So What Is Healing?

The process of making or becoming sound or healthy again.

This is a question that comes up frequently for me. Healing is “the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again.” Healing is choosing a path of gratitude, a shift in perspective from negativity to openness. Healing is learning to appreciate any obstacle that comes in your way as a beautiful part of your journey.

I wanted to start with a little back story on my personal experience with how I began to choose healing. Maybe some of this will resonate with you:

- Feelings of exhaustion. My body was physically and emotionally drained.

- Constant communication or the need to feel validated with constant contact with others.

- Little to no time for self reflection.

- FOMO (Fear of missing out) when it comes to social events - a constant need for being included and busy.

- Spending absurd amounts of money on eating and drinking out.

- Needing caffeine to stay awake during the day and alcohol (or any other substance) to help sleep at night.

Needless to say, I chose to begin my journey with healing shortly after experiencing one of the most major life altering events there is. My brother died from a drug overdose. For some reason even typing those words out still makes me cringe. As if there is a better, more cautious, way to say it. As if there is something I should be doing to protect the person receiving this information.

Little did I know that this “trauma” of knowing and loving an addict had pushed me into some of the darkest days, but I continued to push through. There is a great amount of pressure from society to continue to power through daily life, both during and after traumatic experiences. There is pressure to show no weakness. Strength is identified as not being emotional. I was crashing according to societies standards and the more I drank, ate unhealthy food out at restaurants, held my emotions inside, continued to be busy and fast paced, the worse that I felt.

The CDC estimates a total of 107,622 deaths from overdoses in the year 2021. This is nauseating to me, especially because overdose is such a taboo topic. 107,622 lives lost which means hundreds of thousands, if not more lives impacted from knowing and loving an addict -- and it is still uncomfortable for most people to discuss these traumas? So where do we find an outlet? How do we heal from these deep wounds that stem so far back into our being?

This is what pushed me towards healing.

I was approached by a friend to consider trying Reiki. I knew absolutely nothing about Reiki. On top of that I was not “in tune” in the sense that I never meditated, I had never done any breath work, I had never even been to a yoga class. This “healing” seemed so far out of my comfort zone to the point where it took me a little while to feel comfortable giving it a try.

Reiki stems from the Japanese heritage as a technique to reduce stress and promote relaxation. “The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy." Reiki is a healing practice that moves energy through your seven Chakras. The body holds and stores trauma, many times we may not even realize the amount of buildup inside us. During a session this energy is moved and transformed through your body, releasing tension and often times pain.

My eyes were opened to healing, growing, and learning from every single situation we are faced with. It took some time for me to see major impacts of this practice on my body. Once I began feeling release in places I did not even realize I had stored trauma, I felt open to learning more about the process of healing.

This moved me to choose a one on one container, with a friend from childhood, which involved an intro to guided meditation. The term “meditation” refers to a variety of practices that focus on integrating the body and mind. In this case, guided meditation involves being guided by another to focus my mind on breathing, on a specific time, place, emotion, etc. Something I was completely uncomfortable with and still find myself uncomfortable with at times.

I found myself making changes in my mindset and perspective. Yet still needing more coaching and training to truly find ways to let go and trust in the universe. This brought me to work with a life coach who has in the past 45 days elevated my healing, while doing healing of her own alongside me.

Which is how we got to where we are now. I am now 30 days sober and recently completed the Standard Process 21 Day Purification Cleanse. (details on all of the above to come soon) I can tell you that I have learned an incredible amount about my mind, body, and spirit. I never truly felt the connection between the three as I do now.

Why choose a life of healing or why continue to choose a life of healing?

Here are some positive impacts that have been present in my life since I actively chose to heal rather than suffer:

- Value in perspective - shifting from “I have to” to “I get to”. Seeing things in my life, even the most challenging things that come up, as gifts.

- Slowing down - learning to spend time with myself

- Finding time to reflect

- Sobriety

- Healthier eating – feeling fueled and healthy

- Better sleep

- Confidence in myself

- Getting to know parts of me that before were challenging to identify or understand

- Identifying and reflecting on patterns/habits that are present in my life

- Being more present

“That was your experience. Why trust mine will be similar?” No matter the culture, the religion, the person....healing is a transformation of self. The process has been slow and fast all at once. Healing is an ongoing process, where we don’t find ourselves “healed” but rather on a continuous journey of healing. There could be a major shift one day and then a lull. Choosing yourself, choosing your own healing, is one of the most liberating feelings.