Sitting quietly and listening patiently with Kat Gagnon

By Laura Mushumanski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – The one thing that Kat Gagnon, founder of Dream Catchers Circle has come to understand is the importance of listening to the body. After having a cancer diagnosis, she managed to come to terms with seizing that time in her life as an opportunity to grow and learn. “What our [body] tells us is not to be ignored; shine light on it and listen,” said Gagnon. This understanding resulted in her taking her health and well-being into her own hands. She began to engage in yoga to calm and connect with the nervous system in good ways, and to meditate, and journal.

Part of listening to the body, for Gagnon became a journey of making the time to sit in silence and let the answers come to her. She practiced taking time for herself and listening to her body. This became a way of life for her that led to how she currently brings it into her practice as an intuitive healing practitioner helping people with chronic pain connect with their hearts and find joy in their lives.

As Gagnon continued to connect with her spiritual side, she also became more connected to her Metis culture where she found grounding medicine as strength and resiliency. “All the answers will come to you, trust yourself,” she said. “The answers are there. You just have to make the decision to trust yourself – it can be scary at first, but don’t let that get in your way.”

Over time Kat has learned about intuition starting with following her gut feeling and surrendering to knowing that everything will be okay. One thing she learned was to go inward. She started learning to trust herself and the healthy choices she made for herself that led to her feeling stronger. And where this wasn’t something that happened overnight, the more Gagnon leaned into finding her own medicine and learning to quiet her mind, the more she was able to find joy, love, and peace with every part of her life.

Gagnon has been teaching yoga for 20 years, but since her cancer diagnosis she started to lean towards therapeutic yoga – Yoga Movement Therapy – with the understanding that, “people shut down when certain things happen.” It is important to keep the body moving and release tension that is being stored, she says. What Kat has come to know is rooted in the ‘body keeps the score’ and why movement in the body is important for health and healing.

Kat Gagnon C-IAYT, works with people with physical trauma as an Intuitive Mentor, certified Yoga Therapist, certified Reiki master, and inspirational speaker.