From Burnout to Bliss: How the Beach Heals with Geraldine Mana

Hello, friends and fellow lovers of all things beachy. Welcome to The Beach Speaks, the podcast that shares stories about the beach and our connection to it. I'm your host and beach lover, Paige Friend, helping you reconnect with the beach, return

to your soul, and reimagine your life. So grab a cool drink, relax in your beach chair, stick your toes in the sand, and enjoy this episode of The Beach Speaks. Hey, beach lover.

My guest today is Geraldine Mana, who just recently sent me a lovely message about how the beach has been speaking to her for a very long time. From childhood memories walking along the sea with her father in Ireland, to working inside the intense world of television production in London.

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To... To... To... And following an intuitive pole all the way to the big island of Hawaii.

And now in Sri Lanka, where she had a life-changing healing experience. At the beach, of course. But before we dive into today's conversation, I want to start with the simple moment that happened to her just a couple hours before we recorded.

She confessed that she was... She was having one of those days. You know, the kind where you feel sleepy all day. A little foggy.

Like you never quite woke up. She thought to herself, Oh no. What am I going to be like for this interview?

I'll let her describe what happened next. It all started by asking her the question I ask every guest on this show. How is the beach speaking to you today? Okay.

Hey, Geraldine. Welcome to the podcast. Hi. I am so happy to be here.

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Well, thank you for reaching out to me. I think I told you when we first met online.

For... For our little intro that I have never received a pitch letter as good as yours. So... I'm just weird like that.

I used to hate networking until someone said, no, you just turn up and be you. Oh, okay. I can do that. Yeah.

I mean, that's the whole thing, right? Well, what I enjoyed so much was that you gave a little bit of your story, how it tied into the beach and quite a relevant... Yeah.

...way. And you said, here are some of the things we can talk about. And then after we met and even before we started recording, we started talking about other things.

So there's like a whole bunch of things we can talk about. But today, I want to start with that question that I ask all my guests, and that is, how is the beach speaking to you today? Yeah, very relevant.

A couple of hours before this meeting, before we connected today. I was just feeling so sleepy. And one of those days where you don't feel you've woken up at all, all day. And I didn't have one of those days, but that's how I felt.

I thought, my God, what am I going to be like for this chat? And I thought, oh, go to. What's my go to? Go to the beach.

And I feel amazing now, of course. So the beach speaks, the beach heals. It certainly does. It certainly does.

It is my place. For creativity and serenity and basically anything that I need, I can go out to the beach and just stand there and really just ask the ocean, ask the elements, give me what I need today.

That leads me to my next question is, where are you right now? I am so lucky. I am in magical, scintillating Sri Lanka. Well, now, based on your accent, I'm guessing.

I'm guessing that you are not originally from Sri Lanka. Where are you from? How did you grow up? Did you grow up with the beach nearby?

And that just brought you to Sri Lanka? I mean, I know this is a whole long story, but tell me about where you're originally from. Oh, my God. I mean, I'm going to do my best to cut a long story short-ish.

So it's so funny. As I travel so much, the question you get asked is, where are you from? And I joke. I jokingly say, I don't feel like I'm from anywhere.

I mean, sometimes I say the stars. It's depending how woo-woo I'm feeling that day and how woo-woo. I often say, I come from planet Paige. It's wonderful there, let me tell you.

But anyway. I love that. I love that, Paige. So yeah, it's a funny one.

I mean, I'm originally Irish. Okay. Or originally. I am Irish.

And the beach has always called me. And I... I have a bit of an emotional story, actually. My dad sadly passed when I was six, which was a huge alchemical journey for me.

But one of the handful of memories that I have from him is actually walking along the beach or the pier by the sea. And him reminding us to breathe deeply. So it's just so beautiful when... And my mom has special messages and we've got a special connection around the breath.

But it's so beautiful whenever I... Like today, when I was walking on the beach and breathing. I just remember him breathing, breathing that sea air, which is a gorgeous, gorgeous memory. And for so long, I lived in London.

I went there for the summer, stayed just short of a quarter of a century when I was 18. And all I wanted to do was live by the sea. And I worked in TV. I worked.

Worked my way up the old flipping ladder. I realized it was leaning against the wrong building. Became a TV producer. And all I wanted to do is live by the sea.

And you couldn't when you worked in TV. I was working 70 hours a week. There was no way I could have both. So one of the reasons I changed...

A million reasons. One of the reasons I shifted into being a health practitioner was so that I could live by the sea. But then a few years after I'd been doing that, I was like, hang on. Hang on.

I'm still in London. What's going on here? So I up sticks. I sold my property, my beautiful property in London.

And I went on holiday to Hawaii and ended up living there for a while, as you do. My goodness. Well, I want to circle back just to get an idea of what the beach was like when you were with your father. Because I'm thinking Ireland.

I'm thinking green and maybe like cliffs or something. What were the beaches like there? The beaches in Ireland... Ireland are incredible.

To be quite honest, I don't have very clear memories of these walks and these experiences. I was so young. But the beaches are... I mean, they're just mind-blowing.

And you've got every sort. You've got by the cliffs. You're rugged. You're heavenly.

Sadly, we don't have the weather very often. Yeah. I was just curious about that because I don't really think beaches when I think of Ireland. So note to self.

You might want to check that out. Okay. So you sell this beautiful property and then you go across the globe to Hawaii. And where are you there in Hawaii?

So I felt drawn, luckily, to the Big Island. And that's still my favorite place. And I'm a little anti-being with the tourists. So I stayed for quite a while on the non-touristy side.

Which was the wild, the ocean side and quite humid. And then one day I thought, I'm not sure about this, actually. Kind of. And it was quite rainy as well.

Oh, okay. Not what you were expecting. Not sunny Hawaii. Yeah.

No, but... And but... I thought, well, there's a reason the other side is touristy. So I went on a little excursion and just discovered so much magic.

Visited the... Goddess Pele in the volcano on the way, as you do. And ended up swimming with wild dolphins most days. And I'd grab a coffee in the morning at about 6 or something, 6 a.m.

And I'd leave it in... I bought a truck when I was there. I'd leave it in my truck and I'd go swim with the dolphins for an hour. I'd come out and my coffee would still be warm.

Which for me was heaven. You're a coffee drinker, not a tea drinker? I never... I became a coffee drinker again.

Why? Why? Well, in Hawaii, weirdly enough, because I'm so sensitive and because I was a healer working with clients. If I drank coffee on the same day as I saw a client, the client would take a look at me and rub the other way because I'd be so hyper.

Yeah. But the Hawaiian coffee is just different. And it didn't make me hyper. It was...

I wouldn't say calming, but it was... It was better for my nervous system, let's say. And just being in Hawaii, it was... Definitely had a few past lives there.

It was just like... It was like coming home. You just know that instinctively. I know a very close friend of mine has had several spiritual experiences while in Hawaii.

And I have yet to go there. Honestly, I was thinking, like you, the touristy thing. I'm like, oh, I don't know. And then I'm hearing about all the remote places you can go.

And I saw a documentary called 100 Foot Wave about these surfers surfing 100 foot waves. And it's scary to watch. But this one particular group that they were highlighting lived in Hawaii. And I was so taken by their reverence for the ocean.

And before going out and surfing these gigantic waves, this one guy would make basically like a ceremony out of it. And he would pull some palm fronds from the trees around his little hut. And he would cut home and fashion it like a wreath with some flowers. And then he would say a prayer and offer it out to the ocean as, okay, I respect you.

And let's do this. And I thought that was so beautiful. So beautiful. Sacred.

Exactly. Exactly. And I think that the people who are from the islands have that reverence. For the water.

For nature. Right? Because, I mean, it is spectacular. So tell me more about what you're doing in Hawaii.

You say you're having clients. So what are you doing with these people? Because you're not producing a TV show anymore. Oh, my God.

No. No. So Skype was just becoming known. And I've been working one-on-one with clients for some years.

Doing shiatsu and shamanic healing and all these wonderful things. But it felt a little codependent. It felt like they were relying on me. That maybe they weren't stepping into their power and knowing that it was them that was healing themselves rather than me.

And I'd also started to become curious about coaching. I'd done some trainings. And I found that much more empowering. And also, I spent a few years as president of...

Which is a weird thing for me. I never usually take roles like that. But of the London Speakers Association. So I was learning how to speak in front of crowds and won some competitions and things.

So I felt drawn to working with groups of people. And my business was growing as well. I couldn't work one-to-one with all the people that wanted to work with me. So I was beginning to work with groups anyway.

Which was perfect for going and traveling to the other side of the world. And I'd also read... One of the coaching trainings that I did was intuition. Learning how to just live, just to be in your heart.

And live guided by the intuition. And Hawaii just kept popping up. Kept popping up. It was calling me, calling me.

And I kept doing things to check, is this ego or is this really my heart? And every time, it's like, no, this is your heart. This is what your heart would love. And I also felt drawn to work with Hawaiian shaman whose books I had read.

And I remember actually my very first night in Volcano Village. The night before one of his trainings, I was scanning my emails to find the address. When I found an email that I'd written him a couple of years before. And he wasn't doing trainings then.

And I said, when might you start doing trainings again? I really want to work with you, blah, blah, blah, all of this. And then I read the PS that I'd written two years before. PS, you're so lucky living in Hawaii.

One day I'll live there. And I read it and I was like, oh my God, the power of work. Ready to manifest that. Exactly.

Yeah. So because I had manifested along these and all of that. And I guess you're doing this remotely and then you bring in groups in person, like retreat kind of things? Retreat is one of the things that I offer.

I was doing mainly one-to-one there. But I was actually, so insomnia is one of my areas of speciality. And I was attracting a lot of clients that had insomnia, but all the other side effects that come from that. Migraine.

I mean, underneath, I realize this now as my training has progressed on my own healing journey. That often underneath insomnia is a nervous system disorder. And I think that's a very common thread. And I think that's a very common thread.

And I think that's a very common thread. And I think that's a very common thread. But I was attracting these clients and there seemed to be a very common thread, which was they weren't sure about their direction in life. And most of them, although a lot of them were, most of them were high-flying executives, some entrepreneurs, a few that had made the transition into doing work they really love.

But the common thread was that they detested their job. So I found myself really helping them with the physical stuff, mindset, the mental stuff, body set, the nervous system, but also really gaining clarity on what they wanted to do, where they wanted to be. And then showing them actually how to, again, going back to the empowerment thing, not codependent, showing them how to actually tap into their own intuition, get their own answers. Which is so empowering.

Because it's one thing for me to say, I think you should meditate or I think you should whatever. Even when, like when I started doing this work, it was so long ago, like three, nearly three decades ago, that even if you told someone, oh, meditation is great, they might think you were really woo-woo. So sometimes I'd have to go, do you ever go swimming? Because obviously when you're swimming, you are breathing deeply and consciously.

And yeah, it's a wonderful thing. I was just thinking healing work is you're being a channel, right? And you're basically trying to draw out this person's own healing. Going back to that job, the TV job, and I was intrigued how you had talked about it was like a Jerry Springer type of show.

What that was like, because I'm thinking you were kind of like this person that's now your client. So you know of what you speak, right? Okay, so let me just mention what the lifestyle was like. And then what that job was like.

And when I got that job, I was kind of at the end of my tether, to be quite honest. I can see that in hindsight, because you got so much wisdom in hindsight. But for most of my 20s, when I was doing this work, it was amazing. It was like party central, guest list, my friends.

Guest list wherever I wanted. I could get a whole like 20 of my friends into the poshest clubs. And we were never paying for anything. And in hindsight, God, it sounds so shallow me saying that.

But in your 20s, it's like an Irish girl in London. It was amazing. It was an amazing life. And it was also the very first time that I felt even vaguely ambitious.

I'd kind of been floating around career-wise. And I thought I'd found my thing. And I did for a few years. I did.

I loved it. And London is such an amazing place. But there was some masking going on there. I was definitely, again, the wisdom of hindsight.

I know that my nervous system was absolutely shot to pieces. And this Mary Jerry, which I used to call myself in those days. It was a coping mechanism from my childhood. Right.

And yet, yay me. I managed to survive and have a great time while doing this. So I got to this, producing this show called Tricia. Millions of viewers and 70 hour work week.

And then partying like a nutter at weekends. God knows how I did it. And also not only that, but not just the pressure of actually creating, producing a show. I would always make sure.

That my guests were in a better state when they left the building than when they arrived. These people, poor people, felt at the end of their tether with the problems they had going on. I don't know if listeners are the Jerry Springer type of guests, but they don't know where to turn. And to have, I mean, it's just crazy that it's allowed to come on TV and broadcast their woes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. to have a counsellor? Or was that something that you orchestrated? Well, here's the clincher. I'd wanted to get out of TV for years and I rocked up to one of

our producers' meetings on a Monday morning, 7am. I heard the words that changed my life. They said, the counselling budget has been cut. And it was just like, that's it, I'm out. And I handed in my notice that day. There was nothing I could grasp for that would make me feel what I was doing was vaguely okay. Yeah, crazy. But that's a pretty big thing. You're in your 20s. You've

got this lifestyle, albeit it's stressful, but when you're at that age, you think you can handle it until you have a total breakdown. But then to say, peace out, and then, not. I have an idea. I'm thinking of where you're going to go next. I mean, that had to be a little

unnerving. Were you sleeping at all at this time? I know that you work with insomnia now, but. No, my insomnia was ridiculous. And I have a memory of while I was producing that show, absolutely wrecked, so tired, in the shower one morning. I felt like that feeling of the alarm goes off.

You just feel like you've got to sleep. I mean, it was literally torture. And I was in the shower and I was breathing in this kind of peppermint aroma that was bringing a vague spark of life into my veins. But just before that, I remember thinking I could just pass out now and it would give me some respite to be able to just go back to bed. And it's crazy that I remember that and

what I would have done to just... Just sleep. It's odd that that memory stays in my mind. But no, it was hellish. And actually, that's why I fell in love with these alternative practitioners. I'd go every single week, at least. Yeah. Well, not more than once a week, but once a week. And I'd lie on the couch and

reach this place of bliss. And then most of them would then throw their hands up and go, oh, what's she like? When I leap up off the table and... And rush out the door back to my life again. And not tell them if I was going to the pub or going partying.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I can party on. What were they doing? Reiki or some kind of energy work? It was everything. Acupuncture. Shiatsu was my favorite, which is why I then became a

Shiatsu practitioner myself. Aromatherapy I adored as well. Lots of different things. Yeah. Did you ever have the chance to go to the beach when you were in this crazy lifestyle? I mean, did you say, hey, let's take the party to the beach? Yeah. Well, there was one called Prickly He's, which was quite popular in the UK.

And that was in Spain. Games on the beach, young people. Again, totally not respecting the people that were actually the participants and the guests of the show. But our hours were so crazy that it wasn't like... Yeah.

It wasn't like you could get the benefits or that I felt like it was healing me. And then another show, I think it was the second last contract that I had. I worked on a show called A Place in the Sun, which was actually the very first series of these buying property abroad shows. And we had no idea if it would be successful. And of course, it's hugely successful and still running now.

And so, yeah, I traveled all through Spain and Portugal. And there were some beach visits, but I don't remember any deeply healing experiences. And actually, I'll kind of circle back maybe later on to my experience in Sri Lanka when I landed here after being in India. Kind of a similar thing where I'm in a place, but I'm working, so I'm

not really there. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So I imagine when you got to Hawaii, then you could be there. Yeah. And it was this magical place, all the things. Why did you leave?

Oh, sadly, just visa stuff. I had been there for a year and then I kept coming back. I went back for two, three months stints. And then it was just, I just wanted to put down roots. So yeah, but it's still a possibility one day maybe to live there or live there part-time. Write a letter to yourself. P.S. I will return one day. So where to next? You went to India?

I actually, there's something magical about me and Innovator Commerce visa runs, which is actually why I'm in Sri Lanka at the moment. I had no plans to stay, but I just fell in love with it. A visa run would be a period of time that you can stay in one place.

Yes. Yes. So then you go to another country for a week or two, which was the originally the plan for Sri Lanka. And then you go back to where you want to be. So the Hawaii thing, I was planning to possibly work with the person who would introduce me to Intuitive Coaching, who was

based in LA. So I spent some time in LA, which I really didn't like at all. It's like, get me back to Hawaii. I was working with a lawyer to get me a work visa. I was working with a lawyer to get me a work visa. And I needed to be out of the country. So for another visa run. And one of my shamanic teachers had actually mentioned a few years before of how they could see me in Guatemala, those kind of

countries around the 2012 end of the world as we know it, end of the Mayan calendar. That's right. Yeah, that was a very significant time. I didn't really know anything about 2012 at that point. Yeah, I know. I think what was so funny in hindsight,

again, not that I believe this, but that so a lot of spiritually tight people believe that suddenly we'd have this like, we'd all ascend. We'd all pop into the fifth dimension and fly away. Little did we know what was coming. But yeah, so I went to Guatemala as I flew in

on the 11th of November, 11-11, just before the plane landed to four bolts of lightning. And I thought, okay, this is not going to be a one ordinary trip. And it turned out to be another life-changing experience of, yeah, me seeing the chocolate shaman, discovering the magic of sacred cacao, and that the ancient Mayans and Aztecs used to use it

for spiritual purposes. I've been to a few cacao ceremonies, but for the person listening, wanted to elaborate on that. Wow. What could I say? I mean, pure ceremonial grade cacao contains so many beautiful ingredients. So no dairy or sugar,

and most of it is treated very gently without the anesthetics, but also prepared at a low temperature so that all the goodies are kept in really. The things like anandamides, which are the bliss chemicals. And basically, Yeah.

Yeah. Allowing you to drop from your head to your heart and have a deeper experience and, yeah, experience bliss. What else can I say about? Well, when you're in ceremony, did you sit in a circle and share and meditate sitting up,

or did you lie down and were there singing bowls or chanting or anything? Describe to me, the cacao ceremonies there, because I've been to a few and they're all kind of different. Yeah. Yeah. So all of that was happening and possible. There was something very, very special. Sadly, Keith, the chocolate shaman is no longer with us, but his porch was famous.

And it was a real backpackers, travelers route that people would visit there and discover him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Profound experience, but just a teeny weeny house. No. Nothing special there. And I think what I, well, I think what I did love about it is that it was again, empowering.

So it really helped because I'd been doing some shamanic work. I'd worked with shamans in the shaman. I told you about it away and in England after my shiatsu training and the way he worked was not. I'm the shaman and I'm going to heal you.

It was very much again about giving you your power back. And what's wonderful about cacao is that it helps you to just leave the analytical mind behind and really become, step into your power, be at one with your higher self, if that makes sense. Where in India are you then at this point?

I was in Goa. Yeah, Goa is on the coast just above Kerala. So were you going to the ocean, anything at that time? I was actually en route to Costa Rica.

However, because I discovered the magic of cacao, rather than it just being going to beach exploration in Costa Rica, I decided to go visit the tribes that were still using cacao in Costa Rica. Okay, tell me about that.

Yeah. I remember that this was only a visa run. I was meant to be going back to LA to work with this company. And I was like, actually, I don't want to do that.

I want to create my own modality. I want to do my own thing. And discovering cacao really helped me do that. It was so, I mean, the magic of synchronicity.

I'd heard that there was a tribe that still use it. And I wanted to source good cacao. And it also crossed my mind, maybe this could be something. I mean, I knew at that stage I was definitely going to run ceremonies.

I'd had a vision beforehand of me sitting in ceremony drinking this liquid. And I thought, my God, is that me holding an ayahuasca ceremony? And that just didn't resonate at all. But I didn't know about cacao when I had this vision.

So, yeah, I wanted to go and see where I could source mine from, if that would be a possibility. And I headed to the beach, a lovely place called Puerto Viejo. Which is so humid.

So humid and hot. But it was really bizarre that it turned out that someone I knew from TV who I'd dated for a very short while was making a documentary about the sloths there. The beautiful sloth animals.

So we hung out for a while. And he actually managed to connect me with some amazing people he'd met. Because when you work in TV, you meet all these people who connect you with the right people.

And he connected me up with a guy who then introduced me to this tribe who don't have an awful lot to do with the outside world. And I was able to meet them and drink cacao. And it was very, very special.

They still use it. They're one of the only tribes that still do. And they... I'm going to circle back now.

How really does that work? It was so bizarre. The fact that... That he was based there.

I hadn't seen him in years. And I don't even know how we connected. Maybe through Facebook or whatever. Oh, where are you?

Oh, yeah. Oh, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico. Me too. Synchronicity.

I love sloths. Yeah. All those things. And you love sloths.

Yeah. I adore sloths. Oh, my God. They're just the most incredible animals.

So, yeah. I was just... I was raving about cacao. I actually did some ceremonies there in Costa Rica as well.

It was my passion. It still is. I was just so excited about it. I'm remembering that I'm an ex-party animal as well.

And this is something that is psychotropic but not psychedelic. So, it changes your mood while... Even though a lot of my clients and ceremonial participants actually do have visions while they're in ceremony. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Not psychedelic. So, you hung out with this tribe for a while doing your cacao ceremonies.

Are you being called back to India or Sri Lanka? So, where do we go from there? I spent a short while with them and also visiting cacao farms. And yeah, running...

Ran some cacao ceremonies. Did you want to live there and have your own cacao farm? No. No.

I mean, in the back of my mind all the time was I would really love to put roots down, but definitely not there. I'm really not a fan of humidity. I don't think menopause had quite caught up with me at that point.

So I wasn't suffering too badly. Yeah, that would tend to exacerbate things a little bit. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And now after there, I actually went back to Hawaii again and began running cacao ceremonies. I was the second person ever to bring cacao and cacao ceremonies to Hawaii. So that was a lot of fun because I made a lot of friends and they adored it. And I didn't have to do anything.

I didn't even have to organize. I just had to turn up and people were just there for it. It was quite, it was just incredible. There's another reason why I love Hawaii so much because in terms of astrocartography,

absolutely every part of my chart, it's thumbs up for the big island. So everything floats from there. Well, there you go.

That's where you tap into these modalities and learn things that you're intuitively knowing you need to do because it's all there in your chart. What did you call it? Astrocartography.

It's astrology and cartography. So where on the planet is great for you? And I learned also, why I had lived in Ireland and England because they're challenging shamanic places where I'm

going to live, learn a lot and grow a lot. And yeah, it's an amazing thing. I mean, to be honest, I don't like giving my power away to astrology or anything because I'm intuitively trained.

I love to follow my own heart and intuition. But I was like, where on earth am I going to go now? I need some help. So you had a chart done?

Yeah. Okay. All right. I just came to say Hawaii is the most favorable place on the planet.

Vancouver is second. And Spain is third, a particular area of Spain. So guess where I went after Hawaii? Vancouver and Spain.

All right. Well, tell me about Vancouver because we are going in June on a cruise to Alaska. And then we're ending up in Vancouver and we're going to spend an extra four days there. We're renting a cottage.

One of the beaches. I adored Vancouver. I was very lucky to have landed there in the summer. I have a feeling that your property might be in Kitsilano, which is the most heavenly

area and a beautiful beach. But you might want to check out that area. It feels like where I lived in London, Muswell Hill, which is very... I used to describe my area, Muswell Hill in London, as the closest.

It was the closest I could get. you can get to a village in London. And Kitsilano is like that. It's charming by the sea, beautiful properties. It's heavenly, beautiful cafes. And that's where I was based a lot of the time. But even when I was in the center, I can't remember what that area is called, but it's kind of

downtown, I think it's called actually. Even that is close to the beach. There's a beach vibe running through the city. It's amazing. That said, I didn't spend a winter there. And my mom was moving house and I wanted to be with her. So I left and then I tried the third place on my list, which was Spain. So I'm still looking for my forever home, but I've given up

now. And I'm just like, okay, I'm just going to be, I think it's such a weird time on the planet that I know what I want to create. I want to be with a beautiful community. And I'm just, I've given up the search now. So I'm hoping as soon as you stop searching, it comes to you or you land.

I'm in the right place. But yeah, I've surrendered to that now just to, okay, I'm just going to be, and it's definitely been the right choice because just for now, for instance, being in Sri Lanka is just pure heaven. I'm just, I adore it. And I'm so lucky I can work online as well. Yeah. So tell me about where you are now, what it's like, what are you doing? And then of course

you had a profound beach experience, I think there that you wanted to share. Yeah. I'm not sure I could use the word. Profound, but it was in my eyes. Significant.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Life changing. It was meant to just be, I flew from India to here, from Goa to Sri Lanka, initially planning to be here for a week or two and then go back to India. Well, again, another probably three month visa. And I had been putting off taking at least a seven or a 14 day holiday for so long. I'm too embarrassed to actually even tell you how long it is. I don't

know exactly, but it's been so long since I had a proper holiday. And one of the reasons is, and I know that a lot of entrepreneurs fall into this little trap where they say, oh, my life is a holiday. Yeah. Well, you're running your own business and it takes a lot of time behind the scenes.

For sure. And while I was in India, I had a wonderful time. I'd be working, I'd nip back to the beach and I, and usually I'm quite good about keeping my weekends sacred, but I made sure that when I came here, I would literally just take a holiday. At least it was, it was meant to be seven days. Cleared my calendar. I was like, okay, I'm not,

this is not going to shift. So I was like, clear the calendar and like kind of move it forward a month. And I know I'm going to, I'm going to stick with it. So flew, into Sri Lanka. And I was very aware. Sometimes the travel days are part of the holiday. I felt like a proper holiday maker for the first time ever and flew into Colombo. And then I got this

amazing train ride up the Southwest coast to Weligama and landed there, got out. And I just cried when I got the tuk-tuk from the train station to my accommodation. I could just feel the tears because when I'd been in India, the last time I'd been there was 10 years ago. And the very first time I've been to India to go out was 30 years ago.

So things changed a lot. And I was a little disappointed. I was trying not to be, I'd prepared myself for how different it would be. What was the difference? Was it just more people? A lot more people, cars, and these horrible,

big Jeeps and big cars. It wasn't any particular, it wasn't just tourists or just whatever, but just these tiny narrow streets and loads of people walking and so dangerously just storming up and down the streets in their horrible big cars. So dangerous and probably drunk as well. I don't know. It just broke my heart. And one of the places, a place called

Arambol, where the first time I was there was 30. years ago. And there was hardly anything there. It was like a teeny weeny fishing village. When I went there, we went on this little adventure to the Salt Water Lake and on this track, there was nothing there. And it's so overbuilt, so so much,

what's the word? Riddled rubbish and everything. So it is partly quite disappointing, I must say. And I was trying to not to focus on that. And as I was saying, as I was in this job when, I've And as I was in this tuk-tuk, after I got off the train in Sri Lanka to head into my accommodation, I could just,

there was just tears coming down my face. I was like, oh, this is interesting. And it was almost like I didn't want to set any expectations or anything. I was like, okay, this is interesting.

But it was the total, absolute opposite in Sri Lanka on this tuk-tuk ride. It was, it were good tears. They were like, I'm coming home. I didn't want to leave this beautiful place.

And I'm still here. What are we now? Month two. It was meant to be a two-week holiday.

I'm back at work now. But the profoundness of the actual taking time out and not working on the first proper day of my holiday by the beach, I couldn't be bothered to delete all the,

the photos of my phone. I knew I needed more memory and I thought, oh, I'll just delete Facebook. I deleted that. And I was like, oh, that feels really good.

And then I deleted Instagram. Oh, that feels even better. And then YouTube. And I just got rid of them all.

And then I turned off all the notifications and I had, you're right. It is, I can use the word profound. It was a profound experience. It was, I had been through so much in the last few years with unconscious

trauma from my childhood becoming conscious. Like, I mean, so much, so many tears shed, so many people I've lost from my life. It's been heartbreaking and also an incredible gift because as Carl Young

said, until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life and your coolest fate. So I needed these realizations and the healing and the growth.

But this time it allowed me to really connect with my inner child. Loads and loads of illnesses from when I was a child came up to be healed. I did some martial arts classes, which was really powerful to connect with some anger that I might as still be.

That can be empowering. Powering for sure. Yeah, for sure. And yeah, I got this, what they call angular colitis because I,

I've been addicted to lip balm since I was about six. Got this horrible, just painful mouth. I could hardly smile. It was painful to ease.

And anyway, managed to work my way through healing that. But I realized, and now I don't even use, have to use lip balm that heal that. I mean, so many things healed. I made the holiday a little longer than seven days because all these illnesses came up.

But what I realized in hindsight, Paige, which I am going to use the word profound. It was profound for me. Was it was actually in hindsight, an integration retreat. Yeah.

You are traveling on these visa runs everywhere, picking up these tools along the way. You're unconscious is kind of driving the train. You're not really sure. Like, I don't think consciously you thought you were running from this or that,

but you finally find a place to even know, okay, I need to go somewhere and unplug. And I, I can imagine your body's response when you get off the train. And those tears are the beginning of that energetic clearing. I mean, that that's the opening.

And then, well, and it's painful when these things come up. But how profound. Is it that you are in finally in a place that can, like you said, help with this integration of these experiences and healing? And I just love that.

And that you're doing that at the beach. The perfect place, I think, for healing. You are here now for, you said, six weeks now? Yeah, about that.

Yeah. And will you be able to extend your time past the three months? I've been here. I've been here.

I've been here. I've been here. I've been here. I've already extended once.

And I have a couple of trainings and events that I'm actually attending online. And I don't want to particularly travel while I'm doing those. So I'm probably going to extend a little bit further. Just so I can stay, remain grounded and give these trainings, this study, 100%.

How far away is the beach from where you are right now? Can you just walk down the street or do you? Like 10 minutes walk. Yeah.

I don't want to walk. I don't want to be right on the beach because I like to be away so I can really focus on my work. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, no, it's really close. You can get there anytime you need. And you're going to stay to do these trainings. And then, well, I guess you don't know what's next after that until the next profound moment happens.

Go out and ask the ocean. Yeah. Well, I'm sure it's the UK. Okay.

That's kind of my go-to. Where I return to. But I'm really learning to be in the moment here. Even the very, very, very special day during this holiday was just one day going to the beach and without my journal or my rucksack.

All I had, I was still addicted to lip balm at that stage. So I had my little waterproof pouch with my keys, a little money and my lip balm and nothing else. And that was also incredibly profound. Yeah.

Because every time I wanted to either reach for my phone or my journal, it was like, no, look at those waves or go for a swim or look at the palm tree. It was so sacred and it was so interesting and also frightening to me how often I, maybe we, just reach for the flipping phone. Our attention is not in just being with the waves and the healing. It's in the sea air and the palm trees swaying in the breeze.

Mm-hmm. That is what is the most calming and soothing. Just being present with all of that and unplugging is the best way, I think, to experience the beach. Most of the time, I bring my phone because at sunrise, I like to go out and I'll take pictures and videos, mostly because I want to share that with my listeners.

And people like to. Yeah. And I like to experience the beach when they can't be there. So I will take a video.

And then I have to remind myself, okay, your feet are right here in the water. Feel that. Put the phone down. Watch the sun rise.

And like I said earlier, where the beach is my place for creativity, for just quiet, and then play, too. But as like all the things, whatever you need at that moment. So you're there. You're there.

You're there. You're in the perfect place, it sounds like, to get all the things that you need to then move on to the next thing. Are you working with clients now or are you just taking a rest here? The holiday was only a couple of weeks.

I'm back with clients and sharing this magic and loving it. Well, I really appreciate you reaching out to me and sharing your experience. I love speaking to people who are on the other side of the globe. And what their beach experiences are.

I am so grateful that you took the time to share a little bit about your life, where you are. And I look forward to hearing about what's next. So thank you so much. Oh, my absolute pleasure.

And thank you, Paige. I know I've done one series of a podcast. So I know how much love and work goes into it. So, yeah, I'm honored to connect with you.

That was so much fun. And I love that idea of hindsight. Because we often only think about those horrible things that we went through. If we go back and connect the dots.

And for me, I've gained an appreciation and a sense of gratitude. And to sit down and think, wow, I did that. And look where I am now. And what's next?

Another two words. What if? What? If.

Excellent. And also allowing our imagination to just put us on a beach right now. Breathing in that sea. There you go.

All right. We're going to end there. On the beach. Breathing in and breathing out.

Thank you so much. Thank you, darling. The beach is speaking. Are you listening?

Are you listening? I'm listening. And the wind of joy, the breeze,

and the�� altogether. I'm just a bạn фотограф estoy acostumbrado I'm listening to the waves and waves Making waves off theKIYO atro—

And wearing myself on the beach on the beach off my يعè. And on the beach. And on the beach of hope. And on the beach of hope.

And on the day of the first on cual wa' t4 So the next time you feel tired, overwhelmed or uncertain of whether you're looking around tomorrow.

curtain, maybe take a page from Geraldine's story. Go outside, find some water if you can, take a deep breath, and ask yourself the question, how is the beach speaking to you today? Thank you for tuning in to another episode of The Beach Speaks. If you enjoyed what you heard, please spread the beachy vibes and share it with a friend. Because let's be honest,

who doesn't want more beach in their lives? And if more beach is what you crave, go to TheBeachSpeaks.com and sign up for my newsletter. It's an easy way to stay in the know, collect some tips and travel hacks for your next beach adventure, and find out what I'm doing. At the beach, the beach is speaking. Are you listening?

Have a sea turtle day!