I hope you enjoy the audio journey to the deep pink ocean while reading this post
Yesterday I woke up to a message. It was from a girlfriend. I studied with her some years ago.
We met at university, where we were learning how voice and music can be used as supportive tools when working with people.
We had not been in close contact for a long time. Then, in early December, we met by coincidence at a Morning Beat in Oslo — a gathering where dance is central and movement sets the tone for the day.
We decided we wanted to create something together.
Something we later did on the January New Moon.
She and her partner work with sound baths and sound journeys.
I work with my own created program: intentional movement, guided by music.
A program rooted in my lived life, education, and professional experience:
- dance and movement therapy
- yoga, which I have deepened over time
- coaching
- long experience working with people in change processes
- many years of DJ-ing, born from my love of music
More recently, my yoga teacher training added another layer of depth, giving me a deeper understanding of how the body’s anatomy supports movement and breath — and vice versa.
But back to yesterday morning, and her message. She asked me:
“Do you work with self-love through affirmations?”
Her question set the tone for my day.
Invisible energetic threads of life
I am increasingly aware of how we are all part of invisible threads — connections that move quietly beneath the surface.
Sometimes they appear as synchronicities.
Sometimes as a sentence in a book, a brief meeting, or a conversation.
Sometimes as a question that arrives exactly when we need it.
This was one of those moments. While I was working on releasing my first free online course, I found myself sitting with her question.
Do I work with self-love affirmations?
I wrote back to her:
Not as words in the mirror.
Not as forced statements.But as creating sacred pockets of time in my daily life — not because I should, but because they support me in staying connected to what I need.
What supports my mind?
What supports my emotions?
What supports my body?
What supports my inner life?They are not separate.
They move together.I have learned that when I don’t listen, I lose my center.
And when I do listen, something settles.
Not a straight journey
My journey has not been a straight one. Much of my life has been about learning to accept myself. Learning to live without judgment. Learning how to feel safe within myself — and, step by step, reclaim my own power.
I grew up in a family marked by violence — both emotional and physical.
Later, life took us from Iran to Norway. It was “When God moved into our nation.“
I ran away from home when I was fourteen and a half, shortly after arriving in this new country in the North. Everything was unfamiliar. At that age, the wildness of youth became both my companion and my savior. Yet my days were also colored by loneliness and the experience of being an outsider.
For many years, I did not want to look back at that time — or even think or speak about it.
Later, I became a mother. Carrying responsibility for another human being forced me to slow down and face what I had been carrying inside. That became a point of no return.
In 2016, life pushed me into a corner. I knew I had to make a deep change if I wanted to continue living. That was also when I created this blog. Deep down, I knew I needed a creative outlet — something that could support my well-being on all levels. But I also needed something more profound.A change of scenario.
At that point, I saw two clear options:
Continue dwelling in the past and its haunting ghosts.
Or enter a raising of consciousness and choose another way forward.
But how does one raise consciousness?
It does not happen through willpower alone. I had been in therapy for many years and tried much of what was available. Yet once again, listening to my inner voice became the doorway to something deeper. A change that convinced me there is an intelligent force out there — much bigger than anything I can explain with words or understand with my mind — and that I don’t always receive things in the way I expect, but in the way I need.
Seeing the gift
Today, many years later, standing more fully in myself, I can look back and see the gift. The scars of the past will never fully disappear. But they no longer hold the same power.
I have alchemized pain into wisdom — not through theory, but through lived experience. This has shown me that change is possible.
In the end, it’s a conscious choice.
What do we choose: victimhood or empowerment?
Awareness is built step by step, as we learn to trust life and its process.
So what is self-love?
For me, it means continuing to listen to my inner guidance — or perhaps better said, my inner knowing, my inner voice, my inner compass.
The voice that has been there all along.
It has carried me through every stage of my life.
Honestly, I don’t know where I would be today if I had not followed it. This has made me a strong believer in lived experience. I don’t fully trust anything until I have experienced it myself. My past has shaped how I see the world.
I see life differently from many people I know. I do not follow conventional rules. I follow what feels true inside me.
My body has been my most precious, sacred temple throughout this journey. It guided me even when I was not consciously aware of it. Earlier in life, I was simply drawn to sport. Movement became my way of coping with inner turmoil. Over time, I learned to soften.
The body as ally
Today, after many years of inner work, I see the whole process differently. Life is not about “fixing myself” or becoming someone else. To me, healing means allowing myself to step into the next level of my being — beyond my own limitations. It is a living process, and it is not linear.
It is about exploring life as a playground — and myself as one of its players.
It is about trusting life.
Accepting that life can be unpredictable.
Understanding that I cannot control what happens outside of me — but that I can always choose how I respond.
It is about taking responsibility for my feelings and reactions. And those who trigger me the most, I see as my greatest teachers. Why do they trigger me? And what within me is reacting?
I know I can rely on my inner guidance — an intelligence far greater than what my thinking mind can grasp.
And in this process, my body has become one of my greatest allies.
I often call the body the holy temple of our being — not because of how it looks or how it fits into ideals, but because it carries a wisdom the mind does not hold.
Our society tells us how bodies should look, but the real question is this:
How can we use the body to navigate life — to connect to it and listen to its wisdom?
If we want to align the mind and the heart, the body is often the doorway. It helps us live closer to our full potential. It allows us to move beyond our own limitations.
And maybe — like the question I woke up to yesterday — this was one of the invisible threads leading me toward what I needed to explore while creating this course. A question that many in our hectic world are pondering — or perhaps not paying much attention to at all: What does it mean to love ourselves, when we are dealing with ourselves 24/7?
Interested to know who this course is for?
Check it out 👇👇👇
If this resonates with you and where you are right now, you’re warmly welcome to sign up.
Or feel free to share it with your network if you know someone who might benefit from it.
Thank you
Before creating this course, I sent out a survey.
I wanted to understand how people relate to:
- their connection to the body
- their energy
- movement in everyday life
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.
Your honesty helped shape this work.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out this post! If you haven’t already, be sure to hit subscribe to stay updated whenever I share something new. While you’re here, take a moment to explore the Wise and Shine Zine blogger community—it’s full of inspiration. You can also find me on Instagram for more updates and behind-the-scenes moments. Looking for tunes or movement inspiration? Head over to my Spotify—just search for Movement Coach Parisa and let the playlist fuel your day!
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