Mama. Yoga Teacher. Empath.
Welcome to Perfectly Sensitive! This is a blog about being empowered as an empath, embracing our gifts and sensitivities and experiencing life in a deeper way. Dear empath, we are all here for a reason and by offering ourselves the care, understanding and love we so readily give to others, we are better able to share our light with the world (without getting mowed down by the harshness and overstimulation of modern life).
I’m Anna; a mama, yoga teacher and an empath (which means I’m highly sensitive and I feel other peoples energy/emotions in my body). I grew up in beautiful New Zealand, and after a couple of decades living all over the world, I am back in Auckland living with my husband and our 2 boys, Bodhi and Axel.
I’ve studied yoga, meditation, pranayama, yoga nidra, mindfulness and the nervous system extensively and I have taught and led thousands of classes, workshops and retreats since I began teaching yoga in 2010. My vision for my work is to help people to connect to their essence; their higher self, that aspect of a person that is all knowing, beyond ego, beyond body, beyond suffering. As an empath, it is easy to connect with the essence of who we are when we are not drowning in overstimulation and overwhelm.
I’m highly intuitive, a beautiful aspect of being sensitive, and being guided by my intuition gives my life a rich glow of divinity and connection and serves me, my family and those I work with in a really positive way.
Being a sensitive soul comes with challenges; my life has been anything but butterflies and rainbows. Yet it’s the suffering that has taught me so much and has been the catalyst for awakening to take place. The cracks allow light to shine through – how can we truly know light if we haven’t known darkness?
I have lived so much of my life without realising myself as an empath, often feeling that I was too sensitive or that I read too much into things. I actually didn’t even realise what an empath was until I was almost 40 so I had no framework for understanding life as I experienced it. I just perceived a different frequency and felt so much all the time without knowing why or what to do with it all.
As a child, I took on other peoples’ stress and anxiety like a sponge takes on water and I would at times feel overwhelmed and exhausted for no apparent reason.
As a teenager, I developed eating disorders and discovered alcohol and drugs, which were great for numbing all the feels but prevented me from learning how to be with and process my emotions (as well as other peoples).
As an adult, my wellbeing began to suffer as a result of chronic stress. The toughest chapters were when I was living in London, Hong Kong and Dubai; I learnt the hard way that big cities can be really challenging for empaths. Sensory overwhelm is something that I came to know well, and it can be really debilitating, undermining our wellbeing on so many levels.
Once I realised myself as an empath, my whole life began to make sense. I finally understood why I find certain situations and people so challenging, why I thrive in nature (not big cities!), and why practising meditation and time alone are just as essential to me as water, food and air. This understanding allowed me to accept myself and begin treating myself with kindness and compassion (a welcome relief after so many years of trying to “be stronger”). Being an empath is incredible; life is so beautiful and we sensitive souls get to feel it so deeply. It can be f&cking hard at times too! Understanding and embracing our sensitivities as gifts can lead our self care efforts in a positive direction. Learning how to fill our wellbeing cup (and keeping it full) paves the way for serving others. Isn’t that what we empaths are here for?
Unfortunately, so many empaths are drowning in the overstimulation of modern life. An “unrealised empath” can become really unwell, as we can actually absorb stress and negative energy from other people and places. Without boundaries and appropriate self care practises that take the energy body into account, we can suffer, tremendously.
Out of necessity, I dove deep into what it is to be an empath, and this work coincided with a significant spiritual awakening and aligned so beautifully with my experience as a yoga teacher. Over the last few years my intuition has helped me to realise that part of my work is to support other empaths to become empowered rather than exhausted. The pandemic floored me completely, and whilst I am now practising living with healthier boundaries and prioritising the right kind of self care every day, I’m still healing.
I have started this blog to connect with a community of sensitive souls so we can be empowered as empaths and do the work we are here to do. The earth and humanity are crying out for less logic and more feeling. Empath friends, we are needed.
