{"id":3025,"date":"2021-05-20T07:29:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T13:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildinghopesummit.org\/?page_id=3025"},"modified":"2021-07-05T13:21:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T19:21:12","slug":"ashley-hughes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/buildinghopesummit.org\/es\/faces-of-hope\/ashley-hughes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashley Hughes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2b05 Back to\u00a0Faces of Hope<\/a><\/p>\n

From Healing to Healer:\u00a0<\/b>The Journey of Ashley Hughes<\/b><\/h3>\n

\"Liam_Doran-1733I first met Ashley Hughes when she came to the Building Hope office last July to offer a demonstration of her \u201cHealing through Yoga\u201d class as a community connectedness event. I was struck by her presence; she had a fierce honesty, dominated by curly auburn hair thrown back in a loose tail, big blue eyes and not a lick of make-up. Combined with her physical strength, she possessed the kind of energy that commanded space and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I can teach this class with guidance and authority is because I have severe trauma,\u201d she begins. \u201cIt took me a long time to admit that there was a problem. My doctors along the way told me that I was lucky to have yoga in my background because what happens with trauma is that the mind and body disconnect.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continues with how yoga helped her learn to sit with emotions that are challenging for longer periods of time; learned to determine where she feels those sensations in her body; and what kind of things she can do to either help shift those feelings, make them decrease in length, or allow her to just sit through them. In addition, yoga has a mindfulness and meditation component, which, she says, can help heal the brain.<\/p>\n

For an hour, Ashley led the Building Hope staff through her growth in personal wisdom and understanding of scientific knowledge, movement and breathing, stillness and focus. Her words were crisp and efficient, scripted over the years to remind herself and to teach others about the healing powers of the mind\/body connection. We learned to \u201cbody scan,\u201d to tune into the parts of our bodies that are feeling emotion; and we went through each of the seven chakras \u2013 energy centers located in the spine that are connected to various organs and glands in the body.<\/p>\n

At the end, at least one of us cried, having released a portion of the toxic emotion that was bound tight in different parts of our bodies. It was then that I knew that Ashley\u2019s story could help others with their own.<\/p>\n

She says it\u2019s normal for people who experience trauma to go through three phases: 1) not telling anyone anything, trying to suppress feelings and emotions; 2) telling everyone everything because that energy and story needs to be released, while understanding that it reduces personal power; and 3) telling the story but being mindful of controlling the narrative.<\/p>\n

Here it is, the mindful narrative she shares to pay it forward for others who have experienced trauma in hopes that they, too, can learn to write their own brave new endings \u2013 and beginnings.<\/p>\n

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Ashley Hughes grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 She says her mom, who grew up in Chicago, raised her to think everything\u2019s better in Chicago, but she remained loyal to \u201cC-Town\u201d and its grace on the lake. \u201cI mean, c\u2019mon, we have three national sports teams, big company headquarters, good universities — and \u2018The Avengers\u2019 was filmed on 9th St! I had it good,\u201d she says, clearly protective of the city that nurtured and helped heal her. It\u2019s as if she identifies with the strength it took for Cleveland to rebuild itself after being dubbed \u201cThe mistake on the lake,\u201d due to lake pollution in the 1970s; and later becoming the epicenter of foreclosure, abandonment and decay following the 2008 financial crisis. \u201cCleveland has become so vibrant,\u201d she says, unconsciously reminding herself that all things are possible.<\/p>\n

She attended undergraduate school at the University of Minnesota, majoring in Political Science, Italian and German (she\u2019s also proficient in Spanish and can read and write in French). Combined with her love of sports, she was a shoe-in for an elite international graduate program in sports management, marketing and law. Her studies would take her to England, Italy and Switzerland to study each component intensively in quarterly chunks.<\/p>\n

When asked to describe herself during this time period, Ashley speaks quickly, as if she\u2019s racing to rewind the clock to her pre-trauma self. \u201cI was an overly ambitious energizer bunny version of a human, \u201cshe says. \u201cIf I could figure out a way to do something I was interested in, I\u2019d make it happen. I had the energy and ability to mobilize an entire room.\u00a0 When I’m really passionate about something, my energy level skyrockets \u2014 that’s probably why I find it easy to motivate people \u2014 especially in fitness and yoga.”<\/p>\n

Ashley\u2019s trajectory to World Cup sports marketer took a sharp turn three weeks before her 28th birthday and three months before graduating, when she experienced a traumatic event.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next two weeks I missed a few classes,\u201d a no-no for this 9hr\/day intensive program, she says. \u201cI began having suicidal thoughts and didn\u2019t know why. I saw a therapist for three weeks. I just wanted to leave. There was just darkness. Pieces of my past or future no longer fit together,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

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