Whatever you meet, you can go beyond

This very true sentence was written by Karen Brody in her book, Daring to Rest. Whatever we don’t meet, gets stuck on repeat. We’ll repeat it until we can meet it, digest it, experience it, complete it, finish it, accept it, even love it. There really is no way out except through.

It takes courage, support and resources to meet what we fear and in my experience what we fear and feel threatened by the most, are the sensations and emotions inside us that feel awful. The unfelt hurts and pain that we’re afraid will swamp and swallow us whole. But, as Joseph Campbell says: The cave you fear to enter, holds the treasure you seek.

The fear of pain and hurt often becomes greater than the hurt and pain. Struggling against the fear just doesn’t work. We need to ride the waves of difficult emotions and sensations instead of repeatedly crashing against them. When we have the experience of moving through something, our fear of it diminishes. We learn resilience, strength and the trust that we can handle what comes our way (with help and support).

Even though I’m afraid of meeting … I completely accept how I feel

Even though I can’t experience … I completely accept how I feel

Even though this … feels … I love and accept myself anyway

Repeat whatever words/phrases feel right on the tapping points.

Birth trauma class

The next EFT class will be on trauma during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. This is a really important time in everyone's life and the effects of trauma can last a lifetime (or many lifetimes as intergenerational trauma shows), if we don't resolve them.

The class will be held at 4pm GMT on Thursday April 25th by zoom (you can download it for free here). You can email me at my website: info[at]energyandintention[dot]com to attend/volunteer and I will send you an invitation to the class. The class costs €15 for 90 minutes.

I think many women are diagnosed with postpartum depression, among other things, when very often it is trauma they are suffering from.

Watch the beautiful video above to learn about the importance of safety to our nervous system. Safety, privacy and respect are all too rare in maternal "care" worldwide, unfortunately.

Tuning in

There are many different ways we can tune in to, and heal, what hurts. More and more research shows the benefits of art, theatre, exercise, dance, sound healing and so on in the healing of trauma. But indigenous cultures have known this for thousands of years, we so-called “civilised” people seem to have forgotten or lost trust in these ways.

We also know there are huge benefits to activating the vagus nerve for better physical and mental health. Using your own voice is a great way to improve the health* of the vagus nerve.

This song by Nirinjan Kaur uses chanting which, as Dr Bruce Perry points out, is rhythmic, patterned and repetitive. Sound healing (and other somatosensory methods) can touch parts of us that are hard to reach with talk therapy alone. The song is a kirtan kriya meditation, part of the kundalini yoga tradition, which holistic psychiatrist Kelly Brogan is an advocate of, she recommends this exercise for depression.

Here are the instructions for the kirtan kriya. I find following along with Nirinjan Kaur's version really powerful and moving.

* 4. Singing And Chanting – Humming, mantra chanting, hymn singing, and upbeat energetic singing all increase heart rate variability (HRV) in slightly different ways. Essentially, singing is like initiating a vagal pump sending out relaxing waves. Singing at the top of your lungs works the muscles in the back of the throat to activate the vagus. Singing in unison, which is often done in churches and synagogues, also increases HRV and vagus function. Singing has been found to increase oxytocin, also known as the love hormone because it makes people feel closer to one another". (Excerpt from article above).