Written by Saaid Radwan, Behavior Analyst and Family Consultant Saaid Radwan is a Behavior Analyst, Neurodiversity and Family Consultant, and CPD Certified Trainer with 20+ years of international experience across the UAE, MENA, Europe, and Central Asia. He specializes in ABA, communication support, emotional regulation, and family-centered care, advocating inclusive, lifelong development. In my twenty-five years of walking alongside families across six continents, I have sat in living rooms from Dubai to Tashkent, from Paris to Kuala Lumpur, and witnessed the same scene unfold, a mother exhausted from managing meltdowns, a father navigating therapy schedules, and a child with autism receiving every ounce of the family's emotional, financial, and logistical energy. But there is almost always someone else in that room, quiet, adaptable, and invisible. The sibling. We have built an entire industry around autism intervention. We train BCBAs, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and special educators. We fund parent support groups, respite programs, and awareness campaigns. But we have forgotten the brothers and sisters who grow up in the same home, breathe the same air, and absorb the same stress, often without a single professional ever asking them how they are doing. This is the Sibling Silent Crisis and it is time we faced it. The invisible data: What the numbers actually say For decades, sibling research was treated as an afterthought, a footnote in studies about parental stress or child outcomes. But the data that does exist is impossible to ignore. Research led by Orsmond and Seltzer found that 36% of adolescent siblings of children with autism reported depressive symptoms at or above the clinical cutoff on standardized measures, a rate that demands attention, not dismissal. Even more striking, the gender divide was severe, over half (51.5%) of sisters scored at or above the clinical cutoff for depression, compared to only 5.9% of brothers. Anxiety tells a different but equally urgent story. A large-scale study using the Simons Foundation Simplex Collection dataset, spanning 1,755 siblings, found that while siblings as a whole did not show elevated clinical anxiety, male siblings in middle childhood (ages 6 to 11) were twice as likely as expected to fall above the borderline cutoff for anxiety problems. This is the age when children begin to truly understand what autism means for their family and for their own social identity. A systematic review of fifteen qualitative studies encompassing 164 typically developing siblings found that the experience of growing up with an autistic brother or sister shapes self-identity, personal development, and emotional coping in profound ways, both positive and negative. Many siblings described deep empathy and pride. But many also described loneliness, parentification, and a grief that has no name. True stories: The faces behind the silence Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy. These composites are drawn from real cases and research narratives. Leila, 14, Casablanca, Morocco Leila was nine when her younger brother Omar was diagnosed. By eleven, she could de-escalate a sensory meltdown better than most therapists. She knew which playlist calmed him, which textures he could tolerate, and exactly how to rearrange the living room after he overturned furniture. Her parents called her "the little mother." What they did not see was that Leila stopped inviting friends over at age twelve. She could not explain why, only that she felt responsible for making sure Omar was okay before she could think about herself. When I met her, she was experiencing panic attacks before school exams. "If I fail," she told me, "who will take care of Omar when my parents get old?" Marcus, 9, Sarawak, Malaysia Marcus's brother has autism with significant hyperactivity and noncompliance, the very behaviors that research shows most strongly predict caregiver burden across the entire family system. Marcus's parents, overwhelmed and working hourly jobs, began relying on him to supervise his brother during homework time. Marcus started bedwetting at age eight, a regression no one connected to stress. His teacher described him as "a mature little man." Maturity, in this case, was parentification wearing a child's face. Anastasia, 22, Moscow, Russia Anastasia was twenty when her parents asked her to move back home to help with her teenage brother's transition plan. She had been studying psychology, ironically, to become a therapist. "I love my brother," she said. "But no one ever asked me if I wanted to be his future guardian. They just assumed." Her distress was compounded by guilt, she felt selfish for wanting her own life. Research on adult siblings confirms this pattern. Sibling-focused parentification, where a child adopts caregiving roles typically performed by parents, significantly impacts distress and the quality of family relationships. When social support is low, the distress becomes clinical. James, 16, London, UK James's sister has autism and is non-speaking. At school, he never mentions her. When classmates ask if he has siblings, he says "no." The shame is not about her. It is about the exhaustion of explaining, the fear of pity, and the silent resentment that family vacations were canceled, college funds redirected, and every conversation at home revolved around therapy goals. "I feel like a ghost in my own family," he wrote in a journal he shared with me. "And if I complain, I'm the bad guy who doesn't understand." The ignorance: Why we keep looking away The Sibling Silent Crisis persists because of three interconnected forms of ignorance, cultural, clinical, and systemic. Cultural ignorance In many societies, the sibling is expected to adapt, to sacrifice, to be "the easy one." There is an unspoken contract, the disabled child gets the attention, the typical child gets the responsibility of not adding to the burden. This is especially true in collectivist cultures, where family duty is sacred and individual needs are subordinated. But I have seen it in individualist cultures too, just dressed in different language. "She's so resilient." "He's such a helper." "What a mature young man." These are not compliments. They are diagnoses we fail to make. Clinical ignorance Walk into almost any autism center in the world. Count how many intake forms ask about sibling wellbeing. Count how many treatment plans include sibling goals. Count how many BCBAs have been trained to conduct a sibling functional assessment. The answer, in most places, is zero. Our field is built on the principle that behavior is a function of environment, yet we treat the home environment as if it only contains one child. We measure parent stress. We measure child progress. We do not measure sibling depression, anxiety, or parentification. Siblings are often overshadowed at home and overlooked by service providers. Systemic ignorance Insurance companies, government funding bodies, and nonprofit organizations design programs around the diagnosed individual. Sibling support groups, where they exist, are typically grassroots, underfunded, and volunteer-run. The Sibling Support Project and Sibshops are remarkable exceptions, but they reach a fraction of the global need. In most countries, there is no policy framework, no diagnostic code, and no funding stream for sibling mental health. We have built a system that treats families as if they are patients with a single presenting issue when, in reality, autism is a family system condition. Facing the gap: What must change now The gap between what siblings need and what we provide is not a knowledge gap anymore. The research is clear. The gap is a will gap, a structural gap, a courage gap. Here is how we close it. For parents: See the child you are not worried about Your typically developing child is not "fine" just because they are not causing problems. Check in with them, not once, but regularly. Use age-appropriate language to explain autism. Validate their frustration when family plans change. Create one-on-one time that has nothing to do with their sibling's needs. Most importantly, do not make them a co-parent. Household help is appropriate. Emotional caregiving is not. If your nine-year-old knows how to manage a meltdown but does not know how to tell you they are lonely, the balance is wrong. Research shows that validating siblings' feelings and acknowledging unfair circumstances helps them feel seen, heard, and supported. Even small windows of dedicated time can go a long way. For therapists: Expand your lens or fail your client If you are a BCBA, speech therapist, occupational therapist, or psychologist, you must stop treating the diagnosed child as your only client. The family is your client. This means: Conduct sibling-informed assessments. Ask about sibling stress, sleep, school performance, and social withdrawal during intake and reassessment. Set sibling-aware treatment goals. Does your behavior intervention plan require the sibling to leave the room, stay quiet, or act as a backup reinforcer? If so, you are extracting a cost from them. Account for it. Build sibling resilience into your programming. Teach the diagnosed child skills that reduce sibling burden, including turn-taking, tolerating delayed attention, and appropriate play initiation. Every skill you teach your client is a gift you give their sibling. Refer when needed. Know the signs of parentification, depression, and anxiety in siblings. Have a referral network ready. For organizations: Design for the whole family system Autism centers, clinics, schools, and nonprofits must restructure their service models: Hire sibling coordinators. One staff member whose explicit role is to assess, support, and advocate for siblings. Create sibling-specific programming. Sibshops, peer mentorship, and psychoeducation groups should be standard, not exceptional. Measure family-wide outcomes. If your center only tracks the diagnosed child's progress, you are missing half the picture. Add sibling wellbeing metrics to your evaluation framework. Train staff in family systems theory. ABA is powerful, but it is not enough. Your team needs to understand parentification, diathesis-stress models, and the long-term trajectory of sibling relationships, which can easily exceed six decades, meaning siblings face these issues for even longer than parents. For policymakers: Recognize siblings as stakeholders National autism strategies, insurance mandates, and disability funding frameworks must explicitly include sibling support services. This is not a luxury. It is prevention. A sibling who develops clinical depression or drops out of school due to parentification becomes a cost to the system and a tragedy to the family. Early investment in sibling mental health pays dividends across the lifespan. The deeper truth There is a narrative we tell in the autism community that awareness leads to acceptance, and acceptance leads to support. But we have been aware of siblings for decades and have not accepted their needs as equal to those of the diagnosed child. We have not supported them with the same urgency, the same funding, or the same professional rigor. This is not about pity. The siblings I have met are some of the most compassionate, resilient, and insightful people I know. Many go on to become advocates, therapists, and changemakers. But resilience should not be extracted. It should be nurtured. The sibling relationship is the longest relationship most people will have. It outlasts parents. It predates spouses. For individuals with autism, the sibling is often the bridge to the world when parents are gone. If we want that bridge to be strong, we must stop treating the sibling as an afterthought and start treating them as the stakeholder they have always been. The silence ends now. Follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Saaid Radwan Saaid Radwan, Behavior Analyst and Family Consultant Saaid Radwan is a Behavior Analyst, Neurodiversity and Family Consultant, and CPD Certified Trainer with over 20 years of international experience across the UAE, MENA, Europe, and Central Asia. He specializes in ABA, communication support, emotional regulation, and family-centered care across the lifespan. Saaid is passionate about inclusive education, early intervention, and empowering families and professionals through practical, compassionate strategies. His work bridges evidence-based practice with real-world impact.

Written by Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma Arnaudet is a Robbins-Madanes-trained Burnout Recovery Coach and Pranic Healer who works with overwhelmed, overworked, over-giving, and over-stressed women. Nearly every time I mention meditation, I am met with the same comment, “I’ve tried to meditate, but I’ve always got thoughts in my head. I just can’t stop thinking about stuff!” With growing levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout, up to 20% of adults in the UK turn to meditation at some point in their lives. But there are probably as many types of meditation as there are types of spices! So why choose Twin Hearts Meditation, a meditation created by Master Choa Kok Sui? How is Twin Hearts Meditation different? As a single parent and professional, I felt overwhelmed by the number of challenges that being a single parent added to my already high-pressure professional life. I had experienced burnout. Before latching onto Twin Hearts Meditation, I had tried different types of therapy to move away from the trauma of my divorce, as well as a wide spectrum of guided meditations, from mindfulness to gratitude practices. I would listen, stay still, focus, and experience some sense of relief, but the very next day, I was still faced with the same overwhelming and negative emotions. I can say that Twin Hearts helped me reap the benefits of meditation because its effects have been far more long-lasting. Three reasons why Twin Hearts Meditation is different Even if you have never meditated before, Twin Hearts Meditation is for you. I discovered Twin Hearts Meditation when I joined an online meditation group during the pandemic, when isolation was heightened because we were not allowed to meet in person. It was unlike anything I had experienced before. Guided by the voice of Master Choa Kok Sui, the founder of Pranic Healing, the fastest-growing complementary energy therapy, and accompanied by calm background music, Twin Hearts Meditation is an experience in which every participant is asked to bless all humanity and the Earth with loving-kindness, transforming the meditation into an act of both giving and receiving. I worked in the education sector at the time and asked for blessings for my establishment, all my colleagues, and my students. Help can be requested for organisations as well as for individual people. This is what I believe makes it a meditation with a difference, you are not just asking for peace and energy, but also giving. Seven benefits of Twin Hearts Meditation I have never looked back or wanted to stop practising Twin Hearts Meditation over the last seven years. When I discuss with other Pranic Healing practitioners and meditation participants the effects of not having time to meditate, we all come to the same conclusion, the day is not the same when we do not practise Twin Hearts Meditation. As a result, we make time for it because it genuinely improves the quality of our day. As a way to regulate emotions, meditation became an anchor that helped me navigate professional pressure with greater clarity and emotional balance. Twin Hearts Meditation has always brought me a great sense of peace and dissipated the unrest created by emotional overwhelm. Often, I have experienced a sense of joy and lightness that carries over into the next day. In an article published in Frontiers in Psychology, Camila P.R.A.T. Valim, Lucas M. Marques, and Paulo S. Boggio conducted an experiment with “90 healthy subjects without previous experience in meditation. Of these participants, 30 were submitted to the mindfulness practice with full attention on the observation of thoughts, 30 to the twin heart meditation, and 32 to the control group (no meditation practice).” Their “findings indicate that contemplative meditation (THM) can positively influence the emotion regulation ability, even when performed by non-meditators and only once. However, in mindfulness meditation, the same effect was not found.” Meditation has a profound effect on our brains. Glenn J. Mendoza, MD, MPH, and Maria Nichole Perez, MD, remark in an article called “What Science Tells Us About Twin Hearts Meditation and Our Brain” that “Gamma Brain waves play role in simulating perceptions and have been noted to be increased in experienced meditators even when they are not meditating. Benefits of increased gamma brainwave activity include an improvement in memory, sensory perception, ability to synthesise information, more focused attention, increasing compassion and feeling of wellness as well as more joy and peace.” Clearing your mind and regaining focus are benefits that you can apply to your professional activities to maintain your performance and to your home life to create greater presence. Along with these benefits comes a certain calmness that you will experience on both psychological and physical levels after every meditation. There have been many times when we started the meditation by sharing our troubles in our meditation group, only to find that they had “melted like lemon drops” after the meditation. Your general stress level drops, and the next morning, you are ready to start the day in a much calmer state. By attending meditation regularly, you will also notice that your vitality increases on a physical level, that you suffer less from minor ailments, and that you experience greater physical strength. This gives you a short time to check in with your body. How often do you sit down, do nothing, and focus all your attention on your body? “Mendoza and colleagues conducted a follow-up study looking into the relationship between Twin Hearts Meditation, neurohormones, and neuropeptides. This showed increased melatonin in serum levels by up to 300%, as well as increased serotonin levels after Twin Hearts Meditation. Melatonin has been noted to correct sleep-wake patterns and help prevent ageing.” Lastly, by meditating regularly, you increase your love vibration, or compassion, for others who are suffering. Because Twin Hearts Meditation is about giving and receiving, you can also ask for help regarding a particular situation or person and, should you wish, ask the group to offer blessings for them as well. This help can be requested on a physical or psychological level. How to quieten the mind? After practising Twin Hearts Meditation for the last seven years, I still experience many thoughts because life does not stop, challenges continually arise, and my restless mind tries to find solutions even during my daily practice. With an average of 20,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day, rather than aiming for zero thoughts, a meditation beginner should aim to be consistent and accept that, in the same way that you learned to ride a bike in stages, you will get better at meditating little by little. You will improve your focus, receptivity, and stillness by practising regularly. Where to find a group? Twin Hearts Meditation is only 21 minutes long and is designed for everyone, regardless of religion or beliefs. As one of the participants shared with me, “I am Hindu, but I’m also spiritual!” It is practised at events organised by the Institute of Pranic Healing UK and Ireland, as well as in meditation groups led by Pranic Healing instructors and Pranic healers. These groups gather once a week in person. Around the world, Twin Hearts Meditation is practised by hundreds of thousands of participants. Another way to access Twin Hearts Meditation is online, where you will find many recordings. I cannot stress enough the impact that meditation, which I recommend as part of my Six Months Premium Experience, can have when you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted from burnout. This is not only time you give to yourself and your body, it is also a way to replenish your energy, enabling you to optimise every area of your life and become the very best version of yourself! To find out more about Twin Hearts Meditation or my Six Months Premium programme, book a free appointment. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Emma Arnaudet Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma is a Burnout Recovery Coach and a Pranic Healer who offers an innovative combination of holistic therapies through her company, Lovemynewlife. A professional and single parent, she empathises with women who have been giving too much and have failed to protect their time, energy, and emotional boundaries. Being made redundant in the middle of the pandemic was the catalyst she needed to retrain as a Robbins-Madanes-trained Life Coach and a Pranic Healer, trained by Les Flitcroft and Master Co, two leading figures of Pranic Healing, founded by Master Choa Kok Sui. Her mission is to help as many women as possible create a life they love, one where they feel energetically aligned.

Written by Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma Arnaudet is a Robbins-Madanes-trained Burnout Recovery Coach and Pranic Healer who works with overwhelmed, overworked, over-giving, and over-stressed women. Pranic Healing is a powerful, non-touch energy therapy founded by Master Choa Kok Sui in 1987. The therapy was developed for humans to help alleviate physical discomfort as well as emotional challenges such as stress, anxiety, grief, compulsive behaviours, and trauma. Because healing is performed through the chakras, or energy centres, and because humans and mammals share similar energetic systems, Pranic Healing can also be applied to animals. Increasingly, pet owners are exploring complementary therapies to support their pets' physical and emotional well-being. How does Pranic Healing work? I am not an animal behaviourist. Like most pet owners, when I think my pet is unwell or stressed, I rely on body language and behavioural changes. As a Pranic Healer, however, I gather information by scanning the animal's chakras and energy body. No, I do not have X-ray vision. This is a technique I learned through my training with the Institute of Pranic Healing UK and Ireland. During a healing session, I assess whether the energy of the chakras is aligned. Sometimes a chakra may contain excessive energy and become congested. At other times, it may be depleted. The aim of Pranic Healing is to restore balance within the animal's energy system. Wildlife and Pranic Healing Five years ago, just two days after completing my Pranic Healing training, I looked out of my living room window and noticed a fox sheltering beneath my hedge. It was clear that he had either strained or injured a leg. Although I had planned to take my new training slowly, I felt compelled to help. I had to do several Pranic Healing sessions remotely. I did not have time to take a photograph, so I observed the fox carefully from my window and held a mental image of him while performing the healing. A few weeks ago, I also noticed a sheep struggling to stand on its front legs in one of the high fields opposite my house. Using the techniques taught by Master Choa Kok Sui, I offered Pranic Healing support. After a few minutes, the sheep was still limping but back on its legs. If a pet has a fracture, he will need several sessions. I am amazed at how quickly animals respond to healing. How Pranic Healing reduces anxiety, stress, trauma and fearfulness? A dog, cat, or horse does not come with a manual. When an animal is rescued from a charity organisation, we rarely know what experiences or trauma it may have endured previously. Pranic Healing can help animals feel calmer, more relaxed, and better able to adapt to new environments. Pranic Psychotherapy, a specialised branch of Pranic Healing, focuses on cleansing and balancing emotional energies associated with anxiety, stress, fear, trauma, and compulsive behaviours. An anxious Connemara horse I worked with a Connemara horse who suffered from anxiety. After speaking with the owner, it became clear that she took excellent care of him and had already explored various complementary therapies. However, she was not his first owner, so his previous experiences remained unknown. The horse received three Pranic Psychotherapy sessions. After the first session, he appeared more settled and was interacting well with another horse in his paddock. We scheduled the second session shortly before he was due to move to a new paddock. Afterwards, his owner reported, "The change was undramatic. He was completely fine moving paddock. He has been lying down in the field from the day he arrived and seems very happy and relaxed." Following the third session, he remained calm and comfortable in what would normally have been unfamiliar surroundings. He made friends with another horse and continued to spend time resting peacefully in the field. His owner later commented, "He seems totally chilled." Perry, the voiceless budgie As an experiment, I decided to work with a very unusual client, a beautiful budgie named Perry. I was curious to see whether Pranic Healing could support a bird, despite my limited knowledge of avian psychology. Perry’s owner was very good at filling in the blanks. Perry had become quiet after the loss of his companion. He rarely sang and appeared withdrawn. Because birds also possess an energetic system, I felt optimistic about helping him. Perry received three sessions of Pranic Psychotherapy aimed at reducing stress and anxiety. His owner later reported, "His general presence has improved. He is more interactive, happier, and seems much brighter." In addition to emotional support, Perry also received healing sessions focused on strengthening his legs and wings. He had previously been unsteady and prone to falling from the top of his cage. According to his owner, his wing was bothering him less, and his legs are stronger and more stable. Pranic Healing and prevention One of the unique aspects of Pranic Healing is that practitioners are trained to scan the aura and chakras for energetic imbalances. According to Pranic Healing principles, ailments appear first in the energy body before physical symptoms become noticeable. By identifying congested or depleted chakras early, practitioners are able to support the body's natural healing processes before a condition becomes more serious. Each chakra influences different bodily functions, including the skeletal, muscular, digestive, urinary, reproductive, and immune systems. While pet owners generally rely on visible symptoms and behavioural changes, Pranic Healing focuses on energetic balance and alignment. From this perspective, energetic congestion or depletion may be identified before it fully manifests physically. Pranic Healing and pet physical conditions Pranic Healing may be used alongside conventional veterinary care to support animals experiencing a wide range of conditions, including arthritis and joint disease, dental issues, skin conditions, respiratory infections, digestive disorders, urinary problems, kidney and heart conditions, eye disorders, mobility issues, wounds and injuries, cancer, liver disease, and recovery from illness or surgery. Arthritis and Willo Although we cannot prevent ageing, Pranic Healing helps improve comfort and quality of life for older animals. My eldest Ragdoll cat, Willo, is now 16 years old and suffers from degenerative arthritis associated with ageing. I have supported her with regular Pranic Healing sessions, and she remains remarkably mobile for her age. In my experience, administering medication to cats can be challenging and stressful for both the animal and the owner. Complementary therapies can therefore provide additional support alongside veterinary treatment. I have also worked with other dogs and cats to support recovery from eye infections, strengthen the immune system, assist with paw dermatitis, and help address emotional trauma. Looking towards the future What I find truly extraordinary is how Pranic Healing can support both humans and animals, not only physically but emotionally as well. Animals experience stress, fear, grief, and trauma just as humans do. These emotional experiences can affect both behaviour and physical well-being. Because animals cannot tell us what they are feeling, it is often difficult to identify the root causes of illness, anxiety, or aggression. A happy pet contributes to a happy owner and vice versa. Looking ahead, I believe Pranic Healing could have valuable applications in wildlife care and zoological settings. Larger animals can also experience complex emotions such as stress, territorial insecurity, separation distress, and compulsive behaviours. I dream of a day when veterinarians and Pranic Healers work together as complementary partners, combining their skills for the benefit of both domesticated and wild animals. As Master Choa Kok Sui wrote in his manual, "Pranic Healing is not intended to replace orthodox medicine, but to complement it." Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Emma Arnaudet Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma is a Burnout Recovery Coach and a Pranic Healer who offers an innovative combination of holistic therapies through her company, Lovemynewlife. A professional and single parent, she empathises with women who have been giving too much and have failed to protect their time, energy, and emotional boundaries. Being made redundant in the middle of the pandemic was the catalyst she needed to retrain as a Robbins-Madanes-trained Life Coach and a Pranic Healer, trained by Les Flitcroft and Master Co, two leading figures of Pranic Healing, founded by Master Choa Kok Sui. Her mission is to help as many women as possible create a life they love, one where they feel energetically aligned.

Written by Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma Arnaudet is a Robbins-Madanes-trained Burnout Recovery Coach and Pranic Healer who works with overwhelmed, overworked, over-giving, and over-stressed women. Originally, Master Choa Kok Sui, the founder of Pranic Healing in 1987, hoped that every family would one day have a trained Pranic healer therapist. Anyone can learn to heal if they dedicate time to study and practise with discipline. Through mastering healing techniques, people can support not only themselves, but also other humans, pets, and even plants. Master Choa Kok Sui believed that energy therapies do not have to remain esoteric or inaccessible. They can be practical, structured, and part of everyday life. There is no better way to experience the benefits of Pranic Healing than by integrating it into daily life. What might life look like if you had regular access to healing practices every day? 1. Meditation for well-being The Meditation on Twin Hearts is at the core of Pranic Healing. Many beginners believe meditation means thinking about absolutely nothing, but this is far from reality. Most people experience six to seventy thousand thoughts, on average, every day, so expecting complete silence of the mind during a short meditation is unrealistic. However, when you sit quietly, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation, you naturally begin to dim the stimulation of the senses. I discovered this meditation during the pandemic when I joined a local meditation group online. After practising several times a week, and eventually every morning, I noticed that I became calmer, more focused, and less reactive during difficult situations. At the time, I was working in a highly pressured environment, and on days when I skipped meditation, stressful situations often felt far more overwhelming. Meditation became an anchor that helped me navigate professional pressure with greater clarity and emotional balance. Even if you have never meditated before, the Meditation on Twin Hearts is guided and accessible for beginners, with many recordings available online. 2. Fast relief for everyday pain We all experience small but persistent pains that can disrupt daily life. Pranic Healing can offer support and relief alongside conventional care. For example, dental pain can sometimes linger even after treatment. While Pranic Healing is never a substitute for medical or dental care, it may help reduce discomfort and support recovery after a procedure. It can also be useful during moments when professional help is not immediately available, such as a sudden toothache during the weekend. Many people appreciate having a complementary practice that can help them feel calmer and more comfortable without relying solely on medication. 3. Pranic healing in nature The energy emitted by the sun is known as Prana. Short periods of sun exposure can be beneficial, around 10 minutes per day, and sunlight has traditionally been used to energise and purify water. Even something as simple as leaving water in sunlight for a short time can subtly change the way it feels and tastes. Nature itself is a powerful source of Prana. Walking among healthy trees or through woodland often brings calmness, clarity, and emotional relief. Pranic Healing can also be applied to minor incidents experienced outdoors. From insect bites and stings to motion sickness while travelling on a boat, simple healing techniques may help relieve discomfort. As a healer, I also find it deeply moving to use healing techniques to bring comfort to animals in distress. Whether helping a pet with pain or offering energetic support to an injured wild animal, like a fox with a broken paw, it reminds us of our connection to all living beings. 4. Pranic healing at home everyday applications Even in the safest homes, small accidents happen. A slip on the stairs may lead to bruising or back pain. Hot oil from a pan can cause a burn. Cleaning products may irritate the skin. Pranic Healing offers supportive protocols that help reduce pain and discomfort in everyday situations. It can also complement recovery from issues such as insomnia, food poisoning, fatigue, or minor injuries by helping to clear diseased energy and realign the chakras' energy. Many people also notice that when one issue improves, other physical or emotional discomforts begin to ease as well. 5. Prevention arthritis and immune support Pranic Healing also plays an important role in prevention and energetic well-being. I recently treated my sixteen-year-old cat to support her immune system and ease her arthritis, and similar protocols can also be applied to humans. Simple preventative practices, such as salt baths combined with 15 drops of lavender essential oil, cleanse diseased or dirty energy. Pranic healers can also use techniques designed to strengthen the immune system and support recovery from stress, burnout, chronic fatigue, and more. Although Pranic Healing does not replace medical treatment, it works alongside conventional medicine as a complementary therapy. Many people living with chronic illness, tumours, or cancer benefit from Pranic Healing treatments to support their recovery and emotional resilience alongside their consultant’s treatment. 6. Emotional and mental hygiene Preventative healing in Pranic Healing extends beyond the physical body. It also includes diet, breathing exercises, emotional balance, and healthy lifestyle habits. The phrase “emotional and mental hygiene” may sound clinical, but more people today recognise the strong connection between emotions, stress, and physical illness. As Master Choa Kok Sui wrote in Advanced Pranic Healing, “In many instances, negative emotions are one of the critical factors, if not the most critical factor, in severe ailments.” Modern medicine increasingly acknowledges the relationship between chronic stress and disease. Pranic Healing goes further by exploring the connection between emotions, energy, and physical health. Through Pranic Psychotherapy, an energy healing approach for psychological well-being, people experience relief from stress, anxiety, fears, trauma, obsessive thoughts, compulsions, and addictions. After several healing sessions, many clients describe feeling lighter, calmer, and emotionally freer. This emotional relief can also support the body’s natural healing process. There may not yet be a Pranic healer in every home, but the number of practitioners and courses continues to grow around the world. As more people discover these techniques, there is the potential for less physical, emotional, and psychological suffering and more relief, balance, inner peace, and good health. Pranic Healing invites us to experience a life less ordinary and to see healing not as something distant or mysterious, but as something practical, compassionate, and woven into everyday life. What would a life with less physical, emotional, and mental pain look like? We do not have to imagine it. It is already there. Book an appointment here. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Emma Arnaudet Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma is a Burnout Recovery Coach and a Pranic Healer who offers an innovative combination of holistic therapies through her company, Lovemynewlife. A professional and single parent, she empathises with women who have been giving too much and have failed to protect their time, energy, and emotional boundaries. Being made redundant in the middle of the pandemic was the catalyst she needed to retrain as a Robbins-Madanes-trained Life Coach and a Pranic Healer, trained by Les Flitcroft and Master Co, two leading figures of Pranic Healing, founded by Master Choa Kok Sui. Her mission is to help as many women as possible create a life they love, one where they feel energetically aligned.

Emma is an RMT (Robbins-Madanes trained) Coach and a Pranic Healer trained through the Institute of Pranic Healing, UK & Ireland. Emma believes that joy is fundamental to our lives and that even if we lose our sense of self or our sense of joy through burnout or the challenges or the complex setup of modern life, these can be restored through tailored and imaginative life coaching and through guided energy work, as offered by Pranic Healing. Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer What inspired you to become a Burnout Recovery Coach and Pranic Healer? Being made redundant during the pandemic was the catalyst that led me to train with Robbins Madanes Training to become a life coach. Around the same time, I also studied Pranic Healing with the Institute of Pranic Healing UK and Ireland. How has your own life experience shaped the way you support clients? My personal challenges: going through a divorce, being an overworked professional, and an overgiving, overwhelmed single parent, have given me a deep understanding of my clients’ journeys. What prompted you to combine life coaching and Pranic Healing in your approach to burnout recovery, and how does this unique method accelerate healing? To be honest, I was encouraged by friends to combine Pranic Healing with burnout recovery coaching. The physical symptoms of burnout can include sleeplessness, restlessness, loss of appetite, physical pain, chronic fatigue, muscle pain, difficulty concentrating, and headaches. Starting with Pranic Healing sessions helps clients address some of these physical issues first. This allows them to fast-track their physical recovery, feel more rested and energized, and better absorb and engage with coaching. What are some common misconceptions about Pranic Healing, and how do you guide clients through them? There is often skepticism around alternative therapies. However, having been trained by highly experienced and rigorous practitioners, I feel confident in the credibility of this work. For those who feel Pranic Healing is “woo-woo,” I would say: “Try it.” The body doesn’t lie! You can even try it on your pets. How do you empower clients to recover from burnout and build long-term wellbeing strategies? Clients who work with me over time experience renewed physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. By alternating Pranic Healing with burnout recovery coaching, clients strengthen both physically and mentally while building sustainable strategies for long-term wellbeing. This approach goes beyond burnout prevention. It’s like building a house: we create a strong structure using coaching and healing, and I adapt the blueprint to each client’s unique needs. To build a new life on solid foundations, we must first understand the factors that contributed to burnout. Clients learn not only to change habits but also to meet their needs in healthier ways across different areas of their lives. Challenging negative thought patterns is also key to restoring wellbeing. Who do you typically work with? Are you open to working with others? I primarily work with professional women experiencing high levels of stress, having gone through similar experiences myself. That said, I am absolutely open to working with men as well. I am trained to support men, women, and teenagers, and this extends to pets too. What is the biggest challenge your clients face? Many clients feel stuck! They may have tried different approaches on their own but find themselves back in the same place, feeling disempowered and unsure whether there is a solution. Burnout can cost you everything: your health, career progression, relationships. You may feel too exhausted to be present, begin withdrawing from your social circle, and lose interest in activities you once enjoyed. Taking time off is not always an option for everyone, but support is available. You can contact me through my website or connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. By booking a free call, you’ll receive a mini consultation to explore if working with a professional burnout recovery coach and Pranic Healer is the right next step for you. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Emma Arnaudet

Written by Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma Arnaudet is a Robbins-Madanes-trained Burnout Recovery Coach and Pranic Healer who works with overwhelmed, overworked, over-giving, and over-stressed women. As humans, we often distrust what we cannot perceive through our five senses. This is why, when it comes to energy therapies, it can feel confusing to know which approach to choose and who to trust. But what if you discovered an energy therapy whose results can actually be measured? What if it were grounded in scientific research? In this article, you will gain insight into the power of energy healing and discover what it could potentially do for you. What is pranic healing, the fastest-growing complementary therapy? Pranic Healing is the fastest-growing complementary energy therapy, developed by Master Choa Kok Sui, an engineer from the Philippines. After years of research and delving into various traditional healing modalities, Pranic Healing was introduced in 1987. Through this gentle, non-touch therapy, the Pranic healer regulates the energy of their patient’s chakras, which can be either congested or depleted. Master Choa Kok Sui’s philosophy was to have a trained Pranic healer in every family. What does “Pranic” mean? Yes, you read that right: “Pranic Healing,” not “Panic Healing”! Although let’s be honest, many of us could probably use a little panic healing from time to time! If you have been practicing yoga, you will be familiar with the Sanskrit word “Prana,” meaning energy. If you practice Tai Chi, “Chi” is another word for Prana. You will already know that Prana energies are everywhere around us and also penetrate our physical bodies. Pranic Healing is, therefore, the healing that you experience through the energy that the healer transmits to you. Three reasons to turn to pranic healing 1. Healing the physical body The reasons why you might want to consider this groundbreaking therapy are threefold. Pranic Healing is a wonderful complementary therapy that works very well alongside your doctor’s treatment. As Master Choa Kok Sui wrote in his manual: “Pranic Healing is not intended to replace orthodox medicine, but to complement it.” Whether you feel nauseous, tired, have the pain of a burn, have broken a bone, or are going through cancer treatment, Pranic Healing can alleviate the symptoms of your physical illness. No ailment is too small or too big for Pranic Healing. 2. Emotional healing With a growing number of neurodivergent children and adults being diagnosed in adulthood, combined with the stress of modern life, everyone is looking for solutions to experience more peace, good physical and mental health, and overall well-being, as well as the ability to switch off from the ongoing stress of an uncertain future. Stress, anxiety, and grief are the most common emotional ailments and are very much part of modern society. Just a few sessions of Pranic Healing can significantly reduce your level of anxiety. 3. Mental healing Another important reason to use Pranic Healing is that it helps to prevent and relieve psychological ailments. Phobias, traumas, obsessions, compulsions, and addictions such as smoking, alcohol, and drugs can also be treated with Pranic Healing. Is pranic healing different from other energy therapies? 1. A protocol-based therapy From a therapist’s viewpoint, Pranic Healing is very regulated. Pranic healers do not work from cues coming from their intuition. Master Choa Kok Sui wrote a number of detailed manuals where healers follow a directed protocol for each ailment, whether physical, emotional, or psychological. Before using the manual, you must undergo training administered by a certified instructor, such as Les Flitcroft (Pranic Healing UK and Ireland), Master Stephen Co, or others. Just as a nurse would need to revalidate their training, a Pranic healer is expected to complete refresher workshops. A patient who changes Pranic Healing therapists would still have continuity in their treatment because the healer uses specific protocols. 2. A non-touch therapy with a twist A gentle, non-touch therapy, Pranic Healing can also be administered from a distance! Patients can be treated in person or continue with their daily life while receiving treatment remotely from the comfort of their home without having to discontinue their activities. 3. No prescription Pranic healers do not make medical diagnoses, nor do they prescribe medication. 4. Healings are also applicable to animals Similarly, pets’ chakra systems are identical to humans’. Pets can also feel overwhelmed by emotions such as fear and anxiety. They can suffer from a variety of ailments similar to humans, and these can be alleviated. Reducing your dog’s arthritis, making your cat more comfortable in old age, and strengthening their immune system are all possible through Pranic Healing. Once again, this form of therapy is not a substitute for a veterinary visit but can be administered alongside treatment. Pranic Healing can even be applied to larger domesticated animals such as horses. I have saved many vet trips by healing my own cats! What a bonus! 5. Who can benefit from pranic healing? You do not need to hold any specific belief to receive Pranic Healing. This form of healing can support people who are experiencing: Long-standing or chronic illnesses Emotional upheaval Addictions A desire to experience peace again How long after a session can you expect results? It is recommended to book several sessions spaced according to the protocol corresponding to your illness. Generally, patients will experience relief from their symptoms within a day after the treatment. There can be a short period between the treatment and the body beginning to feel better. Having said this, when I administered treatment to my three cats, the relief and change in their behavior were much quicker. Pranic Healing and life coaching: A new holistic combination? It is not a coincidence that Master Stephen Co works with leading coach Tony Robbins (USA)! If you attend UPW (Unleash the Power Within), you will be coached by Tony Robbins and also experience Master Co’s Pranic Healing introduction and meditation. In order for my clients to completely redesign their lives from the inside out, I have decided to combine Pranic Healing with Life Coaching. For instance, if a client is going through a divorce, they may feel overwhelmed by grief, sadness, resentment, anger, or rage. If these negative emotions are not cleared, you get stuck! Negative emotions keep you in a place of pain and prevent you from seeing a way forward in life. Emotional cleansing is needed to regain clarity. Life coaching can then take place after a sequence of Pranic Healing sessions to help the client integrate the coaching strategies more efficiently and become unstuck in their life. Ready to begin? Book your Pranic Healing session with me today You have the option to have face-to-face sessions, where you will sit comfortably in an armchair, or to receive Pranic Healing and Life Coaching remotely. This does not mean sitting behind a screen, the healing can take place while you are in the comfort of your home or going about your daily activities. I will schedule a session with you to discuss your health concerns, whether physical, emotional, or mental, and then advise you on the course of action. I will also give you a clear idea of the number of sessions recommended and what I can do to help you. You will also have the option to combine your healing sessions with life coaching if you have a specific goal, allowing us to work on different layers of your life. Book a call to find out what Pranic Healing, or a combination of Pranic Healing and Life Coaching, can do for you. Contact me or book an appointment here. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Emma Arnaudet Emma Arnaudet, Burnout Recovery Coach & Pranic Healer Emma is a Burnout Recovery Coach and a Pranic Healer who offers an innovative combination of holistic therapies through her company, Lovemynewlife. A professional and single parent, she empathises with women who have been giving too much and have failed to protect their time, energy, and emotional boundaries. Being made redundant in the middle of the pandemic was the catalyst she needed to retrain as a Robbins-Madanes-trained Life Coach and a Pranic Healer, trained by Les Flitcroft and Master Co, two leading figures of Pranic Healing, founded by Master Choa Kok Sui. Her mission is to help as many women as possible create a life they love, one where they feel energetically aligned.

Vicky Goredema, Chartered Certified Accountant and Founder of VCK Accounting Services Ltd, proudly announces the official release of her debut self-published book, The Numbers Behind the Business, now available for purchase on Amazon. Designed as a practical and empowering guide, the book arrives at a pivotal time in the year, encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs and established business owners alike to take decisive action in building stronger, more financially sound businesses. As we move into the second half of the year, Vicky challenges readers to shift from intention to execution, using this resource as a foundation for growth and clarity. The Numbers Behind the Business is tailored for a wide audience across all industries, whether operating as sole traders, partnerships, or limited companies. Drawing on over a decade of professional experience, Vicky simplifies complex financial concepts into accessible, actionable insights that business owners can immediately apply. The book features nine insightful chapters covering essential areas such as Understanding your numbers, Your filing obligations, and Avoiding common mistakes. It also provides practical solutions and frameworks designed to strengthen internal systems and improve long-term sustainability. “This book was created to bridge the gap between business ownership and financial understanding,” says Vicky. “Too many entrepreneurs operate without truly knowing their numbers. My goal is to give them the confidence and knowledge to make informed decisions and build profitable, compliant businesses.” With a strong focus on education, empowerment, and real-world application, The Numbers Behind the Business is positioned as a must-read for anyone serious about starting or scaling a business effectively. The book is now available on Amazon. Readers are encouraged to secure their copy and take a proactive step towards making the remainder of the year both productive and profitable. For more information, follow Vicky Goredema and join the conversation around smarter business practices and financial excellence.

Written by Masithokoze Moyo, Aviation Professional-Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Masithokoze Moyo is the Founder and CEO of Angel Wings Aviation and the Masithokoze Foundation, combining her expertise in aviation with a mission to empower youth and girls in under-resourced communities through skills development and mentorship. Stepping onto the historic grounds of Farnborough Airport this past July, I could immediately feel the electric energy in the air. The Farnborough International Airshow 2026 was not just an exhibition, it was a global gathering of visionaries, engineers, and aviation enthusiasts, all united by a shared passion for the future of flight. As a business owner, I attended the show seeking inspiration and insight into the cutting-edge technologies shaping our world. What I experienced exceeded all my expectations, leaving me with a profound sense of awe and a renewed belief in the limitless potential of human innovation. The sheer scale of the event was breathtaking. Over the course of the week, the airshow generated an astonishing £62.9 billion in announced deals, with 353 firm aircraft orders and 904 firm engine orders placed.[1] This remarkable commercial success underscored the resilience and optimism of the aerospace industry, even in the face of global uncertainties. Walking among the chalets and exhibition halls, the atmosphere was one of collaboration and forward-thinking, as industry giants like Airbus and Boeing, alongside innovative startups, showcased their latest advancements. One of the most profound moments for me was witnessing the convergence of traditional aviation powerhouses with the pioneers of advanced air mobility. The static displays offered an up-close look at magnificent machines, but it was the flying displays that truly captured the spirit of Farnborough. Watching the skies come alive with the roar of the USAF F-35A Lightning II and the graceful maneuvers of the Airbus A350-1000 was a visceral reminder of how far we have come.[2] Yet, it was the revolutionary flight of Vertical Aerospace’s electric air taxi prototype that left the deepest impression on me. Seeing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft perform its first public flight demonstration was nothing short of historic, a glimpse into a sustainable future where urban air mobility becomes a reality.[3] The defense sector also brought groundbreaking innovations to the forefront. BAE Systems unveiled Brontanax™, the UK’s first uncrewed autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). Designed to operate alongside crewed fighters like the Typhoon, this prototype represents a monumental leap in autonomous technology and strategic defense capabilities.[4] The integration of such advanced systems highlights a shift towards more agile, intelligent, and cost-effective defense solutions, a theme that resonated strongly throughout the week. Beyond the machinery and the billion-dollar deals, it was the people who made Farnborough 2026 truly special. The passion of the engineers explaining their next-generation propulsion systems, the precision of the Fursan Al Emarat aerobatic team painting the sky in the colors of the UAE flag, and the sheer joy of the crowds during the Friday public displays all contributed to an unforgettable atmosphere.[2] It was a celebration of human ingenuity and our relentless drive to push boundaries. As I left Farnborough, I carried with me more than just memories of spectacular flying displays and impressive statistics. I left with a renewed perspective on innovation and leadership. The aerospace industry's commitment to sustainability, autonomy, and collaboration serves as a powerful model for businesses across all sectors. The Farnborough International Airshow 2026 was a testament to what we can achieve when we dare to dream big and work together to turn those dreams into reality. The sky is no longer the limit, it is just the beginning. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Masithokoze Moyo Masithokoze Moyo, Aviation Professional-Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Masithokoze Moyo is a Zimbabwean-British aviation professional, entrepreneur, and public figure who gained international media attention following a high-profile banking error. She is the founder and CEO of TripleM Group Holdings, which trades as Angel Wings Aviation, a private jet charter brokerage firm based in the UK. References: [1] ADS Group. "£62.9 billion in aircraft deals done at Farnborough International Airshow 2026." July 23, 2026. [2] Aerospace Global News. "Farnborough International Airshow 2026: The flying display revealed." July 13, 2026. [3] Reuters. "Vertical Aerospace's Valo electric air taxi made its first public take-off flight." July 2026. [4] BAE Systems. "First British-designed Collaborative Combat Aircraft unveiled." July 22, 2026.

Temple Within Journeys has announced the launch of The Temple Within: Bhutan – A Timeless Pilgrimage, a ten-day contemplative journey through the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan (March 13-22, 2027). Limited to 7-10 participants, the pilgrimage combines mindful walking, Buddhist philosophy and sacred landscapes in an intimate small-group experience. Founder David Starlyte has spent more than twenty-five years exploring the intersection of psychology, contemplative practice and wellbeing across ten countries. Following a life-changing accident in Vietnam in 2019, his understanding of healing shifted from fixing the self to creating the conditions in which transformation naturally unfolds – a philosophy that now underpins every Temple Within Journey. The journey is designed for anyone standing at a threshold – the end of a relationship, a career transition, or simply the pull toward something deeper than conventional travel can offer. It's a chance to ask the questions usually left for later: Who am I? What do I actually want? What's the meaning of my life? The crisis of our time is not burnout, distraction or overwhelm, but the quiet erosion of meaning. We have become extraordinarily connected to technology, yet increasingly disconnected from ourselves. Temple Within Journeys offers an alternative to constant connectivity: slowing down long enough to rediscover presence, clarity and purpose. "We're looking for people who sense that something in their life is ready to shift. Pilgrimage isn't about becoming someone else. It's about creating enough spaciousness to gently pause, and finally feel what has been there a long time, knocking on the door of your consciousness." The pilgrimage moves through monasteries and mountain landscapes via mindful walking, Buddhist philosophy and sacred architecture, with meditation, reflective dialogue and long stretches of silence built in for nervous-system regulation as much as personal insight. Bhutan – one of the world's last Buddhist kingdoms, where contemplation remains woven into the culture itself – offers a rare setting for that kind of slowing down. "This isn't sightseeing. Mornings begin in silence. We walk to monasteries most tourists never reach, and we leave real space for people to feel what they haven't had time to feel before. When we change the landscape around us, we are invited to discover a new way of encountering ourselves." Temple Within Journeys is developing a series of contemplative pilgrimages across Asia, with future journeys planned for Cambodia, Thailand and Japan in collaboration with TourHero. More information and booking details are available at: The Temple Within: Bhutan – A Timeless Pilgrimage About Temple Within Journeys Temple Within Journeys creates contemplative pilgrimages that integrate psychology, mindfulness and sacred travel. Founded by Australian contemplative psychotherapist David Starlyte, each journey draws on more than twenty-five years of international experience in psychotherapy, meditation, Buddhist studies and wellness, inviting participants to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and discover the transformative potential of pilgrimage. Media contact David Starlyte Founder, Temple Within Journeys +61 4 4708 2955 buddhistsessions@gmail.com www.davidstarlyte.com

Written by Daria Chernysheva, Chief Executive Officer & Business Owner Daria became an expert in online marketing, digital transformation, and business management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Economics and Business Psychology from Leuphana University Lüneburg and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Business and Brand Management from the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF). Digital transformation used to be something leaders launched with roadmaps, budgets, and change programs. Today, a major part of transformation is happening in a very different way: quietly, informally, and often without formal visibility. This shift has a name: Shadow AI. Shadow AI is the growing use of AI tools, especially generative AI, by employees outside approved systems and governance. It’s not always malicious. In many cases, it’s simply people trying to keep up with demand, move faster, and reduce friction in their work. But regardless of intent, Shadow AI is now a strategic issue that reaches far beyond “tool choice.” It is, in effect, a parallel digital transformation happening behind management’s back. What makes Shadow AI different from past “Shadow IT” Organizations have dealt with Shadow IT for years, with teams buying software without approval or building workarounds around IT constraints. Shadow AI is more disruptive because it’s: Individual and distributed: One employee can introduce meaningful risk or impact from a browser tab. Rapidly scalable: Usage spreads through informal sharing, including templates, prompts, and “here’s what I used.” Hard to detect: The activity can be invisible to procurement and security controls. Directly tied to decision-making: AI isn’t only supporting workflows, it can influence judgment, messaging, and analysis. That last point is the strategic pivot. Shadow AI isn’t just about productivity. It can shape how decisions are framed, how customers are communicated with, and what leadership believes to be true. The strategic reality: AI adoption has become bottom-up Many leaders assume AI adoption will be driven “top-down” through platforms, approved tools, and formal enablement. Shadow AI flips that model. The truth is, AI is being adopted where work happens, not where strategy decks are written. This creates a widening organizational gap. Leadership thinks transformation is planned, while employees experience transformation as improvisation. That gap matters because strategy depends on shared assumptions: consistent processes, controlled risk, reliable reporting, and predictable customer experience. Shadow AI quietly erodes those assumptions. Shadow AI as a competitive signal, not just a compliance concern It’s easy to frame Shadow AI as a tech policy problem. Strategically, it’s more useful to see it as a signal. It is a signal of operational friction because people reach for AI when existing processes are too slow or too complex. It is also a signal of talent adaptation, as employees are actively redesigning their work, often successfully. Finally, it signals shifting expectations, with speed, output, and responsiveness now becoming baseline expectations in many roles. Competitors who build visibility and alignment around AI usage can convert this signal into an advantage. Competitors who don’t may still get short-term output gains, but in a way that increases long-term volatility. The hidden organizational costs leaders don’t see on dashboards Even when Shadow AI “works,” its costs often appear later and in indirect ways. 1. Strategy fragmentation If different teams use AI to interpret data, draft narratives, or build plans in inconsistent ways, the organization can lose a single source of truth. Leadership alignment becomes harder because teams are effectively using different engines to generate conclusions. 2. Brand and messaging drift AI-generated external communication can be faster and more polished, but not necessarily consistent. Over time, small differences in tone, claims, and positioning can create market confusion and internal tension between brand standards and speed. 3. Decision integrity risk AI outputs can be persuasive, especially under time pressure. If teams begin to accept AI-generated summaries, insights, or analyses without robust verification, decision quality becomes uneven, and leadership may not know where the weak points are. 4. Cultural impact: Secrecy and “quiet work” Shadow AI can normalize a culture where people hide how work gets done, either to avoid scrutiny or because they fear losing a perceived advantage. That undermines psychological safety and creates new internal inequities. Those with AI skills move faster, while those without them fall behind. Shadow AI and leadership credibility There’s a subtle reputational risk for senior leaders. When AI usage is widespread but unspoken, leadership can appear out of touch with how work actually happens. This isn’t about leaders failing to “keep up with tools.” It’s about a deeper strategic challenge. If the operating model is changing informally, official strategy becomes less predictive. When strategy becomes less predictive, trust can erode. Employees may assume leadership doesn’t understand operational reality, while leadership may assume employees are creating unmanaged risk. Both may be true, but neither is sustainable. The core strategic question Shadow AI forces Shadow AI raises a central question every leadership team must answer, explicitly or implicitly: Will AI become an integrated organizational capability or a scattered set of individual hacks? Those two futures lead to very different outcomes. An integrated capability supports consistency, governance, learning, and scalable advantage. Scattered hacks can deliver short-term speed, but often at the cost of coherence, control, and confidence in results, especially as AI becomes embedded in customer-facing work and business-critical decisions. Why this matters now Shadow AI is not a distant risk. It’s already influencing daily operations in many organizations, often faster than policies, operating models, and leadership awareness can evolve. As AI becomes more embedded in software ecosystems, “not using AI” won’t be a stable position. The strategic question isn’t whether AI will be present. It’s whether the organization will shape it intentionally or inherit it accidentally. For leadership teams, Shadow AI is a wake-up call. Digital transformation is no longer something you schedule. It’s something that happens, sometimes without permission. Organizations that treat Shadow AI as a purely technical or human resources (HR) issue risk missing the bigger picture. This is a strategic alignment challenge, one that touches governance, decision-making quality, culture, and competitive position. If your organization suspects Shadow AI is already underway, or if you want clarity on how it could be impacting performance and risk, this is exactly the type of challenge Ellenburg Consulting helps leadership teams navigate. About Ellenburg Consulting Ellenburg Consulting supports businesses in developing and implementing digital transformation strategies that connect emerging technology with business objectives, organizational structures, and processes. Our work focuses on creating practical transformation approaches that enable companies to improve efficiency, strengthen competitiveness, and translate technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation, and business analytics into measurable business value. Digital transformation should never be technology for technology’s sake. The objective is to create organizations that work more effectively, respond faster to change, and use technology where it produces genuine strategic advantage. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Daria Chernysheva Daria Chernysheva, Chief Executive Officer & Business Owner Daria Chernysheva was born in Odesa, Ukraine, and moved with her family to Hamburg, Germany, when she was 9 years old. After graduating, Daria became an expert in online marketing, digital transformation, and business management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Economics and Business Psychology from Leuphana University Lüneburg and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Business and Brand Management from the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF). Over the course of 15 years of professional experience, she has worked for various large international IT and consulting companies in countries such as Italy and Ireland. Daria also speaks several European languages.

In Brooklyn, New York, on August 8, 2026, I got to share something that means the world to me, RConnectFor is now officially on Google Play. You can find it, install it, and carry it with you in seconds, the most fully realized experience of the app yet, one tap from your home screen. Download it here. But this announcement is about more than an app store. It's about what becomes possible when the distance between "we should hang out" and "it's on the calendar" shrinks to a single click. Why I built RConnectFor I built RConnectFor on one belief that I will repeat until it's written on every wall: friendship is not just an idea or a status. It is something you do, over and over. Somewhere along the way, we let our friendships become notifications. A like here, a "thinking of you!" there, a quick check-in that feels like connection but leaves us just as far apart as before. We didn't stop caring about our people, we just stopped doing things with them. RConnectFor exists to reverse that. Beyond the quick check-in Being on Google Play means the full experience of RConnectFor is now easier to see and easier to live, a wider doorway into action-oriented ways to come together. Not someday. This week. Because the joy of community doesn't live in our phones, our phones just help us get to it: Dinner nights where the food gets cold because the stories are too good Movie nights with the good blanket and the strong opinions Board game nights that turn quiet friends into fierce competitors Sleepovers, yes, adults are allowed, where 1 a.m. feels like the truest hour of friendship Long talks on the beach that solve nothing and heal everything Laughs in the living room that your neighbors can probably hear Joyful screams on rollercoasters with your hands in the air Creative plate-setting selections together at Costco, because even errands become memories with the right person beside you None of these are grand gestures. That's the point. They are ordinary moments that become extraordinary because you showed up for them. Every one of them starts with a plan that's now one click away. Building memories, not just maintaining contacts RConnectFor helps you reconnect with the friends you've lost touch with and, just as importantly, keep them close for good. Inside the app, you can turn intention into action: send the plan, set the date, and go fully into building and growing meaningful moments and memories with the humans you care most about. The Google Play launch makes that whole experience feel the way it should: fast, full-screen, and always within reach. Search "RConnectFor" in the Play Store, or use the direct link above. It's free. The invitation So here is my call to action, not to download an app, but to make a decision: Go live your life in friendship and community. Text the friend. Make the plan. Show up. And then do it again, over and over. That's what friendship is. That's all it's ever been. Your people miss you. Media contact Frantzy Acluche Founder of RConnectFor Get the app Website Email

Written by Annie Paraison, Founder of Love Before ALL LLC Annie Paraison, the visionary behind Love Before ALL, is a Cultural Architect who leverages over 17 years of leadership experience to demonstrate that love is a strategic necessity. She helps leaders, businesses, and communities operationalize love to optimize personal, organizational, and communal wellness and collective success. Workplace culture has a favorite defense mechanism. When relationships break down, trust erodes, and the most committed people quietly resign, the instinct is to reach for a new system, a new software platform, or a new performance management framework or, worse, to blame the other committed people. What it rarely reaches for is the thing that actually fractured. Here is a truth that movements, nonprofits, and justice-centered organizations have had to face as honestly as any corporation: dismantling oppressive systems does not automatically mean we stop replicating them. What if the most sophisticated operational strategy available to any organization, regardless of its mission, is the one it keeps dismissing as too soft to measure? The language that keeps love out of the room There is a phrase that does enormous damage inside professional culture, inside movement culture, and inside mission-driven institutions. That phrase is "soft skills." It is used to separate the things that supposedly count from the things that supposedly do not. Revenue. Output. Strategic plans. Those count. Empathy, trust, repair, and genuine relational connection? Those are nice to have, but they are not the work. I want to name precisely what that separation costs us, and I want to name it across every kind of organization, because this is not only a corporate problem. At Love Before ALL, I work as a Cultural Architect. That title is deliberate. Architecture is not soft. It is the structural science of building things that hold. What I have learned across years of working with schools, nonprofits, coalitions, and mission-driven organizations is this: the relational foundation of any institution is not peripheral to its performance. It is the load-bearing wall. When it fractures, everything built on top of it eventually collapses, regardless of how sound the strategic plan looks on paper. The dismissal of love, empathy, and connection as decorative rather than structural is not only philosophically wrong. It is operationally expensive, and it is a pattern that appears across sectors, from the executive suite to the grassroots organizing table. What movements know and keep forgetting In her booklet We Will Not Cancel Us, Black feminist author and movement mediator adrienne maree brown names something that many of us in justice-oriented spaces have quietly observed but rarely said out loud: social movements are not immune to the harm of the systems they are trying to dismantle. She writes that she has "felt a punitive tendency root and flourish" within movements themselves, and that call-out practices, while historically powerful tools of accountability, have begun to be used laterally within communities in ways that fracture the very coalitions needed for systemic change. In brown's framing, the question is not whether accountability matters. The question is whether our practices of accountability are rooted in values or in the same reactive, dehumanizing logic we say we oppose. Dr. Shawn Ginwright makes a parallel argument in The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves. His central question is direct: can we heal the world without healing ourselves? His answer, drawn from decades of work with Black youth and communities, is no. He argues that the most critical driver of sustainable social change is not coalition building or strategic analysis alone. It is healing: deep, whole, and systemic, inside and out. His four pivots ask movement workers and organizational leaders alike to shift from lens to mirror, from transactional to transformative relationships, from problem-fixing to possibility-creating, and from hustle to flow. Both of these thinkers are pointing at the same truth that Love Before ALL was built around: you cannot sustainably build systems rooted in love and justice if the internal culture of your organization is running on the same patterns of extraction, urgency, and dehumanization that those systems were built on. The work starts inside the room. What the business world has measured and mostly ignored If movements are reckoning with this truth from the inside out, the business world has been accumulating the evidence from the outside in. The numbers are no longer ambiguous. In one of the most cited leadership studies in the world, Google's Project Aristotle examined 180 teams to determine what separated high-performing teams from their peers. Researchers expected to find the answer in individual talent, team composition, or technical expertise. What they found instead was that the single strongest predictor of team effectiveness was psychological safety, the shared belief that team members could speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of punishment. Teams with high psychological safety brought in more revenue, harnessed more diverse ideas, and were rated as effective twice as often by executives. Neuroscientist Paul Zak and researcher Rebecca Johannsen, writing in Frontiers in Psychology, published findings from a nationally representative study showing that organizational trust is directly associated with higher employee incomes, longer job tenure, greater job satisfaction, less chronic stress, and higher productivity. In a live organizational intervention at an online retailer facing high turnover, a 6 percent increase in organizational trust produced a measurable improvement in job retention. Trust, they concluded, is not a culture perk. It is a performance driver with a quantifiable return. The SparkEffect 2025 Trust and Disruption Study confirms this remains true today, finding that "organizations that win will treat trust as a measurable, manageable business asset," and introducing the Trust Performance Index as a framework for measuring relational health across five organizational domains. In The Way of the Shepherd, Kevin Leman and William Pentak offer what the research makes structural: knowing the condition of your people is not optional leadership work. It is the first principle of sustainable performance. Their shepherd metaphor cuts through corporate abstraction to make a simple claim. You cannot manage what you do not know, and you cannot know your flock if you are only watching the output and never attending to the person producing it. None of this is soft. All of it is measurable. The organizations treating relational health as infrastructure are outperforming those that are not. The question AI cannot answer There is a temptation in every era of technological disruption to believe that the right tool will finally solve the problems that people create when they are unwell, disconnected, or afraid. We are in one of those eras now. Generative AI attracted nearly 34 billion dollars in private investment in 2024 alone, and adoption is accelerating. Seventy-eight percent of organizations surveyed used AI in 2024, up from 55 percent the prior year. The efficiency gains are real, and Love Before ALL is not dismissing them. AI is a tool. Used well, it can buy back time and reduce transactional friction. A 2026 Forbes article citing a MyIQ survey of over 22,000 workers found that 74 percent now ask AI questions they once posed to colleagues, and 53 percent report their work has become more transactional. Separately, ADP Research data from more than 30,000 respondents found that frequent AI users reported weaker connections to coworkers and lower perceived productivity. Efficiency without relationship is not transformation. It is acceleration toward a wall. TalentSmartEQ reported that "therapy and companionship" became the top use case for AI in 2025, displacing technical applications at the top of the list. That data point is not an argument for AI companionship. It is a signal that people are searching for connection wherever they can find it, which means the environments we have built are not providing it. AI can mimic tone. It can generate content that sounds human. But it does not feel. No tool that cannot feel can repair the fractures that form between people who do. Love is not a feature that can be automated. Repair is not a function that can be deployed. The invitation is to stop treating AI as a shortcut around the hardest and most necessary work, and to use it instead for what it was always better suited for: the transactional, the logistical, the repeatable. Then to give the time that buys back to the irreplaceable: genuine human presence, careful listening, honest repair. Why this is actually the hardest work in business I want to be honest about something that the phrase "operationalizing love" can inadvertently obscure. This work is not warm and easy. It is not a culture retreat followed by a team-building lunch. It is the most rigorous, most demanding, and most confrontational strategy a leader can choose. Every other business strategy asks you to change a system external to yourself. A new software platform, a restructured reporting line, a revised strategic plan. Operationalizing love asks you to change the system that is running inside you first. At Love Before ALL, our framework moves through three interconnected tiers: Grow the Me, Grow the We, and Grow the Collective. The sequence is not arbitrary. It reflects a truth that neuroscience has been confirming for decades: a dysregulated leader cannot build a regulated culture. A leader who has not done the inner work of examining their own relational patterns, their fear responses, and their inherited beliefs about who deserves care will unconsciously recreate those patterns in every team they lead and every system they design. This is not a moral failing. It is a physiological reality. This is what most executive coaches miss. They support individual growth without addressing the organizational system that leader returns to every morning. This is what most organizational consultants miss. They redesign the systems without attending to the relational infrastructure those systems depend on. The result, in both cases, is a strategy that begins to erode the moment implementation meets a dysregulated human being. The Love Before ALL Approach holds both. It treats the leader as a whole person inside a whole system, and it refuses to separate the two. The reimagining prompt What if we stopped viewing relationship-building as a detour from the real work and started treating it as the primary mechanism for sustainable performance? What if we made a second decision alongside that one: to treat AI as the operational tool it is, deploying it for the transactional so that our human capacity can be fully present for the relational? Here is what Love Before ALL believes that combination could look like in practice. An organization where love is operationalized has made a structural decision that relational health is a performance metric, not an aspiration. Conflict is handled through formalized repair processes rather than avoidance or punishment. Feedback flows continuously rather than through annual reviews, because the infrastructure has been built to hold honest conversation safely. The wellbeing of people doing the work is measured alongside the output of the work, because the organization has understood that a sustainable bottom line requires a sustainable workforce. Leaders are included in that circle of care, not last, not as an afterthought, but from the beginning, because the leader's nervous system is the first infrastructure every team inhabits. That is not a utopian fantasy. It is a structural decision available to every organization willing to do the inner work first. An invitation to build differently If you are a leader who has been told that the relational dimensions of your work are secondary to the operational ones, this article is an invitation to put that story down. What you have been calling soft skills are the hardest work your organization will ever undertake. They require more courage, more sustained commitment, and more willingness to be changed by the process than any technical transformation your organization has attempted. They also produce the most durable results. Love Before ALL exists to help leaders and organizations build that kind of relational infrastructure from the inside out. Not as a supplement to the strategic work, but as its foundation. There are two ways to take a next step with us: Join the LBA Connection Circle: Our monthly, 45-minute curated session is a free, low-barrier space designed to hold leaders' humanity. No pitch. No program to purchase. Just a regulated room where you do not have to have the answers, project the presence, or perform the strength. You simply show up. Request your seat here. Join the LBA Movement: Subscribe to the LBA Care and Clarity Update, our monthly resource for leaders navigating the intersection of personal wellbeing and organizational impact. Each issue includes a reflection on our monthly theme, a conversation from the Talk to Me podcast, and practical strategies you can bring into your leadership the same week. Sign up here! Because love is not simply an idea or a sentiment. It is a strategy we live by. Join the movement Connect with Love Before ALL: Annie's LinkedIn | YouTube Channel | LBA Blog | Talk to Me Podcast Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Annie Paraison Annie Paraison, Founder of Love Before ALL LLC Annie Paraison is the visionary behind Love Before ALL, a consultancy optimizing wellness through the power of relationships. A proud Haitian-born leader, she journeyed from New York City to Vanderbilt University, igniting a passion for harnessing human potential and building "Beloved Community." With over 17 years of leadership experience and an Executive MBA, she challenges the status quo by proving that love is a rigorous life and business strategy. She ensures no leader has to choose between impact and well-being by supporting the transformation of unconscious patterns into conscious compassion. Grounded in faith and guided by hope, Annie is committed to a world where personal and collective success are inextricably linked. References: adrienne maree brown, *We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice*, AK Press, 2020. Shawn A. Ginwright, PhD, *The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves*, Penguin Random House and North Atlantic Books, 2022. Kevin Leman and William Pentak, *The Way of the Shepherd: Seven Secrets to Managing Productive People*, Zondervan, 2004. Google re:Work, “Understand Team Effectiveness,” Project Aristotle research summary. Rebecca Johannsen and Paul J. Zak, “The Neuroscience of Organizational Trust and Business Performance,” Frontiers in Psychology, 2021. SparkEffect, “Disruption Done Well: SparkEffect Study Reveals Trust Is the Key to HR and Executive Success in 2025,” September 2025. World Economic Forum and ADP Research, “AI Is Becoming Your New Work Colleague. But Let’s Not Forget Your Human Ones,” January 2026. Tracy Brower, “AI Is Replacing Workplace Relationships. Here’s How to Stay Connected,” Forbes, July 2026, reporting on a MyIQ survey of more than 22,000 people. TalentSmartEQ, “Smarter Together: Why AI Needs Emotional Intelligence to Lead the Future,” 2025. Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2024 Report.