Cathy AshbyBeyond the Roles
Cathy Ashby

My story

The woman behind the method

For most of my life, I carried guilt, sadness and loneliness that I didn’t know how to explain.

I grew up with a mother who relied on me to hold her emotions. I became her emotional caretaker long before I understood what that meant. I learned to put her feelings first, to feel responsible for her happiness, and to feel guilty whenever I put myself first.

As an adult, I carried those patterns into everything: my marriage, my relationship with my children and my work. I became a dentist and built a respected career. From the outside, everything looked right. Inside, I kept trying to be everything for everyone, and I felt guilty when I couldn’t. No matter what I achieved, I never felt truly fulfilled.

Then I married a man whose mother was also very controlling. The old guilt followed me into my new family. I already felt like a bad daughter, and now I felt like a bad wife and a bad daughter-in-law too. I was very sad, and I didn’t know how to set boundaries.

I know how heavy that is, and how hard it can be to explain to people who haven’t lived it.

What changed

For more than 20 years, I have worked on myself. The Bhagavad Gita showed me that I am a soul on a journey, not just the role I was given. I meditated, studied the chakras, and read Don Miguel Ruiz, Florence Scovel Shinn and Louise Hay. I practised, I made mistakes, and I started again.

Slowly, I learned that I could step back from guilt, from old beliefs and from situations that drained my peace, and still be a good person. I learned to set boundaries and to choose how close I wanted to be to others.

As I changed on the inside, my relationships changed too. I became more present with my family, more honest in my marriage and steadier at work.

I wouldn’t say I am “finished”. Change is not a straight line, and I still practise every day. But guilt no longer runs my life, and I feel a peace I once thought was out of reach.

Why I do this work

Lived experience is a powerful teacher. I trained as a Certified Hypnotherapist and Trauma Coach because I wanted to understand how the subconscious holds old patterns, and how to help them release gently and safely.

I created this programme for the woman I used to be: the one who felt like a bad daughter, a bad wife and a bad daughter-in-law, who felt guilty for protecting herself, wondered if she was exaggerating, and was tired of waiting for someone else to change. I want to help her remember who she really is: a soul and a creator, free to live with peace, purpose and abundance.

Everything I learned became the SoulDNA Method, because our most inner existence is a soul that is meant to live a fulfilling, peaceful and happy life. Over the past six years, I’ve worked with 109 women, every one through recommendation. Some, like me, have carried this guilt since childhood. For others, it arrived when a parent became ill and needed them. The guilt feels the same, and so does the way through. Now I’m bringing this work online in Beyond the Roles.

If that is you, you are not alone, and you are not the problem.

My background

Dental Surgeon, Master of Public Health, Certified Hypnotherapist and Trauma Coach.

My public health training taught me to value careful, honest information, and I bring that into everything I teach. My approach also draws on more than 20 years of studying soul consciousness, meditation and personal growth.