Mold is a four letter word. It’s THE four letter word in the health community. We’re all aware of mold now and the ways it can impact our health. This awareness often shifts to hypervigilance in folks who’ve experienced symptoms after exposure to mold. Hypervigilance makes sense given how debilitating mold-related symptoms can be, but this state tends to perpetuate symptoms long after the exposure has passed. It does not serve our healing. My personal experience with mold-related illness and my experience as a homeopath gave me a perspective on mold (and my body) that does serve healing. That is, it’s not all about the mold.
I know. It feels like it’s all about the mold.
“I was FINE before I was exposed to mold.”
“I was never well after my exposure to mold.”
“Every time I’m exposed to mold I have symptoms.”
I said a version of these words to myself, too. And, they’re partly true. But it’s not the whole truth.
What it’s Really About
Of course, it makes sense to remediate mold, and if that is not possible, to remove yourself from the moldy situation. Just like you’d remove a pain-inducing sliver from the foot, you remove a known irritant (or obstacle to cure) like mold so that your body can move through the healing process.
AND, it’s important to remember that most of us who’ve experienced symptoms after mold exposure lived or worked with other people who did not suffer for the exposure. Why is this?
Susceptibility. This is ultimately what it’s about.
We will NEVER be able to remove all the mold from our lives. Like viruses and bacteria, it’s everywhere. But we CAN shift our susceptibility to mold and our beliefs about mold (and ourselves) so that we can tolerate exposure to mold with less suffering and more vitality.
We’ve done four mold remediations in our home. The first three times I did not have the understanding about susceptibility that I do now, and I didn’t have the vitality that I have now. I’d not found homeopathy yet. I feared most everything…mold, lyme (I had that, too), chemicals, you name it.
The last time we found mold (two months ago) during our kitchen renovation, it landed very differently in my body. It was annoyance to be sure, and one that we took care of. But it did not have the power over me that it once had. I noticed a greater sense of resilience and capacity in my body-mind…an embodied knowing that I will be OK.
Our recent mold discovery (much more was inside the wall).
Walled off for remediation.
Moving Beyond Mold
So, how do you move beyond mold and heal? This list is not exhaustive, but it includes a few of the things that I believe to be the most important for healing through mold-related illness.
- Homeopathy! It uproots your susceptibility to mold. I know that it impacted my experience this time around. Susceptibility to ANYTHING is ultimately about energetic resonance…do you or do you not resonate with the energy of mold? Mold is invasive and boundaryless. Folks who experience mold-related illness tend to have weaker energetic boundaries and parts of themselves that resonate with victim energy (feeling like a victim or being victimized) or invasion (feeling or being invaded). A well-chosen remedy can shift these energetic patterns, and thus, shift your susceptibility to mold.
- Empower yourself for the future. Building trust in your body and its ability to heal is crucial. Many folks will have periods in life where stressful life events, for example, weaken vitality and increase susceptibility. But if you trust your body and its ability to heal, you are already part way there. Developing a relationship with homeopathy is one way to strengthen self-trust, as it shows you how powerful your body is. Health is not a static state, but homeopathy offers a consistent reminder that health is a possibility again.
- Avoid aggressive mold detox protocols or hard hitting supplements to force mold toxins out of the body. I don’t recommend it. I’ve shared on this topic before here and here. As a homeopath, my approach is to strengthen vitality with well-chosen remedies so the body can do what it knows how to do…detox and heal. If we notice diminishing or limited results, we can always turn to nosodes to clear any obstacles to cure that may be present from mold. Nosodes are homeopathic remedies made from bacteria, viruses, fungus, or diseased tissues. These can help clear the “mold block” so healing can move forward with other remedies.
- Tend to the nervous system. Homeopathic remedies support the nervous system AND you can support it, too, through top-down brain-rewiring techniques and bottom-up somatic practices. There are numerous programs and resources for learning these techniques, including those offered by Irene Lyon, Primal Trust, and DNRS.
