Healing Hella Hurts
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“If you don’t hurt, then you don’t know”
Since I like to keep it real, it think its Important to talk about the reality of the healing process. Because it’s not all rose baths and massages.
If you’re really serious and ready to invest in the real work of healing, then get ready for ALL THE FEELS. It’s no wonder few people will dive deeply into their healing process because there’s risk in what happens getting pretty ugly or uncomfortable. In relation to your own body, things may come up, quite literally as I explain more later. In relation to those around you, since you’re changing/transforming yourself, the people around you might not recognize you and that can be hurtful for everyone.
In this post, I’d like to focus more on the physical affects of doing your transformative work, or healing. For instance, the after care piece of a healing hike, can be overlooked. I wanted to be transparent about the possibilities and encourage you to trust that if something physical and out of the ordinary does come up with your body, this is a good sign of energetic movement, change in perception, or release of toxins. Remember, our emotions are directly connected to our physical bodies, but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily aware of what those connections are and how they can show up after doing healing work like processing through emotional baggage.
We can protect ourselves by being prepared, paying attention, and having an after-care plan. Here’s what it is:
THE REALITY
Healing work is hard because it can literally hurt. Sore muscles, migraines, even vomiting can happen after processing through some deep emotional stuff! That’s because our emotional energy can exist in particular parts of our bodies, more noticeably when there’s stuck energy. Engaging in the unseen mediums such as energetic, metaphysical, or ancestral modalities can result in some unanticipated and non-symptomatic-like bodily responses. Crazy, right? But its true.
Additionally, our thoughts can pay a big part in how our bodies feel/react to our environment. Have you read/heard the news today? Was your heart beating with frustration?
As an example, if we engage with a deep seeded trauma and work to bring up something buried so deep, then release it, this can feel a certain way. Perhaps, even resulting in the body reacting the way it needs to so the energy can move out. Like, “purging a trauma” out of your body can literally play out like vomiting all those negativities out.
So, What is needed for a safe journey ahead? Well, every person is different and has their own emotional and physical process. But here are some things we can talk about…
Let’s first talk about AFFECTS, not effects, but AFFECTS. And I use affects here because its a verb and it means to influence something. Your healing actions should influence your healing process, not result in an effect (noun) to your healing process. If we’re engaging in non-symptomatic shifts in your well-being, then expect non-symptomatic things to happen.
AFFECTS ARE SIGNS OF MOVEMENT/ADAPTATION
No pain, no gain, right? Right.
It doesn’t always have to happen painfully. What I’m trying to emphasize here is that if it does happen, trust in the nature of things. A waaay long time ago I wrote about how “stressors” in the environment cause mutations to happen in plants. It’s part of the natural process of Resilience and Adaptation. I said,
“Stress (or stressors) are actually those signs we have in life that something is happening and is calling us to adapt. Something is happening that needs some attention because a change is about to happen. And only then, when the stressors make themselves known is when we are called to do some work to figure out how to adapt.”
Just like our plant relatives, we are resilient and we adapt. The good thing about us being conscious of our environment and able to move and search for help or resources in the face of “stressors”, is that we can consciously prepare ourselves for the journey of engaging with a “safe” and “sacred” stressor, such as a coaching session, healing hike, spiritual journey, etc…
Now that we’ve started with some language and natural law, let’s talk about preparation and protection.
PREPARATION & PROTECTION
I can’t express enough, the importance of preparation; know what you’re getting into, how to find the right practitioner, and try to get a sense of how ready and how deep you’re willing to go into your healing journey. This also helps the practitioner know if you’re the right fit for them. Do your research, get your recommendations and referrals to the right practitioner or do some sample sessions! If you’ve been on one of my hikes you know that I send everyone a pretty extensive preparation welcome letter before arrival. This is key to having a good session!
Your healing journey needs a protected container. This is why the opening and closing circles of our healing hikes are soo important to the entire experience. It’s an essential part of building the sacredness of our time as well as setting the tone (or intention) for our experience. It’s also a good way for us to protect ourselves from any distractions or interruptions from other park visitors. Think of this process as a metaphor for your process of any type of healing session you engage with. Get grounded, call in your source(s) and proceed with faith.
AFTER CARE
I often mention this at the end of our hikes or sessions, especially if we’ve just had some deep emotional experience in nature;
pay close attention to how your body is reacting and what your emotional state is like for the next few days
The affects of emotional processing sometimes takes a few days to cycle through or reveal itself. It’s important to take note (no matter how subtle) of any changes you might be feeling or if any unexpected physical or emotional things bubble up. This again, is a good sign and it might not feel good or look pretty.
Here are some of my after care tips for healing hikes or private sessions:
always stay hydrated, before and after; water is a good “leveler” of energetic exchange/change. You might notice after an emotional session you’re super thirsty. Know that you just did a lot of work!
rest well after a session, especially if you felt a sudden onset of fatigue or lethargy. This could be a sign of an emotional hangover or detox. Take a day off if you can’t concentrate or function well at work
if your gut instinct is telling you your physical or emotional affect is from the session, trust it is from the session and will pass as you take care of yourself
if your gut instinct is telling you your physical or emotional affect is from another person, trust it is from another person and will pass as you take care of yourself. You might be more sensitive to others’ energy than you thought!
the most important in this container is to PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to yourself with the intention of understanding more about how you process through things.
This is where you’ll benefit the most and one of the main reasons why I always say, this is a JOURNEY, not a cure.
You can heal yourself!
*always seek advise from a medical professional in any case that you feel like what you’re experience is something more serious. The after care and advise I give here and throughout my website is not meant to diagnose or prevent or cure any clinical ailments.
