Episode 134: The Gift Hidden Inside Brain Cancer: Creativity, Healing, and Trust with Somatic Photographer Ania Volovique
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Episode 134: The Gift Hidden Inside Brain Cancer: Creativity, Healing, and Trust with Somatic Photographer Ania Volovique
"Creativity has its own frequency, its own energy, and it's meant to be experienced in the present moment." — Ania Volovique
This episode is your invitation to trust yourself more deeply, soften into the present moment, and make space for creativity to move through you. I’m joined by brand oracle and somatic photographer Ania Volovique for a conversation about intuition, creativity, somatic healing, and the life-changing lessons she learned through her experience with brain cancer.
Ania believes creativity isn’t something you either have or don’t have, it’s a living energy that wants to move uniquely through each of us. Rather than forcing ideas into existence or following someone else’s blueprint, she invites us to become deeply present, trusting that inspiration arrives when we create enough space to receive it, just like her upcoming trip to Paris.
We also dive into Ania’s unique approach to somatic photography and coaching. Whether she’s photographing a brand, guiding a client through a somatic practice, or holding space in a mentorship session, her process begins with presence. She shares how paying attention to body language, energy, and listening to her intuition allows her to co-create with each client.
Ania shares her story of navigating a brain cancer diagnosis. Rather than resisting, she chose surrender. She shaved her head, created a beach photo shoot, and leaned into creativity as part of her healing process. Through that journey, she discovered that our greatest challenges can become profound invitations to reconnect with ourselves, trust life more deeply, and find freedom even in uncertainty.
This conversation is a beautiful reminder that creativity flows when we soften our grip, trust our intuition, and create spaciousness for something greater to move through us. Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, moving through creative blocks, building a business, or longing to reconnect with yourself, this episode will leave you feeling grounded, inspired, and open to what’s possible.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform while you cook, clean, or create. Get the full show notes & transcript below.
Questions to Reflect On:
Sit with these questions: Journal, take them on a walk, create a voice note, chat with a friend, or sit with a cup of tea and reflect on them.
Leave a comment on Substack or connect with us on Instagram @chefcarlacontreras and @aniavolovique to share your takeaways from the episode.
1. What story am I continuing to tell that no longer serves me?
2. How can I create more spaciousness in my life for creativity to emerge?
3. Where am I outsourcing my power instead of trusting myself?
4. What would change if I believed everything happening in my life was here to teach me something?
5. What part of myself is asking for compassion today?
Disclaimer: Always seek the counsel of a qualified medical practitioner or other healthcare provider for an individual consultation before making any significant changes to your health, lifestyle, or to answer questions about specific medical conditions. If you are driving or doing an activity that needs your attention, save the energy practice for later. This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only. Note: Some of these are affiliate links. I receive a small percentage of the sales. I appreciate your support of my small Latina & women owned business.
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Ania Volovique
Ania Volovique is a self-proclaimed queen of personal reinvention. A move across the world at the age of 10 led her on a lifelong search for a sense of belonging.
Through many years of personal development, reinvention and looking within, Ania found what she was seeking….only it came in the form of brain cancer.
Recognizing the undeniable link between the mind and body, Ania firmly believes in the accessibility of this power to everyone. That is precisely why she developed her life-changing program, appropriately named "REBIRTH", which serves as a catalyst for profound transformation.
Ania Volovique is a Somatic Coach, Master NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) and Mental and Emotional Release Practitioner.
But beyond these titles, Ania is deeply devoted to her own spiritual growth and using her experience and personal healing journey to guide women on their transformative paths of self-discovery - especially during significant transitions like birth, death and rebirth.
Find + Work With Ania Volovique
Full Transcript:
Carla (00:04):
Welcome to Nourishing Creativity. I'm Chef Carla Contreras. If you don't know me, I'm a content strategist and food creative and the host of the Nourishing Creativity Podcast. Today's guest, oh my goodness, my heart is swelling and I'm on the verge of happy tears for Anya. Anya, can you please introduce yourself and how you serve your community?
Ania (00:35):
Well, I though we're not going to cry. There's only so much that you can say or even cover in sharing the magic that you are. But if I was going to introduce myself, I consider myself a brand oracle and I'm a somatic photographer. So essentially what that means is I look at how your soul wants to be expressed through you and we do that through branding and through photography.
Carla (01:00):
Anya, what is the last experience that has sparked creativity for you?
Ania (01:08):
I would say yesterday I got this inspiration to follow my intuition interesting enough. I'm planning a trip to Paris and it's going to be for eight / eight, which is a really significant date for me. At first I was thinking that I'm just going to go and I'm going to go to this specific event there and Paris is like my second home. And yesterday I got this inspiration to create this epic spectacle campaign and invite some people who feel called to meet me in Paris. So we're not just doing photos. We are literally creating this one of a kind campaign so that way you express yourself in a new way beyond just the surface level for social media.
Carla (01:56):
Oh my gosh. I cannot wait to see what you create.
Ania (02:01):
Do you want to come to Paris?
Carla (02:03):
I would love to, but I'm going to California during that time.
Ania (02:08):
I mean, just a long weekend. No
Carla (02:10):
Big deal. Just a long weekend in Paris. Yeah. Just whatever. Maybe.
Ania (02:15):
Yeah. So I'm going to just put a little seed of inspiration in your field.
Carla (02:22):
I love this. I'm already eating a croissant and -
Ania (02:27):
Well, isn't it interesting that that's how inspiration and creativity works, that if we are in our heads and we're trying to plan things out, then we're not allowing something greater than us to move through us, which is so much more expansive. Even as I say this, I have shivers all over my body. I feel so alive and so awakened by this idea. It hasn't happened yet. I don't have all of the details. I haven't planned anything yet. But yet the seed of creativity has been planted and it's giving me more life force energy pulsing through my body.
Carla (03:07):
I usually have people define creativity, but what I'm feeling in my body is almost electricity from your creativity.
Ania (03:20):
Yes. I don't think that creativity could be defined. Of course, each person has a perception of how their own creativity gets moved through them or what they perceive that creativity is like I am a creative person or I'm not, which is all bullshit. So don't tell anyone. Because everyone is creative. It's just how do you express your creativity and how does creativity move through you in a unique way? But yeah, I don't think you can label it or put words in it because that in itself softens it and flattens it. And it's like, that's not it. You can't define something that has its own frequency, its own energy and is meant to be in the present moment. In each present moment, the way that I relate with creativity is different.
Carla (04:11):
And so if you had to define a relationship
Ania (04:17):
I would say it changes and it moves. And in this moment I would describe it as whimsical curiosity.
Carla (04:27):
Oh my gosh. How fun is this? It's so playful. And when you're in your creative process because you have different aspects to your work, I have worked with you actually in many different capacities and we've known each other. We realized that we had 13 years on friendship.
Ania (04:46):
Yeah. Yesterday was our friend diversary on Facebook.
Carla (04:51):
So for 13 years we have been in communion with each other. And I'm curious the process when it comes to the somatic work, when it comes to your own coaching, and also when it comes to photography.
Ania (05:11):
I think that the overarching theme and the thread that is consistent no matter whether or not I'm doing coaching or mentorship or photography, all of it is around intuition and being present. So I don't approach each client of an agenda. Yes, I have my own method and my own structure, which I follow, but at the same time, I'm not rigid around it. And I think that's such an important piece to creativity. If we approaching creativity or any project, we have a rigid agenda, then we have our human self and what it's supposed to look like. And we're putting so much pressure on how it has to evolve or present itself. But if I'm approaching it for a more loose energy and meeting the moment and meeting the person where they are, then I'm allowing something greater than me, God source, higher power, my own intuition, my own inner wisdom to meet the person's wisdom.
(06:15)
So I'm not positioning myself as better than or being a teacher or being a guide while I might be guiding you in the moment. I'm not better than you and I'm not a guru. So I'm taking myself off the pedestal and I'm trying to get out of the way as much as possible so something greater can move through me. So when I'm on a Zoom call, for example, with a client and we're moving through a somatic practice or I'm coaching and positioning myself from trying to identify what is in your way, the more present that I can be, the more I can watch your body language and guide you based on that. And the same thing with photography. When a branding client shows up, I am meeting them where they are and again, watching their body language and watching the words that are coming out of the mouth to identify where are the gaps from where they're saying they want to be and where they currently are.
(07:17)
So that way I know I have a ton of tools. I have so many different modalities, so many different certifications like a lot of us. But at the same time, that's not the leading part. The leading part is how present can I be to meet the moment and to allow something greater than me to move through me. And then I can use all of the tools that are under my belt to support the person that's in front of me.
Carla (07:43):
And being on the other side of that, I can literally feel you listening to me while in that experience because I've done both somatic coaching with you. I've also been in a container with you. And I've had multiple photography sessions where the two of us have co-created in true presence with each other.
Ania (08:06):
And that's what it is, is co-creation. And I would also ad, it's you, me and God.
Carla (08:14):
Yeah.
Ania (08:15):
So it's the three of us that are working together. And when I'm present, then I can hear and listen not just to the words, but also to your energy and also to your body language so all of my senses can be fully present too. So I can catch all of the subtle ways that you may be diminishing yourself or abandoning yourself, which we all do in one way or another. But if I have an agenda, if I have a specific structure in my head and I'm approaching a client or whatever situation with a plan, like yes, plans are good and all of that. But at the same time, if I'm so rigid and I have a specific idea of how it's supposed to go, the next thing that I'm supposed to say or the script that I'm following that I can catch all the subtle ways and the subtle energies that are present, that are actually communicating with me in order to support you.
Carla (09:13):
And this leads me to blocks because this is why I started this podcast.
Ania (09:22):
Well, stuck energy is something that you're not able to receive or something that you're rejecting. So there's a belief that it's not supposed to be here. And if you're in the energy and in the belief that it's not supposed to be here or this is not supposed to be happening, then you're in the rejection energy. And when you're in the rejection energy, you can't receive the answer. You also can't receive the information that the circumstance is trying to show you. So that's where the disconnect happens. So that's where distortions occur. So if I'm coaching someone and they have a perception that there's a block, then my job, and if I... Let me just speak from my own personal experience. If I experience something where I feel blocked or I feel like there's circumstances that are occurring that I don't want to occur, my job is to pause and get in the neutral space.
(10:26)
If there's no right or wrong, if there's no good or bad, if I'm not rejecting the current circumstances and I turn back into my deep rooted belief and trust that everything is here for me, no matter how it appears externally, then I can be in relationship with what is happening. And instead of judging it, instead of pointing the finger and labeling it as bad, negative, I don't like it, I can get curious. And I can ask what is here for me? Even in the most challenging situations and my personal experience, I've lived through many experiences, but the biggest one that a lot of people really respond to well because it's so different and there's such a huge contrast specifically my brain cancer diagnosis. And I'm even actually going to rename it. It's not mine. The brain cancer diagnosis and the brain cancer experience that I have gone through seven years ago.
(11:33)
So on the surface, you can look at someone having cancer or having a cancer diagnosis as something bad is happening. When I was in that experience, I chose to see it as a blessing in disguise. And I chose to surrender fully to the experience. So of course, this is not something that I wanted to have, but there was no other thing that I could do about it. So the only option that I chose is to surrender and to receive it. And instead of labeling it as bad, negative, I don't like it, and fighting against it, I fully allowed it to be. I shaved my head, had a beautiful photo shoot on the beach because that's what you do when you have a cancer diagnosis. If you're a photographer and you express yourself creatively and use that creative life force to support you in whatever you're navigating, which is like another really good point.
(12:35)
And in the process, I healed myself without any chemo, any radiation. I learned to walk again after doctors told me I may never be able to walk after brain surgery. So this is a really extreme example, but sometimes it's helpful to hear these extreme examples because then you can put the same filter through whatever circumstances are happening in your life. No matter how extreme or heavy they feel in the moment, how can you surrender into it and tap into your own creativity and curiosity and ask what is here for me and how can I move through this experience in a creative way and not become a victim to my circumstances?
Carla (13:25):
This is unbelievable. Thank you so much for sharing with us. It makes things feel like you're in the driver's seat.
Ania (13:35):
Yes. And that is true freedom. When you are being controlled by your circumstances, when your mood, when your emotions are dependent on what's happening outside of you, if somebody is nasty to you, if you get a negative comment, if you get a parking ticket, if a loved one gets a scary diagnosis, if you get into a car accident, whatever the circumstances might be, your inner state is then dependent on something outside of you versus being so rooted in who you are and honoring your internal world that no matter what is happening externally, you're not being shaken by it. And that doesn't mean that you're bypassing or completely ignoring your emotions. In order to process emotions, it takes, I think it's like 70 seconds. So if we feel anger, if there's anger present, the job really and our responsibility is not to identify with anger and say, I am angry, but instead look at it as a visitor.
(14:49)
One of my favorite poems is the guest house where like every single emotion is knocking at your door and you're welcoming it with curiosity, but you're not identifying with it. So if anger shows up at your door, if frustration shows up, if any undesirable emotion shows up, don't identify with it, but instead get curious and ask, okay anger, maybe not in that tone in the moment, but essentially you're just getting curious and maybe even playful. Sometimes that helps too. Get creative with it. Again, maybe not in the moment when you're raging in traffic, maybe afterwards. Allow yourself time and grace to feel the emotion fully because really it takes like less than two minutes to feel the emotion fully. And that's part of somatic work. Somatics basically is the body. How is the body communicating with you? So whatever emotion is present, you get curious, you allow it to move through you and then you move on.
(15:59)
You get to a neutral state and then you have more spaciousness in your body, in your energy field. And then more ideas and more clarity comes through it and more creativity comes through it as well. Because if you're in your head or if you're in your emotions, there's no space for creativity. You're in survival mode. You're fighting for your life.
Carla (16:21):
Is there any way that we could learn how to experience our emotions if we're new at this?
Ania (16:28):
Feel it. It's so simple. It's stupid. Literally, if whatever is arising and sometimes it also helps to put your hands on your body because then that's nurturing your inner child as well. So you could put one hand on your belly, one hand on your heart. Take a deep breath. And shake your body a little so that way you're allowing the emotion to move through it as well. So breath, sound and movement. These are like the three core components of somatic work. So breath, you want to breathe in, breathe out longer.
(17:10)
Maybe add some sound on your out breath. Move your body. So breath, sound, movement. And allow yourself to feel the emotion for 70 seconds. So you're not doing anything, you're just sitting with it. And you're sitting with the part of you that is feeling what they're feeling. You're not identifying with it. You're not creating a story. That's where the disconnect happens. The emotion arises and then the human starts creating a story or bringing in something from the past. And then instead of the emotion just wanting to move through you, you're like, "Oh, it's because I suck. It's because I'm a loser. It's because I'm not worthy. I'm not good enough. Oh again, this is happening." So you're attaching all of this meaning so you're giving it life force energy. You're letting it live and grow. One of my favorite sayings is the story lives in retelling of the story.
(18:18)
So if something occurs and then you're attaching past experiences to it and you're like, "Oh, this happened when I was five and then my mom did this when I was seven and then my dad did this and when I was 14, you actually are feeding it. And this one single emotion that could have been completely transmuted through you with you in a matter of seconds, it has more depth to it because you fed it all of these emotions and you attached meaning. And we're all meaning making machines. The question is, is the meaning that you're making supporting you or disempowering you?
Carla (19:01):
And I can say this personally, that I have had microphone problems for eight episodes. And when Anya came on today, coincidentally, the microphone was having an issue. And you were like, Nope, we're going to do a blessing. It's going to work. May it be so. And had you not been here, I might have gone completely into the story.
Ania (19:30):
Yeah. And we all do that in one way or another. So our responsibility is to catch those thoughts and lovingly with so much grace connect to the part of us that feels that because that is real. So we're not abandoning that part. So it's also really important to acknowledge the voice that is coming through. Because if it's coming through you, it's there from you, for you. So let's not abandon the part that feels not good enough, not worthy, whatever your descriptor is in the moment. So in that moment, then again, take a deep breath. Shake your body. Move your neck. Move your jaw. The joy, especially for women, we hold a lot of emotions, a lot of things unspoken or that we are afraid to say. So when we allow ourselves to move our jaw, we're also allowing more energy to move through that. And the jaw is also connected to our root and to our pelvis and our womb.
(20:47)
So the womb is interesting enough, is the space of creation. And if we hold trauma there, then we are not expressing ourselves. And if we're not expressing ourselves, then that also relates to our self-worth. And then it goes so it's kind of going through the chakras, right? So then self-worth and then we're not opening our heart. So then we're not using our voice. So then our intuition is blocked and then we are mental and we're in our head.
Carla (21:20):
This is a whole process.
Ania (21:23):
But also it's not complicated. It's more like being present and paying attention to everything that's occurring and being present for yourself first and foremost. So it's not what's happening externally. Yes, that's important. But more than anything, my responsibility, your responsibility is to take care of you. My responsibility is to take care of me. When we are rooted in our own center, when we are in our own authority, then we're not outsourcing our power and we're not leaking energy to anything or anyone outside of us. And the entire world, every single person, every single client, family member, stranger benefits because we are in our own energetic bubble.
Carla (22:13):
And do you find that when we are in our own energetic bubble, is that when creation flows?
Ania (22:23):
There's space for creation to naturally flow through us because we are not in our heads trying to micromanage other people or circumstances or control what is. So essentially that is the entire point and intention of being as clear as possible so that way creativity can move through us. And creativity looks a lot of different ways. Creativity is also getting new creative ideas of how you can grow your business or how you can support your child who might be suffering in school. So creativity moves in a lot of different ways. But if you're so focused on, let's just use you today with an example. If you're so focused on a microphone not working, all of your mental energy is going to the microphone. And maybe then it compounds because you're bringing in the stories of like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't even be doing it. Or who cares?
(23:26)
I shouldn't be using my voice." So then all of your energy, all of your creative energy really is going to that. So there's no space for something greater to drop in because you're busy.
Carla (23:40):
Oh yeah.
Ania (23:41):
So if we're just playing in the realm of infinite possibility and just if I was explaining it to a child, for example, if you're busy doing something and God is looking down and wants to give you something, it sees you busy. It can't give it to you. Or if you're holding so tightly and your palms are closed and you're trying to grip to how things should be, then nothing can land in your palms because they're closed and you're gripping so tightly. But if you open your palms, then you're in the receivership. Then you can receive. You can receive ideas, you can receive support, opportunities, resources, and opportunities and resources can show up in very creative ways. If we are so focused on how things should be, we're not allowing something greater to come through. And the easiest path to manifesting, let's just use that for lack of better word, to manifest anything we get to clear energetic field of distortions, illusions, conditioning, how things should be, who you think you are, comparing yourself to other people or a past version of you.
(25:01)
All of that is a distortion. So we get to bring ourselves into clarity and clarity occurs with space. Space. So spaciousness, spaciousness in the mind, in our field, and they all correlate, of course. So how neutral can you get with yourself internally, but also with life where you're not, again, coming back to you're not taking things at surface level like, "Oh, I didn't get what I want or this needs to be different. My mic doesn't work." But instead getting to a neutral state. So feel the feelings, feel the frustration, feel the disappointment. Whatever feeling is arising, it's valid. You're here for it. You're here for the part of you that is feeling the emotion, but you're not identifying with the emotion. You're feeling it fully so it can move through you. And then you're in a neutral state. And when you're in a neutral state, then more creativity, more ideas and more inner peace comes through, which then impacts every single thing that you do moving forward.
Carla (26:11):
This was an incredible journey. I am so, so grateful for you, my friend. Can you share with us how we can find you, how we can work with you, how we can support you?
Ania (26:25):
Yeah, absolutely. The best place to find me is on Instagram. Also, I have a Substack and I would love to hear from you. And if this landed, I'd love to hear what part landed the most and how you're taking it and applying it to your own life.
Carla (26:40):
Thanks so much for tuning in to Nourishing Creativity. You can find me Chef Carla Contreras across all social media platforms and more information in today's show notes. While you have your phone out, please leave a review on iTunes or Spotify. This is how others find this show. I really appreciate your support, sending you and yours so much love.