Episode 56 - Sonia Cruz Oro, Travel Awakens
Travel can be a vehicle for so many things. It can be a vehicle for exploration, for awareness and even change. It's a way for people to see the world.
People can use travel as a way to examine themselves in the process and when that happens it becomes so much more than travel.
When you travel, are you present? Are you aware of what your body is doing and feeling when you’re traveling?
By changing your environment and focusing on new experiences around you, the people, the surrounding landscape, you awaken your mind. You’re breaking out of your normal routine and allowing yourself to be self-aware. When you are self-aware is when you can start changing and improving things.
Christine’s guest is Travel Coach, Author, and Podcaster, Sonia Cruz Oro.
Sonia Cruz Oro is a certified travel coach, an organizational psychologist, and founder of Travel Awakens. Having experienced her own transformation through travel, Sonia helps individuals, couples and groups to enjoy travel as a means to achieve the experiences, goals and transformation they seek. Travel Awakens provides a comprehensive travel and personal development service by combining the best of travel planning and life coaching.
With her background in psychology and executive leadership, Sonia is also the author of How to Create the Life You Desire as well as host of “The Travel Coach” podcast series. She is originally from Spain but she lives in Ireland with her husband.
In this soulful conversation, Christine and Sonia discuss Sonia’s transition from a corporate career to creating Travel Awakens, why a year of travel was the catalyst for this transformation, and what travelers can do to make their own experiences more personally transformational.
Tune in to listen to Christine and Sonia discuss:
Sonia’s transition from corporate life and why she needed to prioritize her joy and passion for travel
Why Sonia created Travel Awakens
How a year of travel was the catalyst for Sonia’s transformation into a Travel Coach
What is a travel coach and how can they help you find clarity, purpose and confidence
Why travel allows you to be present in the new experiences
How Sonia helps travelers bring awareness back to their daily lives
How you can create opportunities through travel experiences
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
To learn more about Travel Awakens, visit https://www.travelawakens.com
Download Sonia's free Travel Journal. This journal will take you through the main 7 steps that you need to implement if you want to create a transformational travel experience.
Join Sonia’s workshop, How to Discover Your Authentic Self Through Transformational Travel, on January 27, 2022. Sign up here: https://www.travelawakens.com/retreat
Connect with Sonia on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter
Listen to The Travel Coach Podcast
To watch this interview on YouTube, click here.
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Find Lotus Sojourns on Facebook, or join the Lotus Sojourns Collective, our FB community for like-hearted women.
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About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of women who are industry professionals and seasoned travelers and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart-centered change makers.
The guests work in all sectors of the tourism industry. You'll hear from adventure-based community organizations, social impact businesses, travel photographers and videographers, tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, and transformational travel experts. They all honor the idea that travel is more than a vacation and focus on sustainable travel, eco-travel, community-based tourism, and intentional travel.
These conversations are meant to educate, inspire and create community. They are directed to new travelers and seasoned travelers, as well as industry professionals and those who are curious about a career in travel.
If you want to learn about new destinations, types of travel, or how to be more intentional or live life on purpose, join Christine Winebrenner Irick for soulful conversations with her community of fellow travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe. These conversations highlight what tourism really means for the world.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor.) Hilary Matson (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing and production by Rayna Booth.
Transcript
KEYWORDS
travel, people, coaching, transformational, conversation, body, present, aware, transformation, connect, experience
Christine Winebrenner Irick 00:08
Thank you for joining me for soulful conversations with my community of fellow travelers, exploring the heart, the mind and the globe. These conversations highlight what travel really means for the world. Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of the people making a positive impact in tourism. Each week, I'll be speaking to women who are tourism professionals, world travelers and leaders in their communities will explore how travel has changed them and how that has rippled out and inspired them to change the world. These conversations are as much about travel as they are about passion, and living life with purpose, chasing dreams, building businesses, and having the desire to make the world a better place. This is a community of people who no travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action takers, and heart centered changemakers I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick. And this is the soul of travel. Sonia Cruz Oro is a certified Travel Coach and an Organizational Psychologist and Founder of Travel Awakens, having experienced her own transformation through travel, Sonia helps individuals, couples and groups to enjoy travel as a means to achieve the experiences, goals and transformation they seek.
Travel Awakens provides a comprehensive travel and personal development service by combining the best of travel planning and life coaching. Sonia is also the author of How to Create the Life You Desire, as well as the host of the Travel Coach podcast series. She is originally from Spain, but is now living in Ireland with her husband. In this conversation, we discuss her path from a corporate career to creating travel awakens, a year of travel that was the catalyst for this transformation. And what travelers can do to make their own experiences more personally transformational. For those of you who are regular listeners, you'll know that this is the kind of conversation where I'm happy to spend hours unwrapping all the possibilities, but somehow we managed to keep it to just an hour. Join me now for my soulful conversation with Sonia Cruz oro. Welcome to Soul of Travel.
I'm so happy to be joined by Sonia Cruz Oro today. And she is joining us from Ireland. And we are going to explore transformational travel and travel coaching. So I'm really excited about both of these topics. These are things that are important in a Lotus Sojourn. And so I'm really looking forward to sharing this specifically with the soul of travel travel listeners. So, Sonia, welcome.
03:36
Thank you, Christine, thank you very much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and having this amazing opportunity to chat about it.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 03:43
Thank you. To begin our conversation, I would love for you to just introduce yourself and talk a little bit about who you are in the world of travel. And then we'll go into a little bit of your history and the journey you took into the space of travel.
04:03
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, as you were saying, My name is Sonia Cruz Oro. I'm a certified Travel Coach, and Founder of Travel Awakens. I like to describe travel coaching as a life coach who uses travel as a vehicle for transformation. And I combined life coaching with transformational travel. And my specialization is travel self discovery is something that is close to my heart and passionate about.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 04:35
I love that, um, I feel like travel can really be a vehicle for so many things that it's this way that we see the world and then we can use it as a way to kind of examine ourselves in that process. And so it becomes so much more than travel which is something that we definitely really deeply connected on when we first met So I'm really excited to explore what that means. And especially for any of our listeners who maybe haven't thought about travel in that context, really examining how travel can be this Vehicle for Exploration and awareness and change. But to begin, I would love for you to share, I know that you started out in the corporate world, and were very dedicated to your career. And I think very similarly to a lot of people who maybe are listening, you know, had this kind of this endpoint in mind this, like level of success that you thought once you bought there, you would be like, Uh huh, I have arrived. And then you bought there, and you're like, Uh, huh. Something is missing. And so I would love for you to just kind of walk us through that and get us to that point. And then we can look at, you know, where you went from there.
05:53
Yeah, it's sometimes the same story. And I'm sure many people can resonate. Yeah. So my story, my background is in it in corporate IT. I am originally from Spain. So I started there, I follow my parents advice, as, as a little girl, I always look up to my father, I wanted to be you know, like my father independent, successful. And his advice was always have good grades, he was very demanding with that. So eight out of ten was not good enough, I had to be the best. And yes, it was doing my best to have the best grades I could to also have his approval and validation, and then have final job. And go was hired as you can. So I did that. Right. So I had a good job, I actually, yeah, enjoy it, I was good at it. I learned, I started in customer services, I was like, being a technician in customer service. And then I was promoting, you know, slowly, finding my way in the in the ladder of the corporate, being a team leader, Team Manager, then I had an opportunity to change countries. So I had an international opportunity to promote which I was so excited about it. And it's when I moved to Ireland, and this was six years ago. So I can tell you that I'm I've always been very empathetic, very sensitive gal, that woman, but being in the corporate, so it's something that I had to I feel now looking from, you know, looking backwards, that I was actually playing like a role playing like, you know, covering myself with kind of protection or mask or telling the way you want to have to be somebody to have this approval recognition, or being this managerial position that I actually was not who I was, but I thought something was wrong with me, because I could not feel like you know, it could be myself there. So what was in this this moment, I thought I was looking for something outside, so maybe, you know, changing countries.
So I moved to Ireland here get a promotion, you know, was the job of my dreams. And actually, as I said, was not a bad job, I actually was good at it. I was enjoying it, managing people, you know, I was coaching them and leading leading the teams. So that was great. But it was that point on my career after a couple of promotions being in Ireland, that they started feeling again, the same, right, they start feeling that something was missing, I was for the next thing. And it was this promotion that I thought was what they were always was looking for expecting. When they move all the efforts I did that my boss actually the director was leaving the company and I had the opportunity me and my colleague, the other manager to apply for it. And he's like, rationally was like, of course. Of course I want that because I've been I didn't come so far to just be that far. So I want these, but something feels so I don't know not allowing it I don't know how to explain it was something that in my body was like not feeling right. I suppose the mask I had to wear for this role was so big that I could not get my body was just was not resonating. Right. So was I had to make this decision. It was very difficult in my career to decide not to go in this direction anymore after nearly 20 years of doing this. And yet thinking that they had no more options because all my life, you know, in my late 30s What they want to do now start from scratch again, after all this investment in Korea and education. I felt quite lost. Honestly.
09:36
I didn't know what to do, but I knew for sure that was not the this I knew for sure. That was not the the reaction for me. So I just decided not to apply, and I didn't know what to do. So what I did is like because my you know, investment always my mindset. I invested in coaching personal development. It's always been in my life since since a young age. I'm also a psychologist, you know Leadership Management, all these investment that they've done during these years, and I knew that what's your purpose is aligned with your passion? So it's something that you need to follow your heart? What do you feel passionate about? What would you do? If you, you know, we're not paid? Or what would you do for the rest of your life not being paid and not feeling the same? Full of worry? And the answer was terrible. So I would just travel I knew was something about travel. But yeah, so at that point, I didn't have any idea or any expectations about do anything you know, professionally about it, because I knew I wanted to travel. And it was something about personal development and travel something around that. So what I did is just a start traveling, so I just enroll a travel club, I started meeting lots of people around the world, I started, you know, virilizing, prioritizing my joy, prioritizing my passion over my career.
And I visited this was 2019, I visited, I did 15 trips that year to 11 countries in this 12 month, which I thought was impossible. So just changing mindset, you know, we just all the excuses, we buy to ourselves that I have no time I have no money, I cannot companions, you get rid of all these excuses, and to make it happen. And this was just a totally change in my mind. So was actually when I discover our coaching after that, well, you know, why didn't you bring the other one is what I connected with actually what they want to do with my my profession, which is now I also met my husband, so I thought it was everything changed for me. And yes, so 2020 last year, I just quit my job to cooperate. And I decided to go full in full time in travel coaching.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 11:41
There's so many amazing things that I think people can really relate to, in your story, like, one for me of this idea of, of checking the boxes, like I very much also remember having a conversation with my dad when I was little and he was like, you know, you're You're so bright, you're very smart. This is the path I see for you, here's like the boxes that you can start checking so that you can get here and, and I was like, okay, and just like start checking all the boxes. And I remember, I had a moment like pretty early in college, were probably already feeling this misalignment. But I didn't know what it was, I was too young, I didn't really have any words for it. And I actually I quit college for a little while. And then my path just kind of went all over the place for a really long time until it came back. And it ended up coming back in the context of sociology and being a global citizen, and then tourism, but it was like, every time I would check a box, my reaction would just be like no and jumped ship. And it was so counter to this persona that I had created. And this mask that I was wearing of straight A students follow the rules be in line. And even in this moment, I really reflecting on how much I did that.
Like, I would check the box and I would just like jumped ship, it was like not that box. But I kept trying because I was like, this is a way you're supposed to do it. And so then I, you know, finished college, got my master's, like, tried to do all of the things that we're supposed to do. And so I I'm sure that there's other people that can really relate to that feeling. And I wish and I'm hoping that because this type of conversation is becoming so much more common in many cultures around the world of passion and purpose. And then career instead of this, like career and passion and purpose, like have no place that that maybe this will allow for people to really actually do the thing that they're meant to do that, really, if we do the thing in alignment, we're probably going to serve others in a much greater way than trying to do things according to some path. So I really, I really appreciate you sharing that because it's something that really resonates for me and something I really try to share with my daughters like to listen to those cues and to say like, you know, how has your body actually responded to this and sometimes they look at me like, I'm crazy. They're like, I don't know how my body's responding to this.
14:22
We are trained to not listen to our feelings and push through our so if something does not feel good, or you just push and do it anyway, you know, so we are we are so mental and so you know what we have to insert of what we want or what feels right. So it's totally changing mindset. We need to start changing and, and by education to you know, daughters especially, and children to be different for themselves to be happy as well.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 14:49
Yeah, my daughter actually she she stayed home this morning. She's like, I just I don't feel okay to go to school today. And I'm like, Okay, going through the checklist like do you feel ill do you have a Have a you have a stomach ache? Are you overtired? Are you this? Or are you sad? Are you Is there something that you like that you're feeling that you can't process and she's like, it's like, somewhere in between those two things. Like she said, My body isn't sick, but I don't feel well. And I'm not really emotional. But there's just something. And so I was even thinking about, like, naming that for her just saying, like, I need a self care day, like, I just need a few hours to figure out why I feel this way. And that's that kind of like developing that muscle now, so that when we feel that in a bigger way later that we know how to connect to it and and respond and trust ourselves and trust that feeling.
15:43
I think the self awareness is absolutely amazing. And then I'll hold it still daughter, but this is good to have this, since you know, hopefully, been educated to have this connection with the my body on my feelings. Definitely.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 15:57
So you're saying you took a year you kind of you you heard that call, I guess or that nudge from yourself that you needed to do something else. And then as you said, you started traveling and all of a sudden, instead of having all these barriers, so you just put them aside and then your life really started to open up for you in a different way. You said you met your husband, and then started this completely other lifestyle this other way of being and I'm just wondering for you like how has that what has been that response for you personally? And then how has that rippled out?
16:36
Yeah, well, I was no coincidence, you know, so this year that they said they invested on travel and how everything turned around was not by coincidence. So it's actually now was the travel professional trouble codes that I'm seeing all the researchers or they're actually scientific evidences that say no, that was was actually thanks to travel also as a catalyst and connecting with my joy was made me happy, everything around me change. So, consequence. So this was a big realization that all these years pushing, pushing, pushing to have success to be you know, somebody, and actually was that easy, like, make yourself happy, make yourself happy, fast, and then everything will change around you. So it's totally flipping around what what we are trained or educated in society, in schools by our parents, so was actually totally, you know, big, open, open eyes for me.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 17:33
So when people are hearing you say that you have then become a founder, travel coaching, and life coaching, can you explain a little bit what that means? What do you do as a travel coach? And and what does that offer others?
17:49
Yeah, so I knew that it was something. So I think they knew what they did at that time. Yeah. So it just knew what happened. And looking backwards again, is to connect the dots. So I was saying, okay, is something about mindset and personal development, because I know, it was doing work on myself as well, but the time and looking with coaches and mentors, always, but the time that I actually really invested was something about travel. So was both together. So was something I'll travel and coaching, but I didn't know that cover coaching was a thing. So I never heard about it is actually quite new that is, you know, got certified at the beginning of this year, but something that maybe two or three years old as a certification by the International Coach Federation. So it's something that I discovered with searching on Google. So he was searching Google, right, because I knew I wanted to do that for other people as well. He worked so well for me, and I could help others to achieve the same results and transformation, mix involve coaching and travel. But I didn't know how it looked like so I started researching and athletes come to my you know, in google it comments like Tableau coaching and I started researching and it's actually I think his profession is certified is you know, there is a motivation is something that is Yeah, structure is something that is working and people is using. So this is actually what what came to me as a as a consequence of so leaving avidity myself, I knew what I wanted to do just I needed to label or name I suppose, to a title and a certification related certification to become a coach. And as I said, this mix is travel coaching, using life coaching with transformational travel. We're using travel as a way as a vehicle of transformation. So you want to explain a bit deeper about exactly what what how it helps travel? Yeah, sure. Just,
Christine Winebrenner Irick 19:47
I'm gonna say one thing. I think it's so interesting because I have done that random Google search as well and you're like, why am I like this? Like, tada, but I kind of landed transformational travel the same way where I was like, Okay, I have seen travel, do this in myself, I have seen travel, do this for others, what is this, and I, Myself was just saying, like, travel is transformational travel is transformational. I kept hearing myself say this. And then I thought, Oh, I'm going to do it intentionally. And I'm going to say, this is transformational travel. And then, you know, a couple years later, I've run into this whole community called the transformational travel Council. And I was like, it's a real thing. Like, I didn't make this up. So for people like, I think it's so hard to trust ourselves, right? Like, we really need and like you said, I then you were you went to seek out the certification so that you have a label so that you know what to call yourself so that we can tell others what we do. But all along, you already knew what it was within. And it's so interesting that, that need to be able to say what we do, or to label it, to communicate it to others. And this space, I think, is really gray with that, because it's really hard to tell others what we want to offer them because it's their own personal journey. But we have to still find this way to connect to them so that we can offer them this experience and this period of growth and this catalyst for discovery. So it just really resonates for me because I feel like I've done the exact same thing like okay, Google, tell me what I'm going to be when I grow up
21:36
It's not just, you know, something that is, in your mind, that is actually something that is there and is proven, and you are not the first one who had this experience. And that is Yeah, so I suppose it's hard to believe that you're the first one that this happened to you. And actually, it's counterproductive, because if you were the first one, you would be missing a big opportunity, right. But nice to see other people also, you know, been this transformation through travel, and is actually there is researches and studies and certifications about it. So, just going deeper and know more about it. Because if these people are leading, pioneers are leading the way, because they've been there for years, they know more than I am that that just came here. So it's about flattening as well using these people who is, you know, before you to help you to pull you as well and help better and don't need to spend all this year that maybe they expected before to be to know what they know, select from there from them as a mentor as well.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 22:41
Yeah, yes, I definitely agree. Well, I would then love for you to share as a as a travel Coach, what is it that you do?
22:50
Yeah, so I drive to the conclusion right after all this, and this is my personal view, I know, many travel coaches, everybody will have their own personal view. So travel actually helps for two different reasons that is a catalyst for transformation, and is a combination that I think is very unique of travel, I don't know any other thing that has these two factors, which is first one, it puts you out of your comfort zone, which is the only place you can grow as human being out of your comfort zone. And the second one is it frees you from Miss protections. So this is about this, we were talking about the roles the masks that we wear that we learn to behave us depending on you know, if you are a mom or you are an employee or you are a boss or you are wherever you are in the society. So when you travel, you afraid of this, do you have this possibility, scrawls, or even event it is part of your identity that you have been repeating and repeating and repeating so much that you believe is due, but then when you travel, you're free from that. So it is combination of these two factors, you know, the thing that for me, I believe is what makes this so powerful. And then with the help of the life coaching, you know, help with saying, why you are traveling, what's the intention, what do you expect from it, and connecting with, you know, the feelings, the intention, the what you need to do, being also the inner work, journaling, reflection, but you will not change because if you want to transform actually to want to change something, what's what you want, where you are, where you want to be. So this is the main thing of coaching, where you are where you want to be, and make sure that after your three or three to bring it back home, so it's so sad when I see you know, people that are wasting travel and just going away, have this amazing experience or maybe insights or even breakthroughs, but then they don't know how to implement them in their daily life. So they come back again to the old patterns or things back to where we were before so they haven't growth actually as much as they could from these experiences. They do it purposefully. Yeah,
Christine Winebrenner Irick 24:54
oh my goodness, one of my notions or one of the ways I explained why trout trends formational travel or intentional travel is so important is that we have these experiences and like you said, so many people just kind of come home and the like description I like to use is like, they just put it with their suitcase under their bed and like the travel experience happened, and then it's done. And really, it's like months and years after the travel experience and that reflection, where we start to see what really happens. And like some of it can be very immediate, but there's all these other things that just like maybe loosened in that travel process that we need to kind of pull out and think about before they can become bigger changes. And the other thing that I wanted to talk about with you is, I think there's a lot of resistance to the idea of transformational travel, because the word transformation can cause a lot of resistance, that people are maybe thinking, Oh, I don't need to change, I don't want to change and they're thinking, change means like, completely separating from who they are. And I really feel like what transformational travel does is maybe not allows you so much to change. But like you said, it helps you get rid of these masks and these layers and these identities that we have absorbed and really get back to our truest self. And I know for me, like that moment, when I have like my backpack over my shoulder and my feet hit the ground somewhere else, it's like, there you are, like, I can get rid of everything else that I'm like juggling in my daily life, and I just get to be present with who I am. And like you said, that is what allows us to access something that we just truly can't. In our daily life, even if we are having a mindful practice and journaling and doing all these things, there's something about this extraction process that allows us to go a little bit more deep. So I would love for you to share something about like, what you think that is and what that allows.
27:21
So it's the tally that and that's just putting you know, words to what we have already experienced. And we know it happens that we don't know why it happens. We feel this freedom that we feel when we travel. And actually it's just we can do we can be our authentic self we don't need to pretend or what people expect from us when you are in your daily life you know even dress and makeup and how people expect you to be or to behave and it's very difficult to behave in a different way because the environment just pulls you to be this person and show this this behaviors and also people around you that thing very similar. Usually when is missing future right so you go to a different future and these people think totally different it's like oh okay, so what I thought was right, maybe it's not that right or there is no better towards this other points of view and also changes your license then how you see the world and who you see yourself and how other people see you.
You know so maybe people around you see us as a personality trait and then you go there and they see you oh but you're actually no boring you're actually very funny. It's like oh am I this kind of you know, you see all the aspects of yourself and these so if you ask my opinion it happens because when we create these roles, actually we are what we are doing is we create this part of our identity by competition by habituation which is also connected with the out of the comfort zone. So we are out of our area of comfort and familiarity. Where when we are in our familiar zone, your comfort zone, we are 95% on autopilot, and this is like what so we are only 5% conscious making conscious decisions 95% of the time we are repetition so think about your routine when you wake up, you wake up the same side of the bed and you go to the bathroom and then you go to the breakfast and you have the same cup of tea with the same cup and you sit in the same place looking at the same you know window and then you meet the same people and you have the same routines and then you go back again go to bed and the day after. Most of the same yes so we are repeating repeating and repeating so our body eventually knows better than us. And we don't even to think is you know this feeling when you are driving that you can think on what you are going to make for dinner or what you were discussing with your boss morning and you are driving and you don't know Oh, I arrived already.
So you bought the new right so it's autopilot. So when we are in a familiar environment in our comfort zone, we are in autopilot when we are traveling is something new Something okay now I have I'm actually have to make decisions here we're going to go so you are present you're in control. So you break this familiarity. And also the rules is the same dude identity as a mom, as a, you know, business owner as a neighbor as a doctor is actually repetition of habituation of relationship, you with your with your daughter's everyday the same relationship you're building, this part of you, which is the identity, which is actually a coat or, or one mask of the role you have, when you are travel, traveling you don't have this is different, you break, you break the routine, you know, you break the familiarity. So that's why it's so powerful. Actually, you are more aware of your ultimate problems. And you can change them, because you only can change them. When you are aware. When you are inside the program in the automatic pilot, you don't know. But then you're aware when you're outside, then you see it from the outside. And then is when you can actually take action and change what you don't like. Yeah,
Christine Winebrenner Irick 31:03
That statistic is a little bit mind blowing for me right now that 5% of the time is when you're actually present. And yet, I also feel that deeply because it's like most of the day, and then you have a moment and you're like, oh, it's like your soul is like, again, it's that I see here, here you are and maybe like right back into like dinner, carpool bla bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla, bla bla. And then like, maybe another moment, you'll pop up and a new surface. And for me, like, I think I noticed I started becoming addicted to those moments, right, those moments of awareness, and I and I, it happens maybe when I'm reading, or having a really powerful conversation with someone or meditating, and they were, like, maybe had a few more pockets of that clarity and that connection to myself. And I thought like, when else does this happen, and, and again, like within travel, it's just so much more. And like you said, it's because you have to make decisions, you have to be aware, or you're going to get lost, or you're gonna you know, find yourself where you don't want to be and you, you don't know how to read the menu.
So you're really thinking things through or things like that. And so then, over the last the course of the last two years with the pandemic, I've been thinking like how do we bring this thing that happens in travel into our daily life because it is so profound and so important. And so like my ideas have been, you know, drive a different way to work, like, get yourself out of that autopilot, go to a different restaurant, sit on the other side of the coffee shop, like it doesn't have to be a huge experience. But your brain will wake up and like your soul will wake up and you will start to notice something else. And then maybe that's when you you meet this person or you pick up this magazine, and the universe was like, Aha, here's the thing I've been trying to give you but you were sleeping. So I just think that like combining this art of travel is kind of what I call it like these these mindsets and practices. Like if you become aware of who you are and how you are when you travel and then bring that back to your life, then this catalyst that travel is can become even more impactful. But I would love for you to speak to that. How do you help your travelers, when you're coaching them to be more present when they're traveling? And then how do they bring that awareness back into their daily lives?
33:36
Yeah, so it's because we are so much up in our head. Yeah. So it's something that we've been again, trying to do. And being is I suppose, is also the society, you know, that is very masculinized and is doing thinking and planning and thinking about the future. And it's not being present and being in your body. And travel helps you to do that helps you to be present and helps you to stay in your body. So this is one of the main, you know, jobs I do with my clients help them to become aware of what they are in their head, they are in their body. And this helps to be more present. There are some tools that they can use you know, and when they are aware and they catch themselves being in their mind oh I'm in my mind again, go to your body. You can connect with your breath you can connect with objects outside of you when you go for a walk be actually present you know with the nature with the trees are teaching you about resilience about you know, so it's something that you can connect things to the environment in a new environment that brings you more peace, as I said clarity and breaks the routine, but also is about your body being out of your mind and being in your body. So this is one key thing that you need to be aware of and practice and it's easier so when you travel is like a playground is easier than when you are at home when you are in your routine is much more energy key that you have, because you have to break this routine these problems. Yeah, so you have to be more aware, the body's just so arbitrated that is like, Oh, you're now awake now. Now, I'm in charge, you know. So it's much difficult to take the lead back when you are there. So it's about using travel, using this new environment as a playground, and actually experience how it feels. Because most people don't know how it feels to be in their body. Most people don't know what actually feels really feels being in the present moment, never experienced this. And it's normal. We've never been teachers who learned this in school, nobody, right. So we have always about memorizing and maths and using Overmind. But we didn't have experiences, maybe now. Lately, there is more awareness about that. And hopefully in our next generations, we will have this in schools, but at least in my generation, I didn't have that. So is something that I teach them about being more in their body and be more present, using tools and also use travel and the new environment as a way for them. And then journaling, you know what, what they have realized, and find ways to just tweak this hole in their being aware of how in their daily life, they can start using more of these, because then it's very easy to come back, as I said, back to your duties and responsibilities and roles and jobs. And, again, go go back to the familiar and go back to the old patterns. And it's about being you know, very determined making the decision don't need to be big step don't need to be a big huge transformation. Let me just morphing, a small tweak that changes everything. So the first thing is why you are taking this trip while you're traveling, right? Make sure you do understand this because if you don't know why you travel, why to travel, that's the first thing. And then what you can do different to make sure you don't go back to the same situation that make you try to, you know, go away, and do things different. So also with awareness and coaching, and you need to work on questions, and journaling. And there is a internal work we do together to make sure they find what they can actually actions need to be baby steps maybe that they can implement. So they actually change something in the routine. And they create a new is repetition that you create a new routine that you substitute the one that is not serving you anymore. For anyone that is more you know, healthy and does not put you in this over mental space that then you need to escape of it.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 37:34
As you're speaking I was really thinking a lot about how how much people prescribe I guess meditation for kind of learning how to be in your body and and the resistance that so many people have to it that I had to when I was first told like you need to meditate. And it's like, sitting still, with my mind, absolutely not not going to happen, right. But then through that, like learning how to be in your body. Like when you sit down and like feeling yourself touching the ground. Like if you just did that you'd be meditating, right? Like if you learned how to feel the ground below you. And I tell my kids this all the time, like when I feel them, like really spiraling off. I'm like wiggle your toes and feel the ground. And they just like the ground, right. And so like you said this, it doesn't have to be like we don't all have to become these like mindfulness gurus and we don't have to become, we don't have to be like hugely transformed to consider ourselves successful. We just need to find little tools. And I think also breath work. When you and I landed in zoom today I was coming into this space with you. And it's things I do like automatically now I don't even notice it. Other people will notice that they're like, Oh, I noticed you do this. I'm like, Oh yeah, I forgot that I do that. But it's the way for me to, like come into my body and come into the space. So if people are listening, and they they kind of want to play with this, like, even just taking like a moment when you wake up, I also I wiggle my toes a lot like I have a trouble with being grounded. So when I wake up, I like wiggle my toes. And I just like notice that they're on my body and I'm in my body. And the breath is huge, just to like, just magical to bring us in Word and like even starting with those really basic practices. I think people would, instead of constantly projecting forward like what's my deadline? What's the next thing on my to do list or like I'm so disappointed I did this and I'm frustrated. I did this. We spend a lot of time in these two spaces. And we we don't ever let us ourselves be here. And so I don't know Do you have any tools that you would offer for how we can connect to this moment so that we can have that awareness as well? Well,
40:01
yeah, you just said that, you know, the, the attention in some parts of your body. So thinking when you are walking, instead of being in your mind, which is the natural, you know, we've been so trained to be there that is automatic, put the attention, maybe you in your hips hold the move the hips, or the legs, you know, and some other parts of your body in the breath is very powerful as well. And then you can put also the, the attention using other, the five senses, basically, if you so you want to maybe sit in a bench in the park, close your eyes, and see how many noises can you hear, and you eventually will say, I only hear the bears, but then you close their eyes and you start hearing more things, oh my god, I also can hear the cars in the road behind that. And you start, you know, this is another kind of meditation.
It's using your five senses, if you're having a meal, you can have it the taste, what's the flavor was the smell, and we actually being present when we are having a meal, or we are thinking about the next thing that they have to do the past or the future. So it's the mindfulness, no being using the five senses, whatever is powerful for you, being when you wanna see something, be cannot be an object you have with your hands, and count five, and say, 54321, and then be fully present, really look at this thing with all your body. So it's looking, or listening, or smelling, or tasting with all your body when being present. So this is the most, I suppose closer, you will, you know, in a small tool that you can be to the present moment, it feels like two heads totally empty. So you're fully present and there is nothing in your head. And it's like, and we need that, you know, it's like, if you're physically tired, like climbing a mountain, you will need to sit down and rest your body.
So you also need to rest your mind. So we need to do things. And it does, as I said, you said you're going to be like, you know, you'll be your super expert meditation, you can have this five minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, maybe it's having a hot bath and relax with music. But do it everyday have like a routine that keeps you in this balance, because we have so much in our head. So I actually have in my diary. Everyday, your social business owner, I know I see the difference. Because when you are an employee, you have more, you know, this cable that you are working, you're working and then you can separate. Hopefully the rest of the cases, you can separate you at home and not thinking about work. Yeah, fingers crossed. When you are a business owner, it's more difficult to separate because you are always thinking yeah, so in my schedule, you know the times and I'm quite have even alarms in my phone. Now it's time you know, for work. Now it's time for the masculine and the feminine that they say the dean and the Yang, right. So now it's time now it's relax and self care and be present. But then being genuinely using this time for you. Because then you can use maybe this time to I don't know breathing. Something that is also work. Yeah, so it's kind of fooling yourself. Yeah, relax into something that is creative, that puts you in the present moment. You can, you know, go and walk your talk or play with your card, whatever it is that keeps you the present moment, that is just the connection with joy. And is not in the head, you will not you'll see that do your energy's not there is just from the neck down. So anything that you can keep this balance is good.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 43:36
Yeah, I love this conversation so much. And I think and I would love to invite people who are like, I have no idea what you're talking about. If they're listening and having that moment, because it is very hard because like you said, you don't even know what in your head means, right? You don't even know the difference because you don't have a contrast to it. But the moment that you find a way to get into that space, you're like, oh, okay, like and you might not you might be there for like a 10th of a second the first time you find it and you're like, Oh, where did it go? But then it's you know, it's a practice, like it's a meditation practice, a yoga practice, all this thing, it takes practice. So for people not to think like that they are failing at it like it really does take time to, to do that. And like I've struggled with it constantly as well. Like, I'll notice I'm really good at it. And then I'll take two weeks, like really the last two weeks and I have been in my head and I have been pushing forward and I start just craving all of these things to slow down and relax and which I think is why often we get sick when we work like that right?
Because our body is saying hey, you need this balance you need to nourish when we get sick. We like focus on what we're eating and we're drinking and how we're resting and so that feminine energy rises up to take care of us and again I think it's something we're not culturally aware of that this difference between our masculine energy and our feminine energy. And so I love how once you are kind of analyzing how you feel, in travel, how you feel in life, you've started to become aware of these different things. And then you can create that balance. I read this book, and I wish I had it. I know it's on my bookshelf, but I can't remember the name right now. But one of the prompts is to eat an orange for 15 minutes. And I, I remember reading and I was like, no, like, what would? How would How could you do that? But like, like you said, Hold orange. And just like, feel it? How much does it weigh? What does the skin feel like? What does it smell like? And then you like, peel it open? And then again, how does that feel different? Like, what does that remind you of does it bring anything up and like eating every segment, and tasting it and like being aware of chewing it and the process of doing that might be agonizing, but it also will really allow you to see how disconnected you are from your like, bodily actions and how we are not present like most of us would grab it, eating it watching TV texting, like letting the dog out. And in this whole experience went by without us even knowing that it happened.
46:23
And you know, what, when I was listening to you, I just thought that I imagine the listeners thinking, what a waste of time. Yeah, because we need to get it to think like that. So we are being educated, like the all the feminine self care slowdown is a waste of time, his weakness is just not worth it. So we are so programmed in the way that we need to do one achieve and make the most of the time and, and that's just a lie. And this is why we are getting you know, seek stress, or this this mental mental health problems that we have, because we are not we are out of balance, right, any disease is a is an imbalance causes diseases. So we need to change this, we need to actually bring the dignity back to all the things feminine, and say that they're even, even both under the same kind of work, we are not more or less, it's just the same. And anything doing muscles being giving versus receiving both are necessary. And we need more. So the world itself is too much in the masculine. So we need more people, you know, being more in the feminine, so we can be this balance, and they won't need that. And we will appreciate this.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 47:38
Yeah, and I love when you travel to and you travel somewhere that has a more dominant feminine energy. Like there's places I've landed, and I can just feel it like literally like a warm hug like this, this maternal energy and you're like, goodness, like it's, again, it even adds to that like taking off those layers that are linked to that masculine energy is like, here, I don't have to be that and it's like, I feel like you really feel it. Just yeah, it's so calming. It's like the deepest breath. And I And again, I think this is where travel helps us like we can't get that if you're in Manhattan, or London or something like it's just not really energetically accessible to us. But when you go someplace else that does function more from that feminine space, then it's where we can learn what that feels like. And then we can reconnect to that in our own space. And so it really allowing people to have the permission to know that they don't know how to do this or that it's not natural
48:51
Liveness is the basic I think good travel brings the most important thing is is self awareness that things about yourself. And you know, this because you from the base URL, you can think oh, yeah, perfectly balanced and fine. But you are you can do an awareness when you can start changing and improving things. So if you are not in the place you want to be is something there that is just not the line it will not balance. And I will give to this.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 49:16
Yeah. Well, I I'm so happy for this conversation, and I don't want to leave it but we're near the end of our time. Is there anything else I know like an hour almost just flew by. Anything else Sonia, that in terms of how people can create more opportunity for transformation in their travel experiences, anything that else that you want to offer? And then also how people can connect with you to work with you and learn more about this, this type of travel and this type of experience.
49:54
Yeah, I'm thinking if there is anybody who's listening who is thinking about creating a designing a trip that is transformational that they want you know, the person who will go into trip is not the same person who will come back of the treaties and more advanced or evolved version of themselves. And they are thinking on doing that, I actually have a travel journal in my website that I did they offer so they can go their www.travelawakens.com/journal. and download it is just my seven steps process from A to Z to design this transformational travel experience. So they they will make sure they make the most of these experience. And most importantly, they will bring back the benefits back home. So is there it's free. Just take it.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 50:35
Excellent, thank you. I just this is like, my favorite thing. Obviously, this is the time, the space I spend a lot of time in. And I think it's so valuable. And I think as travelers and really as humans like this is the place that we need to be because this not only helps us to deeply connect to ourselves that helps us to deeply connect to others when we travel, which is another space I had wished to address with you. But maybe next time so I just really encourage people to ask the questions and to listen, when their body is telling them something when their soul is telling them something because it's true. And I feel like no person has heard that. And then answered and then been like, Oh, that was wrong. So really just to trust and to listen.
51:30
We are not feeling we are not connected. What we feel is like what others expect us to say. So we have the approval external approval.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 51:38
Yeah. To end our conversation. I always end with a series of rapid fire or rapid ish fire questions. So I'll bring you two those. The first is what is your favorite book or movie that offers you a travel escape or inspires you to adventure?
51:59
Hmm, I would recommend people who are in this space of transformational travel to read the book, The Hero's Journey. I know that this the Hero's Journey from Joseph Campbell just come up with is very famous and many people refer to it, but the hero's journey. So yeah, this is a book.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 52:22
I haven't heard of that. And now I'm going to be so excited. I hate the last thing I need is more books. I wish I could turn my computer I have a giant wall. I would just like spend the rest of my days with books traveling. What is always in your suitcase bit of sense of humor. That is that is never three you know,
52:51
so be prepared a sense of humor. Don't forget to pack this one.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 52:55
Yeah. What has been your favorite destination?
52:59
I would say look, I would say London because was the first one that my first international trip that actually I did in my late 20s. And it was what was one that made a big beginning and tn when I was there I remember it was there walking, I went with my family. And I had like a patient something came to me like I see myself there leaving that one day. And actually mentally was not feeling I didn't end up in London, I end up in Ireland. But what's this? I don't know. I felt like one day you're going to be here. And this week I wake up something in me about international travel and travel so I would say yeah, he's also he's also the first time I traveled with my husband now before we got married and was London and was very special for New Zealand so yeah.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 53:50
Again like those those voices and those clues right I remember walking down this grass road not even a road in Uganda. And I just had this feeling to have like you'll be back like I could just hear this place whispering to me and it's like oh, thank you for the invitation and just like recognizing it and not needing to know what it means right now like I haven't been back yet but I know I will like I can I just know that I will. I'm still listening for that when you travel where do you still long to visit
54:27
many places but they think big became a bucket list in South America.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 54:34
What do you eat that immediately connects you to a place that you've been?
54:39
That's funny because it was now for all saints for Halloween here for all sensei. I was cooking some special sweets that we do in my place in Catalonia where I am from. And I was until because I was saying to my husband about it, but I didn't cook them I didn't even eat Since I am getting in Ireland, and it is six years ago, but he said you should do it. Yeah, show me how they are. So I was cooking them. And just the process of cooking the smell and eating it just awaken so much memories of my childhood. So yeah, it's the sweets or same sweets called punnets. From, from the Bazelon. From d'Italia.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 55:23
Yeah. And when we're talking about being mindful and being present, like that's one of the ways I think our body stores memories is through these events, all of your senses when you eat something, right. So that's why I love that it's like, it's the certain things will really transport us back to a moment in our lives or a moment on this planet, a place on this planet. Who was the person that inspired or encouraged you to set out and explore the world?
55:50
My father, he always pushing me to go out and explore. And as I said, this leads me to the masculine world, but also it's good. So both are good, masculine and feminine are good. So he was always the one pushing me to go and go out of the comfort zone. And yeah, this first trip to London, I was talking about those was my father's idea. So yeah, yeah.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 56:13
And if you could take an adventure with one person fictional or real alive or pass to it, it'd be
56:20
a bit freaky, but I would say, a philosopher Socrates, I always had something about it. And you know, the Olden know, myself and the philosophy and also a psychologist, and this came from my passion to philosophy. So I don't know it can suffer this. So why not?
Christine Winebrenner Irick 56:38
I mean, why not choose anyway?
56:42
I will ask so many questions. Yeah.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 56:46
Well, I so greatly appreciate this connection and this conversation and you taking the time to really share in depth with my listeners, what the power of transformation that lies in travel. So thank you so much for joining me today.
57:02
Absolutely. Pleasure, Christine, and an honor to be here. Thank you for having me.
Christine Winebrenner Irick 57:06
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