I hope you are faring okay out there. It’s more important than ever to take time to unplug, go outside and just be with yourself. Noticing and allowing.
I wanted to let you know that I will be pausing the Circle of Light bi-monthly meditations for a while. For the past 5 years, it has been my joy to offer these. I am creating more time for my own self-care, saving some energy in my days to go inward rather than outward.
There are many recorded meditations here on The Courageous Path meditation podcast on Soundcloud and on ITunes that you may enjoy (all free). And for tonight, to give you something, in the spirit of sending healing and love to ourselves, I offer this meditation with Archangel Raphael on Healing the Body (and the heart chakra).
Some spiritual practitioners like me often give a lot to others, but not a lot to ourselves. I love what I do (and I love homeschooling my kids), but I am learning I need to save more energy for my own self-care. I blocked off some space last week to just be, which was really nice… (Of course I taught a 3-day hypnotherapy class this past weekend as part of the Hypnotherapy Certification Program, which was awesome, so I needed some down time after that!)
In terms of clearing stuck emotions from our bodies, here is the essence of what I think may be helpful for you, in an excerpt from my book, Tools for the Awakening Soul:
Negative Emotions and Our Health
As Tony Robbins once said, to process our feelings, we should get into the pool of our negative emotions to swim around in them. But we don’t want to stay in that pool, immersed in those bad feelings, forever. Eventually, we need to get out.
Releasing negative emotions starts by allowing ourselves to feel and understand them. But eventually, we want to move away from feelings that are not good for us. When we are ready, we can invite in positive feelings to help us move toward healing.
Unfortunately, our commercial, Western culture teaches us to avoid any deep emotions. Don’t feel anything that makes you uncomfortable, the media advertisers tell us – only seek out pleasure and fun! We are encouraged to numb any undesired feelings with crutches like food, alcohol, TV or the internet. As negative coping mechanisms, these distractions can become addictions.
I once had a client I will call Rebecca whose mother was addicted to drugs when Rebecca was a child. At a young age, Rebecca learned to put her emotions in a “box” inside her body. This worked for a little while to help Rebecca cope with the situation. But as an adult, Rebecca started having a hard time sleeping, developing insomnia. Clearly, those buried feelings were ready to be uncovered. The box wanted to be opened. But Rebecca was afraid. So the emotions inside that box started seeping out as misdirected anger projected at other people in her life. In our work together, we connected with Rebecca’s Inner Child to help her feel safe enough to let her emotions out of the box. Using these tools she gained as an adult, Rebecca eventually was able to process and manage her feelings.
Negative emotions will find a way out at some point. Like a volcano that wants to erupt but isn’t allowed to, if these feelings are pushed down or bottled up, they will start to spew out the sides. The emotions can surface in weird, dysfunctional ways in our lives. When we allow our emotions to be released, the feelings can freely flow from the top of our volcano! Physical movement, verbal processing, creative outlets like art or theater, or just letting the tears flow can help clear low-vibrational emotions.
Unprocessed emotions that are held within will eventually seep into our bodies and can get stuck in various places. They need to go somewhere. If we continue to repress our emotions over time, pushing them down and ignoring them, we can make ourselves sick. I believe that many auto-immune diseases surface as a result of unhealed emotions being held in the body.
Studies have pointed to a mind-body connection between illness and emotions. Learning to release emotions can help heal the body and align the mind. And as with emotions, persistent negative thoughts also can manifest as illness.
Emotions have three energetic components to them. They are:
1) a thought or story behind the feeling;
2) a physical sensation (how the emotion feels in the body); and
3) your general mood (can be subtle or overt).
When experiencing an unwanted feeling, remind yourself that it’s temporary. This too shall pass.
I once had a client with persistent pain in her shoulders and neck. She was also recovering from cancer. When we explored the emotions around this pain through guided imagery, we uncovered that she still carried a lot of anger from past abuse by her mother. The metaphor of these emotions was clear: she was carrying her feelings around like a heavy backpack on her shoulders. When we “unpacked the backpack,” the pain in her shoulders and neck began to fade.
In examining the roots of any health issue, ask yourself:
What negative beliefs do I hold about myself that may be contributing to my symptoms?
What “blocked” emotions may be creating or worsening this physical illness, especially as connected to relationships with others?
Who have I not forgiven? Do I need to forgive myself as well? Do I need to seek forgiveness from others?
Write your answers to these questions somewhere to help you reflect on them.
We all need a little more self-care these days. Getting away for a few days, especially to open your intuition and receive healing messages from guides, angels and Ascended Masters can be so healing. It’s like a reset. I’m offering a retreat in early May at this absolutely amazing location in Searsport, Maine. You can come for the weekend or join for all the activities below for Saturday morning through night.
A gong bath, high-vibe home cooked food, infrared sauna, amethyst bio-mat, Qi Gong, a labyrinth walk, yoga, cold plunge, along with hypnotherapy and guided meditations with various light beings are what we will do. All in a luxurious space with huge windows right on the ocean. Come nourish your heart, soul, body and spirit at the Inviting in Divine Love retreat in early May (the last private oceanfront room just became available)!
Wishing you rest and space.
by Heart Light Digital