I met Susana Matias in Thailand while she was attending a Qigong Instructor’s Course at Tao Garden. We immediately connected, given the multitude of subjects we have in common.
Susana is the creator of A Hora das Mães, a blog and podcast totally dedicated to real life super heroes: Mothers! She is also the mother of two young children and she has developed a program of Meditation and Yoga for young children. Overall, Susana is an inspiration and I am very honoured to bring you this interview.
1 – How was “The Hour of Mothers” born?
A Hora das Mães was born from my will to share the amazing things that I was learning, especially things that I begun searching and that awoke my interest after I became a mother.
I’ve always felt like I didn’t have talent to write so I’ve considered the possibility of talking and I talked with Radio Gilão about it. I was lucky and they were open to create a weekly show. In that way, the weekly sharing space was born where I could talk about themes that were part of my path and somehow helped me. I also thought it was a good idea to do interviews and bring specialists to the show, or knowers/explorers of those themes so they could share their experience and expertise.
The idea was to take some people to think/reflect about certain subjects that we naturally don’t really think about (or I didn’t use to), things out of the box, always reminding the importance of stopping and put ourselves in our own agenda, taking care of ourselves and of our “feel” to better care/educate/conduct/live with others.
2 – Can you share a little bit of your experience with meditation for children? In what way does that work help them?
Meditation for children is something I do integrated in a project that started last year in Ginásio do Eu. Once a month, I go to schools and I promote a Yoga and Meditation class for children (now I also include Qigong). It is just magical to see children, after 12 months, stop and focus on what they fell, either it is the sound of a bowl or a guided journey. Meditation for children normally lasts the same amount of minutes as their age. And in those classes we alternate moments of greater focus and moments more energetic, through games and active meditations.
Most of the children begin to reveal difficulty in closing their eyes, but in this second year of the project, we already have a lot of children who feel the need to close their eyes, who know how to stop and breath, and that is definitely magical.
These classes are not intended to make children calmer, but to make them more connected with themselves and what they feel. Their aim is to give them tools and show them that they can use those tool anywhere, anytime, in a way to come back to themselves and to the present moment. To know that they can stop and breath before they act, that it doesn’t make them weak, it makes them more aware, more present and more authentic.
3 – Can you share a little bit about your experience with Qigong and in what way do you feel like you have benefit with this practice?
Qigong entered my life by chance, one of those coincidences that don’t happen so often. I took a Qigong class in Bali and I’ve decided to take a course abroad, something that would allow me to dive deeper in a different world, in a different philosophy and that would take me out of my comfort zone, it was the first thing that made sense to me to explore and learn more about.
So, I took the Teacher’s Training in Medical Qigong with White Tiger Qigong School in Thailand, 3 intensive week-course with 6 hours daily.
It was definitely a transformative experience, if I already believed in the power of self-healing I felt more responsible about taking care of myself and passing on this knowledge to my kids.
Qigong Practice allows me to have a deeper knowledge about my own body, about each moment, it allows me to release a series of emotions and blockages, it allows me to be and to be more focused, after all where our attention goes is where our energy goes, and that focus work is very useful, because it allows me to focus in what really matters to me, to be in constant self-improvement and in being a better version of myself each day.
4 – In what way did your travels change your life?
I had already traveled by myself to some places in Europe and, I identified myself a lot with that freedom, although I also love to travel with my kids!
This year, I decided to enjoy moments when they were not with me to travel further. In March I spent one week in Bali, I loved the experience, I saw a lot of things and I met a lot of amazing people, I fell in love with that land, with that energy.
When I decided to take the course in Thailand, it started in September and, once again, my kids wouldn’t be with me after the 20th of August. So I decided then to go to the other side of the world, travel back to Bali, that magical place that I still hope to come back to one day!
Travelling makes me want to travel more, to know more places, to come back to some of the places that I liked…
Traveling allows me to meet other realities, to live in other conditions, in a certain way to un-learn who I am and understand who I can be!
5 – What final words would you like to share with Skin at Heart on health and wellness?
I don’t believe in magical formulas, I’ve seen several different types of routines, rituals, ways of being and different ways of living that result with whomever practices them. I believe that each person must find their routine, the routine that works for them, knowing that in order to understand if it is working or not we must give the chance to have moments where we stop and feel, moments of true connection with ourselves – this seems to be the only magical formula – and in reality this can be different to each one of us!
In that way, to have a defined routine that includes self-care, connection and gratitude seems to be the best promoter of health and wellness. Therefore, I suggest that you begin to look what makes sense to each one of you and adopt that routine, adapting it to the way you feel, to your intentions and your necessities.
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