Hello lovelies,
Let’s talk about healing: what it is, and what it isn’t.
For all the ways there are to be wounded and disconnected from Source, there are as many ways for us to heal and come Home.
Sometimes we may take in even more poison in the process of finding the true antidote we need, and that, too is okay. Our healing journey is as personal as our relationship with our body. It is intimate, tender, and at times awkward. It is also often quite messy, and it is certainly not linear. We heal in cycles and there is no shame in revisiting wounds we sat with for many years. Some places, both on our bodies and our psyches, will retain certain scars forever.
I am a healer.
I do not make this claim lightly, and not without years of juggling what it means to own this. Over my 18 years of being practice, I have worn many hats, and I have called myself many things. One of the reasons I have claimed healer is I have gotten clear on what that means for me and the people I interact with.
I evoke life!
I provoke life as well.
The healing I carry is not transferred by waving my hands over people’s bodies, “sending” them energy, or telling them what to do. The healing I carry is physically and intrinsically a part of who I am—the deepest part.
The healing I carry comes from my resources, the countless hours I have poured into learning foundations, structures, and languages that can convey and substantiate the energy of a deeper reality, and the various ways it takes shape. It comes from my own suffering and determination to not let my wounds run my life. But most of all, the healing I carry comes from my roots—the part of me that taps into the soil of creation and draws sustenance into my body, then distributes it (to the best of my ability), through the complexity and simplicity of how I show up in the world.
There are those who say that to “focus on ourselves is a privilege and a luxury”. The experience that I have personally had with people who have come to me for healing over the years is that they do so out of absolute necessity.
I’ve lost count of how many of my clients and students have significant childhood trauma. I’m not talking about “mommy forgot to pick me up from school” stuff; though that is of course valid and painful. I’m talking about “daddy used me to fulfill his darkest urges and mommy not only pretended it wasn’t happening, but then blamed me for it” kind of stuff. It’s more common than you want to know. Statistics say that 70% of people will have an “unwelcome” sexual encounter before the age of 17.
People who bear these wounds and others as well as ancestral burdens are not seeking healing out of luxury. It is often a matter of life and death for them. They have frequently experienced significant health challenges, and are often enmeshed in toxic relationship dynamics.
Healing ourselves does not mean we “bury our head in the sand” about the plight of the world or others. As we heal, we actually find that retreating from the world is not only loney, but cowardly. That does not mean that there will not be times when we crave the solitude of a cave or need to lose ourselves in the pursuit of pleasure or even power. But what we inevitably discover is that our real power comes through connection, and that feeling with the world helps us touch upon elements of ourselves that sitting alone in a yoga room simply does not facilitate.
When we say “heal yourself and the world will follow” we are talking about the ecosystemic nature of reality and the crucial role our own well being plays in the bigger picture. This does not, in anyway, substantiate what I refer to as spiritual “navel-gazing”, which can become a rather narcissistic form of engaging with the world. No, it’s not actually “all about you”, but you are responsible for how you show up. This is also not about lackadaisically “burning bridges” to maintain your own emotional echo chamber and egocentric reality bias.
No.
True healing is relational.
When we do the deep work on ourselves to unravel from toxic family and social systems, we liberate energy that we need to be effective in the world. When we give ourselves permission to rest enough to restore what has been buried, we regain access to resources that may have been lost to us since our childhood and beyond. We unravel curses, we discover agency. And when our focus is geared on relational well-being—and not just our own—we take meaningful actions in ways that create far-reaching ripples in the cosmic stream.
This is not “couch potato” healing. This is feet on the ground, hands bloodied from tending deep wounds, eyes filled with stars and awe about our own position and relevance within this wild cosmos healing.
This healing, for some people, allows them to know that they matter, but not only to know—to embody that. And in knowing they matter they can then leave a mark on the world in a meaningful way. They can stand up, speak up, have the hard conversations that free them from limiting relational bonds within themselves and those with whom they interact with because this healing is not for those who want to perpetuate stories of victimhood and impotence; it is about seeing, hearing, holding and witnessing our pain, power, and innocence and—in a shout of wild defiance for all that has falsely bound us—releasing that essence into the world.
And finally and most definitely, true healing is not for the faint of heart as it requires courage to move through the world in this way.
Let us know, in the comments, what healing is for you, if so inspired.
Lotsa love,
~Justice
Image: Harry Cunningham
Great read Justice. Healing for me is the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Nutrition, lifestyle, daily routines, seasonal routines, learning to listen and to be heard. It is writing, reading, studying, meditating, walking, and being out with nature. It is my cat, Hamlet. It is an ever evolving practice. Thank you.
Justice, thank you for this beautiful piece that speaks truth about healing. I resonate with everything you share. The process is scary, difficult and exhausting! Every time I make a breakthrough, another wound comes up shortly after, and I start the process again. We do it anyway because maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. For me, healing means reconnecting with my true self, believing that I am enough and I have more than enough, and using my energy with intention for service to others.