Warrior weekly: Rest and Recovery
An overloaded winter week, trip to London (baby), steep learning curves and restoring balance.
Monday – woke up from my 3rd night in London for the Hay House Writers Workshop ready to check out of the hotel. So many powerful messages delivered from international bestselling authors over the weekend (Vex King, Simone Heng, Kris Carr, Sonia Choquette). One of which was around being the exception to the rule. My biggest takeaway and realisation was that with the health I experience today, I am seen as an exception to the rule. However, when people read my story and receive the activations and downloads from it, healing will happen all over the world. Chronic illness warriors will heal themselves much faster than I have and what has happened to me will no longer be the exception, it will start to become the norm.
Met my Aunty at the V&A museum before I got the train home at lunchtime. Went to see the Chanel exhibition. I was captivated the whole way round. A woman with a vision, who stayed true to it, inspired by nature and comfort who created day/night/suit wear, perfumes and skincare in the 1920’s and 30’s onwards – back in a time when women weren’t even allowed bank accounts, never mind independence. Highly regarded by those who wore her clothes yet highly disregarded by many others I’m sure. I noticed the entire exhibition was centred around what she did, not who she was as a person. She described her life as “boring” and didn’t get chance to see the play made about her towards the end of her life. The response I got from sharing this over on my (Insta) stories was that she was a nazi informant. I’d read that she was police interviewed without charge and took a company to court over disputes around receiving 10% of the profits for the perfume Chanel No.5 when others were receiving more. I’d be interested to read into this and research more deeply because clearly if she was as accused then this puts a different light on to who she was. What is the truth of both sides of the story? And why do we only ever centre around what someone did/does, as opposed to who they truly are?
Tuesday – 9am writing class. Didn’t write any of my book, chose to do some journalling to bring me back into the land of the living instead. Overdone it in the last week, aware I need to restore some balance.
Taking a new client along the journey of The Warrior’s Path – the first session was both intense and deeply emotional. Whilst this brings about powerful transformation, I was reminded that “with great power comes great responsibility”. A walk in nature formed part of my processing all that happened. It was a huge level-up to hold space in this way - online is very different to in person.
Regular bodywork client in the afternoon. The last session was a hell of a healing and since then she has had no pain in her legs.
Additional Warrior’s Path session tonight – so glad I rolled this out the way I have because of all that I am learning and adapting in the program. The 2nd session of “Unleashing the Warrior Within” went incredibly well and definitely needs to be included in the full 2-month journey.
Wednesday – online yoga/check in session. Long chats re the nervous system, vagal nerve and how I am taking care of myself when I have big sessions like yesterday which can sometimes feel heavy. Incredible vagal nerve exercise – I’ll be taking that one with me to show others and regularly practicing myself.
2nd to last ever walk with Milo. He’s moving this week so no longer dog walking. Received a few enquiries from neighbours but I’ve made the decision to hang up my dog walking hat now and pursue all I’ve put in place and created this year in respect of the 3 Retreat With Me experiences and the new online offering. It’s time to build on the foundations I have spent the last 5 years carving out.
Hypnotherapy regression tonight. Last week was childhood regression, tonight was forgiveness and cord cutting.
Thursday – 9am writing class – literally showing up is the best I could do this week, same as last. Got very little done. Chose not to put pressure on myself and allow myself to be. Showing up is good enough. Turned out, I wasn’t the only one in need of rest and recovery this week, there seems to be a theme amongst a few of us writing today. Are you feeling the need for rest and recovery too?
Asked my body what it needed and movement was the response. When you get quiet, connect with your breath and ask your body what it needs, what does it respond with? Put some DJ Dale Castell on and danced around my living room. Took a walk in nature and went to pick up some eggs. Rain Rain Rain.
1pm writing class (The Artist’s Way) – feeling the need for connection and connection is what I got from this class. What do you feel your body needs in this moment?
Friday – turned a reader question into a blog (first migraine attack in 20 years - what’s the one thing I should focus in on?). Turned into more of a case study, I’ll be sharing that with you soon.
Do you have any burning questions you’d love to ask?
My bestest most specialist friend came to retreat with me. She became fully conscious of her heightened level of awareness, was understanding of her needs and clear on what she was looking for. Something I am confident she will go on to bring in.
“I feel like I’ve been unburdened” she said on the tree of hope walk. Then as she was leaving “thank you for the therapy”. I’m finding therapy means different things to different people. What does therapy mean to you? What does it look like? How does it leave you feeling?
Saturday – leisurely morning with R. Lots of dreaming overnight – more big healing on the back of this week’s hypnotherapy. The clients my friend/colleague/hypnotherapist has been working with have gone on to experience life-changing results. I’ve had a few people ask for her contact details. I can see she’ll be busy with clients soon.
Breakfast at our friend’s farm shop and café. She booked in for bodywork tomorrow. Enquiry made for staff members’ mum who is in agony with her back. Do I recommend bodywork? I’ve altered my response to this often-asked question recently. My natural response is a big hell yes. It’s been a major player in my own road to recovery. It’s opened doors to healing I never knew existed. It’s why I trained in it. Realised recently this makes me biased. This does not mean you will feel the same way or that you should have it every month like I do. In sharing this with her and chatting some more, I found out she’d explored all avenues medically, exhausted all options, been told “there’s nothing we can do”. It can often be the case that it’s at this point that a client will work with me. It’s important to have all medical options ruled out, ensure there is nothing structural or life-threatening and have confirmation that there is little or nothing they can do. I do not offer medical advice or medical treatments, so this is best explored first. As explained at the time, there are multiple benefits to this elderly lady experiencing a deep healing treatment like bodywork. I can take all the kit and caboodle to her home, so she doesn’t need to leave her house. I work energetically as well as physically so I won’t work on any areas of her back that could potentially worsen the situation. In this particular case, she has met me so familiarity is there, and she can feel safe in trying an option that has helped both her daughters with their shoulders and backs.
Bonfire and fireworks night with R’s friends and pulled pork sandwiches back at theirs afterwards. I was in my element! A great night had.
Sunday - left R in bed after his few beers last night. Typed up a blog on the lessons I’ve learnt from the soft launch of The Warrior’s Path program. I’d like to say I helped him cook the chilli and the pumpkin soup when he got up, but I was typing this and putting washing out.
Walk at lunch before R went for his hyperbaric chamber oxygen thing again and I went to work.
Back home for R’s facial and bodywork, movie watching and getting ready for the new week ahead.
Space for reflection.
My greatest passion is to help others who live with chronic illness find their voice. Part of the work I do around this is to ask thought-provoking questions. At reader request, I’ll copy the ones peppered throughout this weekly piece for you to muse over with an invitation to share your reflections. Choose one or two and let’s chat in the comments section below?
1. Rest and recovery has been a theme for me this week. Are you finding similar and feeling the need for rest and recovery too?
2. When you get quiet, connect with your breath and ask your body what it needs, what does it respond with?
3. Found myself needing connection with others on Thursday. What do you feel your needs are in this moment?
4. Ask me anything. If you had a question you would love answering what would it be?
5. I’m finding therapy means different things to different people. What does therapy mean to you? What does it look like? How does it leave you feeling?
Therapy for me are those moments when you don't necessarily understand what or how it happened, but you know that some part of you deep down has healed, something has come back into alignment (I think of a spinal correction with this metaphor), or you leave feeling lighter, freer, more of the real you. Therapy has never given me yes or no answers to questions, but it has always given me the sense that whatever the outcome, everything is going to be ok. A feeling of being held by something other than myself, a feeling that I'm on the right path, etc.
Rest and recovery is definitely something I am in need of at the moment. Over the last couple of months I have found my migraines have gotten worse than usual, I don’t think I’ve ever had so many in such a short period of time in over the 25+ years I’ve had them. I am sure most of them are caused by the unstable weather we have had lately as I have always been sensitive to air pressure changes.
The biggest problem (which also doesn’t help the migraines) is I have been having a lot of difficulty sleeping the last few weeks. If I get more than a couple hours a night I see it as a good nights sleep. I have never been the best sleeper and I have always been a night owl, hate early mornings, but it’s never this bad.
I have been contemplating taking something to help me sleep, but as I tend to be sensitive to most medications I worry that if I take a sleep aid I will struggle to wake up on time in the morning more than I am now.
Any tips or advice would be appreciated on how to break this cycle