Returning to yourself
If stress burned calories, I would have been a supermodel years ago. Instead, I carry around a collection of worries, overthinking, grief, deadlines, and enough emotional clutter to fill several balikbayan boxes. Add menopause, sleepless nights, a tendency to imagine the worst-case scenario, and the occasional urge to throw my phone into Manila Bay, and it becomes easy to understand why the idea of energy healing suddenly sounded less like a luxury and more like a necessity.
Some people book massages. Others go on shopping sprees. I apparently interview energy healers.
A space to pause and reconnect
When I heard about Katrina Holigores and her work in breathwork, meditation, and energy healing, I wondered whether she could help clear some of the invisible baggage many of us carry. As it turns out, I may have needed the session more than the interview.
In a world that seems to move faster every day, more and more people are searching for ways to slow down, reconnect, and find meaning amid the noise. And for Holigores, healing begins not by looking outward, but by turning inward. Through breathwork, meditation, and energetic practices, she has created a space where individuals can pause, release emotional burdens, and rediscover a deeper connection to themselves.
“When people come to me, they are often carrying stress, emotional pain, confusion, or simply the feeling that something in their life feels blocked,” she explains. “The work is about helping them remember that the answers and the healing already exist within them.”
Her approach combines conscious breathwork, meditation, energetic awareness, and spiritual practices that help individuals release limiting patterns, regulate the nervous system, and create greater clarity and balance.
The power of breathing
One of the primary tools Holigores uses is conscious breathwork. “Breathing is something we do every moment of our lives, yet most of us are disconnected from it,” she says.
“When we become intentional with our breathing, we create an opportunity for the body, mind, and emotions to begin working together.”
It sounds almost too simple. After all, we have all been breathing since birth. But according to Holigores, intentional breathing allows people to become aware of emotions they may have suppressed, stress they have been carrying, and beliefs that may no longer serve them.
Many participants report feeling lighter, calmer, and more centered after a session. “Sometimes people arrive feeling overwhelmed or anxious,” she says. “By the end, they often feel a sense of peace they haven’t experienced in a very long time.”
As someone whose brain operates like 20 browser tabs that cannot be closed, the idea of finding even a few minutes of quiet sounded particularly appealing.
More than meditation
Meditation often carries the stereotype of sitting cross-legged in complete silence while trying not to think about your grocery list. But Holigores believes it is much more than that.
“Meditation creates space,” she explains. “It allows us to step away from the noise and reconnect with our own inner wisdom.”
This stillness can bring clarity, improve focus, and help individuals better understand the challenges they face. For those feeling stuck, disconnected, or uncertain about their direction, these practices often become catalysts for change.
“When we quiet the mind, we begin to hear ourselves again,” she says.
Considering that my inner voice frequently sounds like an anxious event planner with a clipboard, perhaps some quiet would not be such a bad thing.
On releasing emotional baggage
Holigores believes that life experiences, stress, emotional wounds, and limiting beliefs can create energetic patterns that affect how people move through life. It’s why her sessions focus on helping clients become aware of these patterns and gently release them.
“Many of us carry emotions that were never fully processed,” she explains. “When we create a safe environment to acknowledge them, healing can begin.”
She also emphasizes that healing is not about fixing something that is broken. “We are not broken,” she says. “Healing is often remembering the wholeness that already exists within us.”
This idea feels particularly comforting in a world that constantly tells us we need to improve, upgrade, optimize, or reinvent ourselves. Sometimes, perhaps, we simply need to slow down and remember who we already are.
Building healing spaces, too
Beyond breathwork and meditation, Holigores also incorporates other modalities, including Millennium Method cards, Theta DNA healing, and energetic space-clearing practices. That’s because she believes that spaces can hold emotional energy and that our environments often affect how we feel.
“For some clients, their homes no longer feel peaceful or restful,” she explains. “Others may experience heaviness after major life events or transitions. The intention of space clearing is to create an environment that feels lighter, calmer, and more supportive.”
She also works with businesses and offices, helping create environments that encourage communication, harmony, and productivity. “Environment affects energy,” she says. “When people feel good within their surroundings, it often influences how they relate to themselves and to others.”
Anyone who has ever walked into a room after an argument knows that energy can sometimes be felt long before a single word is spoken.
Living intentionally
One of the recurring themes throughout Holigores’ work is intentional living. As people release old patterns and become more connected to themselves, they often discover greater confidence, self-trust, and clarity about what they truly want.
“When the mind becomes clearer, and the heart becomes quieter, people begin making choices that align with who they really are,” she says.
For Holigores, manifestation is not simply about wishing for things to happen. It is about aligning thoughts, emotions, and actions with one’s values and intentions. “It is less about chasing and more about allowing,” she explains.
Perhaps that is something many of us need to hear. We spend so much time running after success, happiness, relationships, or peace that we forget to pause and ask whether we are moving in the direction we truly want.
A journey back to self
Ultimately, Holigores sees her work as guiding people back to themselves. Whether someone is seeking emotional healing, relief from stress, greater self-awareness, a renewed sense of purpose, or simply a moment of peace, she believes that breathwork, meditation, and energetic practices can provide a pathway toward greater balance and well-being.
“The journey is different for everyone,” she says. “But at its heart, healing is about remembering who you are beneath all the noise, the fear, and the expectations. It is about coming home to yourself.”
And perhaps, for those of us carrying around emotional balikbayan boxes filled with worry, grief, overthinking, and stress, that journey back home may be exactly the healing we never realized we needed.
As for me, I cannot promise that one session with Katrina Holigores will suddenly make me stop worrying, sleep eight uninterrupted hours, answer emails calmly, or resist checking my phone every 10 minutes. I will probably still overpack for trips, overthink text messages, and occasionally convince myself that a headache means something catastrophic.
But if breathwork can quiet the noise, if meditation can create a little more peace, and if energy healing can help us release some of the baggage we insist on carrying, then perhaps it is worth taking a deep breath and giving ourselves permission to pause.
After all, therapy is expensive, vacations are short, and my daughters are already tired of hearing my complaints.
So if you happen to see me leaving one of her sessions looking calmer, lighter, and slightly more enlightened, please do not ask too many questions. I may still be processing my chakras.
For those interested in experiencing Katrina Holigores’ breathwork, meditation, energy healing sessions, or space-clearing work, she may be reached on Instagram @katholigores or @soulspaph. You may book private or group sessions and also arrange for space clearing of your residence, office, or place of business
