Healing in Hong Kong: Antonia Da Cruz
Whether you’re trying to heal trauma or simply trying to cope, it’s important to connect and check in with yourself – especially in the midst of a rapidly changing pandemic-management situation.
Now, more than ever, we have a wide range of tools to which we can turn; but finding what works for you takes courage, time, and often, trial and error. We hope that you can take inspiration and advice from these five individuals, who share details of their inner work with the hopes that it can help you find your own path to healing.
Antonia Da Cruz –Head of Membership & Education at mindish
Tell us more about what you do at mindish.
mindish is a holistic and integrated approach to mental health, an all-inclusive membership to therapy and coaching that gives you access to unlimited meditation practices, events and workshops that aid growth and healing, almost like a personal training gym for your mind. My role there enables me to help people who were in the same position I once was – self-diagnosing, lost and confused about where to look for help, and to transform the entire process into a journey of growth; where the end goal is to reach an optimum and sustainable level of health and happiness.
What is your chosen form of healing?
I’ve tried a few things now, and I even have my Reiki Level 2 certification, but I have been most influenced by hypnotherapy.
How did you discover it?
I’d always been curious as to how it works, and came upon it by chance searching for different therapies to try. In the initial session I ended up asking more questions about the subconscious mind and how it operates, than actually being therapised. I ended by transferring my remaining sessions towards signing up for the actual course.
Why is hypnotherapy so effective for you?
Inner child healing is something everyone can benefit from, and involves age regression therapy. Between the ages of 0 to 7, you form a critical filter responsible for certain beliefs that you currently hold. It typically begins with an Initial Sensitizing Event (ISE) and is the root cause of any repressed memories and feelings from your childhood. These memories may resurface from time to time, and affect you in the present. By doing hypnotherapy, you revisit this to release trauma and rewrite old neural pathways that no longer serve you, and replace them with better ones.
What was the biggest breakthrough for you?
Having switched careers a few times, I felt I was at a crossroads trying to find my passion and my life’s purpose. When we were doing practice rounds on past lives, entering a past life helped me make sense of my story, and come to the realisation that I wanted to help people. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to become a therapist, but shortly after that, I landed my role at mindish – now I can guide people on the right path.
Any tips for first-timers?
Hypnotherapy gets a bad rap, but it’s not like how it is portrayed in films, where people swing pendulums and get others to cluck like chickens. My advice is to not be afraid, and just go with it. You will be in a deep state of relaxation – not unconscious – and having a conversation with your therapist. You’ll be surprised what comes up, how much you learn about yourself, and how powerful the subconscious mind really is.
Where do you recommend we can go to try it out?
At mindish, we work with therapists and coaches across all disciplines – from clinical psychologists to counsellors, hypnotherapists, life, health, career coaches, nutritionists, and more. Our “restore” meditation practice is perfect for those who want to relax to the sound of gong baths and singing bowls while releasing any negative energy stores in the body as you feel the reverberations flow through you.
