We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicola Ranson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicola below.
Nicola, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
I have had an auto-immune disorder (ulcerative colitis) since I was 10 and was told I could never lead a normal life. This made me determined to thwart the doctors and have as full and healthy a life as possible. As stress significantly impacts my health, I was motivated to address my own anxiety and learn all I could about relaxation which has greatly influenced my professional life.
My spiritual journey (along with a fascination for psychology) led me to join a cult that offered what was considered cutting edge therapy in the 70s. Now many of these practices have been proven harmful. Although I got a great deal from my 10 years of cult involvement, many suffered and significant corruption and criminal acts were revealed when the movement imploded. Recovering from this and putting my life back together, essentially starting over in my 40s, led me to become a psychotherapist with a good understanding of how coercive control can influence what we believe to be reality.
Nicola, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have spent many years working with trauma using Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing model which teaches how the keys to psychological healing reside inside us in a very literal way – inside own bodies and nervous systems. Accessing our inner wisdom can help us to process the traumatic things that have happened to us and navigate life’s stressors. But we don’t do this alone – we need other humans or our beloved pets or the natural beauty around us because fundamentally we are all part of nature. This makes me intrinsically optimistic. Healing can be very close at hand. I also believe in the power of kindness even in face of – or sometimes because of – this crazy world. I am semi-retired, and as I reduce my one-on-one counseling I am motivated to pass on what I have learned through my writing. I am most excited about the upcoming release of my memoir (Unsolicited Press, 2026), “A Slice of Orange – loving and leaving the Osho/Rajneesh cult”. Sharing my story enables people to see how indoctrination impacts all of us. When I have been on podcasts, listeners have told me they found it healing to hear me talking about my experiences. I think that’s because I allow myself to be vulnerable. Plus my work as a therapist has taught me a lot about the complexity of human experience, especially that mystery known as love. We can all love someone who turns out to be different from what we thought initially. In my case it was a guru. By embracing both the good and the bad of our past experiences we can integrate them and move on to our futures.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
During Covid I was dealing with anal cancer which put me in hospital several times plus seven months in bed. That was one of the most painful and frightening experiences of my life. But it helped a great deal to be able to draw on my therapy training and realize that, while a lot was out of my control, fear was something that I had some control over, and that it was imperative to address it as my life depended on it. I used every somatic and meditative technique I had, and with the support of a loving village – albeit at a lockdown distance – and a wonderful partner, I was able to come back. This experience gave me even more respect for those experiencing debilitating anxiety and illness than I had before, and also a great appreciation for the medical system as well as the subtle alternative healing modalities that exist. Nature itself was helpful as I sensed the life force of the plants outside my window and that encouraged me to align with that same force within my own body. This experience taught me the resilience of the human body – I had to relearn how to walk, at first around the room, then to the mailbox and beyond. Yes we are delicate and fragile – but also resilient and as long as we are here and alive there is hope.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
My high school yearbook gave my career goal as writing about psychology. Funny how that has come to be. My path has been varied as I have gone from a drama therapist to taking years out to be in a spiritual cult, then I became a social worker, university lecturer and psychotherapist, and now I am writing about much that I have learned. I’ve always been interested in stress and anxiety and how to help ourselves to heal. Trauma as a specialty came later when I asked myself where psychotherapy could make the biggest impact and I saw that stopping the cycle of perpetuating trauma and healing ourselves makes an enormous difference to our children and all the people we touch everyday. I could have used more encouragement for my writing early on, but I still wrote when I could. If you have to pay the rent writing isn’t the first job choice. I believe that my career in psychotherapy, which has involved speaking from my heart and listening to my clients, has made me a better writer in the end. And it is exciting to be starting a new career as an author in my 70s!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nicolaranson.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicranson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicolaRansonwriter
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teaempathy/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicola_ranson
Image Credits
Ken Kebow/Don Kelsen/Ron Ranson