What the Secret to Wellness, and Your First Day on Earth, Have in Common.

Ready for the secret? The key to stepping into your biggest healing breakthrough?

Get ready for it… DRUM ROLL…

knowing YOURSELF.

“Wait, what? That’s all?”

I understand your skepticism.

For many years, I believed the answer for feeling good lived “out there” too. I thought that once I found it, all my ails would melt away.

And many “cures” did appear–  naturopathy, nutritional therapy, mindfulness, yoga, movement medicine, emotional regulation techniques, earth therapy, etc. – but I still felt something was missing. 

While some of my physical symptoms were resolving, and I had implemented many new habits that were “supposed” to up-level my health, I couldn’t shake the sense that I was made for an experience of greater depth with my body.  

Then it dawned on me,

“What if the point of these treatments, tinctures, and wellness rituals, isn’t merely to resolve symptoms of dis-ease in my body?" What if they are meant to be providing me with an opportunity to access more of me than I had previously known before? The parts of me that have been long clouded by expressions of internal disharmony– anxiety, poor digestion, sleeplessness, brain fog?”

It wasn’t the “wellness tools” that were going to transform me. Healing wouldn’t fall from the sky simply because I was taking such and such supplement, or doing downward dog every morning. 

No, regeneration of health comes from a shift of intention and attention.

The restoration of your vitality comes by way of an energetic realignment. A radical reorganization of your priorities, where seeking to know yourself, and honoring what you discover, makes the top of the list.

For me, the greatest leaps in my healing journey didn’t occur until I made a commitment to myself to shift my daily focus from managing everyone else’s happiness, expectations, and feelings and instead pay attention to my own needs, desires, and buried emotions.

By showing up for appointments with healers, showing up for myself on my yoga mat each morning, filling my body with a wider variety of nutrient dense foods, and exploring various herbs and supplements I was communicating to my body, “you matter, most, to me.”

The key here isn’t what I did.

You need not follow a specific formula, mine or anyone else’s, in order to unlock your mental, physical, or emotional health breakthrough. 

We all have a different road back home to ourselves. Some stops might look similar or overlap, but the only essential component is that you’re seeking to uncover who you really are. And to embody the wellness that already lives in you. To reconnect to your wholeness.

Turn your gaze towards self-nurture, and away from “crisis management” for everyone around you, or people pleasing, or whatever your flavor of self-avoidance is, and notice how doing so feels in your body.

My own experience of, “downloading a human” (as Tami Lynn Kent calls it, author and Women’s Health Physical Therapist), AKA being pregnant, has reminded me anew, how critical a habit it is to direct your energy inward first, and to let that be a sufficient “wellness practice.”

Allow me to explain.

In six months, a soul will emerge in a body, from my body, and enter the world with no pretense. 

They will be nothing other than what they are.

And it will be wholly and completely ENOUGH. 

We all understand the magic that is a freshly made human.

So then, at what point, is who we are not longer enough?

Is there a certain age where it ceases to be sufficient to just be us?

Let’s go deeper. Join me if you will, for a moment, in an exercise.

Imagine yourself as an infant, only minutes into your earth-side journey. 

Behold you, before you knew you were “supposed” to be anything or anyone else. 

Find a picture, if you have one, from the day you were born. What message or truths do your eyes convey?

Below, is a photo of me, minutes after my earth entry. 

I see in her eyes trust, that coming to the world, now, was a good thing.

I see a curiosity, to learn about the people and place in which she now finds herself.

I see peace, with being in her own skin.

What do you see, as you hold your own picture in your mind, or in your hand, if you have one physically? Savor the holiness of it for as long as you wish.

Then, begin to consider, in light of what you observed in recalling/seeing yourself in first moments on the planet, is there anything in your life today, that feels out of sync with the truth of who that infant is?

If you were one hundred percent honest with yourself, are there any aspects of your day to day living, that are a mismatch with your essential nature?

A job that requires you to suppress your true essence?

A relationship that depends on you staying small and unexpressed?

A habit of self-neglect and abandonment to please the world around you?

A pattern of numbing your big emotions with food, alcohol, social media, etc., instead of embracing them?

While others might have had expectations of what we would become, in those early minutes of our lives, we didn’t.

We simply desired to explore the world into which we emerged, as a fully embodied spirit being. As poet, Mark Nepo says,

“We are born with only one obligation - to be completely who we are."

So then, if we return to where we began, and the question of, what is wellness, we see it’s not another race of accumulation— to be the one who dabbles in the greatest number of healing modalities, has the largest in-home supplement stock, or subjects themselves to cold plunges regularly.

At the heart of it, wellness is really about the pursuit to find you again.  

The you before you put on all that wasn’t you.

A way to return to your undiluted, inspired, and wildly awake to life, state. 

A recovery of exhilaration about getting to be you, in this historical moment.

The further I go into the world of self-help, personal development, and healing the more it becomes clear, the common thread that is woven into every transformation story: one day, you wake up to who you were meant to be, and reorient your life around honoring your essential essence, and health manifests as a side effect. 

What then is wellness, other than the art of taking full responsibility for the nourishment of your own body, soul, and mind so you don’t lose your way in the quest of being you in the world?

Yes, I’m a proponent of the practical “healthy” tips and tricks– circadian fasting, limiting blue light before bed, moving the body daily, and fueling up with foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. But if these actions don’t assist me in accessing what’s truest about me, what’s the point?

Rather than exercising to fit into a certain type of swimsuit, I move my body to keep my life force energy flowing as opposed to stagnant. I feel more connected to myself and my mission in the world, after a walk or yoga flow.

I prioritize stress-reducing sleep rituals, because after years of insomnia, I can tell you from experience, habitual poor sleep is one of the fastest ways to become an unrecognizable (and alarming) version of yourself. 

The point is this, be cautious about subscribing to the wellness industry trends for the sake of looking “healthy” and relevant on Instagram (or to anyone else that is). Or adopting a new health practice, because you think it’s the “right” thing to do if you “care” about your health.

Engage in the daily habits that make you feel your “wellest,” and drop the ones that don’t.

If a “health hack” doesn’t make your light shine brighter it’s likely not for you. 

Living healthfully isn’t about conforming to more standards set by “experts” outside of us.

It’s about releasing everything that is hindering your ability to hear your own body’s wisdom and guidance. 

True health is a byproduct of a loving, thriving, and trusting relationship with your body. 

It is enough to know yourself, your body’s needs, and to honor them.

”And how do I know myself?”

I knew you would ask. :)

The way is simple, if you allow it to be.

When presented with a new idea or health trend on social media, in a book, or while listening to a podcast, ask your body,

“Is this health suggestion what you need right now? Will this support you in your self-healing process?”

Then wait. Obverse the quality of energy in your body when you propose these questions.

Does your body contract, constrict, and tighten? Or does your breath deepen, your shoulders relax, and your jaw soften?

Follow the sensations as the guide to your body’s answer. Trust it. The answers are always within you, you need only to hold the space for them to find their way to the surface.

Honor the message you receive, whether that is to explore a new wellness tip or to pass on it. Remember the remedy is in the listening to your body.

Lastly, think back to your precious self, on your first day on earth. The you without the programs and stories about what it means to be a “healthy” human. What wisdom do they have to offer about what your body needs, and what’s just more noise?

Let the insight of your younger self guide your way through the sometimes confusing world of wellness. Stay true to them, as often as you remember, and be gracious when you lose your way.

And trust that knowing and honoring yourself is enough, to experience abundant wellness, Love.

Xoxo,

-E