Today we’d like to introduce you to Garima Verma.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
“I once asked a very successful woman to share her secret with me. She smiled and said to me -‘I started succeeding when I started leaving small fights for small fighters. I stopped fighting those who gossiped about me. I stopped fighting for a cheating partner. I stopped fighting for attention. I stopped fighting to meet public expectations of me. I left such fights for those who have nothing else to fight. And I started fighting for my vision, my dreams, my ideas and my destiny. The day I gave up on small fights is the day I started becoming successful.” – Author Unknown
Hi, my name is Garima aka The Restfulness Therapist.
When I was born, as I am told, I was born as this extremely lazy and a tired baby with my eyes hardly open and little baby fist clenching up for more sleep.
I grew up as an introvert, an over sensitive child.
‘Don’t be so sensitive’ I was told constantly. whenever my grandmother scolded, or the teacher pointed out a mistake, or I didn’t score enough marks, fought with my sister, fell from the bicycle – I was reminded don’t be so sensitive.
I used to wonder – what is sensitive?
I used to spend hours and hours in my own shell, away from the eyes of people, trying not to come across as sensitive, I used to hide.
Invisible to the world – I used to See, observe, introspect and try to understand such a varied lens of so many people around me .
Ma used to worry about this extremely sensitive child I am, how will I survive the brutal world? She used to be like “be strong child, don’t be sensitive.” As a child, I saw my mother’s concern and tried to become tougher. That day I stopped crying for every single bruise.
I grew up with an elder sister, and her huge circle of friends. The banters, and the bullying to some extent, and every time I felt my feelings hurt, someone used to casually point “Oh come on Garima! Have some humour, don’t be so sensitive.” As a peer, I saw the good intention, and laughed it off. That day I compromised on own self image
When I bagged my dream job at a leading advertising agency, the first major blunder at a major ad campaign only followed. I couldn’t hold back my tears, and a kind colleague reached out to me – “This doesn’t look professional Garima. Don’t be so sensitive.” As a determined trainee, I braced myself up and next year I bagged that digital award.
My father passed away when I was 23, a little above a decade ago. Ma was lost and my sister, so fragile. It was unexpected and of course our world was shaken. For the first time, I heard telling myself “Don’t be so sensitive, you can’t be weak now.” As a responsible member of the family, I saw this as needed. That day my chest froze.
Don’t be so sensitive
Don’t be so sensitive
Don’t be so sensitive
These words kept following me – but somehow my shoulders and heart were growing heavier.
When my childhood sweetheart left the country for a better job and probably a better partner, everything started to fall apart. I couldn’t see a point anymore. I was falling!
I was falling and falling and this time I felt as if there would be no rock bottom to hit! As if someone had snatched away the land beneath my feet. I was tired of blaming and trying too hard to prove myself – to be something, to be seen
There was so much grief accumulated across my mind and my body. Especially my chest.
A grief that I had been accumulating since the very beginning. Grief that I had been avoiding to look at and acknowledge. Grief. My grief.
Here lied this part of me which wasn’t proud, which wasn’t pretty or courageous. It was messy. It was scattered. It was vulnerable. And it was hurting really bad
So I held myself. I Saw…I saw myself, not as this perfect individual – but as this whole & a complete human being who comes with a wide spectrum of emotions.
It was scary at first. And it was my block, and every block is a resource. My grief was also a portal to my transformation, I only decided to take a dive in it. To begin within.
As I travelled deeper into my own grief, it further cleansed my lens of seeing. I started to see and further recognise myself in a newer light with a fresh new perspective. With the clarity coming there, I could see and read people & situations outside of me with deeper empathy and wider understanding.
My so-called weakness – my sensitivity only grew with seeing. I used to ask her (my sensitivity), why are you even here? What’s your purpose?
And I asked again and again. I stayed in the question, not settling for an answer for years.
I simply kept sensing & seeing and seeing & sensing, getting myself rooted to the flow of the process that was happening within.
And slowly it started to unfold and reveal itself – My Gift – seeing and sensing. And one fine day I decided to combine it. I built my entire profession around what I completely owned by now – Seeing and Sensing!
What was introduced to me as my weakness, it was actually a strength. Only the lens changed.
So now I see the world around me, and the stories, the struggles, the grief and the joys of overcoming them that it carries in the depths of its being. I see it.
And this is the secret ingredient of my successful practice as a trauma informed therapist. I hold each one of my clients as they dive into their grief or pain of an inner child or sometimes deeper into their ancestral line. I help them untie each painful knot delicately with my own sensitivity to empower them with their own.
And that’s my story.
My Learnings? Just 3:
1. Every block is a resource. Every crisis, a portal
2. Trust yourself – your body, your mind and most importantly your instincts. And utilise them.
3. Awareness begins within. Transformation begins within
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If you follow the path that is already carved and manicured, you cannot leave a trail.
I have always chosen the tough tasks, the ones nobody wants to do just because no one else have done that before or it’s too difficult.
There have been many roadblocks along the way. And most powerful ones are the ones that were within – my own shadows of insecurity, emotional overwhelm, the worries of not doing enough, consistent efforts of being better at the skill while navigating and carving a professional path which is not conventional in a society that recognises and rewards only a set template.
Then there are resistance of the consciousness. Growth always feels like a death experience. Older patterns need to die in order to become manure for the newer programming.
Also, there are stark polarities when it comes to the Mental and emotional health today. Either it is still considered a taboo/not necessary or people want to skip to the good part missing out on digging and aligning with their truth (which increases ones depth and capacity to receive more) because it pushes one to face their deepest most rejected part of the self. The concern about directly skipping to the good part is that it often leads to spiritual bypassing taking one further away from themselves. And individuals have not even scratched the surface of their actual bigger potential.
It has been a challenge to make people see their higher benefit by taking a longer road instead of sticking to shortcuts and superficial happiness. However I absolutely love challenges – they remind me that I am still young and alive!
We’ve been impressed with Anahadnaad Wellness, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I founded Anhadnaad Wellness in the April 2022, with a vision to take my signature method of healing – the restfulness method the way i experienced and made it work through my professional experience .
I am a trauma informed systemic coach operating with a simple vision – to heal everything that I touch. I use multiple modalities to help my clients heal in a holistic way.
Touch, Rhythm and Space are the 3 pillars of my approach through which I work with the inner picture and dissociation areas in clients and because of which I have been able to resolve cases like anxiety, depression, breast cancer, epilepsy, addiction, sexual abuse, insomnia, chronic loneliness, brain fog, physiological ailments like back and joint issues and much more.
I believe that we cannot change or control our surroundings and circumstances and that healing and transformation begins within.
I run 1:1 healing and coaching sessions respectively where we approach each physical mental emotional and spiritual issue from the lens of systemic approach. According to this approach no issue is individual in nature but belongs to the system (like family, culture, community, organisation etc) and by using the core language approach reach to the root cause of the problem that the client has walked in with. Once the root cause is resolved all the related symptoms dissolve away. And in my experience so far, unresolved emotions lead to physical diseases – even a disease as big as cancer.
I also run a monthly group initiative called Passion for Expansion, a Family Constellation Circle – where I work with 5 individuals (anyone above the age of 25 years) every month in an offline set up and we do the group work of intergenerational trauma healing using the modality of family constellation.
There are also weekly free meditation classes running which are open for all to come and rejuvenate themselves.
My work and my practice is heavily inspired by my spiritual master – Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar and German psychotherapist and founder of family constellation Bert Hellinger.
I am proud of the fact that I don’t compete with anything- the system, the fellow practitioners, the disease, the issue. I only collaborate and work with everything that comes along my way. Integration takes inclusion and only through inclusion we can create harmony. A great way to go farther is together.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Life is the toughest teacher of all. The way it tests you, breaks you, and makes you, grind and polish you out. However the awareness that life is happening to me, for me and not against me comes when when there is a Guru, a spiritual master, looking over you.
Anyone can give knowledge as the world is filled with infinite books. However it is the Guru, who gives you the experience and the flavour of it in the real life. I have been more than fortunate to receive the presence and undying support and guidance of my Guru – Sri Sri Ravishankar when I was only a teenager. Ever since, I am supported, guided, directed and redirected at every turn of my life.
Inspired by His teaching and through his grace and blessings, today I not only experience spiritual depth, height and width – I am also able to bring the individuals, I work with, to experience it as well.
Pricing:
- Consultation, 60 min (Online): 70 USD
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gaurimaverma.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therestfulnesstherapist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therestfulnessmethodgirl
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/therestfulnesstherapist/
Image Credits
Business World Wellness 40 under 40 (2022)
World HRD Congress Mental Health Leadership Awards (2023)
