Over the last three weeks I have done a course called Trauma Healing Accelerated by Dr. Aimie Apigian, a Functional Medicine Doctor. For me, it was deeply reassuring to have my journey affirmed. It was a lonely one, as is the nature of personal trauma, but I found people similar to myself in this course.
My main take away has been to accept that it is okay to feel safe. Sadly, my experience in the fundamentalist church had increased my insecurity about being happy and at peace. It had reinforced the anxiety of my childhood. Although I have lived with great joy for years, I have questioned it in the back of my mind.
The beauty about feeling safe is that in this place, we can reveal our true self, the authentic self. When we experience trauma, our nervous system is changed. Because we no longer feel safe, we use coping mechanisms. My main go-to was food, my eating disorder. Trauma is stressful and causes many of the common health issues we suffer with today. These include irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, the list goes on.
Another core learning for me was to take notice of my body. Sadly, we submit our body to abuse and then resent it when it fails us. We push it by partaking in unhealthy diets, making it work hard and denying it sleep; the list goes on.
But what if we listened to our body. When I slowed down, I could hear its cries. My back hurt, my legs were tense and sore, and I suffered from headaches. But as I learned to respect my body as it was, stop expecting perfection from it and to love it, a great joy came into my life.
It takes guts to move from our head to our body. Our thoughts tell us that we should work faster, fit in and change to suit others. We are given one body, it is ours to keep, and it is a gift. Despite how we may feel about it, we only get one in this lifetime.
Stop, and listen. Are you experiencing physical pain? Perhaps your body is trying to tell you something. If you want to chat about this, please message me.
In love, Jenny
