Meet Christina

Why did you choose Iona? Why did it feel like a good fit?

I read Ghost, and that was that.  Doing a discovery call with Iona did not disappoint, and I felt relief like you would not believe.  At the point where I was when I read Ghost, I felt as though my attempts at therapy had failed, no one was able to help me, and it was just going to be me dragging myself out of my struggles.  While I don’t doubt I have the grit inside to have done that ultimately, I am so grateful to have found the right person to walk the road with me and direct me as to where I can look inside to find that grit (which is learning to be brave enough to rediscover my own heart, and follow it.)

What has surprised or delighted you most about this work?

Every single thing I have discovered about myself, with Iona’s guidance, has been both an astonishing surprise, and absolutely no surprise at all.  It was always there, and it feels like home.  But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very well hidden—hidden well enough to need a guide that could not only help me find it, but support me as I reintegrated it.

How did you know you were READY to do this work?

I have been yearning to do this work for years, with many false leads, because I did not feel seen by the practitioners I went to.  But the moment I read Iona’s book, my yearning had direction.  I’ll never forget the day Iona responded to my email, because I KNEW that I was ready for this work already.  That said, if I had read Ghost a year earlier, I believe I would have been ready then as well, but it’s hard to say for sure.

What has changed most in your life, work, and relationships since you started this work? What are those “pinch me” moments when you realize that you’re a totally different person?

I left my job for my true calling as a writer.  I feel safer as I accept that my interpersonal relationships will change as I do, and found ways to cradle myself as I process that, but the people who are truly for me, are still for me (to quote Iona), and in an even more powerful and loving way.  I have new tools to feel safe and bring myself home (internally) in even the most activated emotional moments.  I like myself (most of the time!), and that’s coming from a woman who evenly divided her time between seriously disliking herself, and being on an ego trip.  (Spoiler alert: they both felt equally crummy in the end, because they were both equally false). I feel real.

What would you say to a woman who is sitting on the fence and needs to hear the exact right thing to say, “Let’s do this.”

No matter how many layers of emotional armor or baggage you are wearing right now (I was a hedgehog!), you found Iona for a reason, and if you feel pulled in her direction by the way that you found her (whether it’s her book, her workshops, breathwork, her website, etc), it means something big.  Just listen to that.  I had my moment of being on the fence (for maybe one day, in my case 🤣), because fear of the unknown is real—but when the “known” is cruelly ruling over you, taking a chance is the sanest choice you can make.