085. The Science of Wellbeing: Practical Tools to Thrive with Cecilie Lovestam

Season #3 January 29, 2025

In this episode, I sit down with Cecilie Lovestam, a positive psychology practitioner, yoga teacher, and advocate for holistic wellbeing. Cecilie shares her inspiring journey—from growing up in Norway to studying applied psychology in New York and ultimately creating a life centered around helping others thrive.

We explore the PERMA-V framework for wellbeing, which highlights the pillars of Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement, and Vitality. She breaks down how these elements interconnect and offers practical tips for incorporating them into your daily life.

You’ll also hear:
✨ How following her curiosity led Cecilie to discover her passion for positive psychology
✨ Insights into balancing achievement without burnout
✨ Why small, intentional actions can make a big impact on your wellbeing
✨ The connection between yoga, mindfulness, and the science of happiness

If you’re looking for actionable steps to boost your wellbeing, balance your mind and body, and create meaningful connections, this episode is for you.

The book Magali talks about "AWE" can be found here
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Episode Transcript

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the show. I'm so excited to have Cecilia on today. Hi, and welcome to the podcast.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Yes, excited to connect and get to know you better. So let's dive right in. Tell us who you are, your story to really becoming the person you are today.

Yeah. Thank you so much. So my name is Cecilia Lovestam. I am tuning in from my home in Oslo, Norway today. And I am a positive psychology practitioner, a yoga teacher. I'm all about wellbeing. I think the two of us are very aligned on that. And I think, yeah, we have a lot in common. My mission is really to help people boost their wellbeing and reduce stress and overall just live better lives. I do that through offering one-on-one sessions, online courses, and yoga and wellbeing retreats.

I started being really interested in psychology, wellbeing, and mental health at a young age. As a young teenager growing up, I had the experience of having someone really close to me with serious mental health challenges. Navigating that as a support person made me curious to learn more. I wanted to understand how to be supportive and also to understand myself better.

When I was in high school, I got the opportunity to take psychology electives. I was just like, yes, this is what I want to pursue. It felt like a strong calling. When it came time for me to go to university, I always knew I wanted to study abroad in a big city like New York. That was my first choice. So I moved to New York and started studying applied psychology at NYU.

As a student, I dove deeply into yoga, exploring its amazing benefits on my wellbeing, and I got really interested in it. My original plan with studying psychology was to become a traditional psychologist. But then my life took a different path when, at NYU, I had the opportunity to take a class called The Science of Happiness with two amazing professors, Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter. This class truly changed my life. I got to learn about positive psychology and understood how these tools could have an amazing impact—not only on my life but also on others'.

After college, I became a teacher assistant for this class. I guided students through different positive psychology interventions, which are essentially activities that create awareness and help explore practices to enhance wellbeing. They were incredibly impactful.

Later, I pursued my master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Along the way, I completed several yoga teacher certifications. Now, I combine my expertise in applied positive psychology and yoga to offer services to my clients.

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085. The Science of Wellbeing: Practical Tools to Thrive with Cecilie Lovestam

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