Magic on Giralda
Health & Wellness
BODHI WELLNESS OFFERS A FRESH, MODERN APPROACH TO MEDITATION, REIKI, CLEANSING – AND HYPNOSIS
This past year has been rough – politics, healthcare, the environment, rising rents, traffic, the economy – so I was feeling stuck and needed a push. The year before I had gone in for a hypnotherapy consultation at what was then called Coral Gables Hypnosis. I didn’t act on it, but I couldn’t get the upbeat yet grounded therapist I spoke with, Patty Fuenzalida, out of my head. Since I’d kept thinking about it, why not give it a shot now? My anxieties dissipated as soon as I walked into the feng shui designed wellness center, located at the intersection of Ponce de Leon and Giralda, and named after the tree under which Buddha became enlightened. Calm and warmth filled me. From the scent of candles and sage to the light blue walls, rustic wooden furniture, and crystals blinking in sunlight, the warm space radiated with positive energy – not to mention good humor. As I sat down again with Patty Fuenzalida, a trained hypnotherapist and reiki master who is also Bodhi’s co-founder and CEO, my eyes were drawn to a sign on her desk that reads: “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Patty Fuenzalida, CEO & co-founder
She listened to my concerns about being hypnotized, mostly clichés about being manipulated or told God knows what while vulnerable and unconscious. She explained that it was really more a way to speak to your mind in a semi-conscious state and reprogram the loops of negative thoughts. Hypnotherapy, as I learned, was nothing like I had imagined.
Sharp-witted, funny, down to earth, and yet totally engrossed in the deeper mysteries of the universe, Patty has a soft, soothing voice that lulled me right to sleep. While “under,” she led me through a guided, personalized meditation.
Over the next two months, Patty met with me weekly to guide me into a temporary state of hypnosis. I was awake but my body was asleep. In one hypnotherapy session, she had me imagine that I was smashing a mirror containing images of myself that were negative and harmful. In another, I became a mermaid finding sunken treasures. She would take notes of the naysaying words I used to talk about my life and turned them into positive and transformative mantras.
Soon my frequency was vibrating higher and it felt, well, magical. And magic is a word you’ll hear daily at Bodhi.
“We believe in practical magic. We have decided it is not weird or taboo,” says Patty, detailing the various ancient tools the center utilizes to create it. Bodhi favorites include feng shui, sage from Native American traditions, crystals, and invoking references to the moon as a tool for charting corresponding psychological and emotional responses. Used in combination with energy readings, Patty says these tools can channel past life regressions, and create a space of openness and vulnerability for other-worldly connections to take place.
Be that as it may, after my sessions I felt lighter, freer, positive, and more tuned in to my environment. As for the other private classes available – reiki, energy clearing, past-life regressions, and sex therapy – those may have to wait. But the center does offer a $147-a-month community membership that includes workshops and classes in everything from meditation, breath work, and sound-bowl baths to tarot readings, movie screenings, and networking activities.
The center welcomes drop-in visitors for its near-nightly programming, from yoga nidra to sister circles. And once a month, they host group hypnosis on a Friday morning called the Power Series, tackling different themes like how to attract more wealth, healing family relationships, and improving self-esteem.
“The vision behind Bodhi was to create magic through community,” says Patty. “People experience breakthroughs and otherworldly connections because they become vulnerable and the space is so open.”
