by Karen G. Meshkov

When spirit first came into her life 15 years ago, Dottie Gannotti, a full-time hairdresser, was more concerned with running her successful hair salon than having a spiritual awakening.  Her childhood was a hard one; her disposition, consequently, bent toward negativity, mistrust and self-loathing.

While she may not have been looking for spirit, spirit was looking for her. Fast forward to 2016, and Gannotti is a seasoned empathic, intuitive, energy therapist, nutrition coach, reconnective healer, meditation teacher, hypnotherapist and master of Reiki and Integrated Energy Therapy (I.E.T.) These days, there’s hardly any part of Gannotti’s world that isn’t about spirituality and its ability to transform and heal individuals from their blockages, bringing them, in her words, “Light and Love, Purpose and Passion.”

The Soul Spirit Connection healing center is the most recent manifestation of Gannotti’s decade and a half of work in service to people seeking to heal past hurts and change their lives for the better. The center, which will celebrate its first anniversary this month in Hatboro, is now Gannotti’s home base, where she offers a range of classes and programs.

At the core of Soul Spirit’s programming is the opportunity to allow people to ask the big existential questions: “Who am I? What am I doing here? What do I have to offer? What is my Soul’s purpose? How can I serve?” While the courses offered this past year have been mostly led by Gannotti herself, guest lecturers, spiritual concerts and additional programming are in store as the center moves into its second year.

When talking about her own process of introspection and self-discovery, Gannotti reveals, “I continued to hear, see, know and feel a connection to something greater than myself. I trusted it. Slowly the pieces started to arrange like the solution to a huge puzzle. I started to come alive in a way that made me see glimmers of light inside of me.” She expounds, saying, “The thirst was so great that I wanted to keep drinking from that chalice, moving away from the negativity that shadowed me most of my life. I have seen this same experience happen for others, and my life’s purpose is to help my brothers and sisters understand the deeper meaning of life, to get a brighter look on life and to feel the joy of knowing thyself.”

Deep breathing, guided imagery, tuning fork chakra balancing, crystals and aromatherapy are among the various ways she assists students in detoxifying what she calls “the four bodies”—their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. “Clearing out and surrendering the old, dark, stagnant energies stored inside the physical form and replacing them with clean, clear, new energies will make room for all of the light that ultimately restores the body back to health and wellness,” she explains. The center offers classes and trainings for meditation, I.E.T., Reiki and connection to divine energies that are beyond the physical realm.

Nutrition is another of Gannotti’s passions, and is something she incorporates into her work with clients. “Seeds are the essence of life, and a powerful healing agent,” she says. “The nutritional density of seeds has been recognized for thousands of years. Each kind of seed has its own unique properties. For example, the phytonutrients in black cumin seeds contain antioxidants that cancel out free radicals. Grape seeds are full of flavonoids called proanthocyanidins, which support brain health and have antiaging properties.” Working with seed nutrition for the past two years, Gannotti notes that dozens of her clients have reported improvement with chronic issues such as pain, acne, auto-immune issues, inflammation, mood swings, low energy and sleep disorders, among other ailments.

While Gannotti sources from a host of modalities, the work is powerfully rooted in her willingness to share her own intimate struggles. The biggest challenge, she says, was overcoming her ego. “It got the best of me for a long time,” she admits. She uses the acronyms “Easing God Out” and “Earth Guide Only” to remind herself and her students about the limitations we experience when we are wrapped up in the “small self”.

Another of Gannotti’s favorite learning phrases for working with painful past issues and trauma is, “Face it, Embrace it... and Replace it!” She says, “If you are raised with nothing but negativity, reprogramming yourself to be a positive person is not an easy task. Help is needed in order to make those changes permanent. We are here to plug into that light and into our Soul.”

Soul Spirit Connection is located at 122 N. Old York Rd., Ste. 6 (rear), in Hatboro. Connect with Dottie Gannotti and Soul Spirit Connection by calling 215-858-4448, emailing [email protected] or visiting SoulSpiritConnection.com. See ad, page 19.