We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mai-Anh Nguyen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mai-Anh below.

Alright, Mai-Anh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I got my first job in the wellness field by asking for and leaning on the magnanimity and trust of others. I knew I wanted to build a wellness-centered business that supported mental and emotional well-being by holding space and making self-work approachable and fun. Austin is known for that, but healing arts and hypnosis are still considered non-conventional and fairly fringe in Houston. Houston deserves a loving, giving, and empowering place to be its most authentic self. It deserves a home for community and belonging. I was building something completely new and in an area where I was still learning so much.

The name “auraura house” came after I went to Sweden with my husband on sabbatical, and got to see the northern lights for the first time. That experience was my sign that wellness and returning to the self was the work I needed to do and the work I could support others through. auraura house is about tapping into life’s magic and finding wholeness and belonging in that. I built the website, designed a few classes, jumpstarted the instagram, and began to silently plan in my office.

One day, I mustered the courage to tell my acupuncturist what I was up to, and was met with such warm encouragement. She not only gave me a studio to host my workshops. She also gave me the nerve to continue putting auraura house out there, and to find the humility to ask others to support me by coming to my first workshops–to experience what I was up to.

That vulnerability was met with such generosity and compassion. Friends, employees, co-workers, and family came pouring in–filling every seat, bringing friends to experience our i’mperfect workshop on kintsugi and self-acceptance. It was so touching to see and feel that response from them and to feel that love for me and also for what I was doing. What is so amazing is that I am surrounded, every day, by wonderful, amazing, kind people who believe in bettering themselves. They lean in where it’s scary. They don’t shy away. They are wonderfully brave and unfailingly kind. I couldn’t dream up better clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My work in hypnosis began with getting fired from the job I was sure I would retire from. I worked in Leadership and Team development for a Fortune 500 company for almost 8 years before I found out the disappointing truth about Corporate America–you might establish a sense of “family” with the people you work with, but the company is another entity entirely. I had worked tirelessly there–even through the loss of two grandparents and a miscarriage. There was that instant regret of not being more protective of that time with them or myself. As someone who had always identified myself by what I do–I was a paper napkin in a hurricane.

As luck would have it, I had already planned a getaway in Austin where I unwittingly signed up for a session with a hypnotherapist who helped me recognize my own unaddressed grief and heal myself in the process. At this very same retreat, I befriended a hypnotherapist who furthered that work with me by cheering me on and encouraging me to lean into my “natural gift” with words. She guided me to some notable institutions that taught Hypnotherapy as a discipline and profession. I ultimately enrolled in and studied with the Hypnotherapy Academy of America.

School with the instructors of HAA deepened my own spiritual work and healing. I got to experience the power of hypnosis and caring, professional hypnotherapists first-hand. We worked on the miscarriage, and I discovered self-compassion for the first time in my life. After months of practice, I was board-certified, and went out in search of my first hypnosis client…in TEXAS. Seek and you find: my first hypnosis client was a beautiful, whip-smart young woman who wanted to work on feeling good enough to deserve love. She had been referred by a very good friend.

She took to hypnosis like a fish to water, responding to relaxation techniques and positive healing instructions with grace and ease. Listening and being present with whatever emerged allowed her the space to process, learn, and come into her own power. As she transformed, so was I. I learned patience and listening at a level I was not accustomed to practicing. I had been known all my life as unapproachable, unforgiving, and impatient. And here, I somehow was recognized for the exact opposite.

As I deepen my practice and my growth, I continue to offer group wellness workshops to invite more to self-explore, to nurture their own growth by going inwards, and practice acceptance and kindness to themselves and others. There is nothing more fulfilling or rewarding than witnessing another’s transformation–become their strongest ally and best advocate.

A majority of the work I have been asked to support has been around self-esteem, confidence, alignment in life, processing emotional trauma, past life regression, developing healthy habits, accelerated healing and goal achievement.

What sets auraura house apart from others is the combination of meditation/hypnosis and integrative healing arts practices to create the perfect environment for collective healing. Our group work is phenomenal because our clients are phenomenal. We have built a community, and that community builds the world that folks are introduced to in their first auraura house environment. We foster safe spaces for you to explore as deeply as you are comfortable. There is care and quality in every single thing we do. We learn best when we are having fun, so we aspire to do that–make self-discovery and processing enjoyable. We heal best with others, so we built community.

Most of the work here is done by clients–they do the heavy lifting, the courageous adventuring into the [un]known. We witness and we guide. I can only be proud of work that I do. I am proud of how I show up for others and the transformative work that I’ve done on myself. I think working on yourself makes you a better healer and facilitator. You are better at holding space, at listening, at allowing others to arrive at their truths. I am proud of what I have learned, and am both honored and inspired by the grace and courage of others to keep going. I do not have children, so auraura house is my legacy. auraura house is the impact I get to make and what I get to leave behind for others to grow and transform.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

When it comes to building my reputation within my market–three things have helped the most: giving, collaboration, and trusting the process.

GIVING
Giving covers a huge territory. There is giving my all into the quality of the work–the research involved in developing the curriculum for workshops; the study, practice, and preparation for hypnosis sessions; and finding the right tools, spaces, and people to create a safe, high-quality escape for light work and shadow work.

But there’s also giving to a community and pouring in without expectation that it comes back. Our services are often ones that “you just have to experience it to understand.” It’s asking for a lot of trust, and the only way to build that is to take the first step forward. So we leaned in–who could really use what we are offering? We’ve done events for teachers, we’ve given away sessions to those experiencing financial strain, sponsored wellness offerings for individuals with other practitioners, and supported other local businesses by using their goods or inviting them to join events free of charge to help them grow their businesses.

I don’t say this to toot our horn, but to really highlight the power in giving. When you allow others to see the truth of what you’re about, they connect with that. Abundance comes with that. You’ve invited the neighborhood, and now you have the gift of a reputation that precedes you. While I did not expect it to, it has really filled the referral pipeline for us. I am so grateful.

COLLABORATION
After a few months, I learned the extent of where you can get on your own. You can do just about anything on your own, but you arrive more quickly by working with others. I have been fortunate enough to enjoy the support of other businesses, namely Mala Market and Breathe Connect Thrive–who have listened to my needs, counseled and guided me, but also referred others to experience what auraura house has to offer.

In the two months I collaborated with other local businesses, I’ve doubled my following and had more inquiries and client engagement as a result. What really makes collaboration easy is finding others who are aligned values-wise with you and what you want to be known for. They attract the clients you want to work with and close the distance in the trust gap with potential clients. As you pour into their cups, they do the same for you.

TRUSTING THE PROCESS
There is something to be said about not forcing outcomes. I had to learn the difference in the first year. It involved a lot of waiting and listening–two things I was not historically good at. When you are open to allowing things to be easy, it really does invite those most energetically aligned to you and the effect of that is exponential. Some things you have to work for–but the moment you feel the strain of needing to push or pull something–that’s when you need to let go. If you trust the process, you find the right balance, and you know when to keep going and when to release and surrender. (And none of those things are bad!)

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

When it comes to the mental and emotional well-being field, what has served me best is knowing that the person in front of you is THE subject-matter expert on themselves. I know nothing–or, at best, I know only what’s on the surface. Not one human being is responsible for fixing other human beings. We support autonomy and respect. Our responsibility is to hold space, to listen, and to ask the questions that grow our understanding but may also help them think differently, more deeply.

I’ve had to unlearn using idioms, mannerisms, as well as the need to say something, and I’ve had to fill that in with deep and genuine curiosity. There are a lot of questions, and each session is learning something (often many things) new about the individual in front of me. When someone says something, what do THEY mean by that? That openness to NOT knowing has helped me be a better human being, and has saved me from so many distasteful faux pas socially.

I was raised to believe there is one right way to do things, and if there’s anything the numerous mistakes in my life has taught me, it’s that there is always a way forward. My job is to find mine. Your job is to find yours. We can ask for the guidance or support to make it easier, but it’s our path to walk. Our truth to discover.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.auraurahouse.com
• Instagram: @auraura.house
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mai-anh-nguyen-cms-cht-fibh-b874344/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/auraura-house-houston?osq=auraura+house

Image Credits
20Six Media (@20six)