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Estafet 3 | Video Interview with Yasemin Tokatlı

 

Dear EARThlings,

In this 3rd Estafet video, our dear Anna kindly and patiently interviewed me, there were many technical problems so we needed to edit it heavily 😊 as you can see yourself.

What I couldn’t relay in this video, I’d like to share with you, in writing:

EARTh Newsletter and our social media accounts are our virtual meeting points. As the PR Committee we’d like to see and hear more from our members about their stories, ideas and events. For many of us, writing in English is a problem but in this age of Google translation, you can write to us in your own language, no problem! After all, Bad English is EARTh’s official language.

And especially, please add the PR Committee email address to your contact list whenever you announce a training or event so we can happily add it to our events calendar in time. We try to hunt your events on your social media accounts but sometimes we can only see these too late.

So please share your case stories, articles, ideas and events with us at:
prc@earth-association.org

Thank you!

Looking forward meeting you all in EARTh Estafet
Best regards,

Yasemin Tokatlı

 

Anna: Hi everyone and welcome to our next episode of EARTh Estafet where we –ohh, I said that very Russian—Estafet! where do we meet therapists from EARTh all over the world and we ask them some questions about them, where they can introduce themselves and we can learn about them and what and how they do. And today I am very happy to have our lovely Yasmin from Turkey with me. Hi, Yasmin.
Yasemin: Hi! Hi, Anna. Hi, everyone.

A: Hi. It’s so good to have you and good to see you all the way from the warm Turkey.
Y: Thank you. It’s so good to see you too.
A: Great. So let’s just jump into it, dive into it, and go directly to questions.
Y: OK!
A: So, we do know your name, but you can introduce yourself and where you were born and where do you live now?
T: Born in Istanbul, last century. I will not go into details. And born and raised in Istanbul mostly in a Bosphorus town, but now I live in Datca town in Mugla Province of Turkiye. It’s a southwestern coastal town. Tiny but nice. Yeah.
A: Yes, I’ve heard a lot about that, by the way.
Y: Yeah.

A: We need to visit you and right, this great. Would you tell me more about what kind of profession you have? What was your background and studies that you’ve done?
Y: Actually, I’m a high school graduate. I spent two years in college, then dropped out. And I started to work to earn money, of course. And I landed in advertising agencies, back in 80s they were in boom. And at some point, advertisement world become a little bit troublesome for me because we have to promote some blatant lies, you know. So, it was a, ahem..yeah, some conscious decision that I quitted. And I started to work as a translator, mostly. Then I found my way into BILYAY Foundation. And I worked as a translator there, and my story went this way. Yeah.

A: All right. Yeah, doing that and writing and translating, how did you come to regression therapy?
Y: Well, starting from my childhood, I was kind of having some parapsychological phenomena, minor ones, a few major ones, and they led me questioning things, reality, my existence, my identity, things like that. So, I turned to books for help. So, I read a lot, and I think I was 13 when I read a book about reincarnation from a Turkish author and got very interested. Oh, that’s something to, you know, search, explore; that kind of thing. And when I was, I became a member of the BILYAY Foundation, or let me say that the whole name of the society: Metapsychical Research and Scientific Investigations Society. It was founded in 1950, the oldest spiritual society in Turkey. My first task was arranging the library of the Foundation. And imagine that. I was in heaven, you know, so I read Edith Fiore’s books there. And also, what known today as International Journal of Regression Therapy. It was called back then as the Journal of Regression Therapy and there were issues of it there and I was reading these and translated articles from them, you know, and suddenly oh! Regression Therapy. But the elders of the society were a little bit strict and they were doing ecmnesia. I don’t know if I pronounce it correctly, but it’s a kind of a hypnotic induction technique but they were using it mostly for reincarnation research, not for therapy per se. So, and of course, we were not in the inner circle, so we were kind of away from it, as younglings. But time passed and the elders passed away, so the younger members got bolder. And one day we said “Why don’t we organize an international parapsychology conference in Istanbul? Let’s do it!” Something like that. And of course, Tulin Etyemez Schimberg was and still is –she’s the president now of the foundation– and we were organizing it and we invited Winifred Blake Lucas as a presenter but she said “I cannot come, but I can send my best to students.” So, from USA, Janet Cunningham and Jeffrey Ryan came and when they saw us as a group with a kind of well-established background in theoretical and –you know spiritualism, spiritualistic studies, karma, human energy field– all kinds of topics; they said “Well, if you like we can give you a training on past life therapy” and we were like, “Yaay!” you know and we got our first training from them. Yeah, it was just like that, yes.

A: They come and give the training where you were at Turkey.
Y: They come twice, so in 2005 and 2006, we completed 2 modules with them, yeah.
A: Yeah, because that was actually my next question is. Where did you and how did you study regression? Wow.

Y: Oh yeah, oh yeah. This was the first one, of course. Then in 2006, Janet and Jeff told us, to Tülin and I, that, “You know, there are some group of European regression therapists gathering in Frankfurt, Germany. So why don’t you go there and meet them?” And we were, “Yeah, let’s go!” And we went there, Tülin and I, and a week later, we went back to Turkey as the members of the first board of EARTh, because EARTh is founded there. Not that time, but later I decided to continue my training with Tasso International. So yes, I am grateful for Janet and Jeff that they opened such a vista for me, but Hans TenDam and Marion Boon, well, my heartfelt thanks to them, because through them I learnt a very down to earth but at the same time very profound way of doing this work. So yes, this is my background in trainings.

A: So, how is regression therapy a part of your life right now? Do you have a practice?
Y: I practice but it’s a kind of 1/3 of my activities. Foremost, I’m a translator and editor. I am doing sessions mostly online, thanks to this lockdown I become friendly with these Zoom meetings. Before that I was “ohh, no no no.” But it’s working. I know it now. So, my therapist hat is always on. Actually, it’s in the background, but it’s always on. So, whenever something happens in my life or people around me, well, I look through that binoculars or glasses, you know, at things, at events. So, it’s there always.
A: So, it’s always there, also for you in your life
Y: Yes, yes.
A: You find it very– You look through that way.
Y: Yeah. It helps, it helps, yeah.

A: Is there any interesting case or a client that you that you really remembered?
Y: Well. A young lady came with, how can I say, she was in abusive relationships and she was trying to find a way out of it. OK, we did the proper things in inner child work, we found some answers regarding her father. And she went to a past life and found something. But at the end of session, she said something, and something like, if I remember correctly: “I shouldn’t be living like this,” something like that. And I was– I heard it and I was prompted to ask her “Then go back in time and go between lives and see what was your plan?” Something like that. And she suddenly sat straight in the sofa and it was a kind of agonized look on her face, and I was like, “What did I wrong? What did I do wrong?” I was like this, you know. Then I calmed myself, “OK, Yasemin, OK, just ask. Just ask.” And when I asked, she told me that “I saw my life plan. And I was so derailed off it. So, I feel- I’m, I’m feeling such a big, big shame right now.” Oh my God. OK. Then of course we ended the session and we talked, etcetera, but she was so surprised with this discovery and even in that moment she said, “OK, I have to change. I have to change.” And I still time to time check her. And she says “I’m still on the track. No worries.”
A: Yeah, so you have some sort of feedback from her after that?
Y: Yeah, yeah because it was kind of – a very drastic moment for her and for me.
A: It’s cool, yeah. It’s good for her to have you.
Y: Well, I wasn’t expecting that, but of course we shouldn’t assume and expect. Just go with the clients, yeah.

A: Exactly. So, if you do actually a lot of things, a lot of work on Zoom these days, you have any tips for our colleagues for working with Zoom?
Y: Well, first of all, a good connection. Sometimes I don’t have it. And “Just be yourself.” I was kind of a little bit tense at the beginning, you know– how do I express myself on screen? That kind of. Then I let everything go and it turned out fine.
A: And- but you feel like the connection– I don’t mean Internet connection. Like the connection with the client works well for you through Zoom?
Y: Energy work is going very well.
A: Well, that’s great though. I mean you can use the modern technology now which is it’s a benefit.
Y: Yeah, we have to, we have to.

A: So, I do know and also many of us know that you are very busy in EARTh, right? And so, you already mentioned you’ve been in the Board since it started, right in 2006, you were one of the first board members and now you’re also very active in PR Committee. Were there any other things you’ve done before? In between now and then.
Y: I think I was a board member in two different terms, also acted as a treasurer. Thank God we didn’t go bankrupt on my watch. And uh, also I started working first at the Membership Committee. Then I moved to the PR Committee. Now I have wonderful young members working with me because I rely on them on this digital realm, social media. I’m kind of old for such things, so until they kindly kick me out of the Committee, I plan to work with them. Yeah.
A: Very good. They’re very happy to have you there and to for everyone to know, this is the person behind all the mailings and beautiful newsletters and a lot of other things that you received. That’s the person behind with her team.
Y: I like, I love doing it. Yeah. I love doing things for you. You are one of us, for all members of EARTh, working in this wonderful field of regression therapy. So it’s such a privilege. It’s not a work, it’s a privilege. Yes.

A: It is our privilege to have you. And so on that, do you have any message for our fellow therapists, our colleagues in EARTh?
Y: Well, I can tell them that “Don’t be shy, please mingle more” because maybe they read or hear from other members who are joining our events, be it online or in person that they find an extended family in EARTh. So let’s make it a little bit larger family with their contribution. They can write, they can share everything with us. We are always here, you are always here. So yeah. Don’t be shy and. Come, join us.

A: Thank you. So as the rule goes and the new tradition, at the end of the interview, you get to pick the next victim.

Y: Victim!

Y: I say Sergio Baumwell from Brazil. Yes, yes.
A: Fantastic choice, love it and since, well, that’s great. I’m very excited. I’ll go to Brazil for that interview. I’d like to start a new tradition on the go, so you have chosen Sergio. Would you like to leave a question for him that you would like him to answer?
Y: Hmm. Let me think. “How can he sustain this wonderful personality?” Yeah.
A: All right. I would totally go with that question, as well. I’m very curious myself. Great. So, make sure I ask him next time. All right. Thank you so much, Yasmine. Thank you for your time. It was lovely to have your company.
And I hope, everybody will hear and follow Yasmine’s advice and don’t be shy and maybe next time you will be the next victim. Bye everyone and thank you, yes.
Y: Bye bye everyone. Thank you for having me.

Verified publication:

Yasemin Tokatli

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