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How to Rock This Journey
Imagine you are a beautiful, sprawling tree. You have a big, strong trunk, roots that stretch deep into the earth, and branches that reach toward the sky. One day, you notice something isn’t quite right. Your leaves are brittle and full of little holes, and your branches are drooping with heaviness. Upon inspection, you can’t find any obvious reason for this change in your state of being. You start to panic immediately and take better care of your leaves and branches. You spray them and medicate them and more, but nothing changes. The leaves you are working with are merely the visual result of whatever the problem is with your tree.
The soil of this tree represents your foundation. The soil is where it all comes from. It’s who you really are at the core. It’s the sum of all the things that have influenced you. All the rocks and rubbish that have gotten mixed right in with you will affect every part of the tree. Everything in that soil becomes part of your being.
The roots of your tree represent the energy system and pathways. If your soil is full of imbalances—just as a tree’s soil could be full of environmental stressors—those roots will become imbalanced from your soil, too, and affect your entire beautiful tree. It may take some time for its effect to reach your leaves and branches, maybe even years. But eventually it will.
The leaves of your tree represent your organs, glands, muscles, body systems, chemicals, and hormones. By the time you find those little holes in your brittle leaves, you will not be able to bring the tree back to health by treating the leaves directly. You can’t just spray the problem away. True healing will not come from caring for your leaves in retrospect. It comes from going deep into your soil and correcting the base from which the tree grows. You have to come back to who you really are by clearing away those old energies that are contaminating your base. You just have to clean up that soil.
How This Book Will Help You
The biggest stumbling block to harnessing our own self-healing power is knowing what to address—in other words, knowing how to heal. This is true whether you feel emotionally imbalanced or those imbalances have affected your physical body, too.
The process I am going to guide you through in this book will show you how to heal. You will learn how to clean up your soil following a model that has been successful for myself and hundreds of others, through the client sessions I’ve conducted. You don’t need to be sick to use this book. In fact, this book is not about illness; it’s about emotions and energy. And those are two things that each and every person can benefit from balancing for a greater sense of well-being. Remember, cleaning up your soil is the end game, your only goal. And cleaning up that soil can change your life.
While there are countless energy therapy techniques out there today, many require another person to act as an aide for your healing. In this book, you’ll learn some of the self-application techniques I used in my own healing. Some will be ones that I learned during my journey, and some will be ones I created. All of these techniques will give you full power over your journey. You will not need to depend on another person to help you perform or practice any of them. It’s all in your hands, baby!
You’ll learn several main techniques for changing your relationship with stress:
• Thymus Test and Tap
• Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
• The Sweep
• Chakra Tapping
• 3 Hearts Method
Outside of the main techniques, you will also be learning others that will help carry you on your journey. You can find a complete list of all the exercises and techniques in the front of this book. When I teach you the techniques, there will always be explicit instructions. That’s the only way I can communicate the ideas to you. If you see the instructions as merely suggestions, though, you’ll get so much more from them. If you feel called to do something a slightly different way, then do so. It’s likely it will work for you better that way. I personally tweaked and put the “Amy twist” on every technique I learned. If you want to do this too, you have my permission to go wild. The types of deviations I made to techniques during my own healing included things like using my right hand instead of my left hand, holding a pose or technique for a longer or shorter period of time than stipulated, skipping a certain part of an exercise, and more. All of these alterations are okay. There isn’t a single technique I use with my clients or myself that is exactly how it was taught to me.
No matter what techniques you use to clear energy blockages, always know that finding what to clear is more important than what energy technique is used for the actual clearing. That’s what we’ll be discovering together in different ways throughout this book. This will be the most effective approach and will give you freedom from worrying about doing each technique perfectly. Once you know what to clear, you are free to integrate any energy healing techniques you currently use into the various aspects of healing.
How to Use This Book
This book has been written in part as an exploratory process, in part as a how-to, and the rest as stories, insights, and examples to keep your soul full while your healing is happening. The examples I share are from real sessions in which my clients volunteered and/or gave me permission to tell their stories. Even so, each client’s name and identifying details have been changed completely to fully protect their privacy.
Many of the stories you’ll read are from my time in India, which taught me lifetimes of lessons, and I intend to pass them along to you for your own journey. I have outlined lots of different things you can explore to help you lead a happier, more fulfilled and peaceful life in a content body. It may feel like there is a lot for you to work through, and maybe there is. But it can be done, and there is no time limit. Tread gently, my friend. Be easy on yourself.
The most effective way to understand my approach is to read, learn, and practice what I share in the order it’s presented, from start to finish. It’s the best way to absorb the big picture, concepts, and techniques. By the time you have finished the book in its entirety, you will have deep knowledge of my approach, and may then continue your work by going back to any parts of this book in any order you wish. In addition to reading and practicing at your own pace, I invite you to find others interested in doing this work so you can support each other along the way. When I was healing, I did it completely alone and often wished I had a group of like-minded people to share and discuss all my new discoveries with. That’s why, at the back of this book, I’ve provided a list of book club discussion questions. I encourage you to find a tribe, talk about what you’re learning, hold each other’s hands, and make healing a team effort. Whether you do this alone or with a group, embrace the guidance that resonates with you, fully into your life. Make it a part of who you are and use it to make what you already have richer. This book shouldn’t be treated like a to-do list. Let your brain adjust to the concepts and keep your heart open as you allow things to process. You will likely find you are led to things not even outlined here. When you get that nudge, it’s your intuition and the universe whispering, “Follow me.” Just know it’s safe to go.
The main concepts of this book are laid out in parts:
• Part One: Surrender, Accept, and Flow. This will cover the importance of learning to be okay where you are in your journey. You will learn why it’s essential to surrender, how to do so, and how it can catapult your healing forward. From within the space of surrender, you have an opportunity to lay a beautiful groundwork for your healing. This will include simple shifts in energy and thinking patterns that will strengthen your foundation to support what is to come.
• Part Two: Identify Blockages. This part will discuss exactly how to identify blockages through the use of muscle testing and learning the language of your body. You will be guided into learning exactly what you need to clear for your complete healing.
• Part Three: Change Your Relationship with Stress. This part will explain what stress is and how your internal reactions to stress can be transformed in order to help you heal. It offers detailed instruction on exactly how to do that. For each of the techniques I teach you, I’ll offer suggestions to help you apply it directly to your own specific situation.
Once you’ve covered each of the chapters in this book, you’ll essentially be going through all of these parts simultaneously during your healing. It is not a step-by-step process in which you need to go in perfect order and check each part off the list before moving on. Instead, this healing process is much like cooking a four-course meal. You don’t necessarily do one thing at a time, seeing it through to completion, and then start the next. The goal is for all of your steps to eventually manifest as a dish that you love (yourself !), but to make that happen, you are constantly stirring, turning, and attending to several things over and over.
There is no rush or clock set for you. Instead, set the intention to create something beautiful and the universe will expand the container in which you’ll have to explore and grow.
In Chapter Eleven, I’ll offer you a detailed illustration of the Healing Tree—an overview of the entire process you’ve learned. The Healing Tree illustration is a virtual map of you, the beautiful tree we talked about earlier. It is a snapshot that summarizes the four main areas of imbalance that you’ll learn about in this book, and the techniques to address them. I’ve placed the illustration at the very end of the book because it will be your best companion, but only once you’ve learned all the working pieces that go into it. You will then be able to step back and see its usefulness as your own personal guide map.
Where Should You Begin?
At first, in my own journey, I was determined to release all my “problems” in a systematic, pragmatic way. I tried to create a nice, neat formula to organize the way this healing journey would unfold. The good news is that it doesn’t work like that. The even better news is that you most definitely don’t have to attain perfect balance or release all your stuff in order to be well. Phew! The body does not need to be stress- or problem-free to attain deep and complete well-being.
If you’re feeling like you’ll never get better unless you do it all and get perfect and get every little thing in order, here’s the answer to your worries: YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIX IT ALL. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIX IT ALL. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIX IT ALL. I still sometimes have emotional meltdowns, my body hurts temporarily, and I find imbalances and blocks in my energy system … but I’m happy and well. You can heal without doing everything. You can heal by just making a dent. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIX IT ALL.
Clients often come to me and say, “I have so many problems. Where will you start?” And I say, “Don’t worry, you really only have three to five core issues and everything else is likely connected to those.” Everything is so interconnected that, while focusing on one imbalance, we may also be unknowingly correcting others.
For example, I was once helping a client with persistent digestive problems. She was experiencing acid reflux, nausea, and bloating with pretty much everything she ate. While our focus remained primarily on the goal of repairing her digestion, she got a very welcome surprise. After a few sessions, she noticed that in addition to her digestive symptoms improving, her phobia of speaking on the phone (something she hadn’t even mentioned to me) had improved as well. Because one issue can be connected to many others, we are often doing more extensive clearing than we realize.
That experience is a perfect example of why we shouldn’t get caught up in doing things too methodically. We need only remember that the goal of becoming who we really are is the finish line. It isn’t some attaining of perfection, balance, or even always a physical healing. It’s just to release all that prevents us from living freely. It doesn’t matter how you get there; it just matters that you do.
Healing is really just practicing. Each day of your life you have an opportunity to practice letting go of what keeps you from moving forward and closer to yourself. When it seems like it’s working, keep practicing. When it seems like it’s not, keep practicing.
What to Expect
While using the techniques in this book, you may feel immense relief immediately or it may require great persistence. Either one is fine. It has no bearing on your ultimate healing.
When moving energy, there is always some “processing” that occurs—meaning your body is releasing that energy completely from your field, which extends far beyond your physical body. During this process, which can last a few days to about a week, you may feel an increase in discomfort, fatigued, or a little bit uneasy. An equal number of my clients feel lighter and better after sessions though, so that is highly possible, too. As you’re moving and clearing energy more consistently, you’ll become attuned to your body’s release process. If you feel you are having a difficult time with processing, I’ve provided some tools in Chapter Twelve that will help you.
While using these techniques, you might find your mind wandering. That’s a natural occurrence and is nothing to be concerned about. Often the mind is wandering to things that are somehow related to what you’re clearing. And even if not, no harm will be done. As you perform the techniques, you might yawn, burp, get the chills, have a runny nose or eyes, cough, feel emotions strongly, hear your stomach gurgling, sweat, or experience any number of sensations. All of these things are good indicators that your body is releasing. This means that it’s coming out of stress mode and moving into relaxation and healing mode. Specifically, yawning signals that your nervous system is relaxing. I have a number of clients who experience no signs of energy releasing during the process and benefit greatly anyway. When I am moving energy, whether for myself or with a client, I yawn a lot. If it’s something really big, I tend to sneeze. I always joke that one sneeze is worth ten yawns for me! Sneezing and yawning are my own body’s responses to shifting a lot of energy, but each person is different and you’ll get to know your signs, too.
It’s equally important to remember that we all release energy at different speeds. I’ve done so many sessions where my client immediately feels better from the work. I call these “one-session wonders.” Almost instantly they see symptoms shift or feel a huge emotional relief. This is definitely not my pattern, though, and it may not be yours either. If for some reason you don’t feel anything at first, it may just not be your body’s pace, or there may be many more layers to work on.
If your challenge has been long-standing, it might take a while of working at it from different angles to feel a shift. Your challenges did not show up overnight, even though that’s how it might have seemed. They were brewing in your energy system long before they manifested as symptoms that you paid attention to. The good news is that healing often works like this too. Nothing’s happening, nothing’s happening, nothing’s happening (you think) … and then, all that was happening inside suddenly shows up for you to see! Your healing could be right around the corner at any given time. Seeing the journey as an integrative flowing, weaving uncovering of your life is the most fulfilling and effective way to approach it. For deep and permanent healing, there is no quick fix. You have to surrender and let it all unfold. The universe doesn’t give “no’s,” but it does sometimes give “not yet’s.” Just keep showing up and doing what you need to do. Healing never happens fast enough for us, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
During my own healing, I didn’t keep meticulous track of what I was working on or how it was going; I just made sure to keep going. Most of the time I had no idea what I was doing, but I dedicated myself and I consistently used what I learned. It was a winning approach for me. If you consistently use the techniques, you will win too.
I suggest that you keep a notebook, casually jotting down whatever comes to you during your own journey. While symptom-tracking and record-keeping of every past hurt and emotion will not be helpful here, it can be useful to have a place to write down ideas that you have, subtle shifts you see in your symptoms, and observations you become aware of along the way.
How Much Time Should I Dedicate to the Process?
Imagine a pot of vigorously boiling water with a lid on it. Eventually the water gathers so much steam that it bursts though the lid and overflows. You run to the rescue, lift the lid, and release some of the pressure. But you don’t then walk away and come back a week later. You tend to the water. You keep letting a little steam out in between doing other things in the kitchen. While you too can release “steam” (energy) from your body by doing deep work now and then with the techniques you learn in this book, it will be much more effective if you consistently release the pressure a little bit at a time. Keep on top of it. Dedicate time daily. It doesn’t have to be hours. Sometimes working on certain things will take longer. However, becoming frozen and doing nothing because you “don’t have time” or are overwhelmed is perhaps the biggest mistake I see.
Sometimes clients will tell me at the start of a session that they’ve had a really hard time with something in between our working together. “What technique did you use to move through it?” I always inquire excitedly. Sometimes they reply, “Oh, I didn’t do anything.” That’s when I try not to cry myself ! Feeling bad is a grand opportunity to clear whatever is coming up and just begging to be released.
If you are feeling strong emotion even outside of the time you’ve dedicated to your healing, use a technique to release that “steam” in the moment, lest it get added to the pot that you’ll have to tend to later. If you are feeling sad or jealous, have an upset stomach, or whatever it may be, use the moment to figure out what’s coming up for you (I’ve provided lots of ideas for this in Chapter Six), and apply a technique that you’ve learned. Did you have a bad dream last night? Use that as an opportunity to find something to clear. Are you still stirring over something that happened at work last week? Deal with it. All of this is coming up because it has deeper roots that can be gently cleaned out.
Five minutes, ten minutes, or however many minutes you have on a consistent basis can change your life. With this book, you will have the tools you need to do it. The techniques are gentle and effective. They work. As always, it’s all unfolding and happening in divine time. It doesn’t need to push or rush. All is well. You are healing.
Important Chapters to Reference
While each chapter in this book is important, there are a few in particular that you will want to reference often. I’d like to point them out here so you can quickly flip back and forth.
• List of Exercises and Techniques following the table of contents—Here you will find a list of all the techniques and exercises that are in this book. This will allow you to flip quickly to where you need to go.
• Chapter Six: Learn the Language of Your Body—This chapter can be used as a kind of reference guide and will give you a deep understanding of what your body is saying to you through its symptoms. Each and every time your body appears to be malfunctioning is an opportunity to see it in a different light. Your body will be a great guide in your healing.
• Chapter Seven: Clear Unprocessed Experiences and Chapter Eight: Release Harmful Beliefs—These two chapters present four of the main techniques that you will be using. For each, you’ll learn how to use it, apply it to your challenge, and see examples of how that’s done. Note: the fifth main technique is taught in Chapter Nine.
• Chapter Eleven: Create Your Unique Map for Healing—This chapter offers a snapshot review of everything you learned throughout the entire book. It includes an illustration of the Healing Tree to help you visualize the process, along with directions on how to use the illustration to streamline your healing.
You are now ready to get started. My parting words to you are short but important: Persistence and patience are not always natural virtues. The miracles they deliver, though, absolutely work and are definitely worth it. And so are you.