Real Work of Healing and Transformation with Kathryn Eipl

What if the pain you have been avoiding is actually pointing you toward your purpose? In this powerful episode, Dionne Malush sits down with Kathryn Eipl, owner of IPLE Healing Center, for a meaningful conversation about emotional healing, mindset, anxiety, trauma, and what it truly takes to move forward. Together, they explore why so many people stay stuck, how hidden beliefs shape our lives, and why healing is often deeper, messier, and more transformative than most people expect.

Katherine shares her journey from psychology and burnout to energy work, Reiki, sound healing, and holistic healing, while Dionne opens up about anxiety, resilience, and the power of breathwork during life’s hardest moments. This episode is an inspiring reminder that healing is not about perfection. It is about awareness, courage, personal growth, and choosing to live with more clarity, peace, and purpose.

Connect with Kathryn here:

Website: https://eiplhealing.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-eipl/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eiplhealing/

Transcript

Pain As A Doorway

SPEAKER_01 0:12

What if the pain you've been trying to avoid is actually the doorway to your purpose? Today's episode is going to be powerful. I'm sitting down with the owner behind IPOL Healing Center, a place focused on emotional, physical, and spiritual healing at a deeper level. We're gonna talk about what healing really looks like, why so many people say stay stuck and what it takes to actually move forward, not just cope. If you ever felt like something is holding you back and you can't quite explain it, this conversation is going to hit. So let's get started. Hi, Catherine. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 0:41

I'm doing well, Dion.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Thank you. Thank you for having me on your show. I'm very excited to talk to you. It's been coming for a while because we had to reschedule because of me. So I apologize for that. So I'm all right. I always like to start with this one question. What is one thing you want people to know about you that they won't find in your bio?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I'm a very compassionate and empathetic person who has overcome a lot of trials and tribulations. So I can surprisingly relate to a lot of different stories. So that's something that isn't necessarily translated into my bio.

What Real Healing Means

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, of course. And I trials and tribulations, I say that a lot, but I realize that we all have them and we do agree to what we're going through right now. It's different for everyone, every day is different, but there's a lot going on, especially in today's world, that is just it's making it very difficult. So I'm sure you're absolutely so most people they hear healing and think surface level.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

What does real healing mean to you? To me, healing happens on a really deep internal level, right? I think today there's this idea with mainstream culture that healing is just like a fancy term to throw around to show that you're growing, right? But to me, healing is done on a very deep internal level. That's where you're examining the shatter parts of yourself, the parts of yourself that are not so pleasant, and that also allows space for some memories and experiences to come through that you may have forgotten about or consciously suppressed. So healing is often messy and it's not for the faint of heart, right? It takes a little bit of time and it has its ups and its downs. And when you're on the other side, you come out so much stronger and have a greater capacity to empower yourself.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

That makes a lot of sense. So, what led you to this work? Was there a defining moment? Have you always done this? Tell me a little bit about that.

Burnout That Changed Her Path

SPEAKER_00 2:48

So I have a background in psychology, and I was training to become a clinical psychologist, and I had also been double majoring in theater as well. And with the psychology side, we were visiting a mental institution near my college, my senior year, and I just remember walking around and looking at all the patients there, and they seemed very medicated, almost like they were in this like medicated fog where you could tell that they were just looking around, being able to track things, but you couldn't even really see what they're if they were thinking. You know how sometimes you look at someone and you can just see that they are in a thought process. Like these people just didn't have that. And it felt that everyone was just on so much medication that it wasn't truly helping. It just seemed to put them in a state where they were kind of zombie-esque, in my opinion. And I didn't want to be a part of that, I didn't want to contribute to over-medicating anyone. So I decided to move towards entertainment. And I got my master's in project management, and I was working in LA in the entertainment industry for quite some time before I just started to experience a big spell of burnout. I was overworked, exhausted, running day in and day out, essentially on fumes and coffee. And I decided that that was not how I wanted to live. It was also something that because I was overcoming the feeling of failure, because I was realizing that this career that I'd worked for for so long was no longer fulfilling me. I didn't want to feel those feelings at first. So then I started drinking more than normal, smoking more just as a way to numb out and not feel those things. And it it got to the point where I couldn't keep doing that to myself. I couldn't just keep living the same cycle, the same routine. And I knew that the only way things were gonna change was if I chose to make that change for myself. And so I started going to yoga because I knew that that was give me one hour of time where I didn't have to think about anything. I didn't have to think about my work. I could just follow someone else's instruction and move my body, and at least I was being productive because I was moving my body. And that was the floodgates into learning more about yoga, which exposed me to energy work such as Reiki and sound healing. And long story short, that's how I came into having my own healing practice because I was how long ago did you start your practice? I started it in 2019.

Why People Stay Emotionally Stuck

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Okay, so it's been about seven years. That's amazing. So when dealing with people that are that need healing, and I I do feel like more do than don't because there's just so many angles of things that come at us. And I'm sitting here listening to you talk about that time in your life where I've had that same time in my own life, you know, where I was younger and I thought things could mask how you felt in this. So when you're talking about what you saw, it reminds me of movies because that's how they portray people to be in that like trance, right? You don't want to live like that. There are options to to make it better, but it is easy just to take the medicine. It makes it easy. And I in as 57 years old right now, going through the things that I've been through in the last three and a half years, I feel like that's the easy solution, you know. Where I had a call with one of my coaches last week and he's like, you know, you need to exercise. You need to get that your adrenaline moving, you need to get your endorphins going. And that will really help you because even though I'm focused on mindset, I'm always positive, I'm trying to make everyone else happy. But at the end of it all, I'm not happy. And I need to fix that. I've been through a lot and I'm holding on to it instead of letting it go. So it's easy just to say, I'm just gonna go to sleep, maybe I'll have a drink or two, or just I'll relax and not think. But what I did for three and a half years is I created. So it doesn't sound like a it's not a bad thing, right? I'm not taking any drugs, but I'm filling myself with so many things to do, Catherine, that I can't even think about anything else. So it's not really a drug, but it's kind of a it's I don't know, it's a cre it's an outlet that I and I've always been creative, but the last three and a half years it's been it's been exponential. It's unbelievable. So some people be like, oh, I wish I could do that, but I can't stop. Right? No, I just can't stop doing things. I'm waking up in the middle of the night creating apps in the middle of the night. Like, why go to sleep? So, anyways, my question, the next question I think is plays right here. Is why do you think so many people stay stuck emotionally or mentally? Because, you know, I'm sitting here telling you a little bit of where I'm stuck.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Right. I think partially that comes from feeling comfortable because that feeling, at least we know it, right? We know what that feels like, we can trust it, we can trust how we're gonna feel if we stay where we are. It becomes predictable. And as human creatures, we do like a level of predictability because that brings us what we feel is safety, because we know where we're gonna be tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that. If we choose to work through them and really process those emotions, we don't know how that's gonna look. We don't know the range of emotions that that's going to unearth. We don't know what memories will come back into our awareness when we start because a lot of people do know that healing is messy, right? It's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows. There's going to be times where you cry. There's going to be times where you want to yell or maybe just kick or punch the air to let yourself run through some of that anger and frustration. All of that's okay. However, when we are on the very edge of deciding if we want to start digging into that healing and those emotions, it's scary because we don't know what's inside that bag that we've been holding shut for this whole time.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

That makes sense. So, what are some hidden patterns or beliefs that keep people from moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

I think one of the biggest ones is this is just how my life is. That was one that I heard frequently growing up, like this is just what life is, this is what we're expected to do. That's also what I hear a lot of my clients kind of mirror back to me where of where they're at. And people, you know, there's a big sense of self-doubt of people not thinking that they are worth more or capable of more. And there's a lot, there's a scarcity mindset in the fact that they don't want to fail if they try to go after their goals. Because if they fail, then we think we're a failure. However, you have to fail so many times before you succeed, right? Each failure is bringing you closer to success. So it's rewiring your brain to understand that failure is actually a good thing because it's saying, hey, this isn't it. Try again.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Yeah, I love that. I and I agree with you. You have to fail before you succeed. You'll just never know. Like getting back up is the most powerful part. And no, I felt I've failed quite a few times in my life, and and I do talk to people about the fact that I keep getting back up. And but as you get older, it gets harder. You're tired. You're getting tired. I'm like, tired. I want to Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

I mean, I've yeah, I've experienced failure too a few times, and it's just the resiliency of okay, I'm gonna try again. Okay, this didn't work. Let's learn from that. What didn't work about it.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

So, what happened in your healing process that most people don't expect?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

It felt like looking back at it, it felt like it kind of happened overnight. However, when I was in it, it felt like it was just ongoing. And I think people often expect that when you start it, like there's just gonna be like a defining moment of, oh, I'm healed, I'm better, I've worked through this. And it's often for me in my process, it was a gradual phasing. So I would work, like I encountered one issue, and I was like, okay, I want to let go of cannabis and drinking so much, like this isn't healthy for me. Let go of that, and then I was like, oh, I was using that as a band-aid, so I didn't have to focus on all these things that I did in the past and like the times that I was cheated on. And so I was like, well, now let's encounter these feelings. So it felt, and I often described it when I was in it, where it felt like I had found the loose end of a s of a knitted sweater, and I just kept pulling at it, and then it would lead to something else, and I'd pull it and I'd be like, Oh, look, I'm done. And I'm like, Oh no, it's still connected to more.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I think it definitely feels like that. That's a great analogy of that of that feeling.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Mm-hmm. Where it's like you think you've you're done, and it just keeps going. So it's there's always more that you can work on, especially in your own healing journey. So it's just letting yourself celebrate all the little points that you get to of like, okay, this was a milestone. Because it's easy to lose sight when you're in your journey because it all gets jumbled together.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

So, what's one breakthrough you've seen in a client that really stuck with you?

Healing Is A Slow Unraveling

SPEAKER_00 12:29

One of the ones that comes to my mind is so there was a she was a nurse practitioner and she was initially from Texas. For several years, she didn't have, I want to say for like almost a decade, she just didn't have her period. Not because she was underweight or anything, but she was going through some health stuff and her hormones that were affected affected her period. And when she was in Texas, she would drive like two hours to get these shots, which were supposed to help her hormones to level out so that she could get her period again. And when I started working with her, she was also decided to embrace the vegan diet as well. And she was doing, she was on a regiment where she was, you know, in therapy regularly, doing yoga regularly, and having sound healing and Reiki sessions with me very regularly. And while all of that was happening, her period started back up again. Wow. And she had just like a total mindset shift where she's like, if I can believe that my period's gonna start, open up to all this holistic ways, then I can heal myself in any way possible. So just watching that transformation and that mind shift because she was coming from it from a very clinical scientific standpoint and being so confused because she's like, I've been getting these shots for you know the last like three years and nothing is helping me.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

It's funny because most people will be like, Yay, I'm not getting my period, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, well, she wasn't it of the age to even be in perimitopause yet. So it was very concerning for her. And she's like, I want to have my period.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Wow, that is amazing though, what Iran can do. And it's I've been studying enough about mindset in the subconscious mind that what we if so, if every anyone wants to understand this, it's so important every day. And I don't think honestly I could have gotten through the last four years without having this knowledge of how I what I think about and what I say, all of that, that it just really affects who I become. So I might be down, but I'm I'll pull myself back out. I do it all the time, and I I know that it works. So let's talk about that mindset. Like, how important is mindset in the healing process?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Mindset is a big part of healing. And because if you're constantly telling yourself that you're not good enough, or of course you messed up because that's just who you are and that's what you're capable of, it's going to make your healing take that much longer because you're trying to push yourself to heal. At the same time, you're also telling yourself that you're almost not capable of healing. So you wanna, my approach to it is first acknowledging what your automatic thoughts are. Because once you know where your mindset is already living, then we can look at what you actually want your mindset to be and create new thoughts to interrupt the negative, the automatic thoughts. So if you think, oh, of course I failed, maybe the new thought would be this is this is a learning process, and I just learned what not to do. I'm gonna keep on learning.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So I call that a pattern interrupter. And I years ago, I was going through something for me that was extremely traumatic. And I had a friend, and I've talked about this a couple of times on the show, but he sat with me one day and he goes, I want you to think every time you think of that thought, I want you to think about a hundred dollars. And I'm like, What? He goes, Yeah, that's a hundred dollars you're losing every time you think of that thought, and it keeps coming back in your head. So I tried it, and honestly, it really worked because I sat, I would sit there and be like, I'm not wasting money on that thought. I don't want to give up give up all my money for that thinking. So it was just kind of something silly, but it helped a lot, just having something else to focus on outside of that thought that was really hard for me. So I just wanted to share that again with everyone because you just never know the when something like that will be helpful. I love that. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

I want to try I'll try that next time.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I mean, it's really fun. It's it's fun in a way because you're kind of like challenging yourself. So I think of that. So that brings me to my next question. How do you help someone who's resistant or afraid to face their past?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I mean, you need to be willing. Like for somebody who's really resistant, that's when I would rely with on Reiki and also sound, because that's a more gentle way to get those thoughts to surface without having to talk about it or to describe the feelings or the situations that happened in the past. So I often use Reiki as like a primer for when people are scared or experiencing a little bit of resistance and then move into more of the coaching, cognitive, behavioral work.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

I love that sound. I love that. It's it is so relaxing. And it you made me just think about that. I I really need to go and get that done.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Just sit there and listen and make it so beautiful. It's just a great way to calm yourself and you get to lay there, and someone else is providing this beautiful soundscape for you.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Yeah, it is beautiful. So if you haven't tried it, you should. It's amazing. So, what does a fully healed, aligned life life actually look like?

Mindset Tools That Break Loops

SPEAKER_00 18:05

That is somebody who has a regulated nervous system, who can respond under pressure well without letting their emotions rise and get the best of them. Somebody who's also able to have calm conversations about uh difficult topics and talk about the more difficult emotions in a calm fashion. That's also somebody who knows what they need, what their non-negotiables are, and has boundaries around that so that they're protecting their own energy and not overgiving as well. And fully healed is I think that's what we all strive for, right? There's always something that can be found to refine yourself.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I have to tell a little story about December. I was sitting here and I was watching a football game and my team was winning, so it was a good night. Then all of a sudden, I had an anxiety attack for no reason. I was sitting. All of a sudden, I was didn't feel well, and I was like, What is going on? And I started shivering, and I was shivering so bad, and I wasn't cold. My teeth were chattering, and I was shivering so bad. And I talked to my husband, and I'm like, he's like, Are you okay? And I'm like, I think so. I don't know. And I went upstairs and I went to get in the bed to bed and I sat there. It was about eight, eight o'clock, eight thirty at night. And I'm I was shivering so bad my teeth were what and I I said to him, I think we need to call the ambulance. And he's like, What's the matter? And I'm like, I don't feel well. So the ambulance came when they got here. I think my blood pressure was about 218 over 180. Wow. I was literally doing nothing. So they I mean, I'm usually doing something all the time. I was literally watching and they got here and they're like, It's high. We we think you should go in. And I'm like, okay, so we're getting the ambulance and we're driving along and they hit a bump. And when I hit a bump, the the machine that was attached already, I could see my blood pressure, and it was so high. I thought that was it. Like I thought that was I'm something's wrong, really wrong. So by the time I got to the hospital, got settled down and brought it back down, I felt better. And they sent me home and they're like, your heart's fine, your blood pressure's fine, everything's fine now. And it's it's just anxiety. And I was like, geez, I've you know been through my dad dying, my husband having a transplant, my mom moved in. I've been through all this stuff in the last couple of years. It finally just hit me. Probably about two weeks ago, um, in bed, it's one o'clock in the morning, and here comes the shimmers. And I'm like, what is going on? So you know what I did? I took breaths and I did that three-four thing where you three in, four out. I don't even know what the the the great calculation was. I did it for about 20 minutes and my husband finally woke up. He goes, What's the matter? And I'm like, I just I'm I'm shivering again. I don't know why. Like I was sleeping. And so my point in saying that to everyone is something like that sound. If I had that, I know it would help me. Like it would make me calm. So what I heard was when it happened the second time is don't forget to breathe. Because last time I was having trouble breathing because I was worried, I was so scared, you know. And at the end of it all, like we're all gonna die. It's life. It's we ha and I'm not really feared of it. I'm just I was I'm feared for everyone else, not as much for me. But it's scary and anxiety attacks are they're no joke, and they take on forms in your body you don't even understand. So if you ever did that where you're shivering and your teeth are just chattering like you're freezing, but you're not, and it's just a wow, it's such a weird feeling. I hope it never comes back because for five years, I'm sorry, for 20 years, it never happened, and then all of a sudden it did, and now it's happened twice in three months. So if someone is in a dark place right now and they're going through things, what would you say to them, Catherine?

Anxiety Attacks And Breathwork

SPEAKER_00 21:53

I would say that no matter what you're going through, like one always comes. Back to the breath because as cheesy as it sounds, like we're always gonna have our breath, right? That's our number one tool that no one can take away from us. And it does a lot of when you're stressed, when you're having a panic attack. If you can just get yourself to take deep breaths and really long exhales, it does help settle the nervous system. So when your nervous system is slightly more relaxed, then you can make a decision. But you also don't have to go through this alone, right? There are people in your community. Uh, please, like, I'm a resource. Know who your resources are and reach out to them because feeling like we're isolated when we're going through something stressful and scary or sad or grieving something exacerbates those feelings. So even though you might not want to be around other people or share your story, the more that you can do that, the better you will start to feel because you'll learn that there are people there who are ready and willing to support you as you work through it.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

And I agree. I own a company with 200 people in it. So I it's not like I want everyone to think that I'm weak because I'm not. I'm human.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Yeah, we're all human and we all experience things. And thank you for sharing what you shared about your anxiety attacks. And I hope that they also don't happen to you again.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I do.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

I love that you were able to have the awareness to use your breath the second time.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

And it worked. I mean, I really within 20 minutes, I was calmed down, I went back to sleep, and I would woke up and I was totally fine. But, you know, when you're going through things like that, you don't know what's going on in your body. You don't know, you know, I mean, my dad had a heart attack at 40, 48 years old. So I'm 57 and I'm I've been going to cardiologist for 17 years because when I turned 40, this happened to me and it was so bad that I was so scared and I didn't understand why it was happening. But then as I approached the age where he had a heart attack at 48 that whole year, every time I felt something, I was like, Oh, I feel something, it feels something, you know, I was making myself crazy about it. But here's the thing, you really do feel it. It's not fake, you feel it. My card always tells me if you can touch it and it has pain, you're good. If if you take an advil and the pain goes away, it's pain. So don't stress, you know. And so he makes light of it for me because he knows that this has been something that I've had to deal with. And I am a professional, I I'm very motivating and helpful to people, but sometimes on my own self, I don't I don't give myself the same as I give everyone else. So I'm glad we have this talk today because I think it's important. And I want to ask you one more question is what's next for you and your company?

Where To Find IPL Healing

SPEAKER_00 24:52

So what is next is that I'm going to be taking more of my healing modalities virtually and putting them on my website. So I have plans to put some sound healing recordings on my website for available for purchase. And I also have plans to start putting some courses back up on my website as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

So that's pretty exciting. So thank you for sharing that. And make sure you let us all know what your web address is so that we can find them when you're ready. So I know for all of you, if this is the kind of conversation that makes you stop and think, if something spoke to you, don't ignore it. Because healing is not about going backward, it's about finally moving forward with clarity, freedom, and purpose. So if they want to connect with you, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

You can go to my website, which is IPLHealing E I P L healing.com. You can also find me on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook under the handle IPL Healing E-I-P-L.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

E-I-P-L. So make sure you like, subscribe, and share this episode so we can help everyone out there because we all have stuff because there is power in your purpose. Something I'm I'm so adamant about sharing. And your next level might just start with this one decision just making the changes and don't forget to breathe. The breathing is huge. So thank you for being on here with me today, Catherine. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I've enjoyed our conversation.