Sydney Williams

After surviving two of the hardest years of her life, Sydney Williams was standing in an REI dressing room trying on hiking gear for her first backpacking trip. Looking back in the mirror was a woman (and body) she didn't recognize. She looked herself in the eye and simply asked, “GIRL, how did we get here?” It was a rhetorical question for the dressing room, but two thru-hikes across Catalina Island helped Williams establish the mind-body connection that was necessary for her to be able to face her trauma head-on and leave everything on the trail. The first hike on the Trans-Catalina Trail was the hardest physical challenge Williams had ever tackled; it taught her how to love her body, and reminded her that she could do hard things. Nine months before her second journey, she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. By the time she hiked the island the second time, Williams was 60 pounds lighter. What would be possible if the hike itself wasn’t the hard part?

Since hiking the Trans-Catalina Trail twice, I have been able to heal myself from the inside out and my Type 2 Diabetes is now in remission. Your Empathy Evolution is the foundational layer of the work I did to face my trauma head-on and start the healing journey. Before we can start unpacking our trauma packs, we have to learn how to speak more kindly to ourselves. This workshop is ideal for anyone who is having trouble quieting their inner critic and looking for solutions to help reframe limiting beliefs into powerful mantras and affirmations.