Overcoming Adversity: Nikki Hillhouse's Journey to Empowerment and Authenticity

Would you believe that overcoming chronic pain and thriving after a stroke can lead to a life filled with purpose and vitality? In this episode, we sit down with the extraordinary Nikki Hillhouse, a mind detox practitioner, meditation teacher, well-being coach, and retreat facilitator. Nikki shares how she embraced her struggles as catalysts for growth, turning past traumas into stepping stones for a healthier, more fulfilling life. Nikki's unique approach to mind detox helps individuals clear mental "weeds" and plant seeds of positivity, uncovering the profound impact of clearing unhealthy beliefs.

We journey through Nikki's personal tales of resilience, highlighting the power of belief and determination in overcoming adversities. Hear how making firm decisions and holding onto unwavering faith can set the stage for transformative changes, even when the path forward seems unclear. We delve into the significance of sharing personal adversities to inspire and empower others, emphasizing that our toughest challenges do not define us but instead forge our strength and character. Join us as we remind you that no one is alone in their journey and that together, we can rise above adversity to achieve greatness.

Guest Bio:

Nikki is an experienced Mind Detox Practitioner, Meditation Teacher, Well-being Coach and Retreat facilitator with a vast knowledge of holistic therapies and techniques. She has an extensive background in holistic health. Nikki believe's we all have the potential to live our best life, and our Health, Wealth, Relationships and Success comes when we connect and align with who we truly are.

Her mission is to help and empower others to overcome their most challenging obstacles and start living happier, healthier and more fulflling lives.

Nikki is a Stroke- thriver and has reinvented herself as a beacon of health and vitality.

Her journey started from the grips of chronic pain to the peaceful shores of Turkey, where she now lives and hosts transformational wellness retreats and coaching business.

Find Nikki:

website: https://www.nikkihillhouse.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkihillhouse/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-hillhouse

This episode was produced by: Six-Two Studio

______

Karen Sarmento is a passionate and dedicated Nurse Practitioner for more than 18 years, CEO at Sarmento Mentoring Services LLC, and a Proctor Gallagher Certified Mindset Mentor. She specializes in empowering women to tap into their true potential. She understands the unique challenges faced by women because she too has battled some major challenges in her life. Karen does not let that define her; she believes it’s the challenges that have made her the limitless woman she is today. She whole-heartedly believes we hold all the power within and that we should stand tall together in the pursuit of greatness.

Karen has served thousands over the course of her career and has spent many years studying directly with world class mentors to gain a deep understanding of the science behind human behaviour and learning about the success principals that create lasting change and transformation. She will share her insights with you so you can feel unstoppable and limitless too.

Find Karen:
Website
Instagram
Facebook

Transcript

Karen Sarmento:

0:01

Have you ever felt that inner whisper nudging you towards something greater? We truly are a force of nature possessing our own incredible power within. We are all here to identify our own personal definition of success. We all have a story to tell. Join me as I dive into empowering concepts and have powerful conversations with extraordinary humans who have shattered limitations, overcome adversity and created remarkable success. I'm your host, Karen Sarmento, and we are meant for more. Hello and welcome back to another episode of We Are Meant For More.

Karen Sarmento:

0:55

Today, I have the absolute honor and pleasure of introducing you to my friend, Nikki Nikki Hillhouse. Let me tell you a little bit about who Nikki is, and I'm actually going to read it specifically because I want to give it its due diligence and I would like to be accurate. So Nikki is an experienced mind detox practitioner, a meditation teacher, well-being coach and retreat facilitator with a vast knowledge of holistic therapies and techniques. She has extensive background in holistic health. Nikki believes we all have the potential to live our best life, and our health, wealth, relationships and success comes when we connect and align with who we truly are. Her mission is to help and empower others to overcome their most challenging obstacles and start living happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives. Nikki is a stroke thriver and has reinvented herself as a beacon of health and vitality. Her journey started from the grips of chronic pain to the peaceful shores of Turkey, where she now lives and hosts transformational wellness retreats and her coaching business. Wow, that is powerful and impressive. So welcome Nikki. I'm so happy to have you here.

Nikki Hillhouse:

2:27

Oh, such a pleasure to be here, Karen. Thank you so much for asking me. I'm excited to be here for a conversation Me too.

Karen Sarmento:

2:36

So there's so much there to just unpack, and I'm so excited for everybody to get to know who you are and what you do, and I'm so excited for everybody to get to know who you are and what you do. So, starting right there, I guess, tell us what you do. What is a mind detox practitioner and what do you do? Mind?

Nikki Hillhouse:

2:55

detox is all about. I like to see myself as a little bit of a gardener. I like to pull up the weeds out of people's minds and then I plant these beautiful seeds that, when the sun comes out, you know in the water you know, you put your seeds in and it grows into these beautiful plants and flowers. So when people are stuck in the past, they may be stuck in beliefs or they have physical problems or life problems going on right now. I just help them to purify the perceptions about the past. We can't change our past. It's happened the good, the bad, the ugly, the whole lot. You know we can't change it, but what we can do is we can change our perceptions around what actually happened.

Nikki Hillhouse:

3:43

So I help people to basically draw a line in the sand and help that memory to meet a completion. The subconscious mind will come up with a memory that's really. I'll ask certain questions and it'll come up with a, a memory that needs to be healed in that session. So we'll heal that memory and that person leaves with these positive learnings from the memory. So basically, you're putting in these positive learnings.

Nikki Hillhouse:

4:07

They've had the it's happened, the events happened, but as we, as you know, you know our beliefs are all sort of. They operate and exist in our unconscious mind. So, even though something has happened, sometimes our unconscious mind can distort it a little bit. You know it can make it filter it into what we think, perceive. You know what it is now, but when we actually go into that memory, even though it's happened, it's not quite what we think it is today. So I'm all about pulling up the weeds. We pull up the weeds, we get out the, we get out all the nasty bits and we plant all these beautiful seeds of health and well-being for that person to flourish and grow. That's what mind detox is. I love that In a roundabout way, in a nutshell.

Karen Sarmento:

4:52

Yes, and I like the relating it to gardening. So you actually do revisit the past a little bit to dig it up and poke and prod a little bit. But I agree with what you just said, that we often distort the memory. So rather than doing that in a positive way, we make it much worse than it actually was and we revisit it and revisit it, and revisit it. And I love that you kind of dig it up but replace it with positive.

Nikki Hillhouse:

5:25

It's's not. It's a form of therapy, but a lot of people when they go to therapy, they're being asked to keep bringing up the past. Let's talk about that again. It's not about that. You're bringing it to a conclusion and it's done, it's gone, it's finished. It's a bit like having like you've got your glasses on there, karen. It's a bit like having you know when you get it all mucky, or like the windscreen of a car. And if you were to clean your glasses now or the windscreen, you know you clear it all. So it's all nice and clear and you see it with fresh eyes. And that's literally what it is. You know, to help people to move on. Because when you're holding on to stuff from the past and all these unhealthy beliefs, it's not good for the body, you know. It creates this disharmony and can cause ill health in the body.

Karen Sarmento:

6:08

So absolutely so. Your past so oftentimes people think you know their past disqualifies them from doing anything special, because, oh, this thing happened, so now, well, I can't do anything special. Special now I'm not worthy, or I'm not. Tell the audience how, or explain a little bit about your journey from the past, where you might have reached a time when you thought you couldn't do amazing things, and now you are. So what did that look like?

Nikki Hillhouse:

6:44

When I was 31 years old I'm now 56, when I was 31, I was having a bit of neck pain. So I went to a doctor and with my sort of health background and things, I knew it was a torticollis. You know a twisted neck, you know a wry neck, you know when you can, you move quickly and you go, oh my neck. So I thought I'd just pull my neck and my GP gave me some pain relief and told me just to, it'll be fine in a few days. But a friend of mine, he was seeing an osteopath for his back pain and he said why don't you come along with me? We'll book you in for an appointment and you can have some osteopath manipulation on your neck. And I was really uncomfortable. So I thought, yeah, let's, let's give it a try. Never been to an osteopath before. So I went along and had the session but I did notice you know we talk about that. You talk about the inner whisper, karen, that inner guide. You know when something's not quite right she was pushing down really firmly on the top of my head and I was like, oh, this is very painful, I have to do that to release whatever. And I know what it was called I didn't know it then, but it's called a high velocity thrust. So you know, like in a supermarket, you have your tins of whatever stacked up and you can push like Jenga, you can push it through and the stack still stays upright. Well, that's what she was doing with my neck. So she was trying to sort of push whatever it was to release something in the neck. But as she did that, it was a lot of pain. But the following day I was in the bath. I was having a bath because, um, it just wasn't going away, the pain, and it was getting, you know, very uncomfortable. But as I was having my bath, I unfortunately had a stroke in the bath and what happened was my vertebral artery dissected. So the maneuver that the osteopath had actually done had created a vertebral artery dissection. So you know, you'll know from your medical background.

Nikki Hillhouse:

8:36

So that was the beginning of my, let's just say, my world was turned completely upside down and I had, to suppose, reinvent myself again and go on a different trajectory of like what my life you know to where my life is now. You know, basically, what I went through was I had to go through everything to be where I am now and I just learned and took things from it that I could, and what you just said there, karen, about maybe what was your life like. I remember when I was talking about beliefs there, you know, about mind detox and the beliefs. I remember the day I was leaving the hospital and there I am sitting in my wheelchair, being a man I'm 31 and this consultant looked down at me and he was very to me, a big, you know big chap, and he's saying listen, dear, you need to just accept that this is how your life's going to be now and your cognitive ability is poor. You're not going to be able to do it. He was reeling off all the things that I couldn't do. So if I believed everything he told me, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you now.

Nikki Hillhouse:

9:42

So I then decided to not plant those unhealthy beliefs and then I started to plant my own healthy beliefs in the way of right. What can I do? What am I able to do? So I went on and I studied massage and then I did sports massage, I had my own business, all the things that I was told, and I passed my driving test that I suppose I wasn't supposed to do all these things that I was told I was not going to be able to do. Yeah. I just believed in myself and I thought right, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and live the best life that I possibly can. Okay, my body's not maybe the same as it was before. There's still some tricky things going on, but I can still lead a beautiful life irrespective of what's happened to me. So do not believe everything that you're told.

Karen Sarmento:

10:35

So I hope everybody is hearing that that's such an important. There's so much in that right there. But what I wanted to dive into was what you just said. Somebody read off to you all the things that you were no longer going to be able to do and you made a conscious choice to believe otherwise. And did you know that right away when he said all those things? Did you know right away that I'm not going to believe that? Or did you have to kind of process a little and say I'm now, I've decided I'm not going to believe that?

Nikki Hillhouse:

11:11

It was. It was a bit of both, karen, in that moment. I'm not going to swear on camera Inside it was blah, blah, blah, you sort of thing. And I thought no, young woman, please don't tell me that this is what I'm going to be in a wheelchair, and I can't walk and I can't eat and I can't do this and I can't do that. So, um, yes, part of me was, but I didn't know how. Now we talk about the how, the how will take care of itself.

Nikki Hillhouse:

11:38

I didn't know when, how, whatever it was going to be, whether it'd be six months, six years, 16 years, 20 years, whatever it was going to be, whether it be six months, six years, 16 years, 20 years, whatever it was going to be to get myself sort of healthy and well again. But I just sort of knew deep down at the core that, like the podcast, that I was meant for more. But this wasn't it. This wasn't. I was refusing to be this young woman in a wheelchair and spend my life indoors and not pursuing any dreams or ambitions or career or anything like this.

Nikki Hillhouse:

12:12

And don't get me wrong, there was times when I was like I don't know if I can do this, how is this even possible. But I knew that if I got up every day and I put the effort in and did my exercises and did all the things that I was told to do, that somehow I don't know when, how and all this it would happen, because I had such a strong belief that and I think my mum, she, used to say to me that you know, there's no such word as you can't do something. So I think I've always kept that belief in my mind, from a young age, that no matter what happens to you, you know, try your best to see what happens.

Karen Sarmento:

12:51

And the word belief keeps coming up, and it's so important. And what I heard was that you made a decision and once you made the decision, decision and once you made the decision, the events that come after that kind of fall into place. Where you said the how, I always say the how is none of our business. The right people, opportunities, experiences will come to you once you make the decision and, as you said, once you really believe that you were meant for more or that you were not going to live your life in a wheelchair. And there's so much power in the belief and I don't know who said it, but the person who said whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're correct. So when you believe that you can do something, you're correct, you can and it's like that, saying win or lose.

Nikki Hillhouse:

13:50

You win, win or lose you win.

Karen Sarmento:

13:54

I have to think about that for a second, because there's no such.

Nikki Hillhouse:

13:58

when we say, like defeat, or we've done something and we haven't achieved something, it's like. But who said? What do you mean? Win or lose? You win because that's what you set out to do, and if it's come out a different way that you expected it to, you knew what you were doing anyway. So, win or lose, you win, so you're right.

Karen Sarmento:

14:19

That's amazing. I love that and I always say you know, in the losing we do, there's a lesson in it. It takes us down a different path than we expected. We we come out stronger and it's yeah, there's no failures. It's just like we learn more or we go in a different direction, or certainly in my failure. What I would consider failures or mistakes is where I found so much strength, and it's when the world gets turned upside down that you go through something, but when you come out on the other side, it's wow.

Nikki Hillhouse:

14:58

It's those adversities? Do not it's what you want to use your adversities to sort of mold your present and your future. Don't you Educate yourself? Educate yourself, empower, empower others, because by sharing our adversities and what we've been through, this is how we heal others, because there's so many people sitting out there that have been through so many things, thinking they're the only person when they're not, you know, and life throws us these curveballs, because that's what happens, doesn't it? It's, it's the good, the bad, the ugly and all the bits in between, but it's how we respond to it, isn't it? That's the key, it's how we dust ourselves off, you know, and get back on that, you know, get back on it again and and move forward. That's that's important.

Karen Sarmento:

15:43

Yes, and I love that, that you use what you've been through now to empower other people. You know, because there's, in the end, there's a message, and at one point you consider your mess, like, oh, my life is a mess, but now being able to help others. What do you think or what would you say to the person listening who maybe is in the middle of their mess right now, that's, in the middle of something, whether it's illness or addiction, or just all in all, in a dark place? What would you say to that person who feels like there is no hope, that they don't know how not me, she could do that, but I couldn't do that.

Nikki Hillhouse:

16:31

We have all got this inner strength within us that we sometimes don't think we have, but we are a lot stronger than we give ourselves credit for. Believe in yourself, believe in yourself and know that you're strong. You know, okay, these things have happened and they're unfortunate, but we have this incredible power within us. If we can just grab that power and take it back and step into our purpose and move forward and I know it's difficult when you're struggling and you can't see a way forward, but it's we get to be the creator. We get to be the creator of our futures, starting now. And I'd say reach out, Don't be.

Nikki Hillhouse:

17:13

I spent many, many years in a lot of suffering, a lot of suffering, even though I was going on my own journey and I wouldn't talk about it and I wouldn't ask for help. So I did it the hard way. So what I'd say to everyone is reach out to people. Reach out to a therapist or a friend. Even reach out to a therapist or a friend. Even reach out to a friend or family member. Tell them how you're feeling.

Nikki Hillhouse:

17:34

Do not sit in silence. You're not going to heal when you sit in silence and it takes courage. But you're to be vulnerable. It takes courage and it's a beautiful thing when you can be vulnerable and ask for help, because everybody I don't care what anybody says everyone out there in the world is going to hit some sort of wall or adversity and we need help. We need that friend that's going to sit and listen to us just if we just want to offload. But yeah, don't suffer in silence and know that you've got this incredible strength and power within, even though you may not feel it right now. But the more confident and stronger you get, you'll start to see that and you'll be able to achieve what you'd like to achieve Definitely.

Karen Sarmento:

18:22

You know, I listened to you saying that and I actually have goosebumps right now because that's just it. People think they're the only one, or there's so much shame around maybe not feeling perfect or, you know, having a flaw. You and I have had the conversation about the perfectly imperfect and we are. We're perfectly imperfect and we're limitless, which is something you have on your website. Is it exactly that You're limitless? Which is something you have on your website? That? Is it exactly that your limit? Yeah, limit this limitlessness.

Nikki Hillhouse:

18:54

Anything is possible, anything is possible. And if somebody tells you it's impossible, I mean there's maybe things like I'm not, maybe I'm not going to go to nasa right now and become an astronaut, perhaps. So there's realistic that you know, there's things you need to be realistic about. But if you, if you start to plant a seed, as soon as you start we're talking about beliefs you put that into your subconscious and you're putting it out there, out there, to the universe, the world, whatever it's out there, you've said it, it will happen, it will happen. You're not sure when it's going to happen, and or you know how, that, the how it will take care of itself, but it's. It's that, it's your belief system always comes back to beliefs. It's what we believe, yeah, what we get told.

Karen Sarmento:

19:41

Absolutely and reaching out so you're not going through it alone because you're not alone, because you're not alone, and having that emotional involvement too, with the belief. Did you have a really big? Why Was there always a driving?

Nikki Hillhouse:

20:05

why behind your ability to keep going forward. How important is that, do you think? My why was my son and um, I had been through um one divorce, um long story. But, you know, and I wanted to show my son that you know, stick to your morals, your values and, you know, have a good work ethic. You know, be a good person. And I wanted to be a good role model for him and show him, you know, that anything is possible.

Nikki Hillhouse:

20:34

And I always remember, because he was 14 at the time, and he said to me mom, are you going to always be in a wheelchair? And I was like no. And then I had one of those these little, what we call the old lady walkers, you know. And I remember once he said to me he was on the school bus and he said, oh my god. He said, mum, I saw you and I didn't know what to do.

Nikki Hillhouse:

20:54

You were with your little walker thing and he was with his friends and he was in that moment of like do I get embarrassed? But it's like, well, no, she's my mum, you know. It's like I'm proud of her. She's doing what she can to get well, you know, but as a 14 year old boy it was quite a. You know, is my mum going to be disabled in a wheelchair forever. So yeah, so my why was um? To be strong for him and to show him that, no matter what happens to you, you can rise up, rise up and you can move on. You know, and he's dealt with his own, he's a grown man now and he's dealt with his own adversities, so he knows that, that he can move forward and past what stuff he's been through.

Karen Sarmento:

21:36

Yes, and they always say with your children it's caught, not necessarily taught. So they're always watching and learning and just by what they see. So setting that example and my son was always my why too, because when I went through such a dark time when his dad passed, I was not showing up in a powerful way and there was a lot of shame around that and embarrassment. But when you finally make that decision that this isn't good enough, it's not good enough for me, but it is certainly not good enough for him. And if somehow you come out on the other side and it does teach them something, and when I tell him sometimes, now you can do anything, I want him to see that that's what I do, like that I pursue my dreams and I pursue things. Because he is watching. He's 18 now, so I think he's pretty amazing, but they are always watching, so that's definitely a powerful why. The why is huge. What's your favorite part about what you do?

Nikki Hillhouse:

22:47

Oh, my goodness, I just love watching the transformation. I actually had a lady the other day who said I want to write your testimonial. She came to me with back pain and really bad back pain and within about an hour it had gone back. Pain disappeared and she just couldn't work it out. This is not normal. What was? What are you talking about? You know, and it was because she was holding on to something that she didn't want to, and back pain is all about support. It was a lower back, so support was all about where in my life am I not feeling supported? And as soon as I asked her that, she was like ding, I know exactly where I'm not feeling supported. So we worked on that and any.

Nikki Hillhouse:

23:31

So the the best part of the job is watching people have that massive shift. They just to transform their lives and, um, heal the relationship with themselves to start with. Once they start having that self-love and heal a relationship with themselves, it then radiates out onto their relationships in their family life, their friendships, their work. Um, I just love all aspects of what I do. I love teaching, my meditation. I mean, I run a free group every Monday and the ladies that come on it. They just get so much from it and I just love my wellness retreats. I just when I watch people come through the door, so to speak, and people come away for a reason, don't they? They want to heal, heal things and mental, physical, emotional, you know, spiritual and to watch them after on day seven, the transformation is. It's just like it lights me up inside. It's like I have like this inner glow inside me going I didn't do it, it's not me that does it, they do it themselves. I'm just there as like holding the space and and guiding them a little bit. But they put the work in, they're doing it themselves. So that's what, yeah, that's what lights me up watching people take responsibility. It's all about taking responsibility for your own health, your own well, wellbeing, because no one else I always say this, no one's going to come. A white horse charger, you know, come to save you. It's not fairytale land, you know. You got to put the work in and if you put the work in, you can achieve anything, you know. So it just lights me up when I watch my clients in my coaching business or at my wellness retreats to make an inner shift and come back to their synthetic selves.

Nikki Hillhouse:

25:19

A lot of people are a little bit lost. What's my purpose and who am I? You know, maybe they're, I don't know. Their kids have gone off to university and they're like, oh, empty nest, lots of different things you know, and it's like, well, their identity, they feel their identity's gone. The mother bit well, I can't mother my children because they've gone off to university. But who am I and when? When I usually ask people, who do you think you are? Who are you? They can't answer. They've lost the sense of who they are, their their true self. So it's. I just love watching people come back to being their authentic, true self, ditch the masks, ditch the mask and come back to being their authentic selves, and it's so amazing.

Karen Sarmento:

26:04

I feel better just even from this conversation with you. That's life-changing work. So it isn't necessarily about becoming somebody different, but it's unbecoming all the things that you've started to become over the years, that weren't really you weren't really the authentic version of who we are, between society's expectations and people pleasing and whatever else has contributed to who we've become over the years. Like unbecoming all those things and finding who we truly are and then embracing that person imperfections and all. It's very freeing.

Nikki Hillhouse:

26:46

It's befriending who you are, because a lot of people, especially women, when I talk to women to get them to befriend their body is a difficult one Because it might not look like what they're looking at. And I always say this is a vehicle, it's not the driver, this is not you, this is just your physical. You're in this physical body. That is not who you are, you know, and it's getting them to see that and fall in love with themselves again.

Nikki Hillhouse:

27:11

It's befriend your body doesn't work against you. You know, when you have physical things happening and people have some ailments, your body's doing everything it can to survive and adapt in the conditions that you're giving it. If you give it the right condition like I was saying about planting the seeds, the water, the sunshine it'll grow, it'll flourish, it'll nurture. If you're putting the wrong food in your body, if you're feeding your mind toxic you know, toxic messages or not believing you're worthy enough or good enough, what do you think that's doing to your body? Causing all this like toxicity and disharmony. So it's all about coming back to harmony and befriending your body, befriending who you are and being at peace with it and respective. If there's little things going on, you know, being at peace and being grateful. Gratitude's a big one.

Karen Sarmento:

28:05

One more thing I wanted to back up to that. You said that was so interesting about the woman with the back pain storing emotions in your body that might be unfamiliar to some of the audience members that are listening. How does that work and what do you find? So people are actually storing experiences or emotions in their body, holding on to it.

Nikki Hillhouse:

28:31

You find. What I find today is a lot of people go to the doctor in order to be fixed because they have some tricky things going on, aches and pains. So they'll go to the doctor and they'll. You know, I want a cream, a potion, a pill and the doctor's going to fix me. Know I want a cream, a potion, a pill and the doctor's going to fix me, make me healthy, a quick fix. They don't look at themselves first to see.

Nikki Hillhouse:

28:52

I always say we need to be our own little Miss Marple, be your own detective and go on a little journey and find out what's going on in my life, what would be creating these symptoms, what's my work-life balance like like, what's my relationship? Like what food am I putting in my body? And like, back pain is all about lower back pain is all about lack of support or where or it could be you're not supporting others. The middle of your back is all about loss of connection, loss of connection who you are. Your upper back and shoulders is all about carrying an extra weight. You feel like there's a weight on your shoulders. Your neck is so symbolic because it's like when people get neck pain it's it's usually somebody or something that's being a pain in the neck, people that have like joint pain.

Nikki Hillhouse:

29:41

They may be being told that they've got arthritis because they're presenting symptoms of inflammation. Okay, yeah, you've gone to the doctor, they've got arthritis because they're presenting symptoms of inflammation. Okay, yeah, you've gone to the doctor. They've given you uh, you've gone with the collection of symptoms and they've given you a label and that label is arthritis. But they don't tell you why your body is creating the inflammation in the first place. So people don't look at that like what am I eating? What's like I said about the toxic beliefs? What's the relationship like? What's their home life like? They'll just look for the quick fix, thinking that that'll ease their discomfort. But nine times out of ten, it's usually the mind-body connection. Because the mind-body connection is so symbolic and that's mostly the work that I do.

Karen Sarmento:

30:24

It's all about mind body connection, mind body, soul beautiful, so powerful, and it puts the accountability and back on the person to do the work and really be their own advocate, but accountable for their part, and they have a big role, actually the biggest role, in improving all of that and I think what you said there, karen, about emotions, the more you stuff the emotions down, it's not healthy.

Nikki Hillhouse:

30:55

People are frightened of emotions. They don't want to feel hurt, sadness, grief, anger. You know, because a lot of due to our conditioned beliefs growing up it was don't be sad, don't be unhappy. You know, and to no fault of our own, our parents just want to protect you. But if you're not told you know and explained what these other emotions are and allowed to sit with them and allow them just to come through your nervous system, because emotions are temporary, they will come and they will go.

Nikki Hillhouse:

31:25

But if you're hanging on to emotions and you're stuffing them down, and stuffing them down, you know, like a jack do you remember the jack in the box? I don't know if you, yeah, absolutely imagine just stuffing the jack down. So all your emotions are going into that box and if there's so much in there it's going to pop open, isn't it? And night? And what will usually happen is, if you're stuffing a lot anger, hurt, resentment, fear and you're pushing all that down and it just goes, you take that out on the people close to you, maybe your relationship, maybe your work colleagues, and because you're not addressing your emotions.

Nikki Hillhouse:

32:03

So it's really important that we sit with our emotions and allow ourselves to feel our emotions and nothing to be frightened of. It's just energy in motion. We need the motions to to thrive, to move forward, to propel. There's nothing to be frightened of, it's only that we focus on. Oh, these are like the, the bad emotions. I don't want to feel this and a lot of people will turn to maybe drugs, alcohol, binge watching tv, eating too much food, because it's a distraction, because they don't want to feel their emotions. And and unless you start to feel your emotions and address them, this is where the disharmony and the disease can happen in the body and it can come out in skin conditions, back pain, headaches, insomnia, fatigue, whatever it could be. So it's important that we don't be frightened of your emotions. It's okay to have emotions.

Karen Sarmento:

32:56

Oh my gosh, this has been so, so amazing, so amazing. So where would you recommend people find you? So in the show notes I'm certainly going to have all your contact information, but if somebody wanted to look you up now I know you mentioned free sessions that you do on Mondays if they wanted to check out, yeah, absolutely.

Nikki Hillhouse:

33:18

You can just go onto my website. It's very straightforward. My name nickihillhousecom and there's free meditation every Monday, uk time GMT, at 6pm. So I don't know how that works the different time zones I'm it's like 8pm for me, 6pm UK, but you just go onto there and book onto it and you'll get a Zoom link and you can join the free meditation every Monday. You can read a bit more about me, about my story, on my website. Meditation every Monday. You can read a bit more about me about my story on my website. Yeah, just reach out, or my email is info at nikkihillhousecom. But like we said earlier in the conversation, karen, don't sit and suffer in silence. People need to know that they're not alone. They're not alone in this, you know, and it's okay to reach out, always there. If anyone wants to reach out, send me a message. That's beautiful.

Karen Sarmento:

34:09

That was actually going to be. My last question was is there anything you would like to leave the audience with? And that was pretty powerful. Thank you so so much for being here. You have so much to offer and you're so just an amazing person and your work is so powerful. I'm really thankful to have you here.

Nikki Hillhouse:

34:29

Oh, thank you. Thank you, karen, it's been a pleasure.

Karen Sarmento:

34:37

Remember, whatever challenges you're facing or have faced in the past, they don't define you. You are worthy, capable and destined for greatness. Let's embrace the whispers of possibility together, because together we rise and we are meant for more.

This was a 6-2 Studio production. Find us at six-two.studio for all your creative sound needs.