I’m Iza, founder of With Ease
For most of my life I moved through life disconnected from my body. As a very sensitive child, I think I learned early on that living from my head made it easier to cope with life. I could connect to other worlds in my mind, rationalize endlessly to make sense of my lived experience and seek out a (fake) sense of control.
Ever since I remember, I have analyzed my thoughts and emotions and the behavior of others. I made sense of my world through solid reasoning.
‘I made sense of my world through solid reasoning. ‘
My journey has been quite a ride. As long as we keep ourselves from simply feeling through our truthful experience, we find all sorts of ways to reflect, avoid and reject dealing with it. In my case it took the form of various eating disorders and anxiety.
I do believe everything comes in synchronised timing, and growth is not a linear thing, so I know all of these steps needed to occur for me to stand where I am standing today.
A body disconnect
For the longest time, I didn’t feel at home in my body. As a child, I was misdiagnosed with Perthes disease, which left me in a hospital bed for so long that I eventually lost the ability to walk.
I internalised a deep belief that my body was 'not working properly' — something s bit rigid and dysfunctional. Now, looking back, I understand that a seed was planted that disconnected me from my body right there. I started living entirely from my head, treating my body like a tool that just got me places.
Later, I developed anxiety. Living in my mind was a coping mechanism — constantly thinking and analysing to feel safer in this world. I thought that if I analysed every scenario, I wouldn’t be able to be surprised by hard events in my life. I had many moments where I was in a haze of panic, walking around the house or city trying to calm myself down.
Control also showed up in my relationship with food. I struggled with anorexia first, later followed by binge eating — both symptoms of the same need to grasp for that safety. I attached so much of my identity to being “thin,” even though my body wasn't getting what it needed.
Collateral beauty
The beautiful thing about deep pain is that it's a great motivator for deep healing. When things come crashing down, somehow the world gets quiet and we are able to see these glimpses of truth in our experience.
I came to understand that healing wasn't about the food I was eating or my own discipline; it was about learning how to move beyond the convincing voice of the mind and meet the body’s real needs. I began giving my actions new meaning — small shifts that brought entirely new outcomes.
The thread through all of this?
At every stage, I was called back to my body.
Again and again. I’ve learned that safety isn’t something I can think my way into — I have to feel it. That the body isn’t something to overcome or control, but to live inside.
To trust. To listen to.
And that healing isn’t a straight line, but a return — again and again — to presence and softness.
All of this to say that this is what makes me so passionate about what I am sharing at With Ease. A safe place for everyone to explore safety in our bodies and to be able to cope with both the body and mind, in order to stay in touch with yourself. Working with the body and mind is about returning back to your power. And when we're kind towards ourselves and we know our capabilities, automatically this love is reflected outward to others too.
I would have loved to learn about nervous system regulation earlier in my life.
To understand that my mind works in a way that is not always beneficial, but that I have the capacity to bring myself back to a state where I feel my own inner strength.
To feel calm and safe in this world, because I am that love that never leaves.
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