Coming back into the body: an interview with Vlada de Sousa

Bliss Body Journeys’ Founder discusses healing and their new program “Divine Body”

Vlada de Sousa has founded Bliss Body Journeys in 2016 and since then has been facilitating boutique meditation retreats all around the world. Running a retreat center in Hong Kong since 2020, Bliss Body Journeys is adding up a deep spiritual aspect to yoga retreats and the wellness scene in the city. ?

Hong Kong is a very intense city, whose hectic pace might be very overwhelming. How does it affect the citizens? ??

Hong Kong is a place where things need to happen really fast. In this high-speed rhythm, people feel like they are in a race where they must go faster and faster every time. We are kind of programmed to do always more, getting more and being more.?

In the longer run, this becomes a costing experience, when you always need to be the best at everything, always striving and performing. We need to liberate ourselves, so we can really start to land in our bodies and reconnect with our inner selves. ?

Especially after going through this last challenging winter, with lockdowns and uncertainty, in which there was an experience of fear in the air. A lot of people were?feeling suppressed and trapped in one place. So, now is the perfect time to expand and overcome this energy of stuckness.?

But how can we do that, how can we liberate ourselves? ?

Everything we experience gets imprinted in the physical body, so, with time, it may become a posture, a repetitive movement, or chronic pain. We must observe how our body reacts and responds to these unnatural and unusual dynamics, such as a lockdown. ?

Practices like breathwork can start to liberate people from?blocks in the depth of their being. Breath is the access to our soul, and we really need to breathe it out, moving the low energies?out and letting it all go. ?

Only when we find our way back to our bodies we can begin the healing process, recovering our energy and regaining that sense of freedom. And we start reconnecting with the idea that our being is actually a free being. This is exactly what a healing retreat is about: creating the atmosphere and giving structure to this process to happen.??

And how does a?healing retreat work? Why is it different from other meditation and yoga retreats??

A retreat?is in itself very healing. Because when you get into that safe space in which you don’t have to worry about anything or plan your day ahead, you start having extra time and space just for yourself. ?

When you do it for a few days in a row, that really allows the mind to rest. And for modern human beings, the notion of rest for the mind is extremely rare, I would even say it is a luxurious experience. Stillness and silence have become a relic.?

But a true healing retreat must, first of all, be settled in an organic environment, allowing people to replenish amongst nature. And is not a one-day experience. It is a full program that, from the beginning to the end, consists of practices that continuously takes you further and further into your healing process. ?

“Divine Body” which is the new program I designed for Bliss Body Journeys is a deep healing retreat. Packed with breathwork, yoga nidra, and vibrational therapy, focusing a lot in changing people’s energy.?

So a healing retreat is one that is specially planned to recover people’s vibration, helping guests to gently seed new energy into their life. In “Divine Body”, each day carries?an energetic shift, and by the fourth day, you can actually feel the difference. ?

Bliss Body Journeys has been setting the bar high when it comes to meditation and yoga retreats in Hong Kong. We could say this new program follows this rule, then? ?

“Divine Body” is a beautiful journey into a renewal of energy, it has a whole spiritual aspect to it and is very well thought through. Everything has an intention behind it. I think this is the perfect time to release this new program because we know how much healing is needed now.?

There′s a new and fresh feeling coming into our lives. We want to experience life again. We want to be free again. No better time to start peeling off the old and embracing the new possibilities ahead.?

When you really get in tune with yourself and you balance your energy, the answers to all the questions that bother you will simply pop up. “Divine Body” helps you with that, making you experience clarity in a whole new way. ?

By immersing yourself in nature and being open to the idea of nothingness, everything starts to flow naturally and you will be able to go through life in a beautiful and organic way.?

We must consciously choose to take care of ourselves, and healing our energy is the ultimate self-care. ?

What would you say makes this program so different from others???

What I find very unique about “Divine Body” is actually the middays wellness and spiritual lectures. In these sessions, we explore a little bit of Yoga theory and bring up the why of everything.?

Why do we have this kind of experiences? Why do we get anxious? Or why do we close up and are not able to be vulnerable again? How do we maintain sanity when the world is really going a little bit insane??

In these deep conversations, we provide our guests with tools so they can remain?in their inner freedom and own bliss and joy. This coaching part is a very big additional aspect of the program. Because then you don’t simply do your practice, you get into the roots of it, and that is what makes the difference afterward. ?

When we understand things and how we feel, and how to work from the body-mind energy perspective, that is when we get the tools to go through everything more empowered. ?

Any final words to our readers??

At Bliss Body Journeys, we plan and schedule our programs in a meticulously thought way. So for those who wish to experience a deep and transformational journey, my advice is that they need to let themselves be held, trusting?that the process itself will take them to where they want to be. ?

As we said, Hong Kong is an action-oriented city but true healing often happens when you don't do anything. Literally. It happens in between practices when you stop awhile and your system gets to digest and integrate the healing inside of you.?

But you must be willing to go through it. We take the immersive aspect very seriously, so we don't use digital devices and expect everyone to be fully present, only then you can?actually feel the impact.?

We can see people really rested, restored, rejuvenated, empowered, and full of joy. That can only happen when we let go of our phones and deeply enjoy the process and the container.?

Vlada de Sousa has been working as?a meditation teacher, energy healer, and spiritual mentor, supporting people all over the world to transform their lives on all different levels. The?new program she designed for her brand?Bliss Body Journeys is being launched this May in Hong Kong. You may learn more about it here:?https://blissbodyjourneys.com/divine-body/