The moment we get sick, we realize how important our health is.
Health is more than just our physical body.
It goes beyond the food we eat or our daily workout.
While nutrition and exercise are essential to long-term health.
It’s important to know there’s more we have to consider.
The Emotional Body.
What is the Emotional Body?
It’s the emotional layer that goes beyond thinking into feeling.
This accounts for 80% of afferent information sent to the brain.
With only 20% of efferent information from brain to body.
In my journey into somatic healing, I quickly learned a few things. ⇣ (They didn’t teach me in school or during sales training.)
- Our emotions drive 80% of our experience
- The nervous system is constantly responding to the way we feel
That made me pause.
After years of unexplained digestion issues, poor sleep, depression, anxiety and other health-related issues.
I realized I never addressed the emotional layer of my body.
Mainly because I didn’t realize how important our emotional experience was/is.
I learned to suppress my emotions at a young age.
As a way of protecting myself from feeling my BIG emotions from events/memories or stories that felt too BIG to process at the time.
So, to protect myself, my body and I developed “protectors.”
Some of my protectors were/are:
- The Hyper-Achiever
- The Perfectionista
- The Social Butterfly
- The Anxious Mess
- The Rest, WHO?
- The Runaway Bride
- The Girl-zilla
- The Avoider
- The Distrustee
These protectors, for a time, especially in my ten-year sales career, protected me.
I mean, they did me OK.
I functioned; I survived.
However, when I reached the end of my sales career, I knew I wanted to expand into wellness.
(I was deeply passionate about inner healing and personal growth)
And I knew something needed to change.
It was unsustainable how I was operating.
I knew that to help others, I needed to do the inner work.
I needed to clean out my closet.
Being in sales was a way to cope with the paralyzing feeling of unworthiness.
Beneath every painful or difficult emotion is a story/memory or belief.
We all have little t and big T trauma.
We all have a story.
Many of us didn’t grow up with perfect parents who showed us how to Love ourselves and each other unconditionally.
How to be abundant + not afraid.
Most of us have suppressed emotions b/c of painful experiences that our bodies had no idea how to process at the time.
Most of us were either children or young adolescents or even into adulthood.
They say our nervous system and these protectors start developing from when we are born.
So, first things first, be kind to yourself.
The path of healing starts with curiosity and compassion.
Thankfully, through Somatic work, I have learned to heal in a sustainable way.
Yes, it requires focus and, at times, uncomfortable feelings.
However, learning to feel again — has opened my heart to the unlimited possibilities.
The expansion I’ve created in myself and my business is limitless.
No matter how scary these BIG emotions can feel, they deserve to be felt and loved.
Most people today want happiness.
Happiness is a state of being = a state of embodiment.
You’ll never access happiness through the mind.
It comes from within the body.
But as I always say, your capacity for joy is your capacity for sadness.
One does not exist without the other.
So, how can you learn the language of your body?
Start feeling your emotions.
Stop avoiding uncomfortable feelings.
Start breathing through those different levels of resistance.
A great way to start this process is to develop a breathing practice.
A breathing practice helps connect the mind and body.
Start getting curious about your protectors.
Use your breath to anchor in times of chaos.
To pause and ask yourself, “Why is this protector showing up? What does it need?”
When “Girlzilla” shows up, she needs to know she’s safe and supported no matter what.
She needs to know her anger is OK while examining what boundaries have been crossed.
When “Perfectionista” comes in, it’s b/c I’m hyper-focusing on the outcome rather than the “why.”
This is where Breathwork and Emotional Release Therapy come in; combined with parts work, they have helped me soften and surrender to these parts and release the resistance around them.
This has helped me relax and calm my nervous system.
The result?
Lasting healing for me and my clients.
(when we heal, they heal)
As Ram Dass said, “We’re all just walking each other home.”
Remember: Your past is simply there to help you grow.
Even those painful memories or stories have gifts to share.
I am so grateful to my protectors and my trauma.
It’s taught me how to be a better human.
A better human who feels connected to joy, creativity, Love, and power, and, at times, a human who feels angry and sad, and that’s OK.
It all gets to be here.
__
Lots of Love, always.
Kindra Fox, Founder Higher Energy
Ready to explore deeper?
I offer a blended approach to Somatic healing through my 90-days to Balance foundational Breathwork program.
Whenever you’re ready to do deep SOUL healing work to expand into your Highest Energy
In the meantime, KEEP breath’n.
PSSST. I’d love to hear about your protectors; feel free to share them in the comments or DM me.