September 24, 2024 • 31 mins
What if the key to overcoming addiction lies not in conventional methods, but in the depths of spiritual and holistic practices?
Join us as Veronica Barragan, a remarkable holistic therapist and wellness counselor, recounts her challenging journey from a traditional Catholic upbringing in Mexico to battling and ultimately overcoming alcoholism. Veronica's story takes us through her experiences as an immigrant child facing emotional neglect and depression, the pressures of early marriage, and the dual life she led as a successful real estate broker struggling with high-functioning alcoholism. Discover the turning point that transformed her life and ignited her passion for helping other women achieve sobriety and emotional well-being.
Veronica eloquently discusses the generational patterns of alcoholism in her family and how recognizing these behaviors led her to seek healing through spiritual modalities rather than conventional methods like Alcoholics Anonymous. Despite her career burnout, she found solace and a path to recovery in holistic practices, significantly influenced by the wisdom of her son. Veronica’s reflections underscore the importance of compassion and understanding in the nuanced journey of addiction recovery, highlighting the individualized nature of healing.
Embark on an extraordinary exploration of self-discovery and healing as Veronica details her transformational experiences with psychedelic therapies and Kundalini Yoga. A high school presentation on indigenous plant medicines led her family to the Amazon jungle, where they worked with shamans using sacred plants like Ayahuasca and San Pedro. Yet it was Kundalini Yoga that provided her the lasting tools to regulate her nervous system and achieve emotional healing. Through her virtual group coaching academy, Veronica now guides women on a transformative journey of holistic and generational healing, emphasizing the power of daily meditation and forgiveness in overcoming addiction. Tune in to hear her powerful story and the holistic approaches that have changed her life and the lives of many others.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Sober Living Stories podcast.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing stories of sobriety.
We shine a spotlight onindividuals who have faced the
challenges of alcoholism andaddiction and are today living
out their best lives sober.
Each guest has experiencedincredible transformation and
are here to share their storywith you.
(00:27):
I'm Jessica Stepanovich, yourhost.
Join me each week as guestsfrom all walks of life share
their stories to inspire andprovide hope to those who need
it most.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Sober Living Stories podcast
(00:59):
.
Meet Veronica Barragan.
She's a holistic therapist,wellness and spiritual counselor
.
She has traveled throughout theworld studying different
healing modalities and spiritualtraditions, and she's been on a
personal quest for healing fromrepeating generational patterns
of her own family.
Throughout that, she was ableto heal her marriage of 26 years
(01:21):
, her relationship with hermother and an addiction to
alcohol.
She has changed her life andher professional trajectory to
help other women do the same,and she's here today to share
her personal story and to justshare where she can bring these
women to a place of healing.
I'm so happy to have you on theshow.
Welcome, Veronica, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Thank you so much for having me and thank you for
this incredible platform forothers to share the story of
dealing as well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I said you know, the story is yours.
Um, just go as far back as youwould like to take people from
where you were then until whereyou are now sure.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So I grew up in a traditional catholic household.
I actually was born in mexico,brought to the United States of
America as a very young child,as an immigrant child.
My parents would work in theUnited States and there were
times where I would stay with mygrandmother for long periods
three to six months because momreally didn't trust anyone out
here in the United States totake care of me.
(02:20):
But I really became full-timein the United States and started
going to school in kindergarten, did all that thing.
My mom was someone who reallystruggled a lot with her
depression.
She had a broken relationshipwith her mother and that really
led on to the relationship herand I had.
Of course she was very, verycaring, very strict, always
(02:42):
wanted to make sure I was home,but there was no really
nurturing love, feminine energy.
So growing up, you know, alwayswanted to make sure I was home,
but there was no reallynurturing love, feminine energy.
So growing up, you know, I justdid the best I could.
I was always overachieving,very smart, you know, always
getting the best grades, butreally just doing it to get the
attention of my parents, whoreally were not there
emotionally.
They were loving and protective, like I said, but not nurturing
(03:05):
, because that's not what theywere taught so fast forward to.
I was 17 and pregnant actually,and ended up marrying my husband
at 17 years old.
We were married now for 26years, so my life was just very,
very fast.
I had to learn to become anadult very quickly.
We took responsibility andaccountability immediately.
(03:27):
We moved out of our parents'house.
We had our own place at a veryyoung age.
We wanted to raise our son inthe best way possible when I was
in my mid-20s, that's whenalcohol started coming into my
life, and a lot of the reasonswhy now I know that alcohol was
a big part of my life wasbecause I was running away and
numbing from a childhood where Ireally felt like I was not seen
(03:50):
when, a childhood where therewas a lot of lack of love and
nurturing or comprehension, Iwould say because there was a
lot of that and also just asituation where I didn't really
know who I was.
I felt lost, I felt confusedand within the years it started
to become a daily habit.
(04:10):
It was the way I would profitthe stress of work.
I was always an overachiever,so even during that time I was
going to school, I was afull-time mom, I was running a
separate side hustle.
It was just the way that Idealt with my emotions.
It got really, really bad when Istarted in the world of real
estate.
I was a real estate broker,looked like a complete success
(04:34):
from the outside because notonly was I running my own
company with my husband at avery young age, but I was
involved in leadership.
I was involved in a localnational boards of directors.
Starting non-profits, had thematerial success, the children.
Everything looked perfect onthe outside and what people
didn't understand was that I wasdying inside.
(04:55):
I was managing the stress ofgrowth, of marriage, of business
, entrepreneurship with alcoholand I would basically come home
every day and was a very highfunctioning alcoholic and just
made sure that I had my bottleof wine.
And I also was very, very uh,I'm not comfortable around um,
like in societal settings.
(05:16):
I was always kind of like Ineed to drink in order to feel
comfortable, in order to be ableto fit in.
So it just became like my dailypatterns and my daily life
until one day I just decided youknow what, this is not the way
I want to live.
I was really, really hurtingemotionally.
My marriage was in a lot oftrouble during that time.
(05:36):
I had a lot of power in thebusiness world, so I really do
believe that I was abusing thatpower.
So I really do believe that Iwas abusing that power.
I was really just veryegotistical and blaming everyone
outside of me for mycircumstances, not realizing
that the common denominator wasmyself.
So that's what led me to myhealing journey.
(05:57):
Does that resonate?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah, it sure does, of course.
Yeah, it sure does.
Okay, of course, like I, youknow, it doesn't surprise me
that a lot of guests who come onhere like high achievers you
know whether it's academicallyand leadership, because they're
actually sitting on a podcastlike talking about it, and but
what comes with that often islike some coping mechanisms that
we acquire some relaxationalskills that are not helpful to
(06:25):
matriculate and you know, andthat can cause trouble.
And so I love how you talkedabout um.
You're coming from your home.
You didn't feel like you wereseen Um, and you use the word
comprehensive, I thinkcomprehend it.
Anyway, it wasn't.
It wasn't a negative.
It wasn't a negative word aboutyour family.
(06:48):
It was just something that youdidn't feel like you were seeing
and there was kind of anemotional because they were kind
of tough love.
But I think a lot of peoplegrow up like that, you know, and
parents parent as they know howto parent, from being parented
themselves, you know, and so youbreaking through that is really
interesting and I'd love tohear more.
So take us to, like, when youwere in your marriage and being
(07:13):
a mom and being a leader in thecommunity, what were some things
that you were doing that kindof was a telltale sign that you
were using alcohol as a copingmechanism or something like that
.
Was it like obvious to you, oris that one in many other things
(07:34):
that you were doing?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
To me it was obvious not to the world, though, to me.
I I fooled myself for manyyears and just thought I can
handle this, I can manage this.
But it became obvious when itwas a daily habit, when it
literally was something that Imean I wasn't drinking in the
morning time or anything likethat, but it was just I would
get home and I had to havealcohol.
If I was around other people, Ihad to have alcohol.
(07:56):
And the other part of it alsowas that I didn't know how to
measure myself Like, sometimes,once I, when it got really bad,
I couldn't stop.
Like once I would startdrinking, I had to get to the
point of just complete, like I'mgoing to pass out and go to
sleep because you have to likefinish it out, Exactly Because I
just really was running awayfrom so much pain.
(08:16):
And that's when a lot ofknowledge and wisdom had started
to come to me aboutgenerational healing.
I started to, instead of lookat my mother as an enemy, I
started to read a lot of booksand understand that she was
acting, like you said, out ofher own programming and her own
way of being raised, and Iparticularly gravitated
(08:40):
especially towards generationalhealing because I saw the same
patterns that were being playedout in her life with my
grandmother and also justalcoholism in general.
In my family we have a lot ofproblems with alcoholism and
typically it is the males.
But as I started to grow up,you know more and more.
I wouldn't say that we havemore women alcoholics in our
(09:03):
family, but they used alcohol alot more.
It kind of just became like anormal thing that you would go
to parties or you would go tofamily events and the people
would be drinking.
So I knew myself that I had aproblem, that I had to quit.
I just don't think anyoneoutside of me knew, except for
my mother my mother, my biggestenemy, because she would always,
(09:23):
always basically talk bad aboutit and the reason she would
talk bad about it was because,deep down, I felt so guilty.
But because I felt so guiltyabout it, I projected that
energy out and she latched ontoit and that's I know.
She did a lot of prayer for meand I really do believe that
that was a big part of thehealing journey, really do
(09:45):
believe that that was a big partof the healing journey.
But, by the same token, it wasone day when I finally decided
you know what I have to reallyaddress it Now.
I had tried AlcoholicsAnonymous a couple of times and
it did not resonate at all Likethe minute that I got on there,
because I had already been on aspiritual journey.
I started traveling the worldlike 2008, really seeking
(10:06):
holistic modalities to healmyself, and I studied a lot of
the different spiritualtraditions to really understand
the world and understand myself.
I knew that addiction at thatpoint in 2008, that it was a
spiritual problem and when Istarted to really understand
that, I developed more and morecompassion for myself, so that
(10:26):
when that moment came wheresomething just turned on in me
and said it's time for you toreally heal, and when I made
that decision, it's like all theright people, all the right
teachers showed up and that'swhen I started to really begin
the healing journey, which wasnot why the addiction, it was
why the pain.
That's when I started all thepain.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
It makes a lot of sense.
And you had talked aboutdrinking behind closed doors and
the outside.
Okay, so I know you had athriving, you know 15 year
business with real estate.
But when I'm looking at you nowlike it's like, yes, this that
(11:22):
you know, I know that you'reheading in the correct direction
, like as a holistic therapistand a wellness counselor,
because it's just you have thatcomplete aura around you and
like that, that peace, and youjust it's.
It's just really incredible.
I too, we kind of have a flip.
I resonated with a 12 steprecovery program and before I
(11:42):
got there I had done a lot oftraveling and I had tried out
every spiritual modality that Icould think of trying to heal
what was wrong with me.
But for me it took a 12-stepbecause it was kind of simpler
process for me and that's whereI kind of got into myself,
realized where I was the problemand what I could change, and I
(12:07):
changed my life and now we'refree to live it out the way that
we want to, and for you thatdid not resonate and your
spiritual journey began andcontinued and that's where you
found your healing and it'sindividualistic for everyone.
So take us through, like thedifferent healing modalities or
(12:28):
spiritual traditions, thetravels that you went.
You traveled, you know theplaces that you went to, that
taught you things and got you onthe path you are today.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Sure.
So in 2015, I had reached atipping point in my career.
I was at the top of my gamecompletely, but by the same
token, I was going through asevere burnout.
So my nervous system wascompletely not regulated Brain.
Everything was happening at thesame time, and this is
happening more and more now towomen, but combined with an
(13:00):
addiction.
It was very, very difficult.
So that's when I first thoughtout Alcoholics Anonymous which
the reason it didn't resonatewith me was because of the fact
that you have to keep affirmingthat you're an alcoholic I was
like why would I want to keepaffirming that if that's not
what I am?
So I left very quickly fromthere and, sure enough, within
(13:22):
days, my son, who is, Iconcerned to be such an old soul
.
I feel that our children chooseus and they teach us more than
we imagine.
He was only 15 years old.
He did a huge presentation forhis high school on
psychedelic-assistedpsychotherapy, and he did this
presentation on the teachings ofindigenous tribes, like the
(13:45):
people from the Amazon junglewho used plant medicine, like
mother ayahuasca, san Pedro, allthese different um plants that
are psychedelic to heal thespiritually someone.
And when he did thatpresentation he received an
incredible grade.
His teacher even called me andsaid when incredible soul he was
(14:05):
and all these different thingsRight.
And that's when I started toexplore, um, psychedelic
psychotherapy and it's like whenit's meant for you.
It's meant for you Because whenI started to do my research,
the right people came.
I met this beautiful woman whowas working with an amazing
shaman in Peru Very, verygrounded, very long legacy of
(14:28):
this type of work.
I did all the research.
By then we already had a lot ofresearch on psychedelic
assisted psychotherapy, but itwas just not in the mainstream
media.
But we have a gentleman by thename of Rick Doblin who started
the MultidisciplinaryAssociation of Psychedelic
Studies in the 80s and he's beenworking with psychedelic
assisted medicine and now it'sat the FDA for final approval
(14:52):
Now for mental health therapy,especially for veterans and
people that have severepost-traumatic stress disorder.
And so thankfully hisorganization was running.
I did my research and withinweeks I'm not kidding you I was
on a plane and it wasn't just mewith my entire family.
I took my husband myself and mytwo children to the Amazon
(15:12):
jungle my husband myself and mytwo children to the Amazon
jungle and we worked.
My husband myself and my oldestworked with plant medicine.
My youngest basically came withus to join us in the journey.
He did receive his ownceremonial piece of it all,
because the shaman actually hadworked with children as well,
but we basically took a 17 dayjourney to spend time in the
(15:35):
Amazon jungle detoxing our body,working with Mother Ayahuasca,
working with San Pedro.
So that was pivotal.
That was absolutely lifechanging in my life.
It was like the surgery of mysoul, where I received awareness
of how, why the pain and whythis was a little literally
(15:56):
embedded genetic code within theDNA of my ancestors and my
lineage and why I was born todisrupt and break that pattern
and why alcoholism had served meactually for so long.
Instead of seeing it assomething treacherous and
something to be ashamed of, Ibegan to really understand it as
a pivotal part of my life thatled me to the work that I'm
(16:19):
doing today.
So you would think that at theAmazon jungle, you know I would
come back and I was completelyhealed when I came back from the
jungle back into my life.
But that was not.
That was just the beginning ofmy healing journey, because I
couldn't integrate everythingthat had happened out there.
In fact, when I came back.
I'm an extrovert.
I can, I can talk to people, Ican be around people.
(16:39):
I was always around people, butI couldn't even be around
people.
I was.
It was like a psychic shock.
It was very, very um, I felt sosensitive and I still came back
from the jungle and I stillkept drinking alcohol because I
didn't know how to deal witheverything that was happening.
And, sure enough, I really didhave a come to Jesus moment
(16:59):
where I remember the day that Iprayed and I said why am I back
in the same situation that Iwent to kill from you know, know
, from you know?
And that's when somebody saidto me you need to go try
kundalini yoga, because it lookslike your um, your energy, your
emotions, you're not groundedin your body.
And I said yoga, you know, inthe past I had tried different
(17:24):
types of yoga.
Then they had helped me a lot,you know.
They'd help me cleanse andpurge, but not heal, you know.
So I was like what is yogagonna do for me?
So I I tried it because I wasso.
I was like what is KundaliniYoga going to do for me?
So I tried it because I wasdesperate and I went into my
first Kundalini Yoga class acouple of months right after the
Amazon Jungle experience.
I was the only one in this class.
(17:44):
It was a small ashram.
There was a guy in the frontwith a long beard wearing a
turban, which I had never seenbefore, and I'm like, in this
class I was so embarrassed toleave because I wanted to leave,
but I was so embarrassedbecause he was gonna watch me
leave the room and I said, well,I'm just gonna take you know?
And you stayed, did you stay?
And it was absolutelylife-changing, my first class
(18:09):
ever.
The, the breathing, the waysthat we were chanting.
It was like I was back in theAmazon jungle in that same aloka
sitting with that shaman.
It was like all the puzzlepieces started to come together
and within weeks, my nerve Ididn't know what was happening
but my nervous system started tobecome so regulated.
(18:32):
But my nervous system startedto become so regulated my brain
agility, the way I was purgingemotions that it was probably
only a couple of weeks that Iended up saying no more alcohol.
And since I made that, startedto keep my practice.
Now I'm going to be about fiveyears completely alcohol free.
Never have a crazy, never havea desire to ever go back to it,
(18:54):
and of course, a lot of that hasto do with the fact that not
only do I have a consistentdaily practice which keeps my
nervous system regulated a bit,this is, you know, emotional
pain causes incredible damage.
Trauma causes incredible damageto our nervous system, to our
brain scientifically provendamage to our nervous system, to
our brain scientifically proven.
(19:15):
So the science of yogameditation is basically that it
regulates the nervous system.
It brings cognitive function toyour brain.
One of the things that I learnedvery quickly is that addiction
is the miscommunication betweenthe pineal gland and the
pituitary gland in your brain.
And when you have emotionaltrauma, physical trauma, sexual
trauma, anything like that, thebrain literally starts to
(19:36):
deteriorate and it looks like ifwe were to scan a brain of
someone who's been throughtrauma.
The brain looks like a spoon.
It's not red, it's not white,it's literally like dried up.
And two biggest factors here.
And this is where the scienceof Kundalini yoga is very
advanced.
Thank God that we have as atherapist now we have symposiums
(19:57):
with some of the best teachersfrom Harvard, ucla, we do
clinical studies on thispractice now that we have a lot
of evidence on how it actuallyworks.
But the pituitary gland and thepineal gland don't communicate
because of the emotional trauma,the thoughts, feelings and
emotions that you have due toneglect.
You know, I found out that,even being left with my grandma
(20:17):
for three months, apart from mymom as a young child, I needed
mom.
I didn't know that she didn'tlove me.
I just thought I was unlovableas a young child.
That caused the detachmentissues and all these different
things as a baby growing up.
Well, I figured out, you know,if I could get my pituitary
(20:38):
gland and my pineal gland tostart to communicate again, then
I would be able to basicallyheal the addiction, which is
what started to happen.
There is a specific KundaliniYoga meditation that is
specifically for addiction, thathas been studied.
That actually gets these twoglands to actually start to
communicate.
So I understood scientifically,I understood spiritually why I
(20:58):
didn't need alcohol and why Idealt with the actual pain, why
I also dealt with the structureof my brain that was causing the
addiction to happen.
So it was life changing andwithin months I decided I would
become a teacher.
I finished my program as ateacher after a year and then,
as soon as I graduated, I beganmy journey to become a yoga
(21:22):
therapist, which is where I'm at.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Wow, that's great.
A yoga therapist, which iswhere I'm at Wow, that's great.
Yeah, it's so interesting to meto hear guests come on and talk
about the different ways thatthey, you know, put alcohol down
and healed themselves and andall those connections and just
like you're talking about, andyou know, the leadership that
you experienced back then whenyou were doing something that
didn't, that, wasn't spiritualin nature, but was very
(21:47):
professional, you know, allthose leadership, academics.
They play into this whole wholeof your professional experience
now, which is which is reallyimportant for, for people who
question anything you know, andthis is really great.
So what are you doing now toand who do you work with
(22:07):
specifically as far as womenlike, who do you work with
specifically that you can help?
I know you had mentioned fourareas.
What are those four areas?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, and they're so intertwined and together and
these are the four areas that Imyself had to heal from.
So when I so when I was in thejungle, I received information
about DNA and generationaltrauma and ancestral healing.
So when I came back from thejungle, that's when my healing
journey began and I started todo the healing with Kundalini
Yoga.
(22:37):
It was addiction that quicklyhealed the relationship with my
mother, which, at the core ofall addiction, we all get to be
very conscious.
A lot of us think a motherwound is just somebody who
abused us, who did these things.
A mother wound is growing upwith a mother who was depressed
and who was not able to attuneand regulate her nervous system
(22:58):
with you, because that is neededas a child.
So a lot of us have gonethrough trauma and we don't
realize that we carry thesewounds which then cause us to go
into these addictive behaviors,whether it's alcohol, shopping
or drugs or all these otherthings.
Right, the other thing wasdepression, and depression is
the suppression of emotions, andthat's really what it is, and
(23:20):
the way I was suppressing myemotions was through the alcohol
, which then causes thedepression within the body and
spirit.
And last is toxic relationshippatterns.
So you see they're allintertwined the childhood
neglect with the depression,with the toxic relationship
problems with the addiction, andthose are the form generational
(23:41):
patterns that I was able todisrupt in my life that now I
help women also disrupt in theirlife.
Now I help women also disruptin their life and it's a process
of the Kundalini yogameditation therapy which helps
us in the somatic way we relievethese memories, traumatic
memories, from the body, webring cognitive functioning back
to the brain and we bringregulation to the nervous system
.
(24:01):
But I also work here in thespiritual realm.
I've been a student and ateacher of A Course in Miracles
Spiritual Psychotherapy since2008, and I've been teaching it
for five years.
So a big part of the work thatI did spiritually was actually
the work of forgiveness, believeit or not.
So when women come to me and wehave an academy, a group
coaching program, what we do iswe take both the scientific
(24:25):
approach to heal the nervoussystem in the brain, but we also
take the spiritual approach anda lot of the work that we do is
the work of forgiveness,because a lot of forgiveness is
very much needed, especially ifyou've been under addictive
spirals and you would think youwant to forgive yourself.
Well, you first have to forgivethe people around you, because
(24:45):
you cannot forgive yourself ifyou don't do that shadow work of
forgiving those that youbelieve hurt you.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, I agree with you 100%.
You know forgiveness of othersfirst and then you're able to
forgive yourself.
And forgiving myself was one ofthe most pivotal and profound
moments I've ever in my life andbrought me to my faith today.
And I was wanting that for somany years and just didn't know
(25:13):
how to do it, but eventually gotthere.
So for you, helping women dothat it's such an important
thing to do, to move forward.
But so I think, looking at itpositively not that it was this
detrimental thing that ruinedyour life, but as it was this
jumping off point where youcould look at and begin to heal
(25:33):
what was really underneath that,because it's really not about
the actual alcohol, it's aboutthe pain that you were trying to
drown underneath that or theemotional troubles behind that.
A lot of people know that thathave come out of that, so you're
doing that.
So what are the ways in whichyou meet up and help with women?
Are they retreats?
Is it one-on-one coaching,because people will be
(25:55):
interested.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Sure.
So we actually created a groupcoaching academy.
So I have two.
One is a membership where youstart your healing journey.
So if you're someone who'snever done any type of holistic
healing work, any type ofgenerational healing, what I
find to be the biggest problemis that there isn't.
You don't have enough vitalityand energy because your emotions
are, because you're typicallysuppressing them, especially
(26:19):
through addiction.
There is no energy to leave, togo above beyond the patterns of
thinking, of doing.
There's no energy to actuallydeal with the deep healing work
of generational healing.
What I like to do is I alwayswork with women and, depending
on where they're at in theirhealing journey, they'll start
with me in the membershipcommunity and that's where they
get introduced to.
(26:39):
Basically, and it's all virtualthey get introduced to three
classes a week where they getintroduced to the healing
journey, to the spiritualpsychotherapy.
They really set a really strongfoundation.
They start to increase theirenergy levels naturally and
holistically, and then, whenthey're ready and some are ready
already because they've alreadydone healing work, shadow work,
(27:01):
holistic work they go straightinto my group coaching academy.
Now my group coaching academy.
That's where we do the realgenerational healing work and
it's a virtual setting.
We have daily fat, not practice, but we have a daily meditation
space where they're welcome tojoin me.
I have a daily meditationpractice.
I wake up every day at 3 45 AM.
(27:22):
I am there till six 30 in themorning.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I offer intuitive guidance and and daily, and I
never was a morning person okay,I was never a morning person
it's amazing, I don't knowthere's not many people waking
up at 3 45 am to do a meditationpractice there's only a few
women that will join me thatearly.
(27:51):
Most of them, yeah, no, but Imean, if you're dedicated to
this and you think it's, I thinkit's incredible that you offer
it, because you're offering itto two types of people to people
who are interested in that,where the other the other ways
of healing, the other ways ofbreaking free from habits are
not resonating with them.
They have an interest in this,but they don't really know about
it.
So you're welcoming them intothe membership and then, for
people who are practiced in thisand do have a handle on what
(28:14):
all of this is, they can goright to your coaching and
advance their practice.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Correct.
That is it.
And as a therapist as aholistic therapist I have to
make sure that I'm in goodhealth.
I have to make sure my biggestjob is to have a regulated
nervous system, because if I'mcoaching you, whether it's in
person or virtually, our nervoussystems aren't going to attune.
So the only the best way that Ican help others is by making
(28:39):
sure that I have my own strongpractice.
I got to walk the talk, right.
Right, you got to walk the talk, you are you completely are.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
It's really it's really interesting to me.
Yeah, absolutely, and I thinkthat the four areas that you
spoke about are intertwinedaddiction, childhood neglect,
depression and toxicrelationships.
I don't think there's not oneperson listening that hasn't
touched on one of those or hadthem as part of their life,
whether they have problems withalcoholism or not.
(29:07):
So healing is for everyone.
It's not solely specific forpeople who suffer from
alcoholism or addiction, and itcould always benefit and bring
you to a better version ofyourself and to make your life
progress into what it's supposedto be.
So your offerings are reallyprofound.
I love that you do it'ssupposed to be.
So your offerings are really.
They're really profound.
(29:27):
I love that you do it on adaily basis so people can join
you.
Where can people find youduring the week if they want to
learn more?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So two best places, I would say YouTube.
I have a lot of teachings there.
They want to start their ownmeditation practice.
Lots of free meditation.
You can find me on VeronicaBarragan on YouTube or on
Instagram Instagram.
I post a ton of information onyour nervous system, your brain
and generational healing, andthat's at Veronica Barragan.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That's wonderful.
So you spell that VeronicaBarragan, B-A-R-R-A-G-A-N, and
I'm going to put thatinformation in the show notes so
listeners can connect with you.
I really love your perspectiveon everything that you spoke
about.
The spirituality is so veryimportant and those that are
interested in this type ofspirituality or learning
(30:20):
practices can reach out to you.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really loved everything youtalked about today out to you.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really I loved everything youtalked about today.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Thank you, it's been an honor, and may you be blessed
and continue to do this holywork.
The world needs it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for tuning into theSober Living Stories podcast.
If you have been inspired,consider subscribing and sharing
with anyone who could use hopein their lives.
Remember to stay tuned for moreinspiring stories in the
episodes to come.
(30:53):
To view our featured author ofthe month or to become a guest
yourself, visitwwwjessicastephanoviccom.
Welcome to the Sober Living Stories podcast.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing stories of sobriety.
We shine a spotlight onindividuals who have faced the
challenges of alcoholism andaddiction and are today living
out their best lives sober.
Each guest has experiencedincredible transformation and
are here to share their storywith you.
(00:27):
I'm Jessica Stepanovich, yourhost.
Join me each week as guestsfrom all walks of life share
their stories to inspire andprovide hope to those who need
it most.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Sober Living Stories podcast
(00:59):
.
Meet Veronica Barragan.
She's a holistic therapist,wellness and spiritual counselor
.
She has traveled throughout theworld studying different
healing modalities and spiritualtraditions, and she's been on a
personal quest for healing fromrepeating generational patterns
of her own family.
Throughout that, she was ableto heal her marriage of 26 years
(01:21):
, her relationship with hermother and an addiction to
alcohol.
She has changed her life andher professional trajectory to
help other women do the same,and she's here today to share
her personal story and to justshare where she can bring these
women to a place of healing.
I'm so happy to have you on theshow.
Welcome, Veronica, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Thank you so much for having me and thank you for
this incredible platform forothers to share the story of
dealing as well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I said you know, the story is yours.
Um, just go as far back as youwould like to take people from
where you were then until whereyou are now sure.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So I grew up in a traditional catholic household.
I actually was born in mexico,brought to the United States of
America as a very young child,as an immigrant child.
My parents would work in theUnited States and there were
times where I would stay with mygrandmother for long periods
three to six months because momreally didn't trust anyone out
here in the United States totake care of me.
(02:20):
But I really became full-timein the United States and started
going to school in kindergarten, did all that thing.
My mom was someone who reallystruggled a lot with her
depression.
She had a broken relationshipwith her mother and that really
led on to the relationship herand I had.
Of course she was very, verycaring, very strict, always
(02:42):
wanted to make sure I was home,but there was no really
nurturing love, feminine energy.
So growing up, you know, alwayswanted to make sure I was home,
but there was no reallynurturing love, feminine energy.
So growing up, you know, I justdid the best I could.
I was always overachieving,very smart, you know, always
getting the best grades, butreally just doing it to get the
attention of my parents, whoreally were not there
emotionally.
They were loving and protective, like I said, but not nurturing
(03:05):
, because that's not what theywere taught so fast forward to.
I was 17 and pregnant actually,and ended up marrying my husband
at 17 years old.
We were married now for 26years, so my life was just very,
very fast.
I had to learn to become anadult very quickly.
We took responsibility andaccountability immediately.
(03:27):
We moved out of our parents'house.
We had our own place at a veryyoung age.
We wanted to raise our son inthe best way possible when I was
in my mid-20s, that's whenalcohol started coming into my
life, and a lot of the reasonswhy now I know that alcohol was
a big part of my life wasbecause I was running away and
numbing from a childhood where Ireally felt like I was not seen
(03:50):
when, a childhood where therewas a lot of lack of love and
nurturing or comprehension, Iwould say because there was a
lot of that and also just asituation where I didn't really
know who I was.
I felt lost, I felt confusedand within the years it started
to become a daily habit.
(04:10):
It was the way I would profitthe stress of work.
I was always an overachiever,so even during that time I was
going to school, I was afull-time mom, I was running a
separate side hustle.
It was just the way that Idealt with my emotions.
It got really, really bad when Istarted in the world of real
estate.
I was a real estate broker,looked like a complete success
(04:34):
from the outside because notonly was I running my own
company with my husband at avery young age, but I was
involved in leadership.
I was involved in a localnational boards of directors.
Starting non-profits, had thematerial success, the children.
Everything looked perfect onthe outside and what people
didn't understand was that I wasdying inside.
(04:55):
I was managing the stress ofgrowth, of marriage, of business
, entrepreneurship with alcoholand I would basically come home
every day and was a very highfunctioning alcoholic and just
made sure that I had my bottleof wine.
And I also was very, very uh,I'm not comfortable around um,
like in societal settings.
(05:16):
I was always kind of like Ineed to drink in order to feel
comfortable, in order to be ableto fit in.
So it just became like my dailypatterns and my daily life
until one day I just decided youknow what, this is not the way
I want to live.
I was really, really hurtingemotionally.
My marriage was in a lot oftrouble during that time.
(05:36):
I had a lot of power in thebusiness world, so I really do
believe that I was abusing thatpower.
So I really do believe that Iwas abusing that power.
I was really just veryegotistical and blaming everyone
outside of me for mycircumstances, not realizing
that the common denominator wasmyself.
So that's what led me to myhealing journey.
(05:57):
Does that resonate?
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah, it sure does, of course.
Yeah, it sure does.
Okay, of course, like I, youknow, it doesn't surprise me
that a lot of guests who come onhere like high achievers you
know whether it's academicallyand leadership, because they're
actually sitting on a podcastlike talking about it, and but
what comes with that often islike some coping mechanisms that
we acquire some relaxationalskills that are not helpful to
(06:25):
matriculate and you know, andthat can cause trouble.
And so I love how you talkedabout um.
You're coming from your home.
You didn't feel like you wereseen Um, and you use the word
comprehensive, I thinkcomprehend it.
Anyway, it wasn't.
It wasn't a negative.
It wasn't a negative word aboutyour family.
(06:48):
It was just something that youdidn't feel like you were seeing
and there was kind of anemotional because they were kind
of tough love.
But I think a lot of peoplegrow up like that, you know, and
parents parent as they know howto parent, from being parented
themselves, you know, and so youbreaking through that is really
interesting and I'd love tohear more.
So take us to, like, when youwere in your marriage and being
(07:13):
a mom and being a leader in thecommunity, what were some things
that you were doing that kindof was a telltale sign that you
were using alcohol as a copingmechanism or something like that
.
Was it like obvious to you, oris that one in many other things
(07:34):
that you were doing?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
To me it was obvious not to the world, though, to me.
I I fooled myself for manyyears and just thought I can
handle this, I can manage this.
But it became obvious when itwas a daily habit, when it
literally was something that Imean I wasn't drinking in the
morning time or anything likethat, but it was just I would
get home and I had to havealcohol.
If I was around other people, Ihad to have alcohol.
(07:56):
And the other part of it alsowas that I didn't know how to
measure myself Like, sometimes,once I, when it got really bad,
I couldn't stop.
Like once I would startdrinking, I had to get to the
point of just complete, like I'mgoing to pass out and go to
sleep because you have to likefinish it out, Exactly Because I
just really was running awayfrom so much pain.
(08:16):
And that's when a lot ofknowledge and wisdom had started
to come to me aboutgenerational healing.
I started to, instead of lookat my mother as an enemy, I
started to read a lot of booksand understand that she was
acting, like you said, out ofher own programming and her own
way of being raised, and Iparticularly gravitated
(08:40):
especially towards generationalhealing because I saw the same
patterns that were being playedout in her life with my
grandmother and also justalcoholism in general.
In my family we have a lot ofproblems with alcoholism and
typically it is the males.
But as I started to grow up,you know more and more.
I wouldn't say that we havemore women alcoholics in our
(09:03):
family, but they used alcohol alot more.
It kind of just became like anormal thing that you would go
to parties or you would go tofamily events and the people
would be drinking.
So I knew myself that I had aproblem, that I had to quit.
I just don't think anyoneoutside of me knew, except for
my mother my mother, my biggestenemy, because she would always,
(09:23):
always basically talk bad aboutit and the reason she would
talk bad about it was because,deep down, I felt so guilty.
But because I felt so guiltyabout it, I projected that
energy out and she latched ontoit and that's I know.
She did a lot of prayer for meand I really do believe that
that was a big part of thehealing journey, really do
(09:45):
believe that that was a big partof the healing journey.
But, by the same token, it wasone day when I finally decided
you know what I have to reallyaddress it Now.
I had tried AlcoholicsAnonymous a couple of times and
it did not resonate at all Likethe minute that I got on there,
because I had already been on aspiritual journey.
I started traveling the worldlike 2008, really seeking
(10:06):
holistic modalities to healmyself, and I studied a lot of
the different spiritualtraditions to really understand
the world and understand myself.
I knew that addiction at thatpoint in 2008, that it was a
spiritual problem and when Istarted to really understand
that, I developed more and morecompassion for myself, so that
(10:26):
when that moment came wheresomething just turned on in me
and said it's time for you toreally heal, and when I made
that decision, it's like all theright people, all the right
teachers showed up and that'swhen I started to really begin
the healing journey, which wasnot why the addiction, it was
why the pain.
That's when I started all thepain.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
It makes a lot of sense.
And you had talked aboutdrinking behind closed doors and
the outside.
Okay, so I know you had athriving, you know 15 year
business with real estate.
But when I'm looking at you nowlike it's like, yes, this that
(11:22):
you know, I know that you'reheading in the correct direction
, like as a holistic therapistand a wellness counselor,
because it's just you have thatcomplete aura around you and
like that, that peace, and youjust it's.
It's just really incredible.
I too, we kind of have a flip.
I resonated with a 12 steprecovery program and before I
(11:42):
got there I had done a lot oftraveling and I had tried out
every spiritual modality that Icould think of trying to heal
what was wrong with me.
But for me it took a 12-stepbecause it was kind of simpler
process for me and that's whereI kind of got into myself,
realized where I was the problemand what I could change, and I
(12:07):
changed my life and now we'refree to live it out the way that
we want to, and for you thatdid not resonate and your
spiritual journey began andcontinued and that's where you
found your healing and it'sindividualistic for everyone.
So take us through, like thedifferent healing modalities or
(12:28):
spiritual traditions, thetravels that you went.
You traveled, you know theplaces that you went to, that
taught you things and got you onthe path you are today.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Sure.
So in 2015, I had reached atipping point in my career.
I was at the top of my gamecompletely, but by the same
token, I was going through asevere burnout.
So my nervous system wascompletely not regulated Brain.
Everything was happening at thesame time, and this is
happening more and more now towomen, but combined with an
(13:00):
addiction.
It was very, very difficult.
So that's when I first thoughtout Alcoholics Anonymous which
the reason it didn't resonatewith me was because of the fact
that you have to keep affirmingthat you're an alcoholic I was
like why would I want to keepaffirming that if that's not
what I am?
So I left very quickly fromthere and, sure enough, within
(13:22):
days, my son, who is, Iconcerned to be such an old soul
.
I feel that our children chooseus and they teach us more than
we imagine.
He was only 15 years old.
He did a huge presentation forhis high school on
psychedelic-assistedpsychotherapy, and he did this
presentation on the teachings ofindigenous tribes, like the
(13:45):
people from the Amazon junglewho used plant medicine, like
mother ayahuasca, san Pedro, allthese different um plants that
are psychedelic to heal thespiritually someone.
And when he did thatpresentation he received an
incredible grade.
His teacher even called me andsaid when incredible soul he was
(14:05):
and all these different thingsRight.
And that's when I started toexplore, um, psychedelic
psychotherapy and it's like whenit's meant for you.
It's meant for you Because whenI started to do my research,
the right people came.
I met this beautiful woman whowas working with an amazing
shaman in Peru Very, verygrounded, very long legacy of
(14:28):
this type of work.
I did all the research.
By then we already had a lot ofresearch on psychedelic
assisted psychotherapy, but itwas just not in the mainstream
media.
But we have a gentleman by thename of Rick Doblin who started
the MultidisciplinaryAssociation of Psychedelic
Studies in the 80s and he's beenworking with psychedelic
assisted medicine and now it'sat the FDA for final approval
(14:52):
Now for mental health therapy,especially for veterans and
people that have severepost-traumatic stress disorder.
And so thankfully hisorganization was running.
I did my research and withinweeks I'm not kidding you I was
on a plane and it wasn't just mewith my entire family.
I took my husband myself and mytwo children to the Amazon
(15:12):
jungle my husband myself and mytwo children to the Amazon
jungle and we worked.
My husband myself and my oldestworked with plant medicine.
My youngest basically came withus to join us in the journey.
He did receive his ownceremonial piece of it all,
because the shaman actually hadworked with children as well,
but we basically took a 17 dayjourney to spend time in the
(15:35):
Amazon jungle detoxing our body,working with Mother Ayahuasca,
working with San Pedro.
So that was pivotal.
That was absolutely lifechanging in my life.
It was like the surgery of mysoul, where I received awareness
of how, why the pain and whythis was a little literally
(15:56):
embedded genetic code within theDNA of my ancestors and my
lineage and why I was born todisrupt and break that pattern
and why alcoholism had served meactually for so long.
Instead of seeing it assomething treacherous and
something to be ashamed of, Ibegan to really understand it as
a pivotal part of my life thatled me to the work that I'm
(16:19):
doing today.
So you would think that at theAmazon jungle, you know I would
come back and I was completelyhealed when I came back from the
jungle back into my life.
But that was not.
That was just the beginning ofmy healing journey, because I
couldn't integrate everythingthat had happened out there.
In fact, when I came back.
I'm an extrovert.
I can, I can talk to people, Ican be around people.
(16:39):
I was always around people, butI couldn't even be around
people.
I was.
It was like a psychic shock.
It was very, very um, I felt sosensitive and I still came back
from the jungle and I stillkept drinking alcohol because I
didn't know how to deal witheverything that was happening.
And, sure enough, I really didhave a come to Jesus moment
(16:59):
where I remember the day that Iprayed and I said why am I back
in the same situation that Iwent to kill from you know, know
, from you know?
And that's when somebody saidto me you need to go try
kundalini yoga, because it lookslike your um, your energy, your
emotions, you're not groundedin your body.
And I said yoga, you know, inthe past I had tried different
(17:24):
types of yoga.
Then they had helped me a lot,you know.
They'd help me cleanse andpurge, but not heal, you know.
So I was like what is yogagonna do for me?
So I I tried it because I wasso.
I was like what is KundaliniYoga going to do for me?
So I tried it because I wasdesperate and I went into my
first Kundalini Yoga class acouple of months right after the
Amazon Jungle experience.
I was the only one in this class.
(17:44):
It was a small ashram.
There was a guy in the frontwith a long beard wearing a
turban, which I had never seenbefore, and I'm like, in this
class I was so embarrassed toleave because I wanted to leave,
but I was so embarrassedbecause he was gonna watch me
leave the room and I said, well,I'm just gonna take you know?
And you stayed, did you stay?
And it was absolutelylife-changing, my first class
(18:09):
ever.
The, the breathing, the waysthat we were chanting.
It was like I was back in theAmazon jungle in that same aloka
sitting with that shaman.
It was like all the puzzlepieces started to come together
and within weeks, my nerve Ididn't know what was happening
but my nervous system started tobecome so regulated.
(18:32):
But my nervous system startedto become so regulated my brain
agility, the way I was purgingemotions that it was probably
only a couple of weeks that Iended up saying no more alcohol.
And since I made that, startedto keep my practice.
Now I'm going to be about fiveyears completely alcohol free.
Never have a crazy, never havea desire to ever go back to it,
(18:54):
and of course, a lot of that hasto do with the fact that not
only do I have a consistentdaily practice which keeps my
nervous system regulated a bit,this is, you know, emotional
pain causes incredible damage.
Trauma causes incredible damageto our nervous system, to our
brain scientifically provendamage to our nervous system, to
our brain scientifically proven.
(19:15):
So the science of yogameditation is basically that it
regulates the nervous system.
It brings cognitive function toyour brain.
One of the things that I learnedvery quickly is that addiction
is the miscommunication betweenthe pineal gland and the
pituitary gland in your brain.
And when you have emotionaltrauma, physical trauma, sexual
trauma, anything like that, thebrain literally starts to
(19:36):
deteriorate and it looks like ifwe were to scan a brain of
someone who's been throughtrauma.
The brain looks like a spoon.
It's not red, it's not white,it's literally like dried up.
And two biggest factors here.
And this is where the scienceof Kundalini yoga is very
advanced.
Thank God that we have as atherapist now we have symposiums
(19:57):
with some of the best teachersfrom Harvard, ucla, we do
clinical studies on thispractice now that we have a lot
of evidence on how it actuallyworks.
But the pituitary gland and thepineal gland don't communicate
because of the emotional trauma,the thoughts, feelings and
emotions that you have due toneglect.
You know, I found out that,even being left with my grandma
(20:17):
for three months, apart from mymom as a young child, I needed
mom.
I didn't know that she didn'tlove me.
I just thought I was unlovableas a young child.
That caused the detachmentissues and all these different
things as a baby growing up.
Well, I figured out, you know,if I could get my pituitary
(20:38):
gland and my pineal gland tostart to communicate again, then
I would be able to basicallyheal the addiction, which is
what started to happen.
There is a specific KundaliniYoga meditation that is
specifically for addiction, thathas been studied.
That actually gets these twoglands to actually start to
communicate.
So I understood scientifically,I understood spiritually why I
(20:58):
didn't need alcohol and why Idealt with the actual pain, why
I also dealt with the structureof my brain that was causing the
addiction to happen.
So it was life changing andwithin months I decided I would
become a teacher.
I finished my program as ateacher after a year and then,
as soon as I graduated, I beganmy journey to become a yoga
(21:22):
therapist, which is where I'm at.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Wow, that's great.
A yoga therapist, which iswhere I'm at Wow, that's great.
Yeah, it's so interesting to meto hear guests come on and talk
about the different ways thatthey, you know, put alcohol down
and healed themselves and andall those connections and just
like you're talking about, andyou know, the leadership that
you experienced back then whenyou were doing something that
didn't, that, wasn't spiritualin nature, but was very
(21:47):
professional, you know, allthose leadership, academics.
They play into this whole wholeof your professional experience
now, which is which is reallyimportant for, for people who
question anything you know, andthis is really great.
So what are you doing now toand who do you work with
(22:07):
specifically as far as womenlike, who do you work with
specifically that you can help?
I know you had mentioned fourareas.
What are those four areas?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, and they're so intertwined and together and
these are the four areas that Imyself had to heal from.
So when I so when I was in thejungle, I received information
about DNA and generationaltrauma and ancestral healing.
So when I came back from thejungle, that's when my healing
journey began and I started todo the healing with Kundalini
Yoga.
(22:37):
It was addiction that quicklyhealed the relationship with my
mother, which, at the core ofall addiction, we all get to be
very conscious.
A lot of us think a motherwound is just somebody who
abused us, who did these things.
A mother wound is growing upwith a mother who was depressed
and who was not able to attuneand regulate her nervous system
(22:58):
with you, because that is neededas a child.
So a lot of us have gonethrough trauma and we don't
realize that we carry thesewounds which then cause us to go
into these addictive behaviors,whether it's alcohol, shopping
or drugs or all these otherthings.
Right, the other thing wasdepression, and depression is
the suppression of emotions, andthat's really what it is, and
(23:20):
the way I was suppressing myemotions was through the alcohol
, which then causes thedepression within the body and
spirit.
And last is toxic relationshippatterns.
So you see they're allintertwined the childhood
neglect with the depression,with the toxic relationship
problems with the addiction, andthose are the form generational
(23:41):
patterns that I was able todisrupt in my life that now I
help women also disrupt in theirlife.
Now I help women also disruptin their life and it's a process
of the Kundalini yogameditation therapy which helps
us in the somatic way we relievethese memories, traumatic
memories, from the body, webring cognitive functioning back
to the brain and we bringregulation to the nervous system
.
(24:01):
But I also work here in thespiritual realm.
I've been a student and ateacher of A Course in Miracles
Spiritual Psychotherapy since2008, and I've been teaching it
for five years.
So a big part of the work thatI did spiritually was actually
the work of forgiveness, believeit or not.
So when women come to me and wehave an academy, a group
coaching program, what we do iswe take both the scientific
(24:25):
approach to heal the nervoussystem in the brain, but we also
take the spiritual approach anda lot of the work that we do is
the work of forgiveness,because a lot of forgiveness is
very much needed, especially ifyou've been under addictive
spirals and you would think youwant to forgive yourself.
Well, you first have to forgivethe people around you, because
(24:45):
you cannot forgive yourself ifyou don't do that shadow work of
forgiving those that youbelieve hurt you.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, I agree with you 100%.
You know forgiveness of othersfirst and then you're able to
forgive yourself.
And forgiving myself was one ofthe most pivotal and profound
moments I've ever in my life andbrought me to my faith today.
And I was wanting that for somany years and just didn't know
(25:13):
how to do it, but eventually gotthere.
So for you, helping women dothat it's such an important
thing to do, to move forward.
But so I think, looking at itpositively not that it was this
detrimental thing that ruinedyour life, but as it was this
jumping off point where youcould look at and begin to heal
(25:33):
what was really underneath that,because it's really not about
the actual alcohol, it's aboutthe pain that you were trying to
drown underneath that or theemotional troubles behind that.
A lot of people know that thathave come out of that, so you're
doing that.
So what are the ways in whichyou meet up and help with women?
Are they retreats?
Is it one-on-one coaching,because people will be
(25:55):
interested.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Sure.
So we actually created a groupcoaching academy.
So I have two.
One is a membership where youstart your healing journey.
So if you're someone who'snever done any type of holistic
healing work, any type ofgenerational healing, what I
find to be the biggest problemis that there isn't.
You don't have enough vitalityand energy because your emotions
are, because you're typicallysuppressing them, especially
(26:19):
through addiction.
There is no energy to leave, togo above beyond the patterns of
thinking, of doing.
There's no energy to actuallydeal with the deep healing work
of generational healing.
What I like to do is I alwayswork with women and, depending
on where they're at in theirhealing journey, they'll start
with me in the membershipcommunity and that's where they
get introduced to.
(26:39):
Basically, and it's all virtualthey get introduced to three
classes a week where they getintroduced to the healing
journey, to the spiritualpsychotherapy.
They really set a really strongfoundation.
They start to increase theirenergy levels naturally and
holistically, and then, whenthey're ready and some are ready
already because they've alreadydone healing work, shadow work,
(27:01):
holistic work they go straightinto my group coaching academy.
Now my group coaching academy.
That's where we do the realgenerational healing work and
it's a virtual setting.
We have daily fat, not practice, but we have a daily meditation
space where they're welcome tojoin me.
I have a daily meditationpractice.
I wake up every day at 3 45 AM.
(27:22):
I am there till six 30 in themorning.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I offer intuitive guidance and and daily, and I
never was a morning person okay,I was never a morning person
it's amazing, I don't knowthere's not many people waking
up at 3 45 am to do a meditationpractice there's only a few
women that will join me thatearly.
(27:51):
Most of them, yeah, no, but Imean, if you're dedicated to
this and you think it's, I thinkit's incredible that you offer
it, because you're offering itto two types of people to people
who are interested in that,where the other the other ways
of healing, the other ways ofbreaking free from habits are
not resonating with them.
They have an interest in this,but they don't really know about
it.
So you're welcoming them intothe membership and then, for
people who are practiced in thisand do have a handle on what
(28:14):
all of this is, they can goright to your coaching and
advance their practice.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Correct.
That is it.
And as a therapist as aholistic therapist I have to
make sure that I'm in goodhealth.
I have to make sure my biggestjob is to have a regulated
nervous system, because if I'mcoaching you, whether it's in
person or virtually, our nervoussystems aren't going to attune.
So the only the best way that Ican help others is by making
(28:39):
sure that I have my own strongpractice.
I got to walk the talk, right.
Right, you got to walk the talk, you are you completely are.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
It's really it's really interesting to me.
Yeah, absolutely, and I thinkthat the four areas that you
spoke about are intertwinedaddiction, childhood neglect,
depression and toxicrelationships.
I don't think there's not oneperson listening that hasn't
touched on one of those or hadthem as part of their life,
whether they have problems withalcoholism or not.
(29:07):
So healing is for everyone.
It's not solely specific forpeople who suffer from
alcoholism or addiction, and itcould always benefit and bring
you to a better version ofyourself and to make your life
progress into what it's supposedto be.
So your offerings are reallyprofound.
I love that you do it'ssupposed to be.
So your offerings are really.
They're really profound.
(29:27):
I love that you do it on adaily basis so people can join
you.
Where can people find youduring the week if they want to
learn more?
Sure.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So two best places, I would say YouTube.
I have a lot of teachings there.
They want to start their ownmeditation practice.
Lots of free meditation.
You can find me on VeronicaBarragan on YouTube or on
Instagram Instagram.
I post a ton of information onyour nervous system, your brain
and generational healing, andthat's at Veronica Barragan.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That's wonderful.
So you spell that VeronicaBarragan, B-A-R-R-A-G-A-N, and
I'm going to put thatinformation in the show notes so
listeners can connect with you.
I really love your perspectiveon everything that you spoke
about.
The spirituality is so veryimportant and those that are
interested in this type ofspirituality or learning
(30:20):
practices can reach out to you.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really loved everything youtalked about today out to you.
So thank you so much for beingon the show.
I really I loved everything youtalked about today.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Thank you, it's been an honor, and may you be blessed
and continue to do this holywork.
The world needs it.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for tuning into theSober Living Stories podcast.
If you have been inspired,consider subscribing and sharing
with anyone who could use hopein their lives.
Remember to stay tuned for moreinspiring stories in the
episodes to come.
(30:53):
To view our featured author ofthe month or to become a guest
yourself, visitwwwjessicastephanoviccom.
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