Today I'm in conversation with Soulla Demetriou - a dear friend, a teacher who profoundly shaped my journey, and the author of the newly released book You Have Always Been Enough.

Soulla introduced me to self-compassion work and later to Internal Family Systems, and our paths have been beautifully interwoven ever since.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Soulla's journey from corporate London through pain, and the suffering that came from that, to yoga, mindfulness, self-compassion, and eventually Internal Family Systems - and why IFS felt like 'the jigsaw piece that made sense of everything'
• How our protective parts are actually expressions of love, trying to keep us safe - and what shifts when we turn toward them with curiosity instead of judgement
• The moment I realised I'd been making painful faces at myself in the mirror, and what that part needed to hear to feel safe enough to stop
• Why self-trust might be the greatest gift any of us can cultivate, and how the parts work brings us into that connection

This is a long, intimate conversation between two practitioners who love this work. We follow tangents, we cry, we laugh, and we let what needs to emerge come forward.

Settle in, and see where the episode takes you.

We touch on some deep topics here. Please go gently with yourself if you find anything in this conversation is activating for you - and do reach out to trusted sources if you need any additional support.

Soulla's book You Have Always Been Enough is available now. Find out more and connect withsoulla.com