervous systems too. All of these examples give you an idea of the extent of our body's intelligence, and just how yoga very much supports every layer of our being!
CHAKRAS - THE SUBTLE BODY
Chakras exist in our subtle body, or energy body, and are therefore intangible. It is important to note that chakra wisdom originates from the traditional tantric yoga system which sees the chakras as a microcosmic fractal of the cosmic elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether) within each of us. Chakras have also been utilised extensively across other fields and into the new age, and as such we have seen some adaptations or changes in the way chakras are expressed to the world. I love to take from all approaches as long as it draws us to truth.
Within tantra wisdom, chakras intelligently organise prana (life force) and facilitate subtle energy flow, providing a blueprint for the structure and function of the physical body, mind and spirit. When we practice yoga, it is the chakras that open the pathway for Kundalini Shakti, your inherent upward rising vibrational force, and unite you, the individual, with the universal consciousness so that you can have spiritual realisation. Therefore, by harmonising the elements in your body with those of the cosmos, your chakras will function efficiently and allow for your own awakening. Work with the earth element for root energy centre, water element for the sacral energy centre, fire element for the solar plexus, air element for the heart chakra, and ether element for the throat, third eye and crown.
To draw on a modern understanding of the chakras, I love Dr Joe Dispenza's definition of them:
"Think of each of them as an individual centre of information. Each has its own specific energy that carries a corresponding level of consciousness, its own emission of light expressing very specific information, or its own frequency carrying a certain message. Each also has its own individual glands, its own unique hormones, its own chemistry, and its own individual plexus of neurons. Think of these individual clusters of neurological networks as mini-brains. And if each one of those centres has its own individual brain, then each one also has its own individual mind."
Within the yoga therapy context, the chakras exist in the layer or vijnanamayakosha - the sheath or layer of our being where our intelligence is stored or impressed. There are five sheaths in total: physical, pranic/energetic, mental, emotional/intelligence, and ananda/bliss. A cute fact here regarding ananda. Your brain produces a bliss hormone/chemical called Anandamide. Cute fact number two: cacao (the raw version) also comprises of a chemical compound Anandamide. In Sanskrit, ananda transaltes to bliss, joy and/or delight. Thats a little off chakra topic, but a reminder nevertheless that beneath the layers we are all bliss!
By now I am sure you can see how awesome you are! You are divine, you are so perfect. You are a delight! Hungry for more?
If you would like to explore the chakras in more depth, check out my short self-paced course Chakras: Your Divine Intelligence here. After completion you get a Certificate. (WEBPAGE STILL NOT COMPLETED - EMAIL LIV FOR DETAILS ON THE COURSE)
YOGA THERAPY
Yoga therapy is a specialised area of yoga training
that is focused on the process of empowering individuals
to progress toward improved health and wellbeing
through the application of the practices of yoga.
(www.yogaaustralia.org)
All yoga is therapeutic at heart. Most of us have been exposed to some or all of the traditional yoga practices used over the millennia to tame the mind and ease the body. We know these as asana (posture), pranayama (breath), meditation, mantra, chanting, mudra (hand postures such as prayer position at the heart), ritual (self care routines, ceremony, church) and a disciplined lifestyle. With the guidance of a Yoga Therapist, the appropriate application of these practices can be prescribed to support a consistent yoga practice that will increase your awareness and sense of self, and engage your energy in the direction of your desired goals. If you are the kind of person that wants to be empowered by participating in your whole health and healing, then yoga, and yoga therapy, is for you!
My goal is to co-create a routine or lifestyle that is safe - physically, spiritually, and emotionally - and that you love. Together we work out what the symptoms are that are causing suffering and work at eliminating, reducing, or managing them; we work towards improving function (physically, mentally, emotionally); and ultimately we want to prevent the dis-ease or symptoms from reoccurring. This may require a multi-modality approach, and as such, referrals to other wellness professionals may aid in your health journey. What separates yoga therapy from many modern medical approaches is its capacity to change your relationship to your condition or state of being, and how you identify with it. You will feel at home again in your body - with all its life experience!
Yoga therapy also utilises methods from its sister science, Ayurveda.
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Contact
Olivia Besson Yoga
Mobile: 0412 506 235
hello@livbessonyoga.com
Flaxton, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, QLD, 4560
enquire here.
So you feel ready to stretch yourself through some big changes and release suffering in your life? Apply here by popping your details in below and Liv will be in contact soon.
