51: Gabriella Wright on How Trauma Led Her to Discover Spirituality and a Passion for Mental Health

This podcast highlights the stories of those who have gone through dark moments in their lives and come out the other side with additional wisdom, courage, and insight they could not have found had they not gone through that darkness. As a result, they often become a light unto others, and today’s guest is no exception. Gabriella Wright is a mother, an actress, an activist, a speaker, and a meditation teacher with a long-standing history of humanitarian engagement.

Gabriella hails from London, where she had a very enchanting childhood. In her late teens, however, she suffered a very dark experience of abuse, which prompted her to relocate to New Zealand where she discovered meditation, spirituality, and her inner life. 

She ultimately traveled to India where she went deeper into her practice, not realizing that it was preparing her for an even bigger tragedy to come, one that would cause her to double down on her commitment to become an advocate for mental health. 

As the Cofounder of Never Alone, a suicide prevention and mental wellbeing initiative of The Chopra Foundation, Gabriella has gone on to help reduce mental health stigma and democratize access to mental health tools.

She is the innovator of the Mental Hygiene Toolkit, a collection of mind cleansing and self-awareness tools to help individuals nurture their bodies, minds, and spirits, and develop inner guidance to consciously choose the best path for their lives. 

Gabriella’s acting and humanitarian projects bring her closer to understanding human nature and what binds consciousness to reality. In this episode, we hear how she was driven throughout her life by the word ‘freedom’, how becoming a mirror helped her through both trauma and emancipation, and how she pursues the fulfillment of her rich inner reality every day. Tune in to learn more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Gabriella reflects on her favorite activities as a child: running barefoot through the Hackney Marshes and hearing stories from her father.
• More on her household growing up, religion, and the lessons she learned from her parents.
• What Gabriella saw herself becoming when she grew up, directed by her pursuit of freedom.
• Find out how the words ‘magical’ and ‘freedom’ spun her drive to become an actor.
• Her traumatic experience of being abducted and sexually assaulted at 17-years-old and how “becoming a mirror” helped Gabriella escape.
• How this experience changed her perspective and opened her heart to the suffering of others.
• Hear how she came to relocate to New Zealand and how Shakespeare contributed to the spiritual awakening she had there.
• Gabriella describes the ad in a local gazette that ended up introducing her to meditation.
• The positive changes that took place for her over the next few months of meditating.
• What success meant to Gabriella at that time: to free herself from pain.
• The initially terrifying journey to meet a Maori queen that introduced her to Tibetan Buddhism.
• Gabriella speaks about the children that opened her eyes to the corruption and human trafficking in India and her desire to find solutions.
• She tells the story of a film about suicide that she helped create that turned very personal.
• Recognizing, in her sister’s suicide, the need for more accessible mental health support.
• How Gabriella thinks about success today: fulfillment of her rich inner reality.
• What she would say to someone who has lost a loved one to suicide: you’re not alone.
• How facing grief head-on can help you experience your important presence beyond grief

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