Last month, the lovely Christina Colding came to see us at our shop in Ibiza, so we could get to know her and find out more about her practices of breathwork and sound healing.
Christina's runs her own holistic healing sessions called The Alchemy Journey, which guides you through a path of self-discovery to enter a unique state of consciousness. As Christina put it, it’s “designed to nurture the mind, body and soul, the dynamic experience uses vibrations to encourage a feeling of deep relaxation and help re-align our bodies and nervous systems.”
We attended one of Christina’s Alchemy Journey classes on Nobu's rooftop while we were in Ibiza, and we have to say, it was brilliant. The scenery was gorgeous, and it was incredibly relaxing thanks to her use of a unique blend of breathwork and music, followed by the soothing sounds of alchemy crystal singing bowls. (Photo evidence below!)
Our Head of Marketing, Rosie, interviewed Christina to find out more about her journey and inspirations. Here's what they got chatting about...
So Christina, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do in Ibiza.
I've been on the island for many years, since 2007. I’ve done the Ibiza natural evolution. I was really into the party scene back in the day, and I also used to work on private jets flying around the world, and then eventually I landed here, and I really landed. Then for the past four years, I've been on this breathwork and sound healing journey.
That sounds like such a lovely story. So sound healing and breathwork, tell us a bit more about that.
My whole journey was born in a moment when my body needed a deep form of transformation. Because my nervous system was completely run down, I had problems with fatigue, my energy levels were super low, my moods were not great, and I realised that during this alchemy journey, which I call my experience of breathwork and sound healing, was a natural birth of that. That brought me back to actually breathing properly again, and the instruments I use are just divine instruments of transformation.
We’ve done a little bit of breathwork within the DL team, but where can we find you on the island if you want to get more into this?
I do private sessions and I love to do my alchemy journey sessions in nature. I have several outdoor locations where I set up sound healing and breathwork ceremonies and people just love the views because a big part of it is that we bring in the natural elements.
And then I do several hotels here. I work at Six Senses and I work at Nobu, so I have a few different platforms that I offer now with my new project, doing sound baths before weddings, and I take it outside the island too.
I think the more people who are interested, the more common ground you're sharing, the more your vibration raises together.
And that's why I love to use Ibiza as a great example. Here, we've always had the very extremes. It's under the sign of Scorpio, so you have the extreme parties, and you have the holistic north, but now it's as if that's coming back into balance. Many people come here and they have a party, but then they book me for a sound healing.
That's really innovative. I haven’t heard of doing a sound bath at a wedding before!
It’s incredible. I just did one in Tuscany, in a beautiful venue. It was one of those pinch yourself moments.
Holistic healing seems to be more on everyone’s radar over the last few years. Why do you think that is?
Well, I look at it like humanity is one living breathing organism, and as the collective is raising its vibrational frequency, that's where we are called to look. We're called for self-development, we are called to look within ourselves, and we all know that the evolution of our spiritual growth is constant. It's not something that stops at a moment, it's something that we continuously need to progress.
I believe that as a collective, we are at a place now where we are looking for different things. We're not looking to escape, we're looking actually to go within and look at what it is that is causing illnesses or imbalances as I like to call them.
Have you ever done a session with someone who’s had a profound experience?
I had a problem with breathing, so I had surgery on my nose that completely changed my life, as I was not breathing through my nose for 10 or 12 years. It just caused havoc on my body, almost like a blockage. So, what I really emphasise in my sessions, where I also do breathwork, is that we really need to learn to breathe all the way down into our diaphragm, and we understand the importance of using the nose to breathe from.
So I've had people that would come to my sessions, only breathing from the chest up, and we actually managed to resolve that block. They had to really break down, I've had people that have come in with something traumatic that took place in their past, and we've managed to actually go into it and transform and change the form of it, and they're able to have a way better and normal life now. I have so many aspects of it. I have people that have a first-time experience and it's like they have a great epiphany, like “Right, wow, I look at life differently and I want to follow my true inner calling.”
Do you prefer to hold your classes in nature? And if so, why?
Because in nature, it's as if all the elements are present, and nature in itself is sound healing. When I do my ceremonies, I have the ocean, I have the wind, and I have the sun. That helps because as we become way more aware, which you do when you breathe. In awareness we feel everything more, we listen.
I always say after people experience my session for the first time, start really listening to the birds, observing nature, and really seeing, because many times, we're so stuck in our mind that we are not using our senses.
I’ve done quite a few spiritual practices, and they say that when you start to see, it's like your world becomes illuminated, everything is brighter, and you notice the small details. Then that leads to gratitude, doesn't it? So you see the beauty of nature and then you feel grateful. It's almost like a positive cycle, isn’t it?
That's one of the reasons why I like to use this way of seeing consciousness, as we alter our states of consciousness. It's like, we’re putting on another pair of glasses, which gives us a new perspective, a new vision on life.
Do you have any top tips for protecting your energy?
There are many ways to protect your energy, but I think as I've ventured on my journey, it’s been a really high priority to take time on my own, especially with all the ceremonies I do. It's really important that I sometimes step away from the world and I have my own time. I use the ocean because it cleanses your energy, it really is a great way to kind of reset. I also use all the different tools like Sage and Palo Santo and all of these other things, but I think ultimately what I really use is my sound healing instruments. My alchemy crystal singing bowls are really a great way to shift anything energetically out of balance. And then I use the voice.
Do you have a favourite spot in Ibiza, and what do you like to do in your spare time?
There's so many things to do in nature. I have really good friends here too, who do amazing lunches. I Iove to be in nature, I love to go on a beach, and I’m less of a night person now. In terms of good spots, yesterday I was at En Silencio. It was super beautiful.
Make sure to follow Christina on Instagram to find out when her classes are, and to see what she’s up to HERE
Christina’s DL faves
