Community Highlights: Meet Jennifer Buljan of Jb Vibes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Buljan.

Hi Jennifer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I am originally from New York; I moved to Phoenix about 5 years ago. I graduated from Queens College and worked my first 7 years out of college in Social Work, primarily in case work with the elderly and disabled. I also worked as a recreational therapist in nursing facilities. I knew I wanted to serve community in some way and always had a strong desire to help the underserved. Even though I was fulfilling that to some degree, I was still emotionally unfulfilled. I had battled depression and substance addiction all my life, and at my lowest, I was drinking every day while still functioning and working 7 days a week. I quickly burned out of social work after 7 years and started working high paying accounting jobs but suffering greatly Internally. I was making the money I needed to survive, but my soul felt empty as social work was not financially stable or fulfilling, and accounting was paying the bills but doing nothing for my spirit. Eventually, I left the corporate world and took a huge leap by working as a front desk manager at a spa in downtown Manhattan. I wanted change so badly. This was the first turning point in my life; although the spa was not deeply fulfilling either, it was a healthier environment, and it was where I had my first experience with energy work. One of the estheticians there was a reiki practitioner, and she worked on me. After that session, I realized there was something I was battling with that was finally being unearthed. I could feel the shift in my emotional body and knew my whole life needed to change. I stared looking more into energy healing and emotional trauma. I had realized that I was living my life through a series of self-destructive patterns and behaviors, and I knew if I didn’t take a hard, honest look at myself, I was going to spiral down the same path as my father, whom was a massive alcoholic. I grew up in a very volatile, abusive household and discovered that as an adult, I had been living with CPTSD (chronic post-traumatic stress disorder); this is a diagnosis that stems from repeated trauma or abuse over a long period of time. Even though this diagnosis had given me some relief, knowing I wasn’t just a mess that I was actually a traumatized individual, it also terrified me because I had no idea how to deal with this. 

One day, while working at the spa, I had a chance meeting with a client that happened to be a documentary filmmaker and she told me her story of adoption and how she filmed her entire journey with reuniting with her birth mother. I later watched the film, and it struck a chord in me as I was also adopted and had tried numerous failed attempts to meet my birth mother and family. I was born in Croatia and put up for adoption as a baby, spent time in an orphanage, and finally was adopted and brought to the US by an American family when I was 3 1/2 years old. I always knew I was adopted but knew very little about my birth story. This meeting with the film maker inspired me to try again, in fact it light a fire in me. I took the next two weeks off and was determined to find my family. I do believe in divine timing, and I had found a man that connected me to the birth records department in the town of split where I was born. From there, everything fell into place quickly. I was connected to a birth cousin who knew my mother and then was introduced via Facebook to my birth brother, who was still living in Croatia, and a birth sister, who had also been adopted out of the country and was living in Germany. By the end of those two weeks, I had connected with my brother, sister, and several cousins. I had an outpouring of love from my family as well as photos of my mother, and I finally felt like the pieces were coming together. This was a pivotal time for me, and although exciting, I was also overwhelmed. My drinking got worse, and I was self-medicating and working nonstop. I had zero self-awareness, self-care, or any kind of self-love. Despite all the good news, I was spiraling even worse. 

Still, I forged on and booked my flight to Croatia to reunite with my brother and sister. Our birth mother had left Croatia shortly after my birth and moved to Serbia, which is where she spent most of life. The trip to Croatia was the most incredible experience of my life at that point, as soon as I landed I felt an overwhelming sense of home the minute I smelled the Adriatic Sea. My family was warm, welcoming, loving and supportive. I spent 18 days meeting so many cousins, aunts and uncles, and nieces and exploring the beautiful country that I, up until that point, had no connection to. That trip was the catalyst to my healing, but it still wasn’t the happy needing I had often dreamed of as a kid. The biggest piece to that puzzle was my birth mother and I thought if I could meet her, then all my problems would dissipate, I really believed this was the answer to all my troubles. But that meeting never happened; my siblings could not face her, and we did not make the trip to Serbia. I was completely crushed. I was starving to really understand the depths of this abandonment wound, and this felt like I was reliving the entire experience again as an adult. When I got back to New York, I fell into a deep depression. And I felt tremendous guilt for not feeling better about having finally met my family. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t just happy. 

I drank to numb myself and jumped right back into my hectic lifestyle. I developed a massive, abscessed tooth that swelled so badly my entire face ballooned, and I had to leave work and rush to find an oral surgeon. I had already started to incorporate some holistic practices in my life to help me cope, like yoga and meditation, but I still drank and smoked heavily. I looked for a holistic dentist and found the only one in Manhattan. Turns out my abscessed tooth was actually on the verge of being life threatening as fluid had almost seeped into my brain, I had emergency oral surgery., and started a 4-month protocol with the holistic dentist to get my oral health back on track. Turns out this dentist had chronic Lyme disease and explained to me how she cured herself with sound and vibration. I had never really heard about sound therapy, but I was so intrigued. Over the next few months, I met with her weekly and she slowly introduced me to the healing power of sound, she even treated me and all her clients to what she called “tune ups” after her sessions. She would use frequencies and tuning girls to help elevate stress after our appointments. She introduced me to binaural beats, Tibetan bowls, and crystal bowls. I did my own research at home and followed her advice by listening to sound baths on YouTube. She recommended books on sound therapy and healing. I finally felt like I found my “thing.” What I started to notice was how relaxed I felt after her “tune-ups,” how I was sleeping better, and how much my chaotic monkey mind had quieted down. I truly believe the universe sends you angels in the form of humans to help you on your path, and she (and the documentary filmmaker) were two of them for me. 

My dentist inspired me to take a chance, and I enrolled in the Vibrational Sound Association to get certified in Vibrational sound therapy. This training program was incredible; we learned the history of sound as a healing modality and worked in groups on each other with Tibetan bowls. The first time I received vibrational therapy I released so much emotion, I cried so hard and didn’t understand why. I just knew intuitively this is what my soul needed. It was the first time my nervous system was relaxed; I could actually feel into my body, and the peace I felt was so nourishing. Prior to that moment, I had no idea that you could feel this way, that you could actually feel clear, present, and peaceful. I had spent my entire life in flight and fight mode and dissociated to my body. It made all the sense in the world to me why I had turned to addiction. It helped me escape my own body and intrusive thoughts brought on by the CPTSD. 

I continued to drink but I was way more conscious, I would take breaks from drinking and started to take accountability. Once I was certified I started to work on everyone I knew, I wanted everyone to feel this level of peace. I finally started to feel a real sense of purpose. In the next few years I made big changes, I left NY, moved to Arizona and started taking more and more courses on sound and practicing as much as I could on myself and others. Sound had given me something I had never experienced before and that was a sense of safety within my body. And I wanted to help others struggling with trauma to experience the same. 

I got a job working at the JW Marriott in Scottsdale doing sound meditation classes 4 days a week while also taking private clients. In 2018, I had just come out of a devastating breakup 

With my girlfriend of 3 years, this sent me spiraling once again (very quickly) into addiction and depression. I was disappointed in myself because of the growth I was experiencing and the expansion in my life to watch it all come crumbling down after the ending of that relationship. I realized that this abandonment wound was triggered by this ending, and I knew I had only just started to peel back the layers of my own trauma. This relationship ending was another catalyst for my healing. 

I somehow found the strength to push forward, and I started offering sound baths to the community as a way to give back during Covid when the whole world seemed to be suffering, but I also needed to find a way to heal my own heart. And serving others was the answer. 

I gained a beautiful community by serving sound baths every Friday at Tempe Town Lake. Through the people I met and connected with in those sound baths, I started to feel renewed, and my heart started to heal again through heart-centered connections with others who were suffering. I continued my community work for the next two years, working in community centers, collaborating with yoga practitioners, and doing private in-home sessions for people. I stated to collaborate with other practitioners in the healing world and started to see just how beneficial sound and vibration was in people’s healing journey. I could see how sound was helping people to connect back to the wisdom of their bodies and really empower them to target and understand their own emotional trauma. I felt like I had purpose. Yet still, I wasn’t feeling like I was really in my soul purpose just yet. I knew I was on the path though. 

I had a moment in my journey where I was dealing with debilitating anxiety and depression I woke up at 4 am and went to my bathroom, and cried my eyes out; looking in the mirror, I stated to talk to the little girl inside me, and I told her she was loved that she mattered that she was going to be ok. I realized this was the first time I faced her, that little girl. And something beautiful happened, I felt my heart, for the first time in my life I felt my heart open, and it was pure bliss. Suddenly I had a surge of insight come to me and I realized that my purpose was to work with children, particularly children who were orphaned, or suffered trauma. My sole purpose was to help children empower themselves through sound by teaching them the joys of learning an instrument but more importantly teaching them the power of their own personal vibration. 

I created a workshop for children ages 5-9 where they could learn how to make and play their own instruments and use their voice to express difficult emotions. With the help of the sound bowls, I offered children a healthy way to express themselves and show them how vibration works and how very powerful their vibration is, and how it impacts the world around them. I taught them powerful affirmations to say while using their instruments. Little personal mantras they could use to help them feel empowered and confident. I knew I needed to help the children that were struggling with emotional expression. My CPTSD, which was once the brain of my existence, was now my greatest teacher. I did serval workshops and even worked in the chandler school district introducing children to sound and vibration, not only did the children love it they were so eager to express themselves and learn about their emotions. 

I still do personal vibrational therapy sessions for adults and children. I work with children one-on-one and still offer community sound baths. My biggest focus now is working with foster care children creating a program to help children connect back to the divinity within themselves, so they are not reliant on anything or anyone for validation or love. My vision is to help children dealing with abandonment either through adoption trauma or emotional trauma by teaching them to cultivate self-love and emotional intelligence through playful expression. I continue to be amazed by the power of sound and vibration and have made tremendous strides in my own healing and have a stronger self of self and empowerment through connection back to the beautiful wisdom of my body. Sound has been a way back home to me. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing has been smooth and I’m grateful because if it where I would have leaned nothing. The struggles were always within my own mind and navigating through the grips of CPTSD and anxiety. (I mentioned most of that in the first question 🙂 ) 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I created my business in 2018; I work independently as a vibrational sound therapist and advocate for empowering children dealing with adoption trauma. 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I learned that collective suffering is an opportunity to heal as an individual by offering yourself and your gifts to others. By helping to heal others, you also heal yourself. 

Pricing:

• 150 – 90 minutes vibrational sound therapy session
• 50 one-on-one work with kids -1 hour

Contact Info:

• Instagram: J_b_vibes
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Surrenderthroughsound?feature=shared

Image Credits
Angel Martinez
Lynn Dao