I recently committed to co-facilitating a one-day class on managing anxiety with my friend and colleague Mo. Since then, I’ve been taken on a scenic tour through my own anxiety. I’ve been aware that this is related to the class – I’m getting a chance to directly experience while observing.
My teaching mentor says, “You can’t teach what you don’t know.”
As a spiritual teacher, I am in agreement with using my personal challenges and life lessons as teaching stories when they can inspire or educate others.
Because I’ve dealt with my empathic gifts for many years, I can empower other empaths by sharing the tools I’ve learned on my journey toward greater comfort in my physical body.
Because ancestral healing has been the shamanic healing technique which made the biggest impact on my personal healing journey, I can offer classes and private healing sessions using what I’ve learned from bringing healing to my family lineage.
And now, getting a front row seat to my anxiety is difficult, but necessary as I continue to gain clarity about how to better manage anxiety. In order to hold that space for others, I have to go there for myself.
Here’s something I’ve recently learned about anxiety…
Anxiety does not happen in the thinking mind. It begins in the body as an energy and then affects the thinking mind. When we’re feeling anxious, those around us might say “just think about something else.” Well-meaning healers and proponents of positive thinking might tell us “just shift your perspective to something more positive.” When our anxiety is running high, it is difficult to shift our thinking. Because anxiety arises in the body, we must turn to the body to manage it. That’s why physical activities like exercising or breathing deeply can be helpful.
This work is real, and it matters.
October 1, 2021