My Journey Through Depression: Finding Light in the Shadows

Understanding Depression: A Common Struggle

Depression is a word that often carries a heavy shadow. For many, it sounds dramatic, frightening, or like a permanent condition. However, most people experience some form of depression at some point in their lives.

It doesn’t always mean lying in bed for months or needing a diagnosis. Sometimes, it simply means feeling demotivated, fatigued, disconnected, or uninspired. At other times, it can grow into something deeper, more intense, and more consuming.

Western medicine often prescribes pills, which may suppress symptoms but rarely touch the root cause. From a holistic perspective, depression is not the end of the story—it is a signal. It is a soul calling, a deep rest, and a natural invitation to pause, realign, and reconnect with who you truly are.

My Story: A Personal Journey

10 Years ago. Looking Normal, Feeling broken. Only 23 years Young. In my Parents House.

When I was about 22–23 years old, I was finishing my first degree in Law and Business. That year, I went through what doctors called depression. Their immediate response was to offer medication. However, something deep inside me knew that those pills would only numb me further.

That was also the year I arrived in Greece. At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I had no clarity about my future. What Greece gave me was something else entirely: a gap. The empty space I so desperately needed.

Here, I could pause. I could sit with myself, connect with nature, and release the endless loop of thoughts. I found myself breathing again, calming down, and syncing with the natural rhythm of the sea, the mountains, and the wind. Greece became my medicine—the safe space that allowed me to feel, to de-stress, and to reconnect. That was the beginning of my healing journey, and the reason I chose to root myself here.

Practical Tools for Managing Depression

When you’re already in a depressed state, here are a few gentle steps you can take to support yourself:

1. Allow yourself to rest – Don’t fight it. Give yourself permission to slow down.

2. Connect with nature – Walk outside, feel the earth, and watch the sky. Nature resets us.

3. Move your body – Gentle yoga, stretching, or even a slow walk shifts energy.

4. Express yourself – Write, paint, sing, or simply let your emotions out.

5. Ask for support – Share your feelings with a trusted friend, mentor, or therapist.

   
   

A very important understanding for each of us is that life itself is a project to be managed. With the same seriousness and dedication you bring to a project at work, you must also approach your own life. You are the project manager of your existence. The first steps will not be easy—they may feel heavy, uncomfortable, and even overwhelming. But they will also be powerful, impactful, and transformative. The moment you truly realize that you must stand up and fight for your life is the moment everything begins to shift.

Prevention: Building Inner Resilience

How can you live in a way that makes depression less likely to overwhelm you? Here are some strategies to consider:

1. Daily movement – Keep energy flowing with yoga, walks, or any joyful activity.

2. Mindful practices – Meditation, breathwork, and journaling keep you present and balanced.

3. Creative expression – Always keep a channel open for your inner voice to flow.

4. Healthy nourishment – Choose food that fuels both body and mind.

5. Rituals of rest – Prioritize sleep, pause, and digital detox when needed.

6. Surroundings matter – Stay connected with people who inspire and uplift you. Let go of anyone who pulls you down. Your environment shapes your spirit.

   
   

A Call to WAKE UP!

If you’ve found this article meaningful, know this: healing is not about avoiding sadness or pretending to be joyful all the time. Life includes all shades—light and dark, joy and grief, expansion and contraction. The gift lies in embracing them all and choosing, again and again, the direction that uplifts and expands you.

This is why I share what I share. This is why I teach yoga, why I guide sound healing, and why I create retreats. These practices are natural ways to reconnect with yourself, free from external forces that profit from our disconnection.

And this is why I welcome you here, in Greece—the very place that gave me the healing space I once needed. My role is not to cure or fix you, but to hold a safe and sacred container where you can remember your own strength, awareness, and joy.

The journey won’t happen in one day, but it will be the most fulfilling path you can take for yourself. I am here to guide, to share, and to walk beside you—as long as you are willing to take that step inward.

With so much compassion, understanding, firmness in duty, and love! The biggest practice of all. It is my promise to you: all paths lead there.

I have been down this path, and ever since, life has become an open question: how much better can it all get?

Anastasia - Undina - Inspired by nature and its healing properties, including us—the human kind.

Understanding Menopause: More Than Just a Biological Change

Menopause is often discussed as a medical fact. It marks the moment when a woman’s menstrual cycles stop, typically between the ages of 45 and 55. At this stage, the body naturally produces fewer reproductive hormones, signaling the end of the monthly cycle. If this occurs before age 45, it is termed “early menopause,” although it still happens naturally for many women.

However, menopause is more than just a biological change. From a holistic perspective, it represents an energetic and spiritual transition. It is a passage from fertility into a deeper creative and intuitive power.

The Energetic Connection: Pelvic Area and Sacral Energy Center

In yoga and sound healing, the pelvic area is linked with the sacral energy center, known as the Svadhisthana chakra. This energy center governs creativity, sexuality, emotions, and cycles. When energy in this area is blocked—due to stress, trauma, or lifestyle—it can manifest as irregular cycles, fertility struggles, or even an early cessation of menstrual flow.

When this energy is freed through practices like hip-opening yoga, breathwork, meditation, and sound vibration, the body can respond in profound ways.

Personal Experiences: Awakening the Body’s Wisdom

Recently, during a yoga and sound healing session, a participant shared her experience. After 12 months without periods, she felt her ovaries “wake up.” To her surprise, she began to bleed again. Medically, any bleeding after 12 months of menopause should be checked by a doctor. However, energetically, her body was clearly responding to the practice by moving and releasing something she had been holding.

I can personally relate to this experience. In my early 20s, I lived for almost five years without a menstrual cycle. Doctors could not provide clear answers, leaving me feeling disconnected from my body. It was only when I began to change my lifestyle, release stress, and actively work on healing my energy flow that my cycles returned. This experience was a turning point, opening the doorway to the path I walk today, filled with yoga, sound healing, and holistic practices.

How Yoga and Sound Healing Help

So, how do yoga and sound healing assist in this transformative journey?

• Yoga stimulates blood and energy flow through the pelvis. It awakens tissues, muscles, and organs connected with reproductive health.

• Sound healing works through vibration. It resets the nervous system and harmonizes hormonal pathways. Many people feel the sound reach deeply into specific organs, “unlocking” sensations they didn’t realize were there.

  
  

The Transformative Nature of Menopause

Menopause is not an ending; it’s a transformation. Sometimes, the body surprises us with sudden shifts, such as unexpected bleeding or strong sensations. Whether we view it as a medical, energetic, or symbolic change, what matters most is listening to the body’s wisdom.

For me, and for many women I work with, these moments of unexpected change are not merely physical. They serve as invitations: to honor the body, to release what has been held, and to embrace the power of feminine energy in its many forms.

Menopause is not the loss of vitality; it is the rebirth of a new kind of strength.

Listening to Your Body’s Guidance

If you experience cycle blockages in your early years, consider it as your higher guidance whispering through your body. Something is asking for your attention. It wants to be seen, heard, and felt. Your energy centers may be calling for balance, your stress levels for wiser management, and your lifestyle for deeper alignment. The body never betrays us; it always communicates, if only we learn to listen. 🙌

Your Journey Awaits: Share Your Story

💫 I would love to hear your story. If you feel called, reach out and share your experience with me. Together, we can design a tailor-made mini retreat to open, release, align, and rejuvenate your body’s natural rhythms and cycles through yoga, sound, and holistic healing practices.

With love & flow,

Anastasia

Using Love to Heal – The Most Powerful Medicine We Often Forget

In a world overflowing with remedies, treatments, and quick fixes, it’s easy to overlook one of the most profound healing forces we all carry within us: love. Not the fleeting, romantic kind alone – but the steady, unconditional love that nourishes, accepts, and transforms.

Whether you are healing from physical illness, emotional wounds, or simply the wear and tear of daily life, love can be the catalyst that shifts your state from pain toward wholeness.

1. Love is More Than a Feeling – It’s Energy

Modern science is beginning to confirm what ancient wisdom has always known: love is a vibration. When we experience love – whether giving it, receiving it, or simply cultivating it within ourselves – our bodies respond. Stress hormones lower, the immune system strengthens, and our brain chemistry shifts toward balance.

Healing doesn’t happen in an environment of fear or tension. Love creates the opposite: a safe space where the body and mind can rest, repair, and regenerate.

2. Self-Love: The First Step

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

Self-love is not selfish – it’s essential. It means speaking kindly to yourself, setting boundaries, and choosing actions that align with your well-being.

Try this:

• Place your hand over your heart each morning and simply say:

  
  

  “I am worthy. I am loved. I am enough.”

• Notice how this small act can soften your inner world and change the way you face the day.

• Another practice I LOVE! I s gazing at myself in the mirror, changing from one eye to enother, telling each one of my soul windows - “I LOVE YOU, YOU ARE AMZING, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.”

3. Love as Connection

Healing is rarely a solo journey. When we allow ourselves to be held – emotionally or physically – by others, we step into a circle of shared energy. Hugs, heartfelt conversations, laughter with friends, and simply being listened to without judgment are acts of love that can work more deeply than many medicines.

If you feel isolated, start small: reach out to one person you trust. Let yourself be seen. Love often flows in places where we are willing to be vulnerable.

4. Love in Action: Serving Others

One of love’s miracles is that it grows as we give it away. When we offer kindness – a meal to a neighbor, a smile to a stranger, or time to someone in need – we open a channel where love circulates freely, and that energy comes back to us, often multiplied.

This reciprocity is deeply healing. Serving others takes us out of our own pain and connects us to something greater than ourselves.

5. Integrating Love into Healing Practices

Whether you meditate, practice yoga, receive sound healing, or simply spend time in nature – infuse love into the process.

• In yoga: dedicate your practice to someone you care about.

• In meditation: visualize your body bathed in warm, golden light.

• In daily life: bless your food, your home, and the people you encounter.

Love doesn’t need a special occasion – it thrives in the everyday moments we choose to infuse with meaning.

Healing with love is not about ignoring pain or pretending everything is perfect. It’s about creating a fertile space inside yourself where light can reach the shadow. It’s the gentle hand that says: “I see you, I accept you, and I am here.”

Love is not just part of the healing process – it is the healing process. And the best part? It’s always within your reach.