About me

Hi, I’m Manuela! I can’t wait to help you achieve intentional happiness by surrounding yourself with my Tiny Islands: Life saving tips to create inner peace in our chaotic world.

Hello, I’m Manuela Rohr, expert in unconditional happiness and creator of The Tiny Islands!
 
The Tiny Islands Journey is the path that leads you to your special happiness. A happiness not conditioned by "I'll be happy when," but by your willingness to create peace within yourself and be the hero of your life by choosing your priorities.
 
Let me tell you why I created The Tiny Islands Journey.” Well, once upon a time, many years ago...
I wanted nothing more than to continue mastering my life despite the constant blows and roadblocks I was encountering, but the premature birth of our daughter turned my life upside down. For her first few years, I spent most of my time at her bedside, filled with fear, suffering from a chronic lack of sleep, and little time for anything else. I was often filled with despair because she was diagnosed with severe sensory impairment and autistic.

 

But I also felt a deep calling within me to use my experience as a body-mind therapist not only to help myself but, also to help my students who had experienced their own losses.

 

Years later, I was able to successfully offer my courses again and experienced a lot of joy from watching my clients heal, but I once again had to give up the work I loved because my daughter developed another serious illness. The time for my practice, which I loved very much, and which gave me the strength for this exhausting life, became less and less.

 

The questions that kept coming to me would not let me go:

 

... What could be the path that would allow me to take good care of my body, mind, and soul, despite everything?

... How can I be deeply connected to my inner happiness every day, even, or especially, when everything around me is falling apart, and I feel like there are ruthless time thieves stealing my life?

 

Sarina went through a bout of severe pneumonia that had to be treated in a hospital, where she was put back on the respirator. This was yet another setback, crushing my hopes of more peaceful times. It created turmoil in my mind, my thoughts spiraled, I felt totally helpless. I thought to myself: “How will I ever be able to teach again or even walk to my own beat in the face of the reality of my daughter’s fragile health?”

 

There was only one way to find a little peace. Instead of crying or hiding my head under my pillow, the only option was to put my shoes on and go for my early morning hike. I knew I’d find inspiration and healing from the trees, they never let me down.

 

My hike had become my morning ritual. Going out at twilight whenever possible gave me strength for the day ahead. It was often the only hour in my day that was mine alone. 

 

On my way home, I sat on a rock as sunrise was announcing itself. I felt an overwhelming longing take hold of my heart. I felt so powerless and at the mercy of what destiny delivered, even though I practiced yoga and let my soul commune with nature whenever possible. Still, it was never enough. The stress caught up with me over and over again.

 

My tears flowed and wouldn't stop.

 

I wanted to capture those minutes of beauty the sky produced and never let go of the magic moments before I had to go back home. For what awaited me there was pure chaos. My daughter, almost grown up by now, would immediately take over my entire existence. Because of her Autism, she was unable to manage daily life on her own.

 

I dried my tears and felt the sadness fade away. I wanted to be free, float like the clouds in the sky above me, and not feel like I was always walking around in shackles. I heard my inner voice say, “Nothing can prevent the universe to fill the sky with magical colors every day, regardless of thunderstorms or heavy rains the night before.” And I remembered my vow from years ago to be happy despite the difficult life I would have. I gazed at the marvelous sky as if it was intensifying its colors for me: “You’re so close, now stand up to your choice, go and create more of the magic you already own.”

 

I now felt hope and a big YES bubbling up from my heart:

“Yes, I will do anything to be unconditionally happy.”

 

The Dream Dancer

I had a bit more time before going home and began to think about how I could create more magic and more time for myself. The image of my Dream Dancer appeared in front of my eyes.
 
His image brought me back to the year Sarina was born. It was a week before Christmas 1990 when a large envelope arrived in the mail. It held a generic Christmas Card from my husband’s customer and a large print of a little elephant balancing on a tightrope across the night sky, along with a poem describing this seemingly impossible balancing act.
At that time, Sarina was four months old and still very sick. But we had a first victory to celebrate. The day the gift arrived, she was successfully extubated. It was her first day breathing on her own.
Dream Dancer brought back hope that she would survive. His message was clear. Sarina would manage the balancing act of her life, and so would I. He became a symbol of her survival.

 

The next question immediately popped into my mind,

 

"But how? How could I balance my stressful life?”

 

I often felt at the mercy of my destiny, even though I didn't like to admit it. After all, as a healer, I had experienced all kinds of successes with my clients. Why couldn't I make that happen for myself? "I just don't have the time" was not a satisfactory argument.

 

I always told my clients that they needed to recognize themselves as the most important person in their lives before they could help others.

 

Over the next few minutes, I realized what I was missing. I didn't have enough time or peacefulness for a deep practice. But being constantly annoyed about it didn't help either. I had already lovingly called my morning ritual my Tiny Island, why wasn't I creating more of them?

 

How could I gather moments of happiness that helped my inner strength and deep-rooted joy shine? My inner voice chimed in again: 
 

"You need a treasure chest, with lots of Tiny Islands in it. Go ahead, create a Tiny Islands Journey to fill up your energy and master the tightrope."

 

At this thought, I felt more alive and freer than I had in a long time.

 

Looking up at the sky, I felt empowered: “I’ll follow the Dream Dancer. After all, he had already shown me that nothing is impossible.”

 

The Tiny Island Journey and Unconditional Happiness

 

On the way home, my step was light, and a deep joy bounced down the mountain with me. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the birth of The Tiny Islands Journey would help me discover unconditional happiness.

 

I realized that I already had everything I needed within me. I just had to change my vision about needing hour-long practices to feel well and start collecting short practices, meditations, and rituals that I could weave into my days.

 

The Tiny Islands came together like a mosaic and weaved themselves into the flow of my days. Very quickly, the overwhelming stress of the caretaker life and the hopelessness that comes with it eased. The practices I chose took only 1-10 minutes, but each minute created a gap between my role as a mother and encouraged me to care for myself. I felt more energy and joy and was truly able to create the life I wanted with unconditional happiness at its core.

 

That same night, I started to write down my Tiny Islands ideas. My eyes fell on the little elephant, my Dream Dancer. His picture and the accompanying poem were always at eye level next to my computer. There, right in front of me, he showed me how to master the balancing act of my life despite the seemingly impossible circumstances I found myself in.

 

I created a book with 365 Tiny Islands along with a “Tiny Islands Membership and my signature course called "The Tiny Islands Journey."

 

As if by magic, the Dream Dancer once more jumped back to center stage in my life and explained to me everything I needed to achieve the mastery of "Becoming Unconditionally Happy." There, right in front of me, he was showing me how to master the tightrope despite seemingly impossible circumstances. Most important, he showed me that I didn't need to do it alone.

 

I wanted to live like him, high up on the wobbly rope, reaching for the stars!

 

Fast Forward to Today...

 

Today, the Tiny Islands are the foundation of my work. I help my clients who want to be unconditionally happy, how to fully integrate this hero's path into their everyday lives, to establish a new consciousness, and to experience deep certainty and trust about their true happiness.

 

In this way, my greatest wish and mission is coming true, that my clients, like me, experience pure happiness in their lives. A happiness born out of the present moment that allows them to master their destiny at any time.

 

All those who choose this path contribute to creating a more peaceful and content world.

 

A world where they freely share their joy to show others who previously went through hell on the way to paradise.

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