I was born and raised in the South suburbs of Athens, Greece. I see myself as a sunny child with a philosopher’s heart. Grew up in a “broken” family since I was three years old. As a child I thought I had to bridge the realities between my mom’s poor family and my dad’s rich and aristocratic background. My need to belong somewhere was fulfilled by religion and pets. My mom’s family was religious and at the same time we were having a tiny farm on our roof top, with chicken, bunnies and a goat.
During my teenage years the need for belonging became very present since we didn’t continue having animals and I started questioning my relationship with religion. I was feeling without a family and somehow I started believing that the only way to feel “at home” was if I just grow enough and create my own family. I was working with myself to reach my dreams since the age of 16, even though I had no clue what I wanted to do in my life. I knew I wanted a family.
At 18 I opened a business on real estate to provide a job for me and my mom, during the major economic crisis of 2012 in Greece. It wasn’t flowing for me, even though my mom found her passion doing this job, for me it wasn’t working. I soon started wandering around Greece doing seasonal work at hotels and bars, in jobs that wouldn’t last more than a couple of months, when at the same time I was studying business management.
Middle of 2015 my mom convinced me to join her for a training on subconscious intuitive healing. I was really judging and resisting to join as “these things are nonsense”. I was already attending an academy on “achieving our goals” with tools of coaching and NLP, and 6 months into it, with a lot of effort and financial investment, the results were only flashing here and there. How could a “3-days” training be any resultful? However she paid for my spot and I accepted.
After that first training my mind was still the same. “It is a scam” I was thinking. After a week or so, an older student in the academy, who I trusted a lot for his experience on self development, heard my scamming story and wanted to give it a try. I was denying to waste our time but he was super curious, so I agreed. I still remember when we finished the session, he held my hands and told me “I don’t know if it’s the method, or if it’s you, but you should never stop doing this”. It hit me! Did I miss something? What could he see that I wasn’t able to realize? I felt as if there is a meaning here, similar to the meaning of family I was longing for since I was a child. Soon more people asked for sessions and after a dozen, I started charging. I gathered the money for the second training and then I was able to see a bit more than before, to realize things that were hard even to grasp, to understand as much as I could. Having my mind open to see, I saw.
My teacher at the time needed an assistant, I left everything else I was doing and for a year I worked and got trained by her. I felt welcomed and respected, even though I had no prior experience that would justify people’s trust. That elevated my sense of belonging and I wanted to grow more into it. I decided I wanted to develop my own brand “Anthizw”, but very soon the financial uncertainty lead me to chase short term jobs once again.
Early 2018, a friend I met at my first public speaking, suggested for me to go on a self development training in Hungary, which was funded by the Erasmus+ program. The training was a true milestone! 12 days of intense self discovery, experiencing things I wouldn’t dare to imagine! The trainers created a safe space for us to step out of our comfort zones and confront ourselves of all the boxes we were trying to fit into.
Coming back to Greece I decided to work at my friend’s NGO and learn, support, share everything that I received from that experience. I felt I found my tribe! The sense of family was present, in a very different way than I had in my mind, with playfulness, support, creativity, keeping things light and deep at the same time. It was profound! I realized that the feeling of family, belonging, inclusion and safety can occur in a community setting as well! It became my dream.
Six months later, as I thought I had my life figured out, I decided to join my partner on a journey like no other. I embarked with him, on a crude oil ship, for 6 months. Quarantined before the corona times, any social interactions were very limited, with almost no internet, unable to go anywhere but our cabin or his office. Even though the conditions weren’t supporting us to flourish, I was feeling safe and comfortable in discomfort. The length of the journey, lack of quality time as well as movement and stress factors of his work life lead him to seek distance from each other, immediately after returning to Greece.
I moved to Turkey for two months, to volunteer at schools and teach children English. Which was followed by taking trainings all over Europe for another six months, on mentorship, art, activism, conflict mediation and project management. My background as a therapist was whispering in me again and now, inspired by my best friend’s experience on becoming a mother, I realized I wanted to work with the “first trauma”, birth. But to do that, in my mind I had to know how to work with adults/parents first.
January 2020 I decided to become a trainer and moved to the Netherlands, to work for the foundation where the milestone training I took back in 2018, was created. The first three months were bursting with creativity, trainings, learnings, connections, realisations! I had so much to learn! When Corona hit, the director of the foundation supported me to realize that I could still learn by doing study visits in eco-communities. In the meantime I was researching on topics around pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, development stages and as I was educating myself on parenthood, I grew a deeper understanding of my own childhood, reconnecting with my inner child, integrating my shadow and… becoming my own parent. started being interested in motherhood, childbirth and free schooling. 2 of my best friends In October 2020, after a few months of intensive inner work, I participated in a shamanic ceremony with Ayahuasca plant medicine. There are not enough words to explain what happened to me there, however I can say that through that experience I met myself to the deepest level I was able to comprehend in that moment. A milestone like no other! A few days later, while I was visiting a truly magical eco-community, I witnessed a behavioral change in me which now has become the “Bridge The Dimensions” method.
February 2021, I launched Bridge The Dimensions official website and I am learning more about how to be human, discovering my self, witnessing and holding the space for others to give birth to themselves, to inner light, to life…
bridgethedimensions.com 