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I recently shared that I’m on the other side of a number of months of uncomfortable symptoms that were, ultimately, an invitation to remember my wholeness on a deeper level. While that’s true, this is ALSO true: my symptoms were an invitation to take an honest look at what’s connecting me to my healing and what’s getting in the way of it.

Last September I started my third year of homeopathic training. It was my first year of full-time school alongside conscious parenting, birthing a business, nourishing a marriage, healing, and more—all while witnessing the biggest collective trauma of my lifetime. It was a lot, and my physical body confirmed this through the expression of symptoms. These symptoms were the messengers that guided me to re-evaluate what was and was not working for me. Once I focused my awareness on the relevant barriers (weakened energetic boundaries, hours at the computer, and protective trauma adaptations) and bridges (time with supportive healing sisters and practitioners, nature, and boundary-setting…mostly with myself), I could take more meaningful actions that strengthened my innate healing capacity.

A woman walking on the hanging bridge

Barriers & Bridges

Self-awareness is the foundation for healing body, mind, heart, and spirit. One of the most important places to start catalyzing awareness when we’re healing is in this realm of barriers and bridges. Clarity of both the perceived barriers that live between us and our healing and the perceived bridges that connect us to our healing allows us to be more intentional and impactful with our actions and practices. And this allows healing to flow with greater ease.

Barriers

I can’t overstate this: our healing must include the conscious exploration of how all parts of our lives may be blocking or, conversely, catalyzing our healing. It’s challenging, if not impossible, to heal within the same environment that nurtured our dis-ease. That environment includes our external AND internal landscapes.

External barriers to healing may include things like unhealthy relationships, toxins, processed foods, lack of access to green spaces, etc. Internal barriers may include automatic negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, suppressed emotions, maladaptive coping strategies, etc. Note that external barriers may have internal components and vice versa. In my practice some of the most notable barriers to healing are 1) conscious and unconscious limiting beliefs, and 2) a lack of embodied self-awareness.

Bridges

It’s important, if not essential, to cultivate an environment within which we can heal with relative ease. Even when there are barriers like lack of finances or family support, we can build bridges over or around these barriers with things that will (or already do) connect us to our healing. Consider the healing power of nature, which costs nothing and is often at our doorstep or the friend who knows how to listen for real. External bridges may include a healing community, a supportive practitioner, connection with nature, good sleep hygiene, etc. Internal bridges may include connection to purpose, a sense of safety, healthy expression of emotions, etc. In my experience two of the most impactful bridges that connect folks to their healing are 1) healing partnerships, and 2) self-awareness, especially around limiting beliefs.

In Practice

Here’s the truth: you may be wasting your time, money, and energy on healing if you’re not aware of or taking actions based on your barriers and bridges. The best-fitting homeopathic remedy, the “perfect” diet, the most positive mindset can only do so much for a person who subconsciously believes they don’t deserve healing, who doesn’t move their body, or who is unaware of their trauma patterns. I know first hand how hard it is to shift our shit. But when we show up over and over again with awareness and intention fueled by that awareness (as well as a big dose of self-compassion) HEALING HAPPENS.

Also: It’s important to know that becoming aware of our barriers and bridges isn’t often a solitary or cognitive process. We are beings largely driven by survival instincts and a fundamental need for safety, with a lifetime of conditioning and embodied memories neatly packaged away below the surface (to make things extra complex). Therefore, many of our barriers and bridges are beyond our conscious awareness…deep in our body in our cellular memories.

But please don’t be discouraged. This awareness alone is a bridge.

It does highlight why healing partnerships are important: practitioners who can co-create a container of safety and awareness, who can go with you below the surface to identify what’s really getting in the way (hint: it might be something your mind is not conscious of), and who can support you in building bridges around those unconscious barriers.

If you’re interested in deepening awareness around your barriers and bridges, click the link below to receive monthly-ish notes from me…the next one includes a downloadable PDF to get you started. Or hop on a free zoom call with me. I’d love to explore alongside you.