PHOTO: Dr Katja Rusanen, spiritual counsellor and best-selling author, inspires transformation through Soul-centred teachings and personal experience.
Turning Trauma Into Purpose With Spiritual Insight
Katja Rusanen opens up about her healing journey, the inspiration behind Your Spiritual Curriculum, and how reframing inner stories can lead to personal transformation and emotional freedom.
Katja Rusanen has spent her life turning pain into purpose. From the darkness of personal tragedy emerged a luminous mission: to help others transcend their suffering and reclaim their inner light. Her work weaves together the threads of profound spiritual insight and grounded, psychological understanding, offering others the same liberation she once had to fight for. There is nothing abstract about her message—it is lived, tested, and deeply human.
In Your Spiritual Curriculum: 5 Steps to Make Peace with Your Past and Transform Your Future, Katja distils the essence of her life’s work into a powerful framework for healing. The book carries the quiet authority of someone who has walked through fire and returned with wisdom. It invites readers to rewrite their inner narratives and see themselves from the Soul’s perspective—a shift that can feel both radical and deeply familiar.
Drawing from her rich background in Spiritual Science and Psychology, as well as years of hands-on work with clients around the world, Katja balances spiritual depth with clarity and structure. Her words resonate with those seeking more than surface change—those ready to do the inner work that leads to lasting transformation.
Katja Rusanen writes not just to inform, but to liberate. Her voice is steady, gentle, and unwavering in its faith that peace is possible—no matter what your past holds.
How did writing Your Spiritual Curriculum: 5 Steps to Make Peace with Your Past and Transform Your Future challenge you both creatively and personally?
Writing Your Spiritual Curriculum was a personal and creative challenge, primarily due to perfectionism. As a non-native English writer, this added an extra layer of self-doubt. Creatively, it meant significant procrastination as I questioned who I was to write this book. Yet, the calling to share grew stronger, and I ultimately said yes to it. Personally, the process provided a powerful opportunity to overcome my fear of sharing my wisdom and to take a stand for a core belief that our past does not need to equal our future. This book helped me transform personal challenges into a message of hope and empowerment.
What inspired you to write Your Spiritual Curriculum, and how did your personal experiences shape the narrative?
My deep commitment to helping people reframe trauma and find emotional freedom is profoundly rooted in my own personal experience. At 16, my boyfriend’s suicide left me overwhelmed with despair; it almost destroyed me. For years, I blamed myself, believing I should have saved him. This dark period propelled an intense search for meaning and purpose in life. Thanks to spiritual teachers, I discovered it was possible to free myself from the prison of my past as I learned how to see my life from Soul’s perspective. In Your Spiritual Curriculum, I draw on my healing journey and client work to unveil a five-step process that I developed during my doctoral studies. This helps you make peace with the past and connect with your Soul’s wisdom. The book offers personal transformation and spiritual growth, blending practical spirituality with proven methods, providing a clear roadmap to emotional freedom and inner peace.
With your doctorate in Spiritual Science and coaching credentials, how do you balance evidence-based methods with intuitive guidance?
For me, practical spirituality integrates all aspects of wisdom. My doctorate in Spiritual Science, master’s in Spiritual Psychology, and coaching credentials provide a strong foundation in evidence-based methods, structured approaches and proven strategies for personal growth. This offers a solid framework. However, life and healing aren’t always linear, which is where intuitive guidance comes in. Intuition acts as the compass, helping navigate each unique journey. When working with clients, intuition guides me to dig deeper when things don’t add up. I sometimes tap into information that is beyond what I know through my mind, and I’ve learned to honor it. It’s about listening to deeper wisdom, subtle cues, and spiritual insights for the most effective path forward. I see it as a powerful synergy that ensures a comprehensive and aligned path forward for true transformation.
Your website emphasises transforming “inner stories”—how has reframing your own narrative impacted your most recent work?
Reframing my own inner stories is foundational to my life and all my recent work. My journey through past trauma involved changing the limiting narratives I held. This personal experience provided a deep, lived understanding of how profoundly our inner stories shape our reality and potential for emotional freedom. While we can’t change our past, we absolutely can change how we relate to it, and that can change everything. Because I’ve walked this path myself, my work—especially in Your Spiritual Curriculum—comes from a place of deep authenticity and empathy. I know firsthand the power of identifying old narratives and consciously creating empowering ones. This allows me to create practical, resonant tools that help others navigate their own story transformation with clarity and compassion. It’s what drives my mission for meaningful shifts.
Living in Marbella after Finland, how does the change in environment inform the tone and themes of your recent books?
Interestingly, the idea of living abroad was with me from a young age; since I was six years old, I knew I would move beyond Finland’s borders. And indeed, I actually started writing when I was already living outside of my home country. Finland has a calmer energy, and I truly love the silence and stillness you can experience there. Marbella, on the other hand, embodies a more outward, expansive energy. The sunshine, the sea, and the lively culture here encourage a sense of abundance, possibility, and joyful living. While the sunny days give me tremendous inspiration, I actually often find myself writing late at night when the world is calmer, allowing for deeper focus.
What one piece of advice would you offer aspiring authors combining spiritual depth with practical structure in their writing?
My advice would be to write from the lessons that you have learned, as that can give you the courage to share authentically. Don’t shy away from sharing your journey and struggles that led to your spiritual insights. That vulnerability creates depth and connection; readers need to see themselves in your story and feel understood. Your story can be the very thing that helps them to start their own personal transformation. However, once you’ve tapped into that depth, provide clear, actionable steps. Structure your wisdom as a tangible roadmap. People seek practical solutions they can easily implement. So, pour your heart onto the page, and then organise that wisdom into clear frameworks, exercises, or steps that empower readers on their own transformational journey.
