by Lisa Rose, Hairdresser, Perth, Western Australia
I attended my first Universal Medicine workshop 8 years ago after a friend gave me a flyer. I looked at it and said ‘yes’ immediately. It was the first time I had ever considered something other than visiting my GP or a naturopath when things were out of sorts.
After completing the workshop I felt an enormous shift in my body, which made me realise that I could live in a ‘different way’ – one which listens to and honours my body. I could feel more space in my body and my thoughts were clearer, giving me a sense of well-being, physically and mentally. It was as if all the things that were weighing me down day to day had been removed and I could enjoy being more of me, rather than the heaviness of life’s experiences, etc. tainting my thoughts and physical being. I clearly recall saying to my mum the next day that “I never want to return to how I was feeling before I did the workshop”.
I have since attended about one workshop per year and each time felt the opportunity to let go of more and more ‘stuff’ that is not actually me: beliefs, ideals, habits – all of which get in the way of my truly expressing the love I am.
In a practical sense, what I was living with included depression (anti-depressant medication), panic attacks, regular urinary tract infections, missing periods, smoking addiction, alcohol abuse, under-eating, obsessive body image, regular emotional outbursts, blaming others, running away from my problems, giving up on myself and others, thyroid problems and back and neck pain.
It has been an amazing journey as all ‘the stuff’ that is not me begins to slowly fall away. The relationship I have with myself has slowly become more loving and gentle. I can recognise where I need to support myself on a daily basis now so that I don’t collect more ‘stuff’ – knowing that it doesn’t serve me or anyone I come into contact with. I am able to allow myself to be more of who I am, and now I have a lot more support to offer others instead of feeling weighed down with problems of my own. I see every day, and what it presents to me, as an opportunity to practise staying present, allowing myself to feel and learn from my body. Some days I am more present than others due to how I have been with myself previously. Making the most loving choice in any given situation is something I am working on every day.
I can’t express enough that for me, the feeling in my body is my ‘marker of truth’. What this means is once I had a feeling of how it felt to be gentle in my body, and knew that this could be maintained on a daily basis, whenever I feel my body is sore or tight or there is a pain or stress developing, I now know it means I need to check back in with how I was living the day before. With that reference I can then bring myself back to being caring and gentle with myself.
By paying attention to how my body feels throughout the day I have found that I can truly heal myself emotionally and physically. This includes booking in for sessions with a practitioner or doctor from time to time, but I no longer go in with the desperation for them to ‘fix me’, but rather for their support. Of course medicine and surgery can all be a necessary part of healing, along with being aware of the choices we make on a daily basis, and I have found that Western Medicine and Esoteric Medicine work well together. Once upon a time I used to have to go to a Physiotherapist regularly for all the different pains in my neck and my back: now my body is pain-free and feels lighter than it ever did in my 20’s.
The love and support that I have had from Universal Medicine has helped me to make this awesome change in my life.