I absolutely love the Soulful Shout Out series here on Soul Speak! I get to highlight and introduce you to beautiful people and their wonderful offerings!
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And now, let’s get to this week’s beautiful soul and his inspiring offerings!
This week, I am featuring Gaynor du Perez from the Center of Universal Awakening!
Gaynor and I connected last fall online, and I just love her sweet energy. She has a huge heart and was so supportive when I was in the midst of my grief in losing my dog-ter, Xena. She was going through deep grief of her own, which she shares more about in our interview.
Gaynor recently launched the Center of Universal Awakening, which is an international company offering Metaphysical Degree courses. She has been running Sunshine Academy of Metaphysics for three years now, which is quickly growing! She has put together an amazing free gift package for you plus a very special offer! We’ll talk more about these offerings soon, but first – let me introduce her!
Welcome to Soul Speak, Gaynor! For those who are just meeting you, I would love for you to share how long you have been on a spiritual path.
You could say since I was born – ha ha. Seriously though, since a young age I have been communicating with my life guide (a guide that stays with you for your entire life). I always felt that he directed my interests towards my life purpose, which is everything metaphysical and paranormal, including the complex world of quantum physics.
I grew up in a very restrictive and religious household, with my dad being somewhat extreme and labelling even fairies and dragons as “evil.” I often had my books and pictures confiscated and chucked. Of course, you know what happens when you forbid a child to do something? They do it even more! So, on the sly, I used to buy books on psychic abilities, theology, astrology, tarot, energy healing and the like with my pocket money and tried to hide them well. I always had an inner knowing that there was more to life and everything we perceived and had lengthy chats with my guide from about the age of 11 on the meaning of life, as well as the nature of consciousness and reality.
I wasn’t like other little girls that were interested in playing with dolls or dreamed of their future wedding and stuff like that. I was more interested in the unseen world that exists around us and how to help and heal others. It’s like I was born focused on my life’s mission, and it has evolved ever since.
I’m also an empath and see so many people who have this gift suffer because they are unaware that the emotions they are feeling are not their own. They end up on all sorts of medication to try and suppress these feelings. So this topic is also covered in one of our courses.
I’ve always believed in reincarnation, even though my upbringing tried to teach me the contrary. I had a personal experience of this as a toddler when I had memories and angry emotions that were not mine but that of an older adult male. I instinctively knew they were from me in a previous lifetime. Of course, I never mentioned any of it to anybody as I knew the reaction wouldn’t be positive. I was definitely wise beyond my years back then.
My late teenage years were spent working in a corporate environment and trying to cope with not following my passion and purpose, which led to feelings of despair and despondency. It was at this stage that I realised that I needed to start studying, so when I was 20 I started off with Herbalism and moved on to Aromatherapy and Reflexology. I still didn’t feel fulfilled as these subjects didn’t touch much on anything spiritual, so started studying Reiki, which I can honestly say was my point of true awakening, and carried on from there.
What has been your biggest personal challenge?
Last year was the most challenging ever. I lost two of my dogs, who had been my companions for 12 years, as well as my wonderful husband and father of my children. He was hugely supportive and was my coach, my sounding board, my motivation, and even my teacher in many ways. He allowed me to be fully me with no censorship and no expectations. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where or even who I am today if it wasn’t for his complete faith in me and constant encouragement and upliftment.
I’m still in the process of healing from that huge loss and focusing on my children and our future, as well as on my business. There was a brief point in the early days of my husband’s passing that I lost my motivation and felt like I didn’t want to carry on with my business. I questioned myself on this and realised that my business is a part of me and is my way of making a very real difference to many people. What I do is my passion – without it I would be totally aimless. That’s when I decided to expand, and the Center of Universal Awakening was born.
I’m truly sorry for your losses, and my heart goes out to you. Do you have any coping strategies that you would like to share with others who are also going through the grieving process?
Yes, be gentle with yourself and ignore everybody else’s timelines of where you should be in your journey of grief. Take a nap every day. Take five naps a day if you need to – just listen to your body and do what is needed to help yourself heal. Losing someone close to us, whether it is an animal or a person, leaves a huge hole in our energetic system, as suddenly all the energies change when their energy is withdrawn and we are literally left with an empty place where that person/animal used to be. It may not be the first thing anyone thinks about when losing a loved one, but it’s a good idea to do an aura cleansing and to fill any holes or tears with light within a few days of their passing.
The day before my husband passed away, we were talking about what would happen if either one of us died. I’ll never forget his words to me, assuming that he were to die first – “life needs to go on.” I think that on some level he knew it was his last day on Earth, and he wanted to leave me with some words of wisdom. So as tough as some days may be, you need to decide – are you committed to being alive? And if you are, then you need to live each day as fully and joyfully as you are capable of in the present moment, as you never know when your last day is going to be.
I also recommend regularly chatting with your loved one(s) on the other side, as it helps you feel connected and gives you peace of mind knowing that they are happy and safe. Luckily I was born with a few psychic gifts, so this came easily for me. You can hone these gifts too, to be able to do this, but an easier way would be to do a meditation where you meet the passed person or animal at one of your favourite places in nature and then see what unfolds from there. You could also do a Shamanic Journey, which is one of the services I offer in person, however, the meditation you can do yourself as many times as you wish.
What inspired you to begin teaching metaphysics?
Like I mentioned above, metaphysics has always held a huge fascination for me and is my passion. One day while working as a legal secretary and paralegal, I got to thinking about how I was wasting not only my natural talents, but also everything I had studied since 1995. I felt like I wasn’t being true to myself and eventually set myself a goal of two years within which to have my own business, holding various energy healing classes, classes to help you communicate with your guides and also seeing clients.
I started doing this part time, so that I didn’t have any added financial stress, and very quickly reached the point where I realised that I was still reaching a limited number of people. That’s when I resolved to embrace technology and start teaching via the internet. I even do distant healing sessions now, which is great as I am no longer limited to only treating people in my immediate vicinity and the feedback with these sessions has been fantastic.
I love that you followed your passion, and it led you to opening the Center for Universal Awakening! Could you share more about what you offer there?
Within the Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate programs, we offer many exciting courses ranging from self-development to attunement systems. An example of self-development would be learning how to define your personal boundaries, building your self-esteem, discovering your life purpose, setting and achieving your goals, learning how to forgive and let go, and even learning how to cut cords for yourself and others.
The program also teaches you the basics of meditation and visualisation; subtle energies (chakras, auras, and all the unseen energies and channels around and within you); the spiritual causes of dis-ease and various healing tools and techniques; how to meet and communicate with your spirit guides, angels, and Archangels; and so much more! We’ve assembled all of the information on the different subject choices into a Prospectus, which can be downloaded from our homepage at www.centerofuniversalawakening.com.
The one thing that makes this program stand out from other Metaphysics Degree programs is the amount of practitioner courses it contains. Once you have completed each practitioner module, you are able to start using this in your healing practice on clients. Practitioner modules include various forms of Reiki, Crystal Healing, Crystal Reflexology, Shamanic Healing methods, Hawaiian Healing methods, various other forms of Energy Healing, and my personal favourite: Animal Healing & Communication.
So far every single student who has taken this subject has been able to communicate with animals at the end and has also had success in performing the Gestalt method, which is when you drop inside the animal to experience first-hand any pain or discomfort they may be feeling, as well as being able to analyse their body systems and more. This particular course is one of the most comprehensive animal healing and communication courses that you will find on the internet.
I personally ensure that every subject covers many aspects of the given topic, in an easy-to-read format that doesn’t overwhelm students with too much information.
This all sounds so wonderful! How does the Center of Universal Awakening differ from Sunshine Academy of Metaphysics?
The Center of Universal Awakening focuses on Metaphysical Degrees, whereas Sunshine Academy offers each course within the Degree Program as stand-alone courses as well as a broader variety of studies, such as a Hypnotherapy Diploma, the Empath Toolkit, How to See the Aura, How to Communicate with your Guides, and so much more, including many attunement packages. An attunement is a wonderful way to receive healing and also enables you to develop spiritually, as it aligns you with the energy you are being attuned to.
What does your soul want you to know?
That it’s totally okay if you don’t feel your best self every day – I know a lot of therapists and teachers who put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves when they are feeling down for whatever reason or in a bad mood. They think that as people look up to them as role models, that they need to always “have it together.” Just remember that you are human and part of this experience is truly feeling your emotions, whether you consider them to be good or “bad.” Embrace your shadow side, for without the dark, you would not see the light.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I have a huge vision for the Center – before the end of the year we will be offering Life Coach Training and Hypnotherapy Training, and next year will be rolling out a Diploma in Herbalism, Past Life Practitioner Training, and Akashic Records Reading Certification. We will also be holding a number of exciting workshops in Mexico (Tulum) and the US (Florida, Sedona, Colorado, and Hawaii for now). Keep an eye out on our website, which will give more details closer to the time. If anyone would like me to hold a workshop in their area, all they need to do is find another eight course participants and in return they can attend for free.
Also, my kids and I are going to be moving to the Riviera Maya in Mexico later this year, which I think will be quite an adventure. It has been a dream of mine to move to Mexico since seeing part of it when I worked on a cruise as a massage therapist in 2000. Also, in 2004 my late husband and I bought a van and drove around Mexico for a few months and visited a lot of pyramids. I’m excited at the prospect of living so close to them and doing day trips to show them to my kids. I live in a quiet beach town in South Africa at the moment, so am quite used to living in a reasonably remote area with no huge shopping centres around.
Once I’ve settled in, I plan on travelling up to the USA every few months to hold a few workshops, such as Animal Healing & Communication, How to Meet and Communicate with your Guides, Munay Ki Shamanic Rites of Transformation, Shamanic Journeying, and other spiritual development as well as practitioner workshops. I’ve only ever been to the USA briefly, as the cruise ship I worked on went out of a port in Los Angeles, so I’m eager to see more of it. I just LOVE road tripping and discovering new things.
I’ve got so many ideas going through my head on courses and workshops that I want to put together! I am busy studying Business Coaching, NLP and Hypnotherapy, and want to put a guide together on how to successfully start and run your own healing business, as this is something that a lot of people, including my current students, would benefit from.
So many ideas!
I absolutely love the free gift package that you’ve put together! Can you please share more about it?
Yes! I tried to include as many facets of metaphysics as possible in putting together the free gift package.
There are e-books on abundance and manifesting, Archangels, how to unleash your inner psychic, karma and reincarnation, and even an audio self-hypnosis to help you clear a lot of your stumbling blocks, which I think is what a lot of people may need.
Click here to receive the Metaphysical Mastery Package for free!
You’re offering a wonderful enrollment special through the end of July! Please tell us all about it!
This special features huge discounts, of up to $790 off the degree programs through July 31st!
You can learn more by clicking the link below!
Click here to learn more about this special offer!
Thank you, Gaynor, for sharing your heart with us!
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