Throughout my journey as one who is healing and as a healer, this phrase has been an integral part of my understanding of the process of healing.
When I went through trauma therapy for the PTSD I developed after my husband died by suicide, I wanted to do anything other than feel. My adept therapist taught me that if I took tiny steps looking inward at what was troubling me, and then brought myself back to safety, I could actually survive “feeling it” and eventually move toward healing it.
This week marks the six-year anniversary of my husband Glen’s death. I still feel pain, anxiety, and all of the feelings associated with the grief and trauma of that time. Fortunately, with a lot of work, practice, and support, I have developed an extensive toolbox full of practices that allow me to maintain my balance any time I begin to be overwhelmed by these feelings.
One of the basic steps to learning to feel and then to heal is to develop an awareness of what is happening in your physical body. We keep stress and dis-ease in our bodies all of the time. I’m sure most of you reading this have had some unique and difficult challenges over the last couple of years through the pandemic. During this time, have you taken the time to look deeply inward to see how your body is reacting?
Yoga and other forms of mindful movement can loosen those stuck feelings, allowing them to move into our consciousness and be processed. This is important because stuck emotions, dis-ease, can become disease.
From yoga therapy to Reiki, to grief groups, which I now facilitate, I have noticed most people have a very difficult time understanding how, where, and why emotions affect the physical body. In yoga philosophy, the physical and the mental/emotional body are not considered separate, After being involved in and then teaching yoga for over 20 years, I have seen emotional releases happen regularly in yoga classes and in private sessions with my clients as a result of specific breathing techniques or yoga postures.
How do we connect with our physical body and find where we are storing unprocessed emotions to release them and heal? I have a very special gift for you! Attached to this blog, you will find a body scan meditation. All you have to do is sit quietly, listen to the meditation, and you are on your way to connecting to stuck emotions, processing them, and healing.
Let me know how it goes!
Blessings to you.
Michelle