Shownotes
Can you find calm when life has taken almost everything away? This episode of Inner Peace, Better Health is for anyone carrying constant tension or overthinking, and struggling to slow down even when they know they need to.
Healer and master coach Xenia Ioannidis shares how faith and a sense of purpose kept her grounded through a devastating season, and offers a simple five-line intention practice for morning and night.
About the Guest:
Xenia Ioannidis is a healer and master coach who has run healing and teaching practices since 2007, including the HyperTherapy Center. Now based in Miami, she writes the Crowned in Faith series of children's books.
Key Takeaways:
- Inner peace doesn't mean a stress-free life. Challenges will still come.
- Much anxiety is fear of the unknown. Trusting yourself, and for Xenia, faith, brings calm.
- A short intention practice in bed, morning and night, sets the tone.
- When you lose your balance, don't isolate. Helping others moves you into solution mode.
- Keep a list of simple, free resets: a walk, a shower, music, tending plants.
Connect With the Guest:
Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G43L1C5D
YouTube: search Crowned in Faith series
HyperTherapy Center: https://ekremes.com
Episode Chapters (approx.):
[00:00] The Pause Between Breaths - an opening on slowing down enough to listen
[01:30] Meet Xenia Ioannidis - healing work, loss, and a calling to write
[07:00] What Inner Peace Isn't - why a stress-free life isn't the goal
[10:00] Why We Can't Slow Down - fear of the unknown and learning to trust
[13:00] A Five-Line Practice - setting your intention morning and night
[18:00] When You Lose Your Balance - service, solutions, and not isolating
[20:30] Your Calm Toolkit - rituals, walks, showers, and small resets
🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?
Send me a direct message on PodMatch.
👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik
🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️
Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.
👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.
Refer a Guest
Know someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.
Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast
📬 Contact & Links
Brand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️
Based in: India & USA
📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their own statements.
If you have concerns about any content, please contact us here
By listening, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer in full. Read detailed disclaimer here.
#podmatch #healthymindbyavik #podhub.club #innerpeacebetterhealth #innerpeace #findingcalm #stressrelief #mindbodyconnection #faith #intention #morningritual #resilience #selfcare #mentalhealthpodcast #personalgrowth
Transcripts
00:00:09 Swati: There is this tiny moment between breathing in and breathing out, where for a second, nothing else really matters. No to do list. No thinking about tomorrow. Just a pause. But most of us move right past it. We are thinking about the next thing, the next meeting, the next responsibility. And sometimes our bodies are telling us to slow down before we even realize we need to. So today I want to talk about that voice, about what happens when we actually start paying attention to it, and how finding a little more calm inside us can affect the way we feel physically, too. Welcome, dear listeners, to inner Peace. Better health. I am Swathi, and this is a space where we talk about the connection between the mind and the body, and what it actually looks like to take care of both in everyday life. Joining me today is Xenia Ioannidis, senior. It's really lovely to have you here Swathi.
00:01:18 Xenia Ioannidis: Thank you so, so much for inviting me and my hellos and my well wishes to all your listeners.
00:01:26 Swati: Thank you so much for joining us. So before we get started, I would love for you to introduce yourself to everyone listening and tell us a little about what you do and what brought you to this work.
00:01:40 Xenia Ioannidis: Okay. That's a very big question. Okay, so I am a healer and master coach of, um, the Real Change Academy. And I also have the Hyper therapy center. Okay. There's two different, um, uh, centers. One is a teaching modality. The other one is a healing modality. So. I have been doing that since two thousand and seven in March. So we're closing in on almost twenty years with it. Okay. So it's nineteen and a half years that I've been doing that. Before that I was a creative director. I studied at hotel, uh, I studied hotel and food management at Boston University on a scholarship. I worked full time while I was doing that. And when I graduated, after having all these years of experience in food and hospitality industry, I decided that I wanted something a little bit more creative. So I went into graphic design and I was very successful as a graphic designer until, um. Until the market crashed and I couldn't get a job in that anymore. But it was okay because I had already set up my healing work and that kind of went seamlessly. So that's who I was. And I was very successful in my healing practice and my teaching practice. I traveled the world to learn from the best names in the industry, and I also traveled the world to teach my own seminars. So I had a very good life. And then Covid came. And, you know, I was living in Greece at the time Covid came and sort of destroyed everything I built. And Greece had had a lot of problems for the past fifteen years. And then Covid came and pretty much finished everything else. And by twenty twenty three, I knew I couldn't stay in Greece anymore because I had diminished all my savings. I had used them up. So I decided to move back to the States and, um, I decided to come to Miami. Now, Miami is a very hard town and you must be bilingual to be here. You have to speak Spanish, otherwise you probably won't get a job. There's such a huge Spanish. Population here, so I didn't know that. And I got stuck here. And after two years of trying to get a job and not being able to support myself, I ended up in a homeless shelter. And I was there for four and a half months. And during that time, as you can imagine, being a successful entrepreneur and teacher and traveling the world and doing all these things, you know, running for office, running for Greek Parliament in Europe, Parliament, and all these other accomplishments where I had status and I had respect and I had experience and credentials. I moved here and now I'm in a homeless shelter. So I was so devastated that I couldn't take care of myself. And during that time, my church gifted me a prayer chaplaincy training, which was all about Christ consciousness. Now, I had taught Christ consciousness to adults, you know, in my healing practice. But when I when the training was finished, the coordinator asked, and I think what you can do with this training. And in that moment, I thought this would be a good book for children. Do you know what I mean about Christ consciousness? And I immediately got so excited over it. I started writing the book. And I thought I was going to write one book about Christ consciousness. And as it turns out, because I had done so much healing work and because I've done so much babysitting, I wanted to put practical solutions and examples into the book. So the one book turned to twelve books. As you can imagine. So the twelve principles of Christ consciousness. And this is the first book. I know there's a light Christ consciousness. Okay. So in the back you could see that there's the twelve principles of Christ consciousness. And those are faith, strength, wisdom, love, power, imagination, understanding, will, order, zeal, elimination, and life. So now I'm thinking, hey, we gotta do twelve books. Okay. So that's how it all started. And then, of course, as I was writing the books and trying to make it very approachable to kids, I said, well, kids love coloring. Why don't I create a coloring book? And then, of course, when you're babysitting and you're reading stories, you know that kids have a lot of questions. So I know that the parents also need to be able to answer these questions. So I decided that I was going to create a coloring book. And here is that. So this has sixty six questions and sixty six coloring pages. So this is what it looks inside. So if you read the book, you can answer the you can answer the questions. And then I said, you know, what else do kids really love other than coloring other than asking questions and story time? They love music. So I created a song for each of the books. So now we have this epic production of twenty five books, twenty four books, like both the, you know, the each for the each principle of Christ consciousness and then twelve songs. So that's where we're at now.
00:08:00 Swati: Thank you for sharing that. Uh, and I think this is such a good conversation to have because we all want to, you know, feel calmer, but actually getting there can be a very different story. So let's start with that. So when you say inner peace, what do you think people often get wrong about it? Because I think a lot of us imagine that it begins. It means having a completely quiet life or somehow never feeling stressed.
00:08:35 Xenia Ioannidis: Well, that's hard to do. Okay, so I imagine some people are able to, um, achieve that level of calmness, but it also has to do with their temperament. Some people are more inclined to have that inner calmness, but life is what it is. And challenges do come up. And there's no way possible that somebody might not feel stressed. However, faith as the first principle of Christ consciousness, and this is where it gets really interesting. Faith makes you calm. It regulates your emotions. And this is very important because as I was writing the first book and remember, I was in a shelter at the time, a homeless shelter, and that's a very, very volatile environment because there's twenty four women in one room, you know, bunk beds. It's, you know, um, some of them are very nice and just find themselves in unfortunate situations. Others have been on the street and now their shelter, and that means they are very disturbed or they have or children. So this environment is like crazy. And I was focusing on writing this book. I had such unbreakable focus. I couldn't wake up in the morning, go to the library and sit down and write my book. So, and as I was contemplating each problem that would arise, I would come back to the idea that I just have to have more now, obviously before. But this actually turned out to be a deeper level in the sense that as I was writing the book constantly, this issue would come up and Constantly. I had to make a choice to have faith, and in that process, I became calm because I had this mission and I had this calling that I was working on, because I could have easily ignored that question that the coordinator said, you know, I could have just prayed for people, which is, you know, you listen, you sit with them, you pray for them, you don't solve any problems. Now, in my healing work, I do exactly the opposite. Yes, I listen, but I also solve problems and help them solve problems. So this was a far calmer situation and not, um, not a, not a, you know, a simpler relationship, let's put it that way. So to me, having faith and calling, obviously, actually creates peace because A you're so focused on doing whatever it is you need to do that. You don't pay attention to that. Or the other things don't bother you because you're so absorbed in this and this is so important to you, and you're so passionate and enthusiastic about it that whatever's happening, you're like, okay, whatever. Let them be. I don't care. I'm not interested in that. I'm not going to participate. So you detach.
00:12:14 Swati: And senior, I have seen a lot of people, you know, look completely fine on the outside, but inside there is this constant tension, like worrying, overthinking, feeling exhausted. So why do you think it's so difficult for people to actually slow down, even when they know they need to.
00:12:38 Xenia Ioannidis: That's a very good question. Well, here's the key. As I was writing the books, I realized that if you tried to manage your life and you try to do everything with sheer willpower, it does get difficult. You know what's going to happen or you focus on the past, what you did that you could have done differently. So it's all this anxiety over making mistakes. What's going to happen? AM I going to have to? AM. AM I going to be able to deal with whatever comes my way. So it's fear of the unknown, really. Okay. So if you have fear of the unknown, that means you don't trust yourself in the moment that you're going to do the right thing or the right choice, or whatever it is that you think you need to do. So it's all about having trust in yourself. Okay. The key. So the idea is faith actually gives you that calmness because. Now I'm in a situation where I don't worry about it because I said, well, God, you brought me here. I'm sure you're going to help me get through whatever it is, because writing the book is challenging in itself. Because, you know, if you're a first time writer and you start with an epic production, that's very stressful because there's so much more to learn. But I said to myself, you know what? If things don't work out for me now, like I think I see something and it's not working out for me. Um, it turns out a little bit later I find a way to solve that problem with much less money. So there it is. You know what I mean? If we become attached to the idea of how we want things to progress and how we want them to develop, we'll get anxious. But if we allow ourselves to be guided by God and say, I have faith that God will proceed in the manner that needs to happen, and the steps will be done in X, Y, z fashion as they will unfold. When you have that inner peace that this is what's going to happen, then you just do whatever it is you have to do on the day to day basis. Okay. So to me, podcasting might be the best thing for it now. And this is the door that opened and God has opened that door for me. Because at the right moment, I mean, I, I found this avenue to do it. So. That to me says something because now I'm creating the content that I need to create in order to market my work. So it's a process and it unfolds and I trust the process.
00:16:09 Swati: I think that's something so many people can relate to. So if someone listening wants to build more calm into their everyday life, where would you tell them to start? Like, is there one habit? Or we can say practice that is simple enough to actually stick with?
00:16:30 Xenia Ioannidis: Well, gee, that's very sweet of you, because, see, what happens was I, I gave advice to my clients to do a small meditation, and I will tell you what that meditation is. It's five lines. And I can tell you what that meditation is, and it really sets the intention for the day. So I say to them, when you wake up in the morning before you get out of bed, do this tiny meditation because you already are relaxed, you're already, you know, you're in that mode, you're not really fully awake and going and moving, and your mind is not really, you know, speeding up. So the meditation goes something like this. You take a breath and you say, I and state your name. I'm sorry. I apologize for that. Okay. Master and commander. And I've worked together with God. Obviously, this meditation, it's, um, people can, can actually, um. They can, they want. Right. I say the father and I are one and we're working together as a team. But you could use, um, you could use God if you want, or you can use Christ or whatever it is that you, um, you need to use. So. Sorry. Okay. So the father and I are one and we're working together as a team. I am master, I am master and commander of this body, mind and spirit, now and forever. Three. I let go gently. Everything and anything that no longer suits me and is not in harmony with me. Four. Every day, in every way, I am open to higher guidance for my ultimate benefit on all levels. And five. It is true. It is done. Amen. So these are five lines. And the first line. Please verify that the father and I are one, and we're working together as a team. That sets your intention of how you want to be. In other words, you say Me and God are now together as a team. And when you make that announcement, you're connecting with God. And then when you say I. And state your full name, you create a presence, you start grounding yourself. And you're saying a master command of this body, mind and spirit, now and forever. What you're saying is you take ownership of who you are and what you do. And when you say the third sentence, which is, I let go of everything and anything that no longer suits me in reality, you just release, you detoxify your system, you release anything that is, you know, you give authority, you give, um, you give, um, permission for anything and everything to leave you because a lot of people, they hold on to these past things, whatever they were. But the idea is you must detoxify your system of everything that no longer serves you. You must always be as light as possible. And then number four, when you say that you open to higher guidance for your ultimate benefit, you don't just want one good thing. You want all the good things you want. Be guided in your journey about everything in your life. You don't want just, you know, one thing. You want everything. So and then you close with industry. It is done because the universe. Right. Or as a prayer right loves when you are definite about what you are saying. In other words, when you say I, it is done. You know, you basically said, okay, this is it. I've asked for things. It is done. I'm out. So then you get up. Now it seems like a complicated thing, but it's not. It's five little sentences. And once you say them a few times, you learn them. And then of course you do the same when you go to bed. Because during the time of your sleep, your your brain is still working. There's all kinds of things that happen to you while you're sleeping. Your organs are functioning, they're detoxifying, they're taking turns. Your body, you know, so and of course you drink. So you definitely want to set your intention about how your life should be. And this little tiny meditation that takes 30s really no more than a minute, right? To breathe in and say these things in the beginning, at the end of the day, sets your intention and really gets you. Because it's a little prayer or it's a little meditation. It's, it's, you know, but it's very important because it grounds you, it sets your intention. And then it reminds you a, you must let go of all negative things and you must be open to guidance on all positive. And when you do that, and I have instructed my students to do that and my clients and when they've done it after thirty days, they're a different person. Because you have an intentionality in what you do. And that intentionality is really where it all boils down to. Because see, what happens is you can be anxious and you can be struggling. But the idea is if you know where your path is, this is how I intend to be. You're like a thermostat. You control the temperature of where you're going to be. Because you keep reminding yourself and you keep making this invocation that this is where you want to be. Now, obviously, prayers are good. Other kinds of meditations are good, but I always found that the small, small, small, tiny practice that anyone can do because you always going to be first thing in the morning, you're going to be in your bed. You know, you're always going to find yourself there and you're always going to go to bed. So you're always going to find yourself. So and now it's automatic. The moment I wake up, I just roll over and I do it. And then when I go to bed, the moment my head hits the pillow, I already started. So. And it settles the day. It settles the day. So I don't have these anxious sleep patterns. You know what I mean? I sort of decide this is how I'm going to be. So you want to become and having a peace throughout the day, day and night. So that's what I found to be the most helpful and the easiest to do for both my clients and my students and myself, of course.
00:23:56 Swati: Yeah. I think starting small is probably the key. If it feels like, you know, another huge responsibility, we are probably not going to keep doing it.
00:24:08 Xenia Ioannidis: Exactly right. Right.
00:24:10 Swati: Something simple. Yeah. That's into our casual, like our casual lives or we can say actual lives has a much more chances of becoming part of us. And then senior, of course, life happens. You might be doing really well for a while, and then work gets crazy. Something happens at home and suddenly you are back to old habits. So what do you suggest people do when they realize they have lost that sense of balance?
00:24:46 Xenia Ioannidis: I always find that being in service to others really unravels that situation because, see, here's what happens. I had a very good life and I was who I was, and I had all that other stuff. And I came here and I put myself in a cave, and I didn't really have any of those things because people didn't know me. I was a nobody here. So I started from scratch. And when you sit with yourself all the time, and you're overthinking about everything and worrying about everything, because that's when it all goes crazy. But when you put yourself out there, do not isolate. When you put yourself out there and find a cause that's really important to you and go and do it right. In other words, just the sheer fact of praying for others. You know what I mean? It could be anything. It could be anything. And you, you know, maybe you like dolphins. Go out and do something about the dolphins. You know, it doesn't matter. You could, you know, save the bees or whatever it is that you consider important when you go out and you apply that and you create a meaningful life and, and that, you know, getting away from yourself, not focusing so much on yourself, but rather go out there. Yes, ask for help, but also offer help because The moment you start engaging with something else and you stop thinking about yourself all the time, things will come to you. Guidance will be provided because now you're in a solution mode. You're going out to help something and they have a problem. And there's a solution that's being handled and they have a process. And now you're going into the solution mode and that's where you need to be. You need to be somewhere where there's solutions to problems because that's going to regenerate stuff in you.
00:26:57 Swati: So when you notice that happening in your own life, is there something you come back to that helps you find your way back?
00:27:09 Xenia Ioannidis: Well, for me, gardening, Music, walking in the in the in nature. You know, different things, the very common things. Sometimes all you need is a shower. Do you know what I mean? Just to calm yourself down and wash the day away. Uh, there's so many things. Or like, I like to set the table and, you know, create a plate that is attractive and, you know, sit down and eat and just, um, it's important to have rituals. Like it's important to have discipline because what happens is the day, like if you get up whenever and if you, um, you know, your day is like haphazard, uh, have a routine, you know, get up at a certain time, even though you have nothing to get up at a certain time, go through the mourning process, have your meal, whatever it is you're going to do, and, you know, take a walk outside. When I was in Greece and I had a problem, I would, you know, I lived near the Marina. So I would take a walk around the Marina and I would come back and that would be fine. You know, it always helped that little walk. But you could. You could walk anywhere. Do you know what I mean? Just take a walk. And, um. And inner peace is something that we work at. It's not, you know, it's something that it's like food. You always have to eat, you know what I mean? You always have to eat food. You always have to work on your inner peace. And I'm, I'm, you know, I've accepted it that, uh, sometimes the day's going to get away from me, and I have to bring myself back to base. And you have to have a strategy. You have to have a strategy about what gives you peace. Okay. To me, relaxing, sitting from my computer, listening to some podcast or some, um, something, you know, it calms me. Learning something new. It calms me, you know? So that's how I find peace. But everybody's different. But the important thing is to have a ritual. Know what keeps you calm, and choose what I always say to my students and my there's things you can do that take time and money. And then there's things you can do that take absolutely no time and money. And, you know, taking a shower, it takes no time and money. Do you know what I mean? Like very little or listening to music, just put the music on or whatever it is. So you have to make a combination of these things. You know, you can take a vacation that takes time and money and it takes planning, but you can also take a walk that takes little time and no money. Do you know what I mean? So it's you have to have a tool set of inner calm, uh, you know, activities that you could do, but. To me. Some people are more calm than others. That's their temperament. And if you're a person that has is high strung, go, go, go all the time. You have to have more tools that keep you down. You know what I mean? And for some people, a fifteen minute nap or half an hour nap is really helpful. Whatever it is for you. Okay. Accept who you are. Accept who you are. If you're high strung, just. Do the things that really help you. But everybody's got, you know, trial and error. You already know what you can do. And you can make a list of. And you can look it up when you're anxious, you can have it on your refrigerator and say, okay, from all these things that I could do, now, what is the easiest thing for me to do? And choose the easiest. You know, because I lived in apartments and I had a few, uh, pots and pans outside the little balcony. We had like one meter balcony. It was just one meter by four meters. So it's not a big balcony, but going out there and messing around with the plants, that helped me, you know, taking the dry leaves out or whatever. It was a ritual. I would just go there and do that for a few minutes and then I'll be fine. And again, like I said.
00:31:40 Swati: I really like that because, you know, it takes away the pressure to get it right all the time. And maybe the point is not to, you know, stay calm every single day. Maybe it's learning how to come back when we lose that calm.
00:31:59 Xenia Ioannidis: I think that's the key. That's the key because a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves. I need to become all the time. Okay. Stop that. You know? You know, I mean, if something bad happened to you today and you decide, you know, it was a day that a lot of unsettling things happen, you're going to be unsettled. That's it, I accept, I accept my day was unsettling. I wasn't settled, but now I'm going to do this and, you know, just slide into that. And, you know, I always find that if you just accept that, you're not going to get it one hundred percent all the time. But now that you're in a mode that can, I'm going to go and relax myself and allow yourself to have these disparities and, um, and say, you know what? It was, what it was. That's it. I'll do better next time, you know, and that's it. Because there's just too much going on and you need to be able to just let it go.
00:33:13 Swati: Inner peace is not a destination. It's those small moments when we pause, check in with ourselves and come back. Say, thank you so much for this conversation.
00:33:25 Xenia Ioannidis: Thank you so very much for inviting me. And too bad we didn't have a chance to listen to one of my songs. But maybe next time.
00:33:34 Swati: Yeah. So for sure. So if people want to learn more about your work or continuous conversation with you, where can they find you?
00:33:42 Xenia Ioannidis: That's a very good question. They can find my books on Amazon. Just look for crowned in Faith. Obviously they can look up my name. Okay. Uh, Crown and Faith series on YouTube. That's the handle. That's they'll get the the songs and pretty soon real change Academy dot com is where they're going to find everything.
00:34:05 Swati: Thank you once again. And to everyone listening, I hope you take one small thing from today's conversation. Maybe it's simply remembering to pause, to breathe, to notice what your mind and body are telling you. You don't have to change everything at once. Sometimes taking care of yourself begins with something as simple as slowing down enough to listen. I am Swathi, and this has been inner peace. BetterHelp. Until next time, be gentle with yourself.
