The Gratitude of a Spirit Warrior: Gianna Mauceri

Bunny: 0:03

Welcome to the Lifesaving Gratitude podcast this is Bunny Terry with my producer, Johanna Medina , who also happens to be, my daughter and my assistant. And we had a great talk this week, an amazing conversation with someone that we connected with on Facebook. Her name is Gianna Mauceri and Gianna calls herself an intuitive healer. But I got to tell you she’s a whole lot more than that. Isn’t she? Johanna?

Johanna: 0:43

Yeah. I was just pulling out all my notes because I was taking a bunch of notes and she was talking too. Yeah, she’s really , uh, I was trying to just say a better word than like awesome or fascinating, but she’s a really interesting person and has a lot of great insights. Again, it was one of those kind of don’t know what we’re going to get into kind of conversations. And we’ll just, you know, we kind of did some research on her before, but it’s always so much better when we actually get to talk to the person.

Bunny: 1:17

Oh yeah. I mean, she’s um, she also calls herself a spiritual mentor and at the time that we scheduled her, I thought, I don’t even know what, you know, every, there are lots of people that use that label themselves as a spiritual mentor or an intuitive energy healer. And you never quite know what that means. And all of them do some form of important work, but Gianna , suffered a, she was in a horrific car accident. Found herself, car on fire while she was still in it. And then had as she described , um, almost every bone on the right side of her body was broken. Her colon was punctured. She, and of course you’ll hear all about that in the podcast, but she suffered this frightening experience and then , an incredible level of pain and healing and used that to become a healer on her own. And you know, just like always we’re surprised with what we hear and inspired.

Johanna: 2:28

Yeah . Yeah, definitely. Um, her story is so just like the whole journey of everything she went through, even before the accident, after the accident. Um, you know, and of course she talks a lot about gratitude, which is what we’re all about, but just the way that she frames gratitude , kind of give, I think, even though we talk about it all the time, her, the way she talked about it, like kind of changed my mindset on it too. And , and being even grateful for like the inner things and grateful for your body and stuff like that. So I think , people are really g onna like this episode and, you know, even if that spirituality, tranquility all that, i t’s not l ike really your thing. I think it’s still a really beneficial episode to listen to. And I think you’ll be surprised by all the things she has to say. I mean, I had like, you know, some great quotes that I pulled out of it and she just, you know, reminded us that like, no one is immune to trauma. Trauma is an equal opportunity, you know, it will, it will hit everybody and it will hit you in different ways. And, u m, even when you think you’re, you know, getting by without it, there’s still parts of your life that you probably need to address and realize, Hey, this maybe past event or, incident is really a ffecting me. So I think her story i s, is really gonna, I d unno, just k ind b ring some of that stuff to light.

Bunny: 4:00

Well, and I think just to wrap up the intro, I wanted to throw out a few of her quotes because it’s, you got to stay to the end because it gets better every moment. But she used, she said things like, you have to love your scars, you have to name your anxiety, which I thought was really powerful. She calls her as the anxiety monster. You’re not your pain. You’re having a human experience and don’t allow a story of fear to live in your life. And just because you know, something intellectually doesn’t mean that it’s in your heart and it’s really important to make. I , you know, I know a lot of people who know something intellectually, but they’ve never made that transition to what’s in their brain and transferred it to their heart. So…

Johanna: 4:50

Yeah, definitely. We’re just gonna say to be sure to check again, the links we have in the description, wherever you’re listening to the podcast, or if you’re on Bunny’s website, bunnyterry .com , you can find all the links and resources there to Gianna’s website and also check out her book, soul of a spirit warrior, a true story of healing, survival and resilience , uh, that , you know, even just the title there says a lot about who she is. So

Bunny: 5:21

It’s a powerful episode. It’s I always say this it’s one of my favorites and I can’t wait for you to hear it. We are so excited today to have a guest that actually just, just like the guests we had last week, who was a veteran, who’s helping other veterans in really amazing ways. This guest is somebody that I met on Facebook and we connected through a group that we’re on together and , um, Gianna and I messaged each other back and forth, which, which I think, you know, social media gets a really bum rap on occasions. And, and yet it connects us with people that we never would have connected with before. Isn’t that, isn’t that right? Do you find that?

Gianna: 6:15

Yeah, I know. It’s amazing how it, the two polarities of them and contrast.

Bunny: 6:20

Right, right, right. Okay . And so I’m going to read your intro because it’s, it’s so good and it gives people an idea of what we’re going to talk about as well. But , um, Gianna Mauceri is originally from Sydney, Australia, she’s a spiritual mentor and an intuitive energy healer who helps those who’ve experienced any kind of trauma come back to a place of self compassion, love and forgiveness. I love, I love those two words together, self-compassion. After 18 years of hairdressing, Gianna was involved in a serious car accident, which only helped her realize their true purpose. And that purpose was to be a guide for others and to offer healing tools, excuse me, healing tools that helped her survive, heal and live a life of unconditional love and passion . I also loved the words, unconditional love and passion. She now runs her own healing business in San Diego and is also a co-owner of the tranquility school of healing offering regular integrative healing trainings. And we will offer a link to Gianna’s business, how people can find you once we’re done with this. I know that folks are going to want to know how to access some of your healings some, some of your thinking. So I’m really excited to do that. You’re currently living your passion as a spiritual mentor and healer in a private practice in ocean beach in San Diego. So you not only get to live in a gorgeous place, but you’re making a difference in the lives of others. So , Gianna, you know, we talk a lot about connection and you know, how, how the world, I’m always surprised at the people that , um, show up in my life. And I, you know, I’m , I’m really interested in hearing your story from the beginning, how you came to this place, how you got where you are today.

Gianna: 8:21

Yes. Awesome. Thank you so much. Funny, thank you for that introduction as well. Um, okay. Yes, my, my story and how did I get here? Wow. Well, I’ll tell you the, the most , roundabout way , I’m from Sydney, Australia, as you mentioned. And , um, when I moved to the states, I, I guess I didn’t realize I was on this whole big spirit warrior journey. I, I was just coming here to get married and be a wife and, you know, and then there’s that we keep saying this all week, I’ve just come from a healing retreat actually. Um, but you know, we keep saying that thing of like how to make God laugh is telling the man’s plan. Right. Um, and so that was me. And so I, you know, had a different expectation and , that’s, that’s what got me here. That was my catalyst was, was the marriage. And then, you know, I went through the divorce and that’s where the hero’s journey, I guess, that we all go on begins is like , we think we’re going to this one thing. And then, you know, Frodo has to get the ring into the fire. And so I felt a little bit like Frodo and I went through a divorce, I went through a whole big transformation and I started to discover this , um, healing work, like heal inner healing. I started working with a mentor and discovering, you know, the deeper parts of myself doing inner child work. Um, really stunning to understand myself and look into, you know, who I was and who I wanted to become and the parts of myself. And I was a hairdresser this whole time, along the way. I was doing all kinds of things like yoga teacher training. I was in a mentor training to become a mentor. I loved doing this work so much. I thought it was so profound and I was having all these incredible , breakthroughs and transformations in my life. And I was really excited about this. And I was like, wow, this is so profound. Like, I want to write a book about this one day. This is like, people have to know about this, that we can actually like heal ourselves. It’s possible to understand ourselves at this really deep level. So I call that spirit warrior training. That’s kind of what I felt that I was in. And just, you know, when you’re in life and you think like, wow, you know, I don’t really know what’s happening or where this is going or my life purpose, but I know I want to help people. And I know I don’t want to be doing hair anymore because that’s just, it’s not my passion. It’s part of it, but not, you know, what I want to give to, I know there’s so much more in this healing round . And then was driving home from yoga teacher training , uh, one evening in 2016, and I was driving home in the freeway. I had just moved. So , I was doing a lot of driving back and forth on the five freeway in San Diego, and I noticed some headlights coming towards me. And the next minute I remember waking up on the freeway with blocking all of the four lanes now horizontally. And I realized that the headlights that were coming were , that had actually hit me. And so I realized the state of my car and the state of my body, and I had this realization that, wow, this is really bad. And then I noticed my car was on fire. And I thought I was going to die. So that was my moment of, I don’t know, divine intervention, intervention, I guess. Um, and yeah , so I just, I sat in my car, which was on fire burning across the five freeway. And just, I just prayed. I just prayed. And I just, you know, I just asked, like, I don’t know if this is the way that it was, if this was my time that I, you know, I accept it, but then I wasn’t ready. And every time I would hear that, I would just hear a voice , kind of take me up to a higher place and tell me you’re not going to die. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to get out of this , this car. And it was almost like showing me , um, then I would be okay, you showing me this, like, you’re going to get on a stretcher. You’re going to get to the hospital. You’re going to be okay. And , um, so yeah, there was a lot happening in that car. You know, a lot of decisions I guess, to be made from, from me and my highest self of do I want, what do I want, do I want to be here? And I got really clear on that at that moment. You know , it was a really big awakening that I do want to be here. And it was almost like I had seen this all before, like this part of my life flashed before me almost like I knew that this was part of my life or that this was going to happen, or I knew that this was going to happen in a way. Um, and I just knew all in that space, in the car, like what I was going to do with this, if I survived, you know, having that conversation with God, really like, all right, I promise you that if you let me stay, I will be a voice for this. I’ll be a vessel for , um, the people that need to hear it and kind of making that, that promise right there, that I would be if I could get through this with all of the tools that I learned prior that it promised I would be here to help other people on earth who have also experienced this kind of trauma. And , um, and I did. So when I was in a coma from there, they, I get out of the car. Yes. Ask me anything.

Bunny: 14:54

Yes. That’s the good news. You were rescued from the burning car, which is amazing. Yeah. Wow.

Gianna: 15:01

It was, it was, yeah, it was amazing how it happened. And , there was , obviously another driver involved who didn’t make it. And so all this was happening around me. And then finally, you know, I was on the stretcher and taken into the hospital the way that I seen it and visualized it. And then I woke up a week later and I didn’t know, I didn’t know I had been sleeping a week actually. I thought it was the next day. And I had actually had a trip planned to Australia the following week. So in a week’s time, I was meant to fly home to Australia for my niece’s 16th birthday. So when I woke up in the ICU a week later, my whole family were there and I was so confused. I was like, how do they get here overnight? Like, whoa, they must’ve got like the fastest red-eye plane. I was so confused, you know? And I, you know, I was asking questions. Like can I fly back with them in a week. Like I was going to, and my doctor was like, couple of things. It’s already a week later. And no , you’re like severely injured. You’re not going to be able to fly home for a long time. So yeah. So luckily my family was all there with me. They had all flown out separately along their ways and they made their way out to, to be with me. And then there was the healing process that, that happened from there.

Bunny: 16:31

Gianna, what, I mean, you said your legs were really hurt, what were your injuries? I mean, were you broken bones?

Gianna: 16:37

Absolutely. Yeah. I so pretty much the whole right side of my body was – the bones were broken. So from my feet all the way from my right feet, my ankle, my , um, tib-fib was broken pretty much in half. So I have metal holding my lower leg together. My knee was busted open. My right arm was broken, actually noticed that in the cards, the details or the gory details are all in my book. But yeah , my hand was like, when I noticed my injuries, my hand was, my arm was broken in half of my right hand, was hanging over back here by my elbow somewhere. Really , really… Like talk about gratitude. I was so grateful when I woke up to still have an arm to still have a leg, because I knew that they were damaged in the car. I saw them and it was really scary. So to wake up so I have metal in my arm. They did such an amazing job. My surgeon was incredible. He put me back together. Like, I mean, I didn’t even know these things were, I’d never been injured like this in my life. My spine, my lower spine was broken. So I had an L-four compression fracture. And again, like Bunny gratitude. That’s my gratitude people for our bodies, because what could have happened. And what did happen was a miracle. And , um, you know, I could have, I was so grateful when I remember waking up in the hospital, like in my delusional state, you know, after the coma and you know, the spine specialist presenting me this back brace and telling me my back was broken. And he was just looking at me like as a crazy person because, I was so happy. I was so grateful. I was so grateful that that was all that had happened to my spine. I was like, that’s it. All I have to do is wear this gladiator back brace for three months. That’s all. And I was just crying with joy because I saw that other perception that other perspective, you know, like, yes, this was going to be a long, hard road, but I was so grateful that like, that was, that was it. I was like, whoa , thinking of all the things that could have been, you know, I could have been fully damaged or broken from the spine up. You know, so yes, I was very excited that all I had to do is wear this gladiator back brace for three months. Although that was very challenging the three months that it had to do it . But I was getting back to that gratitude, you know, like, thank you. That my spine is healthy and my spine can heal and it’s strong in my legs and my bones will heal. And then, so I also had a my colon was punctured. So my stomach was , um, it was probably the most horrific of the, the injuries to wake up to and look down at your, your belly. But they had to cut my belly open. So I have a huge scar from the bottom to the top of my belly where they had to stitch my colon back up. So it was actually stapled together. I’d never seen anything like that in my life . And it was really like…

Johanna: 20:02

You guys might have matching scars,

Bunny: 20:07

We might have matching staples .

Gianna: 20:11

We’ll have to compare, but I love those scars . Now it loves them.

Bunny: 20:16

I do too yeah. But you have to, you do have to learn how to love your scars.

Gianna: 20:20

Oh absolutely. It’s a such a process. Like every single part of it, you know, healing is, is such a process to go through and we have to be so gentle with ourselves along the way, because yeah, our bodies change and it’s different. It’s a different part of ourselves now that we learn to love unconditionally, like you were saying at the beginning.

Bunny: 20:44

Well, and to be compassionate with ourselves mean , I’m really curious to know, and I know there’s a long story about your healing journey journey, but , um, I would think after an accident like that, there would also be some residual fear, you know, do I want to get in a car again? Do I even want to leave my house? That was, I mean, you were in a horrific accident. Yeah. I’m curious to know how you process that.

Gianna: 21:13

Yeah. And you’re absolutely right. I did go through that PTSD or, you know, whatever label you want to call it, but it was very scary for a very long time. And again, I do talk about that a lot in my book of being able to recognize that we have PTSD and after something like this and to get the help that we need for it, because it’s really, really scary. And it was really scary for me, even though I had done a lot of healing work and I had a lot of support , um, I was still experiencing really, really bad post-traumatic stress. And it was so scary because it was a level of fear that I had never felt before. It was this whole other level. It was debilitating at times. And I would say just to anybody listening that there’s this help out there for that. I got therapy. I worked with a trauma therapy therapists because I just, I couldn’t live in this fear anymore. I was so afraid. I was afraid of everything and I still get afraid. You know, even though I’ve had a lot of therapy and worked through a lot of that. You know, PTSD will show up in other ways too. And so, you know, even though I got through like me getting in a car again, or me being able to drive on the freeway again, I mean, I still don’t drive at night time. But you know, then there’s a trickles on, you know, it goes into other things like now I freak out if my boyfriend is going to drive on the freeway alone at night, you know? So I see it showing up in other ways. And I have to remember that this is part of going through a trauma that it does show itself in the after places too . And we , we need to prepare ourselves for that because it can be debilitating and it can be really scary if we don’t understand it well.

Bunny: 23:17

And that’s the self compassion piece, isn’t it? I mean, you have to really give yourself a lot of grace. Yeah . When you , when you get into that place. I do too. I love it .

Gianna: 23:28

I think it’s my favorite word, grace. Yeah. Beause we can be graceful. Graceful isn’t just like, you know, this elegant, you know , woman or whatever, it’s like, it’s, we can have grace in anything we’re doing. We can have grace while we’re having a PTSD panic attack just by recognizing it, by having that compassion for ourselves and just being like, wow, wow. Look at that. It’s really showing up again. I really felt that again. And just being so loving and patient of like this takes time. And also there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m having a human experience. I’m having a normal reaction to the trauma that I experienced. And that’s what I teach the people that I work with. So I work with a lot of people now who have been through trauma or who are experiencing PTSD. And that’s the number one thing that I tell them, first of all, you’re safe right now in this moment you are safe and there’s nothing wrong with you. And that’s all it took from my therapist to say to me, to be like, oh wow, that’s right. I have felt I’m feeling unsafe in the world. That’s normal. I’ve experienced trauma. So normal reaction. So..

Johanna: 24:49

Yeah, that’s such a good point to just say you know, you’re normal, like there’s nothing wrong with you because you did experience this trauma and that’s real and feeling that, you know, mentally the stress and the anxiety from it, like that’s okay. You know, you have to go through that. And that’s part of the healing too. So …

Gianna: 25:13

Yeah , I know. And they , you see people soften, right?

Johanna: 25:17

Yeah, exactly.

Gianna: 25:19

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with me. Thank God. You know, they’re just so relieved. And I remember feeling that way when my therapist said it to me, I was like, oh, thank goodness. There’s nothing wrong with me. You know, I’m okay, this is part of it. And um..

Johanna: 25:37

Yeah. To give you that hope too , to kind of be like, all right, maybe there’s some light at the end of the tunnel too .

Gianna: 25:45

Right ? Exactly. Totally.

Bunny: 25:48

Well . And I th and you’re both Johanna and I talk about this. She more than me, because she’s a professional at this, but we talk all the time about being mindful. And that’s what you’re saying is that I’m feeling this trauma I’m sitting in it, but it’s okay because I’m safe and I’m having a human experience. And that’s that part of being self compassionate and giving yourself grace.

Gianna: 26:12

Yeah. You’re a human you’re human that came up at our retreat this week. Like, it was really profound. Somebody said it they’re like, oh , cause I’m human! I know. I thought it was so cute as she said it, you know? Cause I’m like, you got it. You’re just having a human experience. That doesn’t mean that’s who you are. You’re not your trauma. You’re not your pain. You’re not even your anxiety. It’s just what’s happening right now. And you have the tools within you to just even take a deep breath or a few deep. Usually that’s what all we need to do is just take a few deep breaths and say like, like that realization that, okay, I’m safe right now. Like right now in this moment, I even tell them like, touch your touch, your arm. Your hands are like, rub your palms together. Create that connection to yourself. That reminds you that in this moment, right now I am safe. And will , this is the Mo just mindfulness here. Yes. I love you. I thank you. Thank you for being here and thank you for recognizing that we are healing and yeah . Yeah. It’s, that’s the, the, compassion.

Johanna: 27:29

Yeah, that’s so true. I mean, I love it. And I also love that, you know, you kind of brought up, even though this has been, you know , five years since you had your accident, you still are going through that. You’re still going through the healing and you know, it sounds like maybe, like you said, it comes at certain times and kind of like trauma or grief, you know, it can come in waves and hit you in different places or it catches you and you weren’t expecting it. So I think that’s important for people to know too is like, it is a journey and it takes time and it’s not like, okay, on this set day, like when my body heals, I’m also going to be healed from everything else. I know it’s going , gonna take time and I’m sure you still, I don’t know. Do you still have residual , um, physical, anything like that to cause i know that’s ongoing.

Gianna: 28:19

Yeah, absolutely. You’re totally right. It’s it is ongoing and yes, I still feel pain in my body. Of course not as much pain as I have in the past. It definitely heals and heals, but I can reinjure myself. Like if I go and, you know, twists the wrong way or something, Again, it’s that mindfulness, if I’m not being mindful , um, yeah, I can totally ranger myself and that sucks, you know, and then I go through it again and I’m like but yeah, then I, like, I came patients of myself. I’ve done this before, you know, use your tools, come back to your breath, everything. And the trauma. Yes. I think I just would , that I’d love for everybody to know that that it’s ongoing. It may be there for the rest of our lives. And it’s the way that we, we respond to it in the way that we nurture it. And you know, it, when it does come up now I don’t allow myself. I just don’t even allow myself to go into any kind of story about fear. I come back to gratitude, literally I do. I come back to gratitude and I’m like, thank you for this moment. Thank you for my body to come back to like what’s right now. And I thank for that. It’s honestly, the, my gratitude practices is everything in that way. So yeah. Healing will continuously be there. Life will continue around us life. Doesn’t stop just cause we heal, like life keeps going. And in fact it happens even more because it’s like, Hey, our angels, I like to call them angels. Our angels are like, oh, oh great. She thinks she’s got that. Okay. Let’s give her this little opportunity, throw that in there. See how are you going to respond to that? Are you going to lose your shit again? Are you going to just be , come back to your gratitude to come back to your breath? You know? And so the more work we do or the more we know the less we know, you know, we , we come back, we get more opportunity to practice, practice what we preach, I guess. And, and to just stay in that center because yes, healing will continuously be a part of our lives on, on whatever level, you know? And specifically, you know, trauma that will, it will keep coming back and it will show itself in different ways. And as long as we have that mindfulness of it and we’re aware like, oh wow, that’s definitely okay, I’m having a little bit of anxiety now call it the anxiety monster thing . And I teach people and they just own it. You know, tell people, say it out loud. I swear it it’s so much less scary if you’re just like, Hey guys, anxiety, monsters here. I’m just going to take a few moments over here to bridges and do my thing. Okay. And everyone knows, and everyone’s aware of it and we’re not ashamed of anything and we’re not, you know, there’s nothing wrong with us who just use what we have our tools. And , and that’s really , that’s what I teach people, the tools. That’s what I, when people come to see me in my healing space, I want to know that the they’re leaving with some tools. So either they’re leaving with some breathing tools, some , um, you know, I do a lot of somatic healing tapping and things like that to get them out of their head and back into their hearts to know that they’re safe. So, that’s what I’m working with now. I just want to give people the awareness so that you’re aware you have trauma and that it’s okay. And tools to go home and be able to, to empower them to do it themselves because they, we can, we have that within us. And that’s , that’s really, my message is that you can heal. And there is help out there to show you how, and you don’t have to be alone in any of this.

Bunny: 32:09

I wrote down a bunch of notes while you were talking, because I was like, oh my gosh, these are like quotes to put on, you know, to put on the bathroom mirror to remind yourself. But I think that, if, if somebody , you know, I mean, I know people who have anxiety attacks who may not believe that they’ve experienced some real, tangible form of trauma in their life, but they still have them. And you know, every everybody’s experienced something that can remit. I mean, I guess I’m , I’m not the expert, but it seems that it’s, if you’re having anxiety that, that manifests as an anxiety attack or an anxiety monster, I love that you said I don’t allow a story of fear and it’s , and it feels like if you could have a tool ahead of time where you say , um , I’m not going to allow that story, I’m going to use, I’m going to create this story. I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t want to oversimplify , but I thought that saying, I don’t allow a story of fear because it is, we do react in whatever way we’ve trained ourselves to. Right . Am I right?

Gianna: 33:19

Yep absolutely. Yeah, totally. Yeah. You’re spot on there. It’s it is. It’s just, that’s where that awareness comes in of just like, oh, there’s that story again? So what the , we just need to become aware of like what that fearful story is. And with anxiety, it’s , it’s a lot about thinking of the future. Right. Um, and so if we can stop that futuristic thought because the future hasn’t happened yet. Um, and just remind ourselves, I can hear that’s why the somatic , like I’m here. This is now right now. I’m safe .

Bunny: 33:57

Just a second Giana because people can’t see what you’re doing. So private physically, because I can see it. And I’m fascinated.

Gianna: 34:07

Yeah. Okay.

Bunny: 34:09

Tell them too you know what you mean by somatic work? If people don’t really know what that means.

Gianna: 34:15

Somatic is you know, where we work with our body as what it’s like working with our physical body, as well as the conscious body. So we, the consciousness is where we have the awareness. So we are like, oh, this is happening, right. Oh, I have anxiety. Oh, the anxiety wants to is here. The somatic piece is making the physical connection to the body. So I use things like , um, tapping, tapping is a form of that where we just , literally , um, use these tapping points around the skull and they have affirmations. There’s all different ones. You can even go online and you can even just use, like, with my, my fingertips when I’m doing is, I’m just, I’m tapping on my heart and that’s making a connection to myself, letting me know, like, I’m, I’m here right now. We’re safe. This is this moment right now. And you can use affirmation. So instead of saying , um, you know, a fear-based thought would be like, oh my goodness, I’m going to have a full-blown panic attack. I’m afraid, oh my God, I’m going to be like this for the rest of the day. I wonder . And you start thinking about the whole rest of your day is going to look like this. It’s a, fear-based like anxiety thoughts. So instead we use this tapping technique where we come into the moment, like I’m here right now, I’m safe. And you can literally just say that I am safe. I am here. I am safe. This moment. I just breathe . You know? And it just brings you, like I said, from that mind , um, fear-based place, because the mind can tell us all kinds of stories, the heart it’s the hardest compassionate. And the heart is like, Hmm . And the heart kind of questions. It’s like, ah , I dunno , do we really feel like that? And so it gets us into that state of like, oh yeah, that’s right. I’m actually not in a car burning on fire right now. I’m here, I’m safe. You know, and for the longest time, that’s where my mind would go. I’d have these flashes to just being stuck in my burning cough. And I would have to come back to this present moment and make that connection to my physical body so that my it’s like the brain, body connection, pretty much the , the neurons in our brain send messages to the rest of the body and let it know like, oh no, you’re not in that trauma. It’s okay. We’re here.

Johanna: 36:41

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I remember the first time I ever heard about tapping and EMR because I’m a social worker and I was at a training. They started doing it and I was like, you know, and they kind of walked us through it. And I was like, this is so cool. And I worked with kids at the time at a school. And so it was trying to get them do , you know, trying to work. And sometimes it’s hard to get kids to buy into that. They’re like, what are you doing? You’re so weird. You know, and then talking about those , adverse childhood experiences with them, kind of like you were saying , mom, that, you know, some people are , you know, we all have some of those ACEs, some of those adverse childhood experiences, or maybe some type of trauma in our life, it might not be as extreme as being trapped in a burning car or having cancer. But you know, you lose someone, you go through a divorce, you go through , um, really, sometimes it might seem small to some people, but that’s still trauma. And especially for kids and as you’re developing, it’s important to , to be aware of those things. But , um, but also , uh, just, yeah, that, oh, what I was going to say was, I think people tend to forget, you know, that your mental health is physical health, right? Like it’s all connected your body and your mind. And so you have to, you have to do that recentering . And also, you know, your body keeps the score. Your body is going to remember that trauma. And if you don’t work on that , uh, it’s going to kind of continue that cycle. So I, I’m so excited that you’re doing that work and that you’re using your experience to help other people with trauma. That’s so, so powerful. I wish you were closer. So we could go , um, you know, to your, yeah,

Gianna: 38:36

Well maybe I’ll be traveling soon and I definitely want, you guys are in New Mexico. We are, I’m, I’m making my way up to New Mexico soon. It’s calling me for sure . You guys said you’re in New Mexico was like, oh , there we go again, another, another sign comes up

Bunny: 38:52

So there was something, what Johanna just said was really important that , healing, I mean, you don’t, you can’t just heal your body. You have to heal your mind. And if you don’t heal your mind, then it will affect you physically, won’t it? Yeah,

Gianna: 39:10

Yeah. Yeah. I love what Johanna just said. Thank you for saying that as well. And the body keeps scores . That’s one of my favorite books and started reading that after my accident, actually, I would recommend it to anybody who’s and everything that you actually just said Johanna is so valid. Like it , we may not have been through a severe car accident or, you know, traumatic disease or abuse or whatever those things that we think are really traumatic levels, but a breakup is, can be traumatic, a loss of someone death, you know, there’s so many other forms that , um, nobody’s, trauma’s greater than anybody else’s, you know, and I, I love that. You said that , so thank you for bringing that up too, because yeah, I don’t compare my trauma to anybody else’s because what they went through, we all go through it, different things in different levels. So that’s really important to know as well as like, yeah, there’s all different levels of it and we’ve all experienced something. Um, and that’s okay. And yes , uh, just to what Bunny was saying as well, it’s like, it’s, it’s on all of the levels and that’s what my that’s really what my book is about. It’s if anyone asks me, what is your book about? It’s like, it’s not about a car accident, just so you know, there’s sure that stories woven in there. And that may be like one of the climaxes in the book, but the story is about healing on all levels. That’s what I tell people. It’s about healing physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and, and then integrating all of those pieces together because that’s what makes us whole, we’re not just whole, if we’re fit on the outside and we’re like toned in our muscles look great and we’re wonderful, but then we’re like wounded on the inside and, and, you know, we can’t even be in the world cause we feel so unsafe inside, you know, is that , that that’s not in alignment. It’s in alignment. When we work on all of the pieces, a lot of the work I do too is inner child work. And I mentioned that a little bit before that a lot of that is in my book. I go direct to the, to the child because a lot of us like hold stuff from childhood there. So yes, it’s on all of the levels, all of the levels need to tend to because we are whole, and that’s what makes us whole, you know, we just come back to ourselves. It’s like just coming home, all of the pieces of the puzzle, just come back together and we’re home and we’re whole, and that’s who we are and nobody can ever take that from us.

Johanna: 41:50

I love it. I’m getting goosebumps.

Bunny: 41:54

We always, you know, we talk about the practical piece of this too, because , um, you know, you talk about tools and we certainly want do , do you do virtual? Um, do you meet with people virtually?

Gianna: 42:10

Absolutely. Yeah. That’s, that’s , um, I do kind of half in-person and half virtual. Um, and I’ve been doing that for a long time actually. So I’ll do session over, over phone or I will , um, I do community group sessions , um, and we just, you know, we, we gather and we talk in group and we just share. Yep . So , I do lots of that.

Bunny: 42:31

And when you talk about, we talk a lot about breathing, but really, I mean, do you have a , do you have a , a breathing technique that immediately brings you down or brings your, brings your clients into a safe space? I’d love to hear about that.

Gianna: 42:49

Yeah. Yeah. My favorite one is just , to have them breathe because you’ll find most people are shallow breathing. They’re like, like half a breath in half a breath out, however that that’s like not a full thing . And…

Bunny: 43:02

That’s me! I’m in too big a hurry.

Gianna: 43:06

Yeah. So I’ll know I’ll I can either hear… I’ve gotten so good with breathing now that cause that’s what I had to do to survive and literally had to breathe again. And it’s funny. Well, not funny it’s and it’s not even a coincidence. It’s divine that I had started full breath- work training and practice just months prior to the accident. And when I woke up, I had to learn to breathe again. So I was like, don’t worry. I got this. I do breath work . But yes, there is a there a style . So first of all, first right off the bat, before I go into any kind of style of breathing with anyone, I just notice how they’re breathing. If they are shallow breathing, which is like half the breath and how the breath I’ll say let’s do some seafood deep breaths together and I’ll have them like put your hands on your belly. A full, deep breath is when your belly pushes all the way out. So it’s like your food . It’s like, you’re pregnant at that point. That’s a full breath. If you don’t have your belly expanded, you got to keep breathing another one, try it again. So I have them again, a full deep breath, push the belly out and I’ll let this look at your hands. So we’ll expand out and on the exhale, they’ll retract back in. Like we can even do that together. Now, if you guys put your hands in , so take a big exhale. First. We’ll like clear out. And now as you inhale, so slowly, let the belly expand and envision the breath rising all the way up until you’re completely full. And then when you think you’re full, take another little sip of air that’s full and now slowly we deflate it. So it’s like envisioning a balloon inflating as you breathe in and deflating. So it’s really, so I have them slow breathe with me. Most people don’t do this. Okay. Most people are in fear-based shallow breathing, which is, that’s not breathing. Okay. This is breathing and we can stop and take a full breath. So that could just be as simple as that is just by having them consciously breathe, place the hands on the belly and that’ll slow them down because most people that come in to see me or on the phone over very much in an anxious state already. So that will not only does it bring focus to the mind because you’re only thinking about the breath. So you’re not thinking about all the thoughts. It takes them out of their mind. It also clears energy. So when we are not breathing properly, we’re holding onto stagnant energy in our bellies. And that’s what causes blocks. That’s what causes disease. That causes sickness in our, in our bodies, because there’s all these things. So when we can consciously breathe through that, we’re not only bringing the, bringing ourselves from our mind into our body, but we are clearing energy blocks that are stuck in there. And that’s really powerful. So I tell people if you can’t meditate or take any time to yourself, try taking just 10 long breaths like that every day , when you wake up, have a glass of water and take 10 breaths and it will change your day entirely. Most people can’t even sit through 10 deep breaths. They get distracted, they start thinking about something else. They got their list to do, bah, bah, bah… They get to three. And they’re like, where am I at? What am I doing? All right. Start again. Start the round of 10 again, until you make it through, then you’ll be breathing clear . You’ll notice that through the rest of your day, you’ll be really conscious and you’re breathing. So that would be where I would start. And then I have like so many other breath work techniques at my sleeve . If you want to do another one, I will. But that’s where I would start. It was most people are not fully breathing.

Bunny: 46:58

So , and I , uh , but I also, I want, I I’d love to hear about more breathing techniques, but I also want to talk about your, your conscious gratitude practice. I mean, you sound a lot like me, it’s, you know, I, I came from a place already. I was raised with people who taught me to be grateful, grateful, grateful. But then when you have a trauma , um, you have to sort of bring the focus. You have to, you have to actually teach yourself to do that on a daily basis. Like I said, in my book, I, you know, I had to, my dad would say, tell me a couple of things you’re grateful for. And I’d be like, are you joking? Because I’m not. Um, but, but I’d have to bring myself back to that practice. So I’m really interested in hearing what your practice.

Gianna: 47:49

Yeah. Yeah. I think mine really started with my, with my body. And, you know, I think before the accident, it was always like, I’m grateful for, you know, things like things. When I was in the accident, it became very apparent to me that I had not spent a lot of time prior being grateful for this incredible vessel that we have this body that does so much for us. So we don’t even think about like, even just pick something up with our hand, right. Imagine if we didn’t have that hand, we would never pick it up. So it’s like, just that I started to really lay in my bed and be like, okay, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom. Right. I had to go to the bathroom in the bed. That was really hard. It was also very painful. The injuries that I had. So I started to think about things like that, like going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Right? So now I wake up in the middle of the night if I should go to the bathroom. And I’m like, thank you so much that I have these legs that can take me to go and pee, like simple. Right. Really simple. I would never have thought of that before, but I think of it every time. I’m like, I am so grateful for this, but that’s just one of the examples. But I did start this really epic , um, gratitude practice while laying in my hospital bed where each morning I woke up, I would just lay and sit with my buddy from , um, from my toes to my head. And I would thank every single little part of my body from the toe thing . Every little toe. Thank you, toe Thank you. Big toe. Thank you. Middle toe. Thank you, right foot. Thank you . Left foot. I thank all the little muscles and then I would seal it all with like some white protective light and then I would move up my body. Thank you for me, my lower legs or the bones in the lower legs. Thank you for my knees. Everything that joints , all the joints in my body. And I just start going through this process of like, whoa, this body we have is so magnificent. It’s the most incredible thing in the world. And I don’t think I gave my body that kind of credit before. I think I was actually quite mean to my body in the past. I called myself things like fat and ugly or whatever. Like these things where I was like, that is so mean. I will never do it again to my body because my body is precious. And so for me, that’s where I started. My gratitude practice was, was right there with me first. And then, you know, you can go to the other things. You’re like, wow. Then I’m so grateful for, you know, the work I do in the world, or I am grateful for , um, the love that I give to my partner. I’m grateful for how much I love my cat or how much I love my parents. So, and so it’s this really inner gratitude for all parts of self. And instead of things, you know, like I am grateful for my pillow and there’s things that are awesome too. I love them. Oh my gosh. Every day I wake up in my comfortable bed. I’m like , I’m so grateful. I got home at midnight last night from a plane reading retreat all week and holding space all week to my bed. And it like , thank you God for the bed. So of course in grateful for the outer things, but I’m really grateful for this as well. When I, and I know you can’t see me when I say this, but I’m pointing to myself and pointing to my body, my shoulders, all parts of me because I exist in this world. And that’s amazing just even the fact that we wake up in the morning and take, we can breathe. I’m grateful for the breath. You know..

Bunny: 51:24

If we could teach… and I didn’t learn this, I didn’t learn this until my body stopped working the way that I thought it was supposed to work. If we, you know, I’m like you, I spent, if I had all that brain space, all that brainpower that I devoted to disliking my body. In the first 50 years, I could have cured cancer with all that brain power that I wasted since I’m fat or, you know, my thighs are too thick or my butt’s too big or, you know, my teeth aren’t perfect. And you know, I grew up with a lot of, you know, I had these friends who were, you know, what I thought was much more beautiful than me. And I would think, oh, if I were just taller, if I, if my teeth were perfect, if you know, and I, I think all that wasted energy when I should have been celebrating my body every day, I hope, I hope at some point we can teach, especially young women to just adore the way their body works.

Gianna: 52:30

Yeah, absolutely. I’m 100% with you there. And that’s really what I do want to teach out there in the world is like, you are whole, you are perfect. Every single part of you. Your imperfections that you think are actually like gifts from God. Like you’re so perfect. And , yeah, I agree with you. I wish I want that for all of us too. And that really cause it does, it starts there. It starts within, you know,

Bunny: 53:05

So Gianna, I think that, you know, you and I could talk about this and Johanna, we could talk about this for a long time. We do at some point have to wrap this up, but I want you to talk about how people can find you and we’re going to put a link. You know, Johanna is in of all those, letting people know where to find you, but I just , what would you leave our listeners with today as , um, you know, this, this piece of self-compassion and knowing that you are not your pain. I mean, those are such big pieces of what I’d like people to take away. What would you like to say?

Gianna: 53:50

I would just say that underneath all of these stories that we tell ourselves that, you know, may not be positive stories or these negative stories, negative beliefs, just to tune in and listen to them stories because they didn’t, they weren’t just born yesterday. They w they come from somewhere and they can, we can reprogram them. We can, we can re create a new story for ourselves. And this is for anybody who has been through trauma or an , or maybe feels like they haven’t experienced, you know , that trauma for everybody to know that you are whole and, you know, healing takes the time that it takes, it will forever be happening. And just to give yourself so much love and compassion along the way. And yeah, whatever story you want to tell yourself, it’s that, that you’re not love, or you’re not pure love. You’re not unconditional love, just listen to that, pay attention to that. And , just know that that’s i t’s that these are programs, these are conditionings, and that we can, we can change that. We can be whole, we can live a life of beauty and passion and love. U m, no matter what we’ve been through, what we’ve enjoyed, you know, and that’s, that comes from healing, all of the parts of us. And once we do, you know, there’s this beautiful, shiny little g em, so beautiful underneath all of that, that story. And it’s you, that’s your goal. That’s who you are, it’s who you truly are. And, I’m just on this, this mission here in life to help as many hearts recognize that I want to be here to help as many people dust off that, you know, t he dust from the diamond and, and see that beautiful light within and know that y ou’re whole, and the healing is possible, and that you’re loved. And that’s what I would leave you with. And if you want any support or help with that, u m, I would just say, you could just drop my, my website link, which is just my name, Giannamauceri.com. And that’s very confined all things f or me. So I have a school, I have a school of healing with that. I just came back on retreat from w e’ve taught all of these healing modalities. It was amazing. That’s called the tranquility school of healing. You can find my book on my website and you can work with me personally through there. So that’s how you can find me.

Bunny: 56:29

Thank you. Thanks .

Gianna: 56:30

And I’ll be here. I’ll be here with open arms and an open heart. I just love what I do, and I just love it with all of my heart. And I’m so grateful for this time and this chat today. So thank you both. So yeah ,

Johanna: 56:50

Gianna definitely. I’m so glad that we got to meet and, you know, you reached out and I know we could talk all day on some conversation.

Bunny: 56:58

All right , well , we’ll do it again. Yeah, we will do it again. Thanks so much.

Gianna: 57:03

Thank you. Both have a beautiful day. Thank you for fitting me in. And I’m very grateful you two beauties.

Bunny: 57:16

That’s all we’ve got today. Friends. I want to thank you for joining the lifesaving gratitude podcast with your host bunny, Terry , that’s me and my producer and assistant Johanna Medina. We feel like we’re in the business of sharing the stories that save us, and we hope you’ll share as well by letting your friends and family know about the podcast follow and like us wherever you listen. And please take the time to leave a review, whether it’s a stellar comment or a suggestion, we are open to suggestions all the time. Also follow us on Instagram at life-saving gratitude pod. You can also follow me personally at bunny Terry , Santa Fe. You can sign up at my website at bunnyterry .com to receive weekly emails about how to become the ultimate gratitude nerd. Thanks so much for checking in.