~Paulina Kulikowska

Poland

What is your Project/organization you are working on/with?

The project I’ve been working on for many years is called, Yoga of love, It’s a connected combination of yoga/bodywork practices, with psychology, energy work within one therapeutic approach. I teach yoga, I am also a psychotherapist, and mix it into one practice. I work with young children, to the elderly. This is my passion. I have connected all the things I am interested in and combined it into holistic healing. It’s very unique and adaptable to everyone.

What was your inspiration?

I started on this path after going through a clinical depression for 2 years when I was 16. I went to Columbia and worked with a shaman, this didn’t ‘cure’ my depression but opened me up to different ways of working through that stuff. It worked and I felt a little lost, I discovered I had this calling to work with people. This is what I knew. When I came back to Poland, I started practicing Yoga and it really helped to ground me.

What challenges have you faced?

The first challenge was overcoming a financial challenge as I wasn’t considering it as a business and to be honest, I still don’t. I learned that there has to be an exchange of energy and in this case money because I found myself in a situation where I didn’t have enough (money) to sustain myself to pay for rent, pay for bills and even buy food for myself… It was pretty dramatic. I thought this wasn’t meant to be, so I quit and left Poland and went on a trip. I was still doing my work(for free still), and everyone was telling me that I should be doing my work (getting paid for it) and that I have a gift. So I went back to Poland and gave it another try. “Something clicked. Suddenly I started earning a lot of money”.

When I started earning more money, it led me to my next challenge, lack of balance. Of course, this is my passion so I wasn’t having any boundaries between my personal and professional life. Because when your passion becomes your profession everything becomes integrated. I had to learn to stop and slow down because I was exhausting myself. The lesson I learned was not to quit when I am feeling burnt out yet “stop, rest and rejuvenate and take care of myself as well then come back with new energy”.

The other challenge was my parents didn’t believe in me because what I am doing is so out of the box. And friends being scared of what I was doing. So I faced social rejection. It taught me to be consistent with what I am doing, and also resilience. Through my heartbreak of friendships, I then found beautiful people that are now in my life.

What you have found to be your best resources?

Some people were supporting me. My mum came to my class and actually said that this is what I should be doing. A social network that believed in me when I had doubts. The other one is resilience and faith in what I am teaching. I don’t advertise as such but the word of mouth and social media have definitely been huge factors that have helped me.

What advice do you have for your peers?

To keep it up, remember to keep loving yourself along the way. This is the most important thing. The way we love ourselves sets a standard for how others trust us and is why I think it is so important when we are trying to get where we want to be. Another aspect is taking care of things that drain your energy. Our attention is limited, so if we focus on loving ourselves we become a rocket. If not, we are more like a four-wheel-drive trying to pull many things.

Do you have any future projects or ideas?

I will be growing it more on the internet. There will be two channels: one connected with yoga content on Yoga of Love. And second, creating Vlogs on my blog paulight.com connected with traveling and conscious lifestyle — as colder part of the year I am traveling.

In “real life” I am organizing yoga retreats and facilitating yoga and energy work workshops all over the world.
The newest project is Healing Academy, where I will be teaching and accrediting people, who want to learn how to work with holistic methods of healing.

Want to connect with Paulina?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yogaoflove.eu
Instagram: @yoga.of.love & @paulight.com