Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tina Karagulian. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Tina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

I have many stories of when I hold space for creativity or yoga, and I hear the impact it has on people’s lives. Years ago a woman attended my 8-week collage series, which normally meets for 2 hours each week, and as we introduced ourselves, she shared that she had lived through a tornado that came through her Texas town, and still was living through the trauma that came from that experience. A few weeks later, after the class ended, she looked at me and said, “I healed some of the tornado today.” To see her eyes shine and more of her creativity come back was the inspiration I had to continue to do what I do.

Another heartwarming story was a woman who came to my yoga classes because she needed help to strengthen her lungs. She had been seeing a doctor and he had recommended yoga and breath meditations. I created a custom set for her, and she also attended a 10-week breath series. Each week, she would learn the breath meditations and practice them between classes, and she said she began to regulate her breath and calm it whenever she needed to. One day she revealed that she had been to the doctor and he said to her about her lungs, “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it!”

These are the stories that keep me going. Holding space for others, offering tools to improve their lives and be empowered in their own healing, and to find their creativity–and to hear the testimonials is what warms my heart.

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

As a young artist, I found that drawing and painting were natural ways that I could enter a meditative space and nourish my heart. Since I was five, I always had a strong connection to the Spirit world, and also experienced years of healing of my own trauma. I came from an Armenian background where genocide trauma affected my family lineage. I explored holistic, therapeutic, and spiritual ways to understand my own journey and heal from my many dark nights of the soul. My desire to resolve and heal inspired me to do hold space for others. They key word is experience. I believe in experiential tools to support body, mind, and soul, and whatever I teach I invite others to test out in their own lives.

In a nutshell, I facilitate your creativity, self-love, and empowerment. Many of the patterns we learned were about codependency, over-giving, being invisible, or holding back our truths. I hold space and to listen deeply to you, offering truths that awaken your voice and empowerment, especially during times of inner transformation, awakenings, or life transitions. I collaborate with you to explore embodiment practices (inner child dialogue, yoga, body wisdom, guided meditations, creativity, and sound healing), so you can be fully present in your body and life. As a licensed counselor, I invite you to speak your truth, spark your creativity with collage, reparent your inner child with compassion, and understand your emotions. As a yoga instructor and group facilitator, I teach ways to increase mental focus and intuition, go into stillness, and include sound healing relaxation to integrate your experience. As you understand and fully accept your natural rhythms, release what is no longer you, you naturally become fully who you are and discover what brings your soul joy. Many of us need that grounding of our inner self.

Clients over the years report experiencing inner peace, increased health and vitality, connection to their inner truth, and awakened creativity within a safe and inviting space.

Some of what we may “solve” together:

• relaxing your nervous system,
•  increase your vitality and energy,
• bring clarity to the mind,
• strengthen self-love,
• integrate inner child memories,
• expressing truths long held back,
• become more curious and less reactive,
• witness triggers with compassion,
• open creativity valves that support you,
• and listen for your inner wise nuggets.

These embodiment practices bring the focus back to you, bring you back to your body’s wisdom, and connect consciously with your heart and soul. This is how I feel I am impacting the world, one person at a time. This redirection inward to self-love helps you thrive, which then naturally ripples out to relationships, families, and communities.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unravel codependent patterns that were not the real me in my life. I was being tested to be very clear if something was a fit or not, or at times when I wanted to do the right thing, yet my heart wasn’t fully into it. An example: I would reach out to someone, and I really didn’t want to do it. An old pattern was pushing me to do it anyway, yet all of me was not on board. I had to look at my behavior, my reaching out that initiated the interaction. Responding from autopilot responses is not helpful. I am talking about forcing or expending energy where it is not a fit. I unlearned that pattern and instead learned to pause first and truly ask my body and heart if that was something I really wanted to do or felt inspired to do. That pause was crucial to my refining of what to say yes to.

(Now, I am not talking about those moments when our soul nudges us to meet a hard moment or challenge that would be deeply meaningful or growing for us. Saying yes to a hard thing with our full presence would feel like a yes to our heart and soul. All of you is on board for that experience. That is different.)

The other part of my learning was to practice speaking my truth, even when I had to say no. I had to look at when my soul wanted me to be kind yet still say no, and to soften my jagged edges in how I spoke my no. I made many mistakes as I practiced using my voice, and learned that this is normal and it will feel uncomfortable for a while. Most of the time, I needed to hear that truth spoken clearly, at times firmly, and then the grace would come in how I delivered the words. I needed the experience of hearing my voice speaking up for me to hear. That was better than ignoring my truths, which is a self-betrayal. So I learned that it may be a bit jangly in the beginning as you get used to using your voice in new ways, yet it naturally smooths out over time.

I also learned that I had to share my perspective with others more. It is my responsibility, and practicing to say what is true to my inner circle of friends/family/partner builds connection. Practice scripts helped me get started: “Thank you for inviting me, yet I won’t be able to attend.” “Let me get back to you tomorrow. I need a bit of time to reflect and process that information.” “I spent time really thinking about this and feel it is just not a fit for me at this time. Thank you for wanting to collaborate with me.”

I also learned that if others, like me, shut down their voice or had other trauma responses when they were younger, learning when to pause, to find your words, and then to speak them are all important steps.

I also learned that even if my communication is smooth and firm, in the most clear way I can express it, it still may not be perceived in the way I intend if the other is not able to hear it, or if the other person is reactive. Knowing when to speak, who is intended to hear you, not taking things personally as you strengthen your communication, all take practice.

My takeaways from releasing codependency:

•  Notice if you reach out “just to be nice,” or to fill a longing inside of you
• Notice if a situation or person is a fit or not.
• Pause and tune in to what you need first.
• Practice speaking your truths, even if it is wobbly at first.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When it is time for a major move, your inner nudges get louder. For me, the messages usually come in threes. For more than three years, I knew I wanted to move to the city where I currently live, yet I had pondered and pondered the right timing. I experienced an empty nest time of my life, and my son was already in college. It was time for me to focus more on my career. I would drive back and forth to the new city, where I was in the middle of yoga training. Before class one morning, a woman from my yoga class turned to me. Her name was Joy (of course), and she said,

“Tina, during my morning meditation, I heard a message to tell you to follow your heart.”

I was blown away. From then on, I kept saying to myself,

“Joy told me to follow my heart!”

Then in another yoga class, another student encouraged me to follow my path. She didn’t know me well, yet when she spoke, it felt like others were speaking through her lips. Then, a few days later, I heard in my head a calm voice invite me to check the ads for rental properties in that city, and within a few minutes I found one, and I naturally and calmly responded. I immediately got a response that the following weekend was when they were scheduling opportunities to see the space. It was then that my mind took over, and I questioned whether it was right for me. I saw what looked like issues for me and declined. The landlady said she felt I was a good fit, but respected my saying no. That weekend, during the time I would have been visiting the property, I was visiting a calm and mind-mannered friend for lunch. She is not very pushy at all in any way, yet that day, when I told her about that rental space, she looked at the clock then suddenly exclaimed:

“You need to go right now and check it out. There is still time!”

I remember how uncharacteristically she pushed for me to take action. I knew in my body that it was my Spirit team speaking through her to listen, to pay attention! It was a third message to follow my heart. So I listened. I realized that even if we don’t say yes the first time, we always get another chance. I immediately left a phone message for the potential landlady that I changed my mind and wanted to see the place after all, and that I was headed to the rental property. My body took over and just drove me there. It felt like a strong magnet that was pulling me.

When I saw the place and felt in my bones that whatever reservations I had about the lack of kitchen and the tiny square footage did not matter. I just knew it was for me. It was a much-needed step that I needed to take into a new direction for my life, and I had guidance from my outer world to back me up. The landlady said that there was another person ahead of me who had said yes to the place first, yet my body kept nudging to me that it was mine. I just knew it. Sure enough, the other person backed out, and I had a place that felt nourishing and supportive to me and my heart.

This happened a few months before the pandemic, and I have been steadily growing my foundation for my business ever since. I taught weekly yoga classes online when all gyms were closed, helping to strengthen bodies and minds. Again and again I am given all that I need to build upon each business step. And it all started with those three nudges from outside sources to pivot in a new direction! So if you have a friend who is normally very calm and issues a direct message, or you hear a calm voice within you guiding you, really listen to what is going on! Trust those messages. Each yes you take in the direction of your heart and soul takes you to more of the yesses needed for you to thrive, whether personally or professionally.

(Please visit my YouTube below for free breath and yoga set videos, and if you want to know what your yesses and nos are, to clarify your own inner wisdom, please join me for a Gut and Goosebumps or an Inner Child class, or schedule an individual session with me through my website. I’d love to work with you!)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tinakaragulian.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackroseartsandpress/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackRoseArtsandPress
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1KnNQqMDlSAJhq86OFEhg
• Other: https://square.site/book/81K7MPPV7P6YD/black-rose-arts-press

Image Credits
Photograph of Tina Karagulian by Nick Berard, www.nickberard.com Additional photographs: Photograph of Tina Karagulian sound healing at Moloka’i, Hawaii by Barbara Williams. Photograph of healing circle by Kelly Smith. Photograph of yoga class by Victoria Trevino. Collage class, “silly” at beach, and beach stroll photographs by Irene Rivers. Closeup smiling beach photo by Carmen Nash. Photograph of Tina Karagulian in yoga pose by Tiffany Asha. All photographers give full permission to reprint these photographs.