The Secret Ingredient for Healing Chronic Health Issues

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. -Dalai Lama

A concept that comes up often in my healing journey is my critical and judgmental nature which I continually work to change. Blame, disappointment, focusing on the negative, and guilt are all emotions I have grown up with. I have learned that not reconciling with these emotions has “fed” my health issues. So how do we meet these feelings to heal inflammation, reflux, and digestive issues?

COMPASSION is the secret ingredient. To have compassion for others, one must begin with self-compassion. The book Radical Acceptance by world renowned psycho-therapist, Tara Brach, was one of my first introductions to this concept years ago. I now begin by recognizing where the emotion is stored in my body. The last time I sat with it, it felt like a pit in my stomach or like a black hole puncturing my stomach. When I tuned into what was present there, my self-talk was “How could you! You know better. Why do you keep reacting this way? What’s wrong with you!” Noticing when Ms. Critical comes up is the first step in the healing process.

A way to further work with the inner-critical is with crystals. Dravite is one which supports self-love, self-healing, and acceptance which I am experimenting with. As I hold the crystal I imagine what this stone would have to say to the Ms. Critical part inside of me. If Dravite could talk, it would say, “Hold yourself with gentleness child. You're human. It’s okay. Let me give you a hug. You are still a good person. Your intentions are good. "

Emotional work is such an important part of the Root 2 Rise Program. There may be a science based root cause; however, chronic issues always have an emotional component in my opinion. A client after being in the program for just 3 months reported, “I feel a deep sense of peace. I have this inner trusting that everything is going to be okay.” Gotta love that! Her increased regular bowels and psoriasis are fading away without medication. We simply used emotional work, in conjunction with incorporating healing foods and herbs in the diet.

Allow yourself to use this acronym: PAL (Pause, Acknowledge, and Listen) which I learned from Tara Brach. When we pause we stop the perpetual habit. We then can acknowledge with "Something in me feels _____" and begin to engage in self-inquiry: "What is this part needing or wanting right now? instead of falling into the trap of "What's wrong with me?" Whereas "What's wrong with me?" leads to feelings of sadness and even depression, this new way of engaging offers compassion. One of my favorite books is Non-Violent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg where he discusses how compassion beings with the self and the very premise that changing the inner-language changes the emotions and dispels sadness.

Now there is a part that may stand in the way of compassion. A resistant part in the form of judgement. Do you use a lot of "should", "need", and "have to" language with yourself? Simply changing the language to "choose to" or "want to" is effective in dispelling judgement. I know this part well. Simply noticing your inner-language is a first step as you may be using non-compassionate language frequently and not realize it. This may the language your mind and parts of you are used. I invite you to be the curious observer and notice what you notice. This could the missing link in your healing process.