Episode 24 Soma Chatterjee

Yeah.

Hello everyone and welcome to a new episode of Veerai's Wellness Podcast. Today we have Shoma Chatterjee with us. She is the founder of wellness platform Inner Wisdom Light. She is a Reiki Grandmaster, an accomplished energy healer, spiritual trainer, and a happiness coach. Alongside her healing and coaching expertise, Soma is also a media and marketing specialist with over 16 years of corporate experience. Hello, Soma, thank you so much for coming to our podcast today.

Hello, Neetu, thank you so much for having me here. I am quite feeling blessed to be part of your journey.

Thank you so much again, Soma, and you are a very dear friend. I want the audience to know that Soma, I mean, is very close to me and we you know, live in the— used to live in the same society. She has been a neighbor, she has been a friend, and I could confide in her whenever there has been a need. So I'm really excited to have her today on the platform. And Shoma, I mean, you have like 16 years of corporate background, uh, in marketing, and suddenly you are a founder of a wellness platform. So what has been the, you know, transition like, and why this transformation from a marketing specialist working at such good corporates like, you know, Times of India and whatnot, being in the media, and then now into a wellness platform. Why? Just, just let the audience know.

So this whole journey, um, has been quite fascinating for me. I was in the corporate, uh, I have been in advertising for many years, in the media, uh, for many years, and it was a normal corporate job like every other person goes through. I've done my MBA, so it was but natural that I was in the corporate, uh, for that long. But you know, in my journey, um, I have been to different, uh, places, different countries also. I've lived in different places also. So while I was in Bombay and doing my stint there, my mother was very unwell. And, you know, it was that time of the— of my life where a lot of things was just too much happening in my life. I got a job in Times of India and I was shifting to Delhi. My son was very small. And so a lot was going on in my life. And then this whole news of my mom feeling of falling sick came in. And when I shifted to Delhi, finally she got diagnosed with cancer. So, you know, it was very difficult for me to travel all the way to West Bengal where she was based because my son was small and I was in Delhi. So I literally wanted to do something much more meaningfully to contribute to her life than just taking care of the rest of the coordination about her treatment and stuff. And that was the time where Reiki suddenly popped up in my head as a word. I had no idea before that what it was, what is healing. I just figured out from Google that you can heal people from a distance, and that is the only reason, or the main reason, I got into spiritual therapy and Reiki. I started learning the therapy, I practiced on her, and in a matter of about 2 years, I saw a huge transformation in her physical health. And not just physical health, her mental health. And she is, touch wood, in a much better space right now. So because of that, I started learning a lot about spiritual therapy. I'll be staying in my corporate life. And my life started to change a lot for the better. You know, I started to get good recognitions in my corporates. I started to handle such amazing projects, do really good work, connect with amazing people at a deeper level. And when I started seeing positive changes in my life, I started to apply that to my husband, my son, my friends around. And I used to really get a lot of positive feedback from them that, you know, you should really do this because you're good at it. So somewhere it was playing in my mind that, you know, this is more meaningful, this is something that I have as a gift and I can contribute to the society. But it was somewhere there in the background playing somewhere, you know. It was only during the lockdown when so much of requirement of people with mental health and, you know, not just mental health, with so much of physical problems and so much of requirement of, you know, therapies came in that I finally thought that I can take a leap of faith, quit my corporate job for good and use the gift that I have to actually contribute to the society and do good for people. So that is when I quit my corporate job and, you know, took my passion as my biggest profession and started my own venture of wellness. And the journey of wellness full-time started in my life during the lockdown. That's, that's what my story is, right?

So audience, if you have, you know, any need for a healer, she is right here. Go to her website, Inner Wisdom Light, and you will be able to reach out to her. So thank you so much, Shoma, for your transition story. This is something which is very touching, and, you know, the thought of being able to help your mother and finding a purpose out of it, this is something which is very, very inspiring. For our audience, Shoma, can you please throw a little more light on what exactly is healing and how does that work? Because somebody who's not heard of this word before and don't know much about it, or maybe don't believe in it, how do we make them understand what exactly is healing?

So what I do is a lot of energy work, uh, healing. What I practice is pretty much related to energy and Reiki or other— any other energy therapy that I practice, it completely is working on energy. So there is energy all around us. We are all made of energy. Um, you know, it's just a matter that is, of course, the body is occupying space, but everything that you see, feel is energy. So how energy healing works is that it makes you, as a healer, you are just a channel who is attuned to specific energies of the universe which have the power to heal. So you basically channel the energies, the cosmic energies, the divine positive vibrations of the universe through your body as a channel and pass it on to the person who really needs that energy, that they can use and receive that energy and start to heal, not just physically but at a holistic level. So if there are emotional problems that you are going through, if there are mental problems that are going— you are going through, or if there are spiritual karmic problems also, the energy works on the receiver at a holistic level. So not just physically you would be feeling better, you will feel lighter, relaxed, and in a lot better state of mind when you take a therapy. So essentially that is how energy healing works.

Okay, so if like somebody who does not have an access to a healer and they want to heal themselves, what insights would you have for them? That if, if somebody is looking for self-healing for a sustained period of time and for something which is more sustainable, uh, what is your advice to those people?

Sure, see, you don't always need a healer for energy healing. Energy healing, yes, a healer can definitely channel the energy and it is way more focused, but as human beings, we are way more evolved as a species, and so all of us are inherent healers. I Imagine when you had those cuts in your body when you were kids, or, you know, you have anything that you are emotionally suffering from. We naturally have a tendency to self-soothe and self-heal, and that happens with the power of our minds, our thoughts. So I think we have an incredible gift of our free will and the power of our subconscious mind and our thinking. So when we are able to channel our thoughts in a specific focused intention setting method, we can definitely try and help ourselves with our own selves. So I definitely recommend people who want to self-heal a few techniques. The first is affirmations. Affirmation is definitely a very powerful way of reprogramming your mind because, you know, we keep on— when you repeat a particular sentence which is in the positive, even if you don't believe in that sentence, With constant repetition, somehow your mind gets trained to believe that that is what is a reality. Ultimately, our lives is a reflection of what our total belief system is, right? Like, if I believe that money is difficult to earn and it only has to be earned with a lot of hard work, and so that is what my belief system is. So if I try to reverse that belief system and convert that into something which is different, so I can always keep telling myself that money comes to me very easily and I always have more money than what I need for every desire of mine to be fulfilled. And if I keep saying that constantly, somewhere my brain will start to believe that as a reality, and that is exactly what will show up in my real life. So affirmation is a very effective way to start to heal yourself if you are going through any kind of a problem. The second thing I really, really find very powerful is the power or the process of journaling. You know, journaling can be done at a personal level. You don't have to disclose anything to anybody. It's a completely, uh, I would say, uh, a date with yourself. When you're sitting with your journal, uh, you can write down whatever that is going on in your mind, whether it is something negative, whether there is some accomplishment you've had throughout the day. And you can also use that as a planning tool, that this is what has happened throughout the day and this is what I want to achieve and this is how I feel I can achieve that. If that, you can also use journal as a gratitude tool because there is always something to be grateful for. So every day in my life, I maintain a gratitude journal where I always list down the number of things that I am very grateful for. And that helps me to shift my mindset from a lack mindset that, you know, where I'm cribbing that, oh, this, this is something that I don't have, to something that I always focus on that, oh, this is something I have. So it brings me from a lack mindset to a have mindset, and always helps me to create possibilities rather than focus on something that I don't have. So journaling, I would say, is a very, very powerful technique for self-healing. The other things you can always do is, you know, at a physical level, take salt water baths if you're going through something negative. You can use smudging techniques like, you know, Sambrani cups or naturally activated smoke, natural smoke throughout the house, which cleanses a lot of negative energy. And use the power of mantras and prayers.

That's really—

I know that's basic, but it's really, really very powerful. It gives you a lot of strength.

So what I understand is, since I have done a lot of work, you know, understanding on cognitive behavior therapy, neuroscience, uh, and also psychotherapy, there's a deep connection of healing with, I think, neuroscience. Because what you are saying is something— it is, uh, neuroplasticity of the brain where you create new neural connections in your brain. So when you said that, uh, you have to basically redirect your thoughts into the positive, it— and then affirm it every day, it's more about creating a new neural pattern in your brain and then making that pattern stronger by affirmations every day. So this is what I have learned through neuroscience, and I think there is a lot of science behind healing, and people need to understand what is the science behind it and believe in this process, because if you believe in it Definitely it is going to get you results. So I mean, absolutely, there's a huge connection of science with healing and we really need to discover more about it. And I think it will come up, you know, more in the future. So Shoma, thank you so much with this insight. Also, I mean, we would love for you to share some transformation stories of your mentees that you have worked with who have, uh, you know, derived the benefits of healing. What, I mean, would you like to share? I mean, some top 2-3 stories that you think where you have contributed and made that impact in that person's life?

Oh, there are countless actually. The ones that I can right now remember is this lady who is also my yoga teacher as well as, you know, she has been teaching countless number of people yoga and she was very interested in learning Reiki and how you can manifest goals using Reiki and energy therapy. So, you know, for the last 7-8 years she had been teaching yoga but she wasn't being able to perform the headstand by herself. Her students used to do that and she wasn't able to perform the headstand on herself. And she used to really feel that, you know, I wish I could do something about this particular thing. So can Reiki help in any way? I said, of course, let's try, why not? And so I taught her the goal manifestation technique when we do it in our Reiki courses. I taught her how to manifest a specific goal that you have using energy. So she started working on that and she started healing that particular goal of being able to do the headstand. In a matter of, I think, about 15 days, I get a picture on my phone with her doing the headstand and she's like, I finally did it. Something that she couldn't achieve in a span of 7 to 8 years, she did it in a period of—

I completely believe in manifestation and visualization. It has absolutely transformed my life. There was a time when I used to have 20-25 medicines a day, and I manifested that I want to live a medicine-free life. And 2 years from then, today I am absolutely living medicine-free. And this was a complete manifestation and visualization of my well-being, of being, you know, healthy and thriving. So this is, I think, absolutely works. And I, Shoma, must tell you that healing is science. This completely sounds like science to me. And any other story that you would like to share apart from your yoga teacher?

I can talk about myself a lot. You know, I had— when my son was born, I developed thyroid. So I— and thyroid is a lifelong problem. You need to be on Thyronorm and, you know, the medication for lifelong. It's been about 5 years, I am not on the medication. Thyroid is completely normal. So I have healed my thyroid. I had a slipped disc. So my slipped disc was from the age of 24. I had developed a slipped disc and I couldn't wear heels to all my parties. And I used to feel really bad that I can't do much. And every time, once in a year, I would be off, like completely bedridden for at least a month. And I would have to go through a lot of physical therapies and physiotherapies and, you know, chiropractor. You have recommended me to a chiropractor also in the past. So I used to go through a lot of therapy, but thanks to energy healing and a lot of different healings that I have done for myself, I actually have no more pain that is there in my body. And even if it is there, sometimes it comes back, it can be totally handled. It's hardly anything. It's like just a small pinch somewhere which you heal immediately and it completely goes. So my life has transformed a lot in the positive. I received a lot of accolades and even recognition in my corporate when I used to work there. So healing has really transformed my life a lot for the better. And definitely a lot of my students, so many people have manifested amazing jobs in very good corporates. Like Microsoft, like you name it, like big corporates, from where they were to where they have been now, uh, with the proper practice of Reiki, I see their journey transform. And it is so inspiring for myself that, you know, it helps me also to keep going. So job manifestations— during lockdown, there were so many people who were stuck in their respective countries and where their visas were, you know, expiring. and they did not want to come back to their home country because they wanted to stay there settled. So their visas also got extended with energy healing practices. So even that can work, you know, these kind of things also can work, not just a physical problem. So you can get jobs, you can get your visas extended, you can fix your physical problems. I have fixed so many marriage-related concerns that happened during the lockdown. You know, couples were staying with each other for such a long time that they kind of got sick and bored of each other. So, so much of couple therapies is something I did, and now I see them happy doing trips, taking out time for themselves, and that is really inspiring for me also. So yeah, some of the success stories.

Wow, superb, Shoma. And, uh, you know, to sum up the whole thing, Shoma, if you have to leave the audience with one insight that you have experienced, and you know, you think this is one thing that is a takeaway for the audience from this podcast, what should that be?

You know, I feel that most of us, uh, stay in the judgment mode in our lives. And so every time that we are operating our lives, we are operating out of judgments. And so we keep on saying sentences to ourselves that are not really serving our highest goods or are limiting us in a lot of ways. I mean, think about it, throughout the day You know, you look at yourself in the mirror, you say, oh my God, my dark circles are really growing. Or, you know, you, you think about something that hasn't happened, you keep on telling yourself that, you know, I wish this has happened, or I wish I could get that, then it would be happy. So most of the times we are staying in the judgment mode, and second, we are chasing something called happiness somewhere outside. You know, we are looking at finding, trying to find happiness somewhere outside us where whereas happiness is something which totally resides within us. It's always a decision, it's always a choice. We'll always have a choice of being happy because something like happiness is something that is within, it's something that does not exist outside of you. So when we stay in this kind of a judgment mode, you know, we are limiting ourselves. The one takeaway I would give to everybody is to start staying in question mode. And when you stay in question mode, you start to create possibilities for yourself. You stop that full stop, you take that— kick out that full stop out of your life, and you actually end the sentence with question mark. I'll give you an example. When you say that, oh, it might just not work out, you know, this particular thing that I'm working on might just not work out, what if it doesn't work out, you know, you, you are creating a judgment of something not working out already. In the future, a future that does not exist. What if you actually convert that into a question that empowers you? A question like, what if all of this works out? What if I finally make it work? What else can I do to make it work? How else can I create possibilities to make it work? So the moment you keep asking questions that do not have any concrete answer, your brain gets triggered because the function of your brain is actually to keep you safe. So the moment you give it a sentence or a statement that, oh, this is really bad. That's a judgment, right? So your brain is very safely saying, oh, this is bad, that means I have an answer to this problem. So this is bad, so it will only keep on telling you, yeah, this is bad. But the more you ask questions to your brain that what else can I do to make this happen, your brain doesn't have an answer to it. So it becomes very conscious of it and it tries to find answers till the time it will not settle, till the time it finds the answers for that particular question. And so you ultimately end up creating more possibilities in your life. So stay in question mode, start try creating more possibilities in your life because possibilities— you are a creator of your life, you know, we are all creators of our lives. So when we can create things like fear, sadness, grief, we can also create emotions of happiness, courage, and possibilities for our lives. So stay in the question mode and keep creating for yourself.

Wow, that's so empowering, Shoma, and I think So what you're trying to say is whenever you're asking that question also, it always has to be a positive question so that you can create positive outcomes out of that thought process. So yeah, that's so insightful. Thank you so much, Shoma, and thank you for coming today. I think audience would have a lot of takeaway from here, and we'll put the link to your website on the, you know, description box. And anybody who wants to reach out to you, uh, please, uh, you know, feel free to click on that link and reach out to Shoma. Thank you, Shoma.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Neetu, for having me. It was really lovely to talk to you.

Lovely. Thank you.