At 31 years old, Mercedes Guzmán realized something was wrong in her life. Perhaps the anger, stress and other emotions she felt after having the youngest of her children were not her own. Maybe they did not belong to her.
Guzmán, a native of El Salvador, did not understand why she felt such conflicting emotions, all the while that she was immersed in reading about inner peace, motherhood and other self-help topics.
“I couldn’t sit down to watch a movie. I couldn’t enjoy life … I was always in a hurry, I had nervous tics and I didn’t understand how an educated woman like myself could hit or scold her children like I was doing. That’s when I heard about a man who offered age regression [therapy],” explained Guzmán.
For Guzmán, who is dedicated to serving and helping the community, the discovery led to a new journey. Today, the counselor and life coach offers a message about the importance of peace and reconciliation with the ‘inner child’ to hundreds of people.
“I began training in age regression therapy and honing my message. I began working on it with myself first, then I began sharing it with others, with members of the church, and it went from there,” said Guzmán.
“When I first began applying the technique with my patients, I realized that many of my patients had a damaged ‘inner child.’ And the ‘inner child’ controls our life. Our memories, our education … so it’s fitting to connect with that ‘child’ and return to its essence,” she added.
According to Guzmán, once an individual restores his or her ‘inner child,’ their journey through life becomes simpler. “You become the ‘coach’ of that child and you teach it how to heal,” said Guzmán.
That philosophy led Guzmán to write a book, “El niño olvidado” (The Forgotten Child), in which she shares her own personal story and teaches how to apply the technique that she has been preaching for years.
For Guzmán, it is important that this message reach the Hispanic immigrant community as well.
“When we arrive here, we have a beautiful energy. But when we start adapting, that inner child sometimes doesn’t realize that you left your country. So the child stays there … so it’s important for us to connect with our inner child and let it know that we are no longer there, in our country, but rather that we are here. It’s not that we forget our roots, because those are never forgotten, but it’s about living our reality,” explained Guzmán.
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