Integrative Therapy
I am Yaela Rivka Orelowitz, global INTEGRATIVE THERAPIST and founder of The Lighter Life. I work with people who are called to finding meaning and purpose in their lives, in order to make their JOURNEY more JOYFUL..
When we are connected to purpose, we can overcome almost any challenge and be able to find the JOY in our lives almost always. The task is one of deeply learning about HOW TO CARRY our responsibilities and how to let go of those things that truly don’t matter so that we have more space for WHAT REALLY COUNTS in our time here on earth.
In meeting you, I start with my name on purpose because The Lighter Life is all about the belief that what you have been given is what you need for you to become your greatest you in your life.
The Lighter Life is founded on the values of connection, starting with the connection that we have all been given upon birth to a family, a nation, a place, a legacy, and a story that our ancestors have carried for hundreds of years. Where we come, what name we are given, these are clues into our work here on earth, our healing, and the legacy that we are invited to build.
In my work with you, I come as a full person, and my many years work of delving into my story and the story of my ancestors allows me to sit in the presence of discovery of yours and you.
Welcome to The Lighter Life,
I am Yaela Rivka Orelowitz, and it is a great pleasure to meet you here.
Let us begin by asking you this:
What is your name?
Where does it come from?
How do you relate to your name?
Has this changed throughout your life?
And for fun…
If you could re-name yourself, what name would you choose?
You have got it all already, and it is all in your name. That’s where we begin: Who you are, what you have been given, and where you come from.
I’ll start by telling you a little bit about my name, so you can meet me before I get the honour of meeting you.
I was named after my great grandmother Ella. Ella was the daughter of refugee immigrants from Eastern Europe. She was, from the stories I heard, an incredibly kind and generous woman with a no-nonsense attitude, a deep-rooted morality and the kind of grit that allowed her to juggle farmer, mother, grandmother, charity worker, shop keeper and chef as daily-working-titles. Quite a woman!
From photos of her she has a light in her eyes and an easy beauty that kept her looking young until she was old.
Now, being given this name does not mean that I was automatically donned with these wonderful attributes.
Quite the contrary.
And that is the point.
Our work in life is TO BECOME OUR NAME.
Our name holds our healing and our potential but the very things that will
make us great are also the things that are going to give us our biggest
headaches in life.
Yep, that is how it works.
Not only has my name held the legacy of an amazing woman, but, for laughs no doubt, my parents added the name of G-d to my name (“Y” is the first letter of G-d’s name in my Jewish tradition).
Live up to THAT girl!
Most of my life I felt so far from the potential of my name, and it created a lot of internal pain and strife.
But the pain, I now understand, was there was an internal battlefield between the vast potential within me and the cruel inner-critic who wanted to dismiss, dis-armour and distract me from reaching my potential.
Familiar?
When I realized that I was in pain because I was disconnected from my name, it became clear that love was causing me pain. Anytime we led ourselves down, love says “I want more from you, so I will not allow you to stay here”. The push forward can hurt, but when we know it is coming from love, it changes everything.
I am not yet my name, and I hope that I never feel that I am, because the work of life is in becoming and discovering my name every day, sometimes a few times a day, moving closer towards my essence, and my potential each moment of my life.
In The Lighter Life approach of working with you, I share my name so that you can look into yours. This is where we begin.
In a world filled with loud messages and healing approaches for the masses, The Lighter Life is saying quite the opposite:
I invite you to rebel by turning inwards and starting with what you have already been given and called upon to be-come!
Hi, I am Yaela and I am becoming my name
What’s yours?
The 40 day program (with Yaela) went so quickly and I grew so much in my ability to be silly and take more risks. I became closer to the other people in the group and pushed myself to try different things. I also really appreciated learning improv which helped me to be less in my thoughts and more in my life. Highly recommended for over-thinkers
Shoshana Fendel Pardes Institute, USA