In her inspiring journey, Arzu Dogan transformed a personal healing experience into a mission to empower others. Through her book, Follow Your Heart - Live, Eat, Be, she invites readers to explore wellness, self-care, and the profound impact of mindfulness. The turning point came when she realized her story could inspire those facing similar challenges. With authenticity and wisdom, she shares not only her battle with autoimmune illness but also how she embraced holistic health and spirituality. Her words are a testament to the power of self-love and listening to your heart, offering hope to all seeking healing and purpose.
What was the turning point that inspired you to share your healing journey through “Follow Your Heart - Live, Eat, Be”?
- When I first healed from my illness, I went on a discovery journey. A journey of learning about wellness, holistic health, natural medicines, organic food, discovering self-help books, which then lead me to document my learnings and journey. I was called to share my learnings with the world, I felt compelled to share what I had learned - so that I could in turn inspire others that were on a similar journey. Writing the book was another aspect of the healing journey, a bit like inner self-therapy.
How did you initially cope with and address your autoimmune illness, and what role did mindfulness and self-care play in your recovery?
- Initially I was advised to take auto-immune suppressants when my SLE (lupus) would flare up and not ‘stress’ – conventional medicine didn’t offer anything else. I did not want to accept this and so I began to explore the world of Functional medicine and found alternative treatment through meridian bio-resonance therapy and homeopathy. It was also at this point that I radically changed my lifestyle and found yoga, mindfulness and began to learn and understand the importance of self-care. Mindfulness, meditations, and self-care was played a huge part in my recovery and ongoing wellbeing and continues to be that.
Can you describe the process of discovering your purpose in life after your illness, and how it influenced your work?
- When I healed, I became more spiritual and connected to my inner being, my intuition. I learned to lean into my heart, I practiced meditations daily and realised that I was not living my truth or with purpose. It then became apparent that my purpose was to follow my heart, to find my joy and have self-love and then teach others how to do it also.
What were some of the most significant challenges you faced while healing and finding your new path?
- The biggest challenge was going down the natural path with bio-resonance therapy and homeopathy, then changing my diet and removing processed, sugary foods and feeling really well for awhile until I had a relapse and then I was told by others (family & friends) that I was wasting my time and money and that natural medicine or holistic health ‘doesn’t really work’ this was really hard, because I knew that it was a process and it would take time.
- How did your personal journey impact your mental health, and what strategies did you use to maintain emotional balance?
At first my mental health was a struggle, there was little or no balance at all until I persisted with my yoga and meditations practice. This is what grounded me, this is what allowed me to regain my emotional senses and find myself again. I also found joy in creating food and that was another way I found emotional balance.
What does self-love and self-care mean to you, and how do you incorporate these practices into your daily life?
- Self-love today, tomorrow and every day is about looking in the mirror and loving the person I see. It’s about speaking loving words to myself daily and reinforcing gratitude and love for all that I am no matter how I look or feel. This has taken me a long time, but I’m so glad I arrived here – a place where I love and accept myself wholly and fully. I now ensure that my daily rituals include self-care. Some of my daily self-care habits are meditating, reading, nature walks, gardening (I live on a farm) herbal tea, practising gratitude and awareness. In 2022 I created a 21-day Self-Care Challenge on my social media pages, and this proved to be very successful with my tribe, where I was offering daily self-care reminder for 21 days.
How has your experience with mindfulness influenced your approach to both your personal life and your creative project?
- Mindfulness is the key to living life with truth and purpose. It has helped me in my personal life deal with grief and adversity and has influenced my work here and with my book. The whole premise of my book is based around mindfulness and how it is medicine for the soul. The book is in 3 parts, Live (5 chapters) Eat (5 chapters) and Be (5 chapters) – where Be focuses on mindfulness and my personal learnings and journey.
Can you share a moment when you felt particularly empowered or inspired during your healing process?
- The moment I began to write my book and tell my story, was the moment that I felt most empowered and healed.
What advice would you offer to other women dealing with chronic illness or health challenges, particularly regarding self-care and finding purpose?
- The first piece of advice would be to question if they are following their hearts, are they speaking their truth’s and are they self-loving. These are the fundamentals to making massive change in your life. The biggest lesson I learned was this: my illness was my catalyst for change, I had to change, I had to learn to love my self, look after my self better (self-care), change my lifestyle, improve my diet, focus on happiness, and do what felt right, not what my head or ego was telling me was right.
How did you overcome any doubts or fears about sharing your personal story with others?
- I just had to return to my heart centre and reassure myself that my story was worthy enough to share, it would be a lesson for many others, for many years to come. I wanted to reach out to everyone to teach them that they too can heal themselves if they were ready to commit to change and to wholeheartedly love themselves enough that they would make big changes. When my books arrived in printed copy, I became so overwhelmed with joy and fear all at once, feeling the ‘imposter syndrome’ creep in. But I dealt with that by clearing some limiting beliefs I was holding on to and trusted that I was and still am called from a higher consciousness to share my story in the hope that others would be inspired to change and heal too.
What are some practical tips you would suggest for someone new to mindfulness and self-care practices?
- Some practical tips: start with small steps; and set realistic mindfulness habits like meditating for 10 min daily and if you can’t mediate at first then just sit with yourself for 10 min away from all distractions and be present with your whole body and spirit. Write little notes for yourself as reminders to implement self-care practices or set reminders in your phone or calendar; whatever works best for you. Try journalling or writing 3 things that you are grateful for each day. Make time for you and learn to set boundaries, this is usually hard at first but so very rewarding once you learn how to stick to it.
How do you stay motivated and committed to your self-care routines, especially during difficult times?
- During the difficult times (like the global pandemic) was the most important time to stay on the path of mindfulness and practice daily affirmations and mantras. During the pandemic I wrote a 30-day mindfulness mantra program and shared 1 each day (also printed as a bonus in my book) on my socials. Again, I felt called to bring about positivity and inspire others to tune into their hearts and love and move away from the external media and fear news.
- Can you discuss any support systems or resources that were particularly helpful to you during your healing journey?
One of the greatest tools for me when I began my healing journey and finding mindfulness was the Calm App – available on the App Store; this taught me how to meditate, other things such as subscribing to Wellbeing magazines and online community platforms that focused on raising my vibration and finding myself. I also listened to healing frequencies on YouTube (such as 528hz, 832hz, 432hz and more). I read a lot of self-help books – some of my favourite authors are Gabby Bernstein, Dr Joe Dispenza, Dr Bruce Lipton, Dr Mark Hyman to name a few.
What impact do you hope your story will have on your readers or audience, and what message do you want to convey through your work?
- My hope is that it reaches as many people as possible so they too can learn that their heart is the key to living a happy, fulfilled, and healthy life – once you know how to tune into it. We all have a unique story, we all have a purpose, our role in this lifetime is to learn the lessons and teach others how they can learn and expand and elevate their lives to their fullest.
What future goals or projects do you have in mind for continuing your work in mindfulness and self-care, and how do you plan to achieve them?
- Future goals are to start my podcast and recordings on YouTube, connect with more people through public speaking and sharing my story with others as well as one-on-one mentoring/coaching. Currently I am writing my second book also.
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