00:00:01 DaeEss 1Dréa

We’ve talked about planting seeds. Planting seeds means you believe there’s a future, whether that’s months or years. We know that when we plant these seeds in the ground, it’s going to take some time. And that’s a belief in the future. I’ve said that it’s an act of sacred defiance to say” I’m going to hope in the midst of this chaos and uncertainty, I’m going to plant these seeds anyway.” You are the seed as well as the sower. We are the seeds. So if you want more justice in the world, show up and sprout justice. If you want more kindness, sprout and be that kindness. For me. I need magic because that’s the only thing I can imagine is going to make things better. So I was told. “Then you bring forth the magic. Be the magic you want to see in the world, because you are that seed. And plant it. Plant it.”

00:01:09 Rosemary
This is the Gifts of Trauma Podcast, stories of transformation and healing through Compassionate Inquiry.

00:01:25 Rosemary
Welcome to the Gifts of Trauma Podcast. I’m Rosemary Davies-Janes and I’m delighted to introduce our guest today, DaeEss 1Dréa Pennington Wasio. We’re so happy to have you with us today.

00:01:38 DaeEss 1Dréa
Thank you for having me. It’s a real honor and a pleasure.

00:01:41 Rosemary
The pleasure is totally ours. Now. We always start a Compassionate Inquiry session with an intention, so in that vein, I’ll share mine. Then I’ll invite you to share yours. My intention is that our listeners are informed and inspired and that our conversation will leave them both excited about, and prepared for, all the experiences that life serves up.

00:02:05 DaeEss 1Dréa
What a beautiful intention. My intention is to share from the heart and to be another frequency holder of compassion in this space, in a world that I think could really use more of that.

00:02:25 Rosemary
Thank you so much. I couldn’t agree more. That was beautiful. Now I’d like to introduce you to our listeners by sharing a few key points from, and I will say this in quotes, ‘one of your bios’. There are a few. You’re a master of reinvention, a conduit of healing and creativity, a transformational catalyst, a best selling author, a top TEDx speaker, the creator and host of the Conscious Evolution Podcast… You’re a physician and the founder of a holistic health company and media platform, and a business owner with a vast career in global conscious media and documentary filmmaking. And during your two plus decades of medical practice, you’ve specialized in trauma recovery, addiction medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and psychedelic therapy. You’ve provided medical services, soulful wellness and Conscious Leadership mentoring, plus workshops and retreats that have helped thousands build resilience, reclaim vitality after burnout, recover from adverse childhood experiences, and nurture real self, love and thrive in all areas of life. That’s a huge number of accomplishments. And Dr. Wondrea. And would you. Is it. Shall I call you Dr. 1Dréa? How would you like me to address you through the balance of this conversation?

00:03:51 DaeEss 1Dréa
It could be 1Dréa, DaeEss, Dre if you’re feeling sassy.

00:03:56 Rosemary
All right, thank you very much. You’ve had a life outside of work. So what would you like to add to those few key points that I shared from your bios?

00:04:06 DaeEss 1Dréa
I would add that a lot of that can sound very impressive as there’s always a story behind it. And I’m very grateful now to be on the other side of perfectionism. But this life has been full of some trauma, some bumps and bruises, and I’ve had my fair share of mistakes and missteps along the way. So I’m quite humbled and honored to hear all of those, sort of accolades. But I’m also, I’m really in touch with the parts of me that feel like it’s been hard won, it wasn’t all easy.

00:04:43 Rosemary
Yeah, I could imagine. I could imagine. Now I listened to one of your TEDx talks where you spoke about your multiple passions and how it was impossible for you to fit into a single box. The diversity and richness of your professional paths suggests that you are a multi-potentialite. So rather than being or doing just one thing, you embrace many of your gifts and passions. And I wonder, do you relate to that term multi-potentialite?

00:05:12 DaeEss 1Dréa
I do. Over the years, I’ve studied all the different ways that people name, and I will even say name, call people like me multihyphenates, multi-potentialite, multi passionate dilettante, as you heard in that TED talk. I consider myself an artist and an alchemist where I am, here at this point in my life.

00:05:34 Rosemary
I appreciate that I have worked in my practice with many people who I used to just call them multiply talented and they would think that there was something wrong with them because they couldn’t find a single focus. So I’m really happy to have the chance to bring this up because there’s nothing wrong with them. There’s so much right with them, and society doesn’t recognize that as often as it should. So I wonder if you could speak to us a little bit about the challenges that you faced on your professional path and how you overcame those challenges to create this multiplicity of professional roles that you currently enjoy.

00:06:17 DaeEss 1Dréa
I will start with my childhood simply because it really informs this very circuitous path. So I grew up in the United States. My mother was from British Guyana in South America, and my father is African American. And there was a lot of toxicity in our home. We lived in a very dysfunctional family. And being the youngest of all the children, I now understand that I absorbed a lot of that toxicity. So there were traumatic messages being imprinted on me. My father grew up very poor. He learned very early on that the key to safety in life is to get an education and then get a job with a pension. And he really impressed that upon all of his children. 

Now, being the youngest, the way that I adapted was to become the good girl, to follow the rules, to do my best and not let my father down. Because it felt, as you can imagine, that sort of attachment wound felt like life or death. It felt like love or being disowned. And that drove me to get good grades, to always be striving and achieving. And the interesting thing is that when I was young, because my parents got divorced and we lived far away, all I had was the telephone. Like, we didn’t have Skype or Zoom or video chat back then. And so quite often on the phone, my dad would grill me about what was going on at school to make sure I was staying in line. And if I got good grades, I would often get a treat. Either he would send money or if there was a gift I wanted or something like that. So it really did motivate me to stay in line. I think in my teenage years, I realized that my dad still loved me, even if it wasn’t exam season. But by that point, that pattern had been set, those grooves in my brain and my psyche had been put into motion. 

So I really wanted to be an artist. My father is very artistic. He plays guitar and banjo and painting and photography. My mother was always singing. And so I just wanted to do the arts. And especially because that was the one zone where I could really emote and be seen and feel and… But my father discouraged that. He told all of his children, look, being an artist, it’s one in a million who makes it. You need to get an education. And so I did. Now, the interesting thing is I was able to pursue the arts through college as long as my grades were good. So I almost graduated with a double minor, but focused mainly on the biology and chemistry track and doing a lot of theater and TV and that sort of thing. And then when I got to medical school, I couldn’t do anything but study. It was like suddenly the intensity was turned up. I felt like everyone was smarter than me. They knew what was going on, and I did what I had to do to perform. 

It was in my last year of medical school that I was introduced to acupuncture because my mother was also a physician and she was working with a program for binge eating disorder and addiction that involved this ear acupuncture protocol. If you can imagine, this was in my fourth year of med school. I was getting training in acupuncture for drug and alcohol detox. So I was already having my mind open to there’s multiple ways of healing. And once I finished my training, I moved to Washington, D.C. where I did my residency. And people couldn’t understand me. They were just kind of, I don’t get you. Are you this or are you that? Are you this or are you that? And that was something I was very familiar with. People want to put you in a box for their own comfort, and they shift that discomfort with you being other than what they’re used to, to us. And because being a very sensitive, empathic person, I often did mold and fold myself or take on different masks to fit in. And being a chameleon has quite a toll on you over time, or at least it. It did for me. And I found that the more that I was achieving, to meet up to this outer standard, I was still feeling empty or not good enough inside. 

I was recruited to work with the Discovery Channel when they launched their health network. And so I thought, okay, this is great. I’m going to get to do creative stuff along with medical stuff. And I did. And my second year there, I was asked to anchor the health news, and I was given my own show and then started hosting several documentaries. So I was on air, I was on TV every single day. And pretty soon people were starting to recognize me in the streets. And there was this pressure I felt to be the version of me that they saw on TV. But the version of me on TV was not the authentic person. I was still trying to fit into this mold that they had set. And there came a point where it was just too much. I was waking up with anxiety. I knew that I was putting on this fake mask just to go in and do the news. And then in my wellness center, when I was really with people present, I could be the real me. Even though they didn’t always understand, they’re like, wait, you’re woo. I’m not really understanding all of this. But there was a Sense of acceptance. 

There came this moment where I wanted to share what I was learning in clinical practice on tv. And the executives were like, oh, that sounds like weird stuff. And I’m like, no, it’s actually backed up. We’ve got data here, we’ve got studies. But they weren’t ready. And that bothered me. The idea of being on TV every day telling people this health news, which was a tiny fraction of the whole story, at least the story that I was learning. And that led me to what I would call an existential crisis. There was this war going on between these parts of me and one of my number one values is integrity. And integrity is about wholeness and truth and authenticity. So, I got to a point where I really did not want my life anymore. The anxiety was so bad, the depression that I felt was so bad. Feeling like a fraud, feeling like nothing I did was ever going to be good enough. We can get into the very woo woo side of it, which was a near death experience. There were some tough nights going through the dark night of the ego before I got into the dawn of my soul. And I think I’ll leave it there. I think I went a little bit over.

00:12:55 Rosemary
No, I really appreciate the expansive answer because I had a follow up question of how did trying to fit yourself into a single role impact your life? And you already covered that off. It led you to a very dark place and… perfectionist chameleon, multi talented, multi interested. I guess a chameleon is the only one of all those labels, if you will, that’s actually biologically suited to do that level of adaptation. I don’t think it hurts them to adapt to the background where they happen to be resting. So that’s a heavy toll. It’s a heavy toll and thank you so much for sharing that with us. So this seems like a good time to ask, if you’re open to this question… Today, knowing what you know now, who are you and why are you on the planet at this time?

00:13:55 DaeEss 1Dréa
I am a spiritual being, a little droplet of God consciousness that incarnated into this human avatar. I’ve come to this planet at this particular time to wake up, to play this game of being the divine incarnate and forgetting and then remembering. And the role that I play in this grand game of life is as an oracle, as a frequency holder. It’s to remind people of exactly what I had to learn, that you’re more than your body. You’re not your past mistakes, you’re more than your muddled mind. And there are things that we can do in this life to improve ourselves and this experience for other people.

00:14:48 Rosemary
Beautiful. Thank you. And you may have begun to answer my next unasked question, which is about collaboration. I’ve noticed when you speak to some guests on your podcast that you’ve worked with them in different ways, supported their work. And out of the… from my count, over a dozen books that you’ve authored, many of those are collaborative efforts. So I wonder, how does collaboration work in your world? Why are you drawn to it?

00:15:22 DaeEss 1Dréa 
Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve been asked that question, and I like it. Thank you. It’s actually very interesting that you bring this up now, because it’s really been the last year that I’ve honed into, why am I always lifting up other people? And I remember now that there was a little mini documentary done at Discovery Channel by one of our editors, and it was for this Heroes for Hope program in Washington, D.C. and they had chosen me as a hero. And I was like, what, me? And they interviewed my mom, and in her segment, she says she’s always been this way. She sees people who need help. She wants to give them the opportunities that she’s had. And she tells this story of how some parent called her on the phone and was like, your daughter is offering to teach my daughter how to roller skate. It’s like… and I remember, like, seeing people and seeing their potential and knowing that if they just had a nudge or a coach or a support or a stage, that they could get out there and shine. And it stuck. I’m now able to look back from childhood to my days in university, helping people get TV shows and plays and music and all these sorts of things. And now what I’m doing this month is getting ready for another TedX, and I’ve been coaching other people. So I think it’s just my spiritual awareness is that we are one interconnected organism. And what I do for another, I do for myself and this big, huge, compassionate heart that I have, which sometimes feels really, like, too much. That’s what I’m motivated to do. I’m motivated to use whatever I have to lift other people up, because I feel like when people can see that they too are great, they too are worthy, then it’s… It helps to combat some of that internal narrative, like what I had. “Oh, I’m not good unless I’m striving.” Or “I can only do this. If…” So, collaboration and lifting others up is fundamental in my life.

00:17:29 Rosemary
Thank you. So you’re not only an oracle, you’re also a wayfinder for people coming into your orbit. Beautiful. I want to give you space to speak about what is near and dear to your heart, which is artistry and creation. I know that music holds a very important place in your life. Can you tell us more about how creativity and artistry play in your life, in whatever forms those show up?

00:18:02 DaeEss 1Dréa
Yes, absolutely. I mentioned how growing up, I had a very musical family. I was always drawn to performing, singing, playing piano. I played trumpet in the jazz band and the symphonic band. And then when I got into theater in middle school and then throughout high school and university, that was my place to really shine. I often tell people that where my mother was from, it was a British colony. So she grew up in this very post Victorian era where children are to be seen, not heard. So in our household, it was like all the kids, like, there was no screaming and yelling. It’s like, you be quiet, you sit over there. And being in the theater, it was finally okay to speak and to be seen and to take up space. So it was always my lifeline, getting me through childhood, getting me through university and medical school. What I was hinting at, back in 2005, when my career looked like it was at an all time high, working for Discovery, I had my own wellness center. I just published my first book, been on Oprah twice, and all these TV shows. And I was miserable and the pressure was mounting. And I had this opportunity to come to the Mediterranean for a cruise. And I was so busy that I let my assistant handle the details. And I remember sending the physician who organized it a message saying, I can’t wait to see you guys again. And he was like, you’re coming? He was like, we didn’t get any of your confirmation stuff. And I was like, are you kidding me? But I’d already had a ticket, so I was like, I guess I’ll just go and visit the Mediterranean. So I flew into Barcelona and then came to France, spent time in Cannes and St. Tropez and Monaco. And it was a very different experience because back then in 2005, we didn’t have the same US cable stations pumped over here like we do now. Like, you can pretty much watch anything if you have a computer. So nobody knew who I was. I got to come as, ‘Drea the artist’. That’s literally what I said. I was like, all right, I get to go incognito. No one’s going to know that I’m this boring Dr. Andrea Brand. And I don’t know what you think about manifesting, but I tell you, when I got to the airport, people were treating me as if I was some star, and, believe me, not the Discovery Channel star. I was like, “Okay, this is weird.” And then even on my flight from Paris down to the south, I remember this girl, like, always looking, and I figured maybe she’s looking out the window to see how beautiful it is. But there was a moment where she leaned over, and I was like, okay, this person’s gonna talk to me. And she said, here, I want you to listen to this. My. My boyfriend is a DJ, and I want you to listen to this. And I was like, okay, I’m being treated as if I really am the artist that I said I wanted to be. So I set myself a challenge, and it was like, I’m really an ambivert. I do well at home in isolation. I can become an extrovert when I need to. But I said, okay, I’m going to give myself a challenge that I don’t just stay in the hotel. When I get to a new city, I’m going to either go out to hear music or ask the cab driver for their favorite recommendation and go do it. So when I got to France, I happened to be at this very chic nightclub in Saint Tropez and met someone who knew the DJ in this spot and was like, okay, you’re a singer. I’m gonna get you in. You’re gonna sing. And I’m like, I’m not gonna turn this down. So I go. And I’m there, and I’m singing with this crowd of people just moving. And it was… It was one of those peak experiences just outside of time. I felt loved. I felt like they loved me, even though they had no clue who I was. And I got back to my hotel, and I was like, what the f… Like there. I felt like the real me, fully loved, fully expressed. And then I knew that I was going to have to go back home and get back into that box, back into that conformity suit. And that was the breaking point. I could just feel everything within me saying no. And I cried out to God and said, take it. Take my life. Take my business. Take it all. And just crying and crying. I flung myself on the bed. And I think it was in that moment of surrender that I saw a light. And at the time, I’m thinking, it’s already midday. How can the sun get any brighter? But it was a light within my consciousness, my psyche, and I was being pulled into this light.

So, Rosemary, I literally thought God was answering my prayer because I felt such peace. I felt such relief. And as I traveled through this tunnel of light, when I got to the other side, I saw a full life review. And it was like, boom! I could see how each and every decision I made led me to be depressed and anxious, in that moment. And there was this presence next to me, and it was not spoken, but it was just this understanding that when we come down here, those little droplets of God consciousness, I literally saw this light coming from a big ball of light and these little drops coming to the earth. It’s like, when you get to Earth, it’s up to you to decide and determine who you will be. Not your parents, not society, not the media, definitely not the American Medical Association. And it was in that knowing that it was like, okay, if I can choose, I’ll choose differently. And then I saw a vision before me where I was walking hand in hand with a child, walking along the boardwalk in France. I knew that in this vision, I was living in France. I was singing professionally, and I was healing with my hands. That was the only part that I was like, wait, what, God, what? But everything else in that vision looked and felt so beautiful that I said, if that’s the life I’m getting, I’ll take that. And I was instantly back in my body, back in that hotel room. And when I sat up, the depression was gone. That heavy anxiety that I’d been living with was gone. And I remember calling my chief operating officer. He was the one person that I could really be open about all of this woo stuff. And I told him what happened, and he was like, okay, I guess we’re making some changes. That’s what allowed me to fully embrace who I am. It didn’t happen all overnight to where I am today. We might get into some of the shamanic experiences that further cracked me open. But that was that first spiritual awakening that pointed me to the path that can’t just do the conformity thing. 

00:24:56 Rosemary
Yeah. Wow. What a tremendous experience. And what a contrast. We speak a lot in compassionate inquiry about the battle between authenticity and attachment. And I don’t think I’ve ever heard a story that illustrates that so well at an adult level. As little kids, it’s easy. And usually choosing attachment is the smartest thing to do, but it takes a lot of courage to walk away from a life that you’ve worked so hard to create.

Wow. Thank you for sharing that. That’s very powerful. And I also appreciate when you started sharing not being… how you said, being raised by your mom because of her background, because of how she was raised. You were to be seen, not heard. And that actually adds impetus to your need to be heard, to put your voice out there. And I also love how the person in the nightclub in Saint Tropez recognized you as a singer. You were clearly vibrating authenticity. You were embodying your authentic self in that moment. So amazing validation. Thank you.

00:26:02 DaeEss 1Dréa
I just want to add one thing, though. The thing that I have found striking, and I’ve seen this with my clients and patients as well, is that when you’re in your authentic self, for many of us, it doesn’t feel extraordinary. It’s, like, very ordinary. And quite often we downplay it or we downplay the significance or the brilliance of it. And I often joke that other people can often see us in our most authentic light before we do, because we’ve got all these parts in there. I had all these parts, like saying, don’t shine too much. Who made you the Queen of Sheba? Don’t get too big for your britches. All these kind of other internalized critics that tried to keep me small, that tried to keep me quiet, and they were effective for so long, until I got to that burnout and breaking point. And I wish I could say that was the only time, there have been a couple of others, on this path to liberation, using my voice and empowering others to use their voice, whether it’s spoken or sung or on stage, is huge. It’s a huge part of my dharma.

00:27:10 Rosemary
I’m so happy that you had that experience and that it freed you, because those axioms that we’re told don’t get too big for your britches, everything you just shared, we’re told those as children to keep us safe. Because if we get too big for our britches, we could be teased, somebody could pick on us. There’s all kinds of good reasons. The problem is that they don’t leave our heads when we become adults. We pack them along with us, and they still keep directing our actions. So that was a beautiful story. Thank you. Given your work and expertise in medicine, neuroscience, trauma recovery, and psychedelic therapy, plus your awareness of the current state of the world, if I were to ask you to put on your lab coat. What’s your diagnosis of what’s happening to us, to humanity, today?

00:28:03 DaeEss 1Dréa
I don’t know that the lab coat would bring the right answers. I think it’s more on a spiritual anthropology level that I’ll respond. I really believe that we are going through a collective dark night of the ego, and we’re seeing it everywhere on the personal level, on a societal level, on a familial level. And if you’re into various cultures, many of them have predicted this turning point, this era, very clearly. But when I look at the political climate, the social climate, even the environmental climate, we’re clearly going through it. It’s been accelerated, I would say, for many of us since 2020, since the COVID 19 pandemic. The good thing I will say about a dark night of the ego, is that it precedes the dawn of the soul. And that’s also part of all of these spiritual prophecies that we’re going to get to a breaking point, but it’s on our way to this golden age. 

I also want to just double click on this dark night analogy. A lot of people in the Western world call it the dark night of the soul. And I’m here to correct that. It’s the dark night of the ego. And if we go back to who originated the term, it was St. John of the Cross, San Juan de la Cruz, this 16th century mystic from Spain, who was horribly imprisoned. And it was while he was in this jail cell that he had this experience of feeling that sense of terror, that sense of abandonment, that injustice, and it’s. “God, where are you?” And then he described this flame of the heart, this flame connecting him to this divine love. The name of his original poem is Noche Oscura, which translates to dark night. He never said it was a dark night for the soul. He talked about the awakening of his soul, and his soul being in this union with the divine, so that when he got out, it was a whole other being. So we go through this dark night of the ego, and the ego will quite often experience a death. And it feels scary, it feels tragic, it feels unjust, it feels unbearable. But I want to remind us that we’re on our way to the dawn of the soul. And that’s when we get to be led personally, through our soul, if we’re courageous enough, instead of all those past programs and conditioning, we let the soul take the driver’s seat. And I believe that’s what we’re living in the world. We’re seeing that the systems of corrupt everything from banking to agriculture to politics and such, these systems are breaking down. And these elite people who have the money and the control, they’re on a certain level, they’re aware that their time is coming to an end. Maybe they don’t think of it that way, but they know that there’s a threat. And so they are grasping, they are clinging they are using all manner of ways to try to maintain their positions. But I truly believe that these systems that they’re trying to uphold, they are too corrupt to fail in some terms, but they will crumble and they will fall. And so what does that mean? That means that people are going through some of the most devastating challenges from fear of being deported, losing your job for no reason, all of these things that put us at risk. And some of those people are going to have an awakening, just like I hit rock bottom, and so many other people do. And that hitting rock bottom cracks us open. And we start recognizing that there’s more to this life than death and taxes. 

That’s what we saw with the COVID pandemic. I told you that I’m an ambivert. I love just being in my little world. When Covid hit, I had so many people flooding me with, how do we deal with this? Like, you just wrote the book on resilience. How do I practice resilience now? And I was leading guided meditations and global conversations. It was one of the most striking things because I found people learning to meditate who would have never… They were like, you won’t catch me anywhere, and doing meditation and yoga. But that crisis, that pandemic, which put us in close quarters, all of it, you lived, caused people to have to adapt. And some of the ways that we adapt lead to an awakening. So as we are collectively going through this dark night of the ego, please know that there are more and more people awakening. They’re realizing this is injustice. Don’t they realize we’re all one organism?

What you’re doing in that country is affecting us, even if we’re not border neighbors. So people are awakening to this sense of interconnectedness. I won’t even call it interconnected. We are one with this planet. We’re not just riding the rock. So I. I feel like that’s where we are collectively.

00:32:53 Rosemary
And I think as we see systems crumbling around us and they are beginning to crumble, it almost gives us a little more permission, a little more allowance to pursue our authenticity, rather than trying to keep toeing the line within these systems that are clearly failing. Now. I’m looking forward to doing a deep dive into the dark night of the ego and the dawn of the soul. But I just have a couple of questions before we get there. One thing that I’ve noticed you mentioned comes up. We are in a space of collective trauma, but as we descend into that dark night, our own individual trauma can also rise. So I’m wondering if you could speak about how the individual and collective trauma are interweaving as we enter this process, which absolutely did kick off with COVID.

00:33:48 DaeEss 1Dréa
I would say that the collective trauma often triggers our early attachment traumas, and sometimes they’re completely unrelated, but it’s this feeling of unsafety, like, maybe I’m not okay, maybe I’m at risk. Everything is changing, and not necessarily changing in a way that looks positive. And so, for many of us, that will trigger these wounds that we’ve had in the past. Where does… What does that feel like? Oh, it feels like I’m not safe. And that might feel like, oh, that was how it was when dad came home. If I knew that I hadn’t done this or this, I might get whipped. It’s triggering things that people, many people have already healed, in quotes. They may say, wait, I’ve been to therapy on this. I thought I was over this. Why is this coming up now? And it’s because this outer sense of instability and threat mirrors what we still carry within us. I find that’s how they are interweaving. At least that’s what I’m seeing with a lot of my clients. They’re feeling re traumatized for things that they’ve spent years working on. 

00:34:53 Rosemary
Yeah. Thank you. And in a way, I know since the new U.S. administration, I am Canadian originally, and the country has never been so cohesive and joined as it is now, thanks to tariffs and various other actions taken against it. So it almost seems… what’s happening is taking people into the dark night, but it’s collective in a sense. An illegal immigrant from a certain country, they’re bundled in with all other illegal immigrants from that country. It’s not personal. And what I see as the big benefit for this, and I’d like you to comment, is that rather than shutting down and keeping our thoughts and feelings and emotions inside, it’s almost an invitation to join the collective conversation and find healing through the fact that, it’s not just us. We’re not alone. There’s not something wrong with us. It’s not our fault. We’re just being moved around by this giant chess player called government and systems and so on and so forth. So, I’d love to hear your perspective on that, because the worst thing a traumatized person can do is to not tell anybody, just to bury their emotions, to pull it in and make it mean something negative about themselves. So, what’s your perspective?

00:36:17 DaeEss 1Dréa
That’s exactly what I did in my early 30s when I went through that experience. I didn’t tell anyone how much I was suffering. I just put on this mask. And you’re right, one of the worst things that you can do is stay silent or stay in isolation. When we published this book, The Top 10 Traits of Highly Resilient People. One of the top traits is positive connections. So if you’re the type of person that prefers to problem solve alone, likes to hunker down, which I do as well. But there’s a limit to it. If you go into isolation, refusing any support or conversation, there’s a greater likelihood that you’ll end up with depression. And this is clinically proven. And so I’m finding that ,as we think about the fear that sets in, I think the fear level has gotten high enough that people are forced to speak. It’s, I can’t hold this in anymore. We saw that with COVID with people going to social media, and whether you were pro or not, it was very loud. And the same thing I saw happen with the Black Lives matter and the MeToo movement. People had an opinion, and they were more emboldened to share it. 

There’s so much fear or panic or rage because it’s… Wait a minute. Now you’re doing things that aren’t even in the Constitution. Wait, what? And I think that’s encouraging people to speak up. And it’s a little polarized, but people are finding their people. That is one of the ways that you survive these fascist regimes. If you look back in history, it was about connection and communication. Now, sometimes that communication had to be on the down low, and you spoke in code, but it was that sense of solidarity. And so I think you’re absolutely right that one of the benefits I’ve already talked about one is, I do think people are awakening. There’s a sort of spiritual awakening. But the other thing is there’s this sense of connection, like, we’re all in this together. You know, people are realizing, oh, I used to think I was in a class that I was, okay. But now we’re realizing, oh, we’re all in this together.

00:38:19 Rosemary
Beautiful. This is a bit of a zigzag. Many of our listeners are professionals in the health and wellness worlds. I wonder if you can speak about the creation of your cornerstone process and how you apply it in psychedelic assisted therapy and perhaps other realms.

00:38:36 DaeEss 1Dréa
Sure. While I was running this intensive outpatient program for binge eating disorder, I noticed that people trying to put their lives back together after unearthing or really finally confronting their childhood trauma, it creates a lot of dysregulation in the nervous system, when you’re finally facing the truth of what you’ve lived and becoming responsible or accountable. And so I noticed that people just needed to know, what’s my next step. Everything feels like it’s falling apart. Even physiologically, they’re in recovery, so it’s not always pretty. And what sort of came to me was this process of leading people step by step, so that they could cohesively make sense of their lives, including the very traumas that led them to their addictive or other compulsive behaviors. So the cornerstone process for me really became this framework that anyone could do, and they could come back to it and just know that when all else fails, I have a process. And it’s all very much about getting in touch with your true self. 

And the reason that this was really something that I’ve like double clicked on, and made my whole life about, is because it was right in this period of time, in the early 2000s, when I was still in my perfectionist phase. And I was thinking, like, I’ve got to help these people heal and recover. So we did everything we could. We had acupuncture, we had a holistic spa, we had fitness and nutrition, and of course, regular medicine and psychiatry all under one roof. And it was beautiful, you came in, you were pampered, you were nurtured, and yet there were some people that would either switch addictions or self sabotage, and end up in these downward spirals of post traumatic stress. And I was so confused. And so sitting in one of the multidisciplinary meetings, talking through our patient cases, it became clear that one of the clients said, I don’t feel worthy. So we started to dig. And we realized that a portion of our clients didn’t believe they were worthy of health. They didn’t think they deserved to be happy. So you’re thinking, wow, you’ve already recognized that these behaviors are what’s taken you down and that isn’t enough to make you change. As I was listening to one of them, one of the patients was complaining because one of our coaches had this exercise, called the mirror exercise and something you probably know well, and she would ask our clients to say things to their own reflection. And one of them was, mirror on the wall, tell me what I see, greatness staring back at me. And then there were other things, like to be able to say I love you to your own reflection. And one of the women said, I can’t do that. I’m not going to do that. You can’t make me do that, that’s dumb. And it was like, okay, let’s understand this. And it was true. She just didn’t love herself, unconditionally. And that when I understood that, I was like, ooh, that’s striking a chord of resonance. Do I love myself unconditionally? 

And at that time, I couldn’t say yes. It was like, no, I’m only lovable if, or when I’ve done this. And it was the first time that I actually saw myself like, oh my God. I couldn’t say those words to myself either, not authentically. For me, that was a major turning point. Recognizing that at the base, if you don’t love who you really are, and accept who you really are, wellness is going to be elusive. No matter how many acupuncture needles, surgeries, medications, group retreats… If you don’t get down to a fundamental cornerstone of self love, in my experience, things will not get better. And so when the cornerstone process was coming, it was like, okay, step one, Awareness. Who are you really? Beyond your name and gender and all of these things that we are piled under, who are you at your most fundamental essence? I call it getting in touch with your soul print or your spiritual DNA. And once you can start to glean what that is and questionnaires and things, reflection questions. And then we look at your programming, looking at your family history, doing a timeline of your life events to see how all of these various beliefs and patterns got picked up and the parts of you that had very good intentions. So then you get a really clear picture of who you’ve been programmed to be versus who you really are, or at least this hint of who you could be. And that first step of awareness was often that eye opener to say, oh, there’s a different way to live or be. And then we move into acceptance, which is where we’re able to see that all of that programming is really in the past. Yes, there are impacts in the present, but I can’t keep blaming the past. My parents, my family, myself. And so we get to this moment of saying, okay, in this present moment, this is what I got. I may think that it’s horrible or it’s unfair, but this is what I got. And so I’m gonna have to accept it. If I can, I might forgive the people in the past. If not, I just work with acceptance and having compassion for myself. And that self compassion piece was a hard one for me to learn. But once I could envelop it in this step, all these various practices from meditation and breath work and acupuncture, then very, quite often, and it wasn’t always like speedy, but quite often you’d see clients finally get clear that, okay, now what am I going to do going forward? They took that responsibility, which is step three of the cornerstone process. It’s accountability, where I say, no matter what happened in the past, it’s done. Now I am accountable. Maybe I made choices in the past, before I was even mature. Maybe these other people made choices. Now I have the response-ability. I have the ability to respond in alignment with my values, with my true self, which we outlined in step one. And then they can move into inspired action, which is all about creating a life that is based on inspiration, instead of obligation. That’s where people start to really get lit up because they can start to dream again and they get to rewrite their self narrative. We all have a story that we tell ourselves about ourselves, and for most of us, it’s unconscious, until you have a moment like I did, where it was like, oh, there’s this story that I’m not lovable unless I… fill in the blank. So when people start to recognize that I can choose to write my story, I can change my narrative. I don’t have to stay in this trauma story. That allows people to start taking inspired action. And then the fifth is appreciation, which is one of the ways that we stay in a higher frequency, higher vibration, is to just be grateful and aware of the gifts. And we can tap into all sorts of positive emotion. Gratitude is the one that we know and it’s been studied a lot. But appreciation for art and beauty and nature also help us appreciate the life that we do have. It may not be perfect, but the life that I have, I can savor it. And so these five steps of the cornerstone process and all the exercises that go within them are just a framework, a holistic mind, body, spirit, relational framework for people to return to their authentic self, and to develop these skills of resilience so that they can live a life that is aligned with their heart and their soul.

00:46:29 Rosemary
Thank you so much. Beautifully spoken. As is my next question, I pulled some words from your website that I’d like to reflect to you. You said “We’re going through a collective dark night, a reckoning, and we need to come together to get through it. Spiritual traditions predicted this period of darkness as we move into, as you said, the golden age of lightness.” It’s happening now, thank goodness, because humans have a history of coming together and rising above when facing tremendous challenges, such as the British refusal to surrender, even against incredible Odds in the Second World War. So how do you see humanity coming together for this transformational process? Do you have any glimpses of what that looks like? Is it happening yet?

00:47:18 DaeEss 1Dréa
Yes, it is happening. I think there are beautiful pockets of communities forming, both physically and digitally. Like, people are coming together to provide mutual aid. If you can’t count on the big systems out there, you can start to count on a community. We’re seeing people build alternative systems, going back to bartering or paying in different ways that aren’t tied into a central banking system. We’re seeing people do more co-op gardening, which sounds like a small thing, but once you start eating from the earth. I know that when I moved to France, it was a completely different experience. It was like, oh, this is what fruits and veg are really meant to taste like. People are getting back in touch with the simple goodness of tending to a family together. So that sense of cohesiveness is what we’re starting to see. There are going to be people who are the activists, who are going to go out there and be these fiery leaders to stand up and speak truth to power, and God bless them. Each of us has our own little role to play. And so finding your niche, your group, your community, that is what I’m seeing. And I think that plus all the mutual aid and the wrongs, those are the things that we need right now and that people are doing right now. I want to speak to one piece of this reckoning. In 2024. I was visiting some friends in Denmark, in Copenhagen, and they organized this special event. I got to meet some other Danish friends that I’d never met before. It was interesting because my host was talking about prepping, and she said, we’re preppers. What are you talking about? Are you prepping for the barbecue tonight? What are you talking about? And she said, no, preparing for the end of the world, the zombie apocalypse, an emergency. And I said, oh, okay. That kind of prepping. I’m like in war times, they tell you to stock stuff. And so she was talking about her garden and the things that she was doing. And I thought it was just my friend who has family who’s lived through wars and her husband, who’s a veteran, who’s… They have their way. But then some other couples came in from outside and they were exchanging stories about prepping. And I was like, so you guys are all doing this? I thought it was just… And they said, you do realize the Danish government sent out a pamphlet saying, these are all the things you need to have prepared in terms of a crisis. They sent it out in the mail to all of their citizens. And I was like, “Oh!” Now I didn’t get anything like that here in France. They didn’t send anything here in the French government. But we’re not in the same geographical location. But what struck me in that moment was, oh, snap, if the government is sending this out, the threat must be even greater than I realized. And that was a reckoning moment. I was like, this is bigger than I realized Now, I’ve always living in France since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Like the tension has been palpable here as well, but not to the level of being on a border or closer to Russia. So it just made me say, what would I do in an emergency situation? And are we ever going to live to see that golden age? Like we might not all survive what’s going on. Now that was in 24. That was before the election. And that was a moment where I was like, I think I need to rethink how I’m living. And then when the US election came and I had floods of people needing grounding and support, I realized, okay, this is getting serious. And I’m only 54, but I’m like, I don’t know how long I’m going to be on this planet. I don’t know if I’m going to get to see this land of peace. So what am I doing to contribute? Sure, I’m helping people regulate their nervous systems. The meditations are helping. But I remembered what I told you earlier. In every crisis in my life, it’s been the arts that have lifted my soul and made me feel like there’s something worth fighting for. And so now I’m really shifting to… to bring more music and these transmissions through sound and scent into the world. Because not everyone is dysregulated. There are people who are organizing, who are leading. And I want to support these leaders of these movements and these seed bearers for the new Earth, 

00:51:45 Rosemary
The people who are getting prepared to support the people around them.

00:51:49 DaeEss 1Dréa
Yes.

00:51:50 Rosemary
That’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. I’m curious and I wonder if we can touch on this briefly. The golden age of Lightness. Do you have any sense of what that might be, how that might look, how it might feel?

00:52:06 DaeEss 1Dréa
I can only tell you what I’ve heard. So for example, I was on a retreat in India with the Brahma Kumaris, a beautiful woman-led spiritual group. And hearing from all these different people from around the world, it just touched me that India has, as a continent, has been through so much with the British rule and hearing these wise spiritual beings say, our time is coming, the golden age is coming. There’s going to be this spiritual awakening. It’s not going to just be a few. The majority of people will be awake. They will be living from light. They will be living from the soul instead of ego. And of course, to hear this when you’re sitting in an ashram, it’s wow. So their belief and their tradition, from some of their spiritual masters who have seen this and heard this and felt this, that’s what they’re transmitting. And as I mentioned, there are other cultures that have similar predictions and they call it different things. The way I imagine, it is this sense of awakening to light, to knowing that who we really are is this light being, this little droplet of God consciousness. And when we see that in one another, we start to treat each other better, and we treat the earth better. That’s how I experience this concept of the Golden Age.

00:53:24 Rosemary
Thank you. So, just reflecting back on your words, the avalanche of change, if we can use that metaphor, that’s how it showed up in my mind. It’s been triggered. It’s starting. It’s not about us, and it is about us. It’s up to us to choose our role. How are we going to respond? Not react, but how are we going to respond? So this seems like an ideal opportunity to ask you to speak a little bit about your upcoming book and your new program, the Dark Night of the Ego and the Dawn of the Soul. What would you like to share with our listeners about that?

00:54:02 DaeEss 1Dréa
Thank you.

00:54:03 Rosemary
Obviously, the timing is perfect.

00:54:05 DaeEss 1Dréa
Yeah. It’s been an interesting journey, these last few years of publishing books right at the moment where we need them. People who have heard of the cornerstone process, which is also outlined in The Real Self Love Handbook. The Real Self Love Handbook goes through my story and several client cases, but using the five steps of the cornerstone process. And then… now that it’s been 20 years since I’ve been using this process, and I’ve seen how it’s not just useful for addiction, it’s useful when you’re going through any disruptive period of your life. When you’re in that dark night of the ego and you’re in the crucible where you just feel like you’re being burned and melted away, you’re going to need these simple steps to really get back in touch with who you really are and start piecing together a life that is worth living, a story that inspires you to live into. So the book is like a guidebook. We call it a guidebook for navigating the dark night of the ego into the dawn of the soul. So From Dark Night to Dawn includes the cornerstone process and several of the exercises that we teach in the workshops so that you can move through it. It also comes with an audio program, so there are specific guided meditations to deal with each of these five phases. So that wherever you are in the process, you have access to support for nervous system regulation, for tuning back into hope. And the other thing that we’ve just developed is a series that is brand new and that is the Seeds of Hope and Sacred Defiance. One of the things that has come up in the last few months was this feeling like it’s very audacious to have hope in this moment right now. And I see it as an act of sacred defiance. Okay, all of you out there who want to control and manipulate, you want to make me afraid? No, I’m going to have hope. 

And I ended up channeling that into a poem. Then I decided to put it to music. So there’s this spoken word poem called Seeds of Hope. And then I have set that same poem to music and have different genres of me singing, me singing a duet with one of our community members, some other AI generated voices. And this whole music project is to give us access to an energetic frequency that allows us to release. So maybe you need a song that’s good for your breath work to move that energy, move that anger, that frustration. Maybe you need something to just chill, because you’ve had way too much stimulation, way too much of the news for the day. So there’s music and there’s meditations and mantras that will help you to regulate yourself and to find that spark again. Okay. Once you’ve grieved, which we needed to do, like we went through the fear and now we’re in grief, like this is really happening. We need to move beyond grief. We honor it. You might even do a grief ritual. And then you say, okay, I’m here, I’m on this planet. What can I do next? So this is the project that I’m super excited about. And in the fall, we’ll be taking people through a 12 week process to go through the cornerstone process and design your life in these sort of three month increments so that you can go through this process of shedding your old skin and stepping into a new version of yourself.

00:57:28 Rosemary
Thank you for sharing. We have a saying in Compassionate Inquiry that healing happens in community. It just occurred to me as you were speaking that going through this process as part of a community could be hugely helpful. Like, sure, you’ll have your individual work to do, but coming together, there’s a magic, there’s an alchemy in that. Do you encourage that?

00:57:50 DaeEss 1Dréa
Absolutely. Of course. I also facilitate retreats. So we invite people to the Netherlands, for example, where we host psilocybin truffle retreats. And it’s a 10 week experience of being in a container with a group facilitated by, just some amazing trauma trained facilitators. And then of course there’s this sacred medicine journey. But I also am leading groups online. Since all of this was uncovering in 2024, I started holding groups for us to process together, for us to feel safe and to get resourced, because it’s one thing to at least connect, but then we’ve gotta, we’ve gotta level up our skills internally as well. And so that’s a big part of what we’re doing. In addition to in person retreats, we’re opening up now to a wider community, our conscious evolution journey, so that you can go through this process together. The guidebook is great, it’ll get you there. But having connection, you’re right, it is another form of medicine. It’s essential for us.

00:58:51 Rosemary
Absolutely. And if we’re enacting our sacred defiance… I love that term, we need to know there’s a community that has our back because I’m sure there’s an expenditure of energy required and we need to know that we can go back and be nurtured into our wholeness. 

We’ve covered so much in our time together and it’s been an absolute delight. I’d like our listeners to know that everything we’ve been talking about, everything we’ve covered and many things that we haven’t touched on, like the podcasts, the retreats, the best selling books, everything’s going to be linked in the show notes. So I’m going to put an invitation to you, 1Dréa, what haven’t I asked you to speak about that you would really love to say a few words on?

00:59:36 DaeEss 1Dréa
I think the last thing is my newest venture and that is Soul Sense Alchemy. You brought up the word alchemy though, just a moment ago. My husband and I have launched a well being brand. Soul Sense Alchemy is one way for people to change their frequency through the power of scent and sound. So with the scents, we are here in the south of France, and our perfumes are made in the perfume capital of the world. And each of them are these vegan cruelty free blends that are made here in.. in France with love and with every purchase. We couple that with music and guided meditations and journal prompts. To be able to do this project with my husband has been just a gift, really a gift. And magical because he’s also crafting what we call treasure chests. These are all artisanal, handmade creations from him. So seeing him light up at this crazy vision that I sprung on him in the very beginning of our relationship is also magical.

01:00:43 Rosemary
Thank you. Last question. I’d love it if you could lay out a pearl of wisdom for our listeners. What would you like to leave them with? If there’s a phrase or something to ponder, contemplate, meditate on.

01:00:58 DaeEss 1Dréa
We’ve talked about planting seeds. Planting seeds means you believe there’s a future, whether that’s months or years. We know that when we plant these seeds in the ground, it’s going to take some time and that’s a belief in the future. I’ve said that it’s an act of sacred defiance to say, I’m going to hope in the midst of this chaos and uncertainty. I’m going to plant these seeds anyway. And my last statement is to know that you are the seed as well as the sower. We are the seeds. So if you want more justice in the world, show up and sprout justice. If you want more kindness, sprout and be that kindness. For me. I need magic because that’s the only thing I can imagine is going to make things better. So I was told. Then you bring forth the magic. Be the magic you want to see in the world because you are that seed and plant it. Plant it.”

01:02:01 Rosemary
Thank you so much, DaeEss 1Dréa Pennington Wasio, thank you so much for being our guest today on The Gifts of Trauma podcast and for sharing so much of your wisdom on many topics. Do you feel complete with your intention?
01:02:19 DaeEss 1Dréa
I do, yes.

01:02:21 Rosemary
Yes, thank you. I do as well. Thank you so much for your time today.

01:02:25 DaeEss 1Dréa
It’s a pleasure.

01:02:34 Kevin

If you’re not a therapist or a healer, but you heard our guest describe the personal transformations they experienced during their Compassionate Inquiry journeys and wonder what might that be like for me? There is a program that is offered to anyone who wants to experience the power of Gabor Maté’s approach to trauma healing. I’m Kevin Young and I’ve been facilitating CI Circles since 2022. I’ve seen people transform in many ways. I’ve seen people change beliefs, relationships… I’ve seen people change how they show up in the world. I have seen people literally change how they look in front of my very eyes. There are many, many ways that people change during Compassionate Inquiry Circles. Circles is a 10 week small group experience. Click the link in the Show Notes. That’ll bring you to a web page that gives you all you’ll need to figure out if this is for you.

01:03:38 Rosemary
The Gifts of Trauma is a weekly podcast that features personal stories of trauma healing, transformation, and the gifts revealed on the path to authenticity. Rate, review and share it with your clients, colleagues, and family. Subscribe and you won’t miss an episode. 

Please note this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for personal therapy or a DIY formula for self therapy.