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Re-Parenting Emotional Vulnerability: From Weakness to Invincibility!

Do you ever see yourself as weak or too vulnerable? Or have you felt sorry for yourself?  

What can you do to heal this? 

I was listening to a client the other day and her story was filled with self-shame and judgement toward her emotions. Each time she would experience an uncomfortable feeling, her body would respond very specifically, and she would apologize. 

As a coach and healer, it’s my job to be a mirror to one’s experience tracking one’s subtle energy, language, and body to understand what’s being communicated. Most of our communication is non-verbal. There is so much to be learned through our experience that we are doing unconsciously.

I quickly pointed out that what she was experiencing in this narrative was the same judgment and blocks that she was experiencing in real-time in her business and her relationships.  

In her business she judges her learning process.  She claims she is incompetent when she’s doing operational stuff that’s not in her genius zone, or she shames herself and says she’s weak.

In her relationships she would shut down emotionally or disassociate.

This perpetual shaming has created low-self esteem, and a victim/martyr mentality. 

So where did this begin?

Our unconscious programming develops in our early childhood.

Typically I use an inner child guided imagery process to bring light to these core narratives. I asked my client to imagine a time in her early childhood when she first experienced these feelings (judgment or shame), so she could bring awareness to the core of it and uproot it. 

In this experience, her adult self witnessed her inner child and her response was, “I feel so sorry for her. I pity her pain.”

In this case, she remembered as a kid being taught to “buckle up” and to get over her emotions.  That her emotions were considered weak. If her emotions were present, they were blown out of proportion so she was made to apologize for them. Having emotions was pitiful and painful to her parents. She began to judge children as weak and vulnerable.  Any time she experienced discomfort, she would be shamed. She also believed that the world was a scary place as a result.

What a major a-ha!

I asked her mature adult self to guide her, to teach her about what emotions really are, how to be with them, and how to manage them. I gave her a voice and some breath tools to feel safe in her emotions and move them through her body.

This kind of process develops a trusting relationship between the inner child and the adult self

This process is also called “re-parenting”.

Reparenting gives the client an opportunity to create a new narrative coming from the wisdom of the Higher Self. The adult self and inner child co-create a new story built on the foundations of safety, love, and acceptance which builds trust within oneself. 

The pity she felt was the resistance, or tension that was keeping her disconnected from accessing her authentic emotions and was creating blocks in her flow.

Now, she can take ownership of the past, find forgiveness and create something new. 

In the last part of the session, we challenged her belief about her inner child being weak to feel into a new version of confidence.

Is it true that your inner child is weak?

What if the inner child were the most powerful part of you?

What if the inner child were your creative genius? 

What if the inner child was your play? 

What if your innocence was not vulnerable and weak, but vulnerable in its ability to love fully?

What if your inner child was Source within you? 

What if she were eternal and invincible? 

Would you see her differently? 

I brought out “The Sophia Code” teachings: 

“The paradoxical pearl of innocence is that its absolute vulnerability is invincible: for the guardian of innocence is its own holy, indivisible nature. Innocence cannot be bought or manipulated or torn apart. I invite those who have suffered in body and mind from the imbalances and violations of others to take courage – for your innocence can never be stolen from you.  

Your innocence remains steadfast within you, waiting for the storms to recede, safely hidden within The Rose of your heart. When you believe your innocence is damaged or even lost forever, your awareness slips into the dark insanity of suffering, the light of your Higher Self is within you, ever ready to respond to your vulnerable requests for help in remembering your innocence. Claiming your sovereignty reinstates your innocence as a gift and guide for creating a new paradigm in this world.” 

I believe that children are very strong and resilient.

It’s humans who have conditioned them to be otherwise through our own victimization and trauma.  

Would you rather see yourself as invincible, empowered, whole and loved again?  

Our culture is re-learning how to express their emotions, and teaching their kids that it’s OK to have them, feel them, process them and move into action to create a new narrative. 

If we teach that emotions are “energies-in-motion” we can find compassion for the experience of them moving through us versus being defined by them. We can learn about our needs, desires and wants through them. They are great teachers.  

At the end of our session, my client was feeling safe, seen, accepted and loved by herself.

If you’d like to build a solid relationship with your inner child, heal and feel invincible vs vulnerable, Book a chat to get more details! 

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Why am I still in this relationship? I know it’s not good for me, but I’m still in it. 

Why am I still in this relationship? I know it’s not good for me, but I’m still in it. 

I heard this recently from a client who said her relationship was highly distracting and she couldn’t focus. She is dating a guy who’s getting a divorce and he’s got a young child. 

To some it might feel obvious why this is complicated, emotional, and distracting, yet for her inner child’s subconscious it’s a familiar pattern that she’s not yet resolved. 

When we are in a pattern like this, we’re in our shadow. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years to actually notice it. That’s why people hire coaches and therapists – to have a neutral party who can track the pattern and find the root cause of the narrative one’s playing out. 

With my clients, I always bring the shadow behaviors to the root of the mother and father relationship. I have a process whereby we uncover the core wounds, unresolved emotions, beliefs and coping strategies that are present. 

In her household, her dad was present physically, but emotionally unavailable. 

Her mom was distracted and mentally unstable. 

Her inner child felt sadness and disconnection. She felt like she wasn’t enough, not smart enough, or pretty enough. 

Her inner child had a deep desire for a masculine figure to protect her from her mom’s instability, provide structure, and take care of her. 

The inner child didn’t receive any emotional support. 

In believing she wasn’t enough, the world became one ruled by standing out, proving herself, and trying to gain attention. She has a yearning to be ‘the chosen one’. 

In her current relationship, she’s developed what I call ‘the sister wound’. She’s competing with the ex-wife for this man’s attention. She’s jealous and wants to prove that she is the chosen one.  

This man is physically present for her, but often is wrapped up with his family. He’s emotionally erratic just like her mom, or emotionally unavailable just like her dad. This back and forth is a common theme for her in relationships. 

Before our call she wanted to go deeper, but he wasn’t putting in the effort and she wondered why he couldn’t step into the relationship. 

However, during our call she recognized that she was playing out an unresolved pattern from her childhood. 

The first step in healing it is the self-awareness she came to in our call.

The second step is taking ownership of her point of attraction. 

This is her opportunity to go inward and resolve this with her parents and then re-parent herself.  

In my work, we’d use a variety of processes, like role playing with the parents.  Then we’d use healing techniques to move the core narratives, feelings and beliefs through the multidimensional layers (physical, energetic, emotional, mental) of the system using both imagination and the senses.  

What she recognizes now is that no relationship can fill the void that she feels within herself.  

Her focus: Self-Resourcing. Self-Love. Inner Child/Reparenting. Empowerment. 

This releases her co-dependency on others to feel good enough, and is the foundation for a healthier point of attraction for future relationships.  

If you resonate, please feel free to make a comment below, or reach out to see how you might resolve your own patterns by booking a 15 min clarity call with me! 

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I don’t feel heard in my relationship. What can I do? 

I don’t feel heard in my relationship. What can I do? 

When I ask women about their relationships, I often hear the phrase “I don’t feel heard.”  This could be in her relationship, with her boss, or even with her child.  

As a women’s coach and healer, I teach that every relationship is a mirror to your own inner work. All the feelings you have about it are generated from within you. 

If a woman is not feeling heard in her partnership, I have her go within. If you don’t feel heard in your relationship, I ask, “Are you hearing yourself?” 

Women will experience this narrative, “I’m not heard” typically in their current partnerships because of their unresolved traumas, emotions and experiences from their childhood.  My specialty is helping women become deeply aware of their subconscious programming so they can transform their stories, reclaim their power and show up from a more conscious place now. 

Here are some examples of why you may feel unheard: 

You had parents who were too busy arguing with each other. 

You may have been a sibling sandwiched between other siblings in a large family. 

You may have had a father who was always at work and unavailable. 

You may have had a mother who was a nervous wreck and wrapped up in herself. 

In all of these situations, your inner child was probably not receiving much attention.  As children we all have basic emotional needs for safety, love, attention, and affection. 

If our parents were unable to provide one of these basic needs, we might create a core narrative, also called a core wound. In this, we develop related emotions, beliefs about ourselves and others, and coping mechanisms that help us to manage our pain. 

If you are not feeling heard, chances are you are not expressing your needs and feelings either. You might be ignoring an inner voice that says, “this doesn’t feel good, but I don’t know how to bring it up. “Or, “I’ll just let this slip because it’s not that important”. 

When you read this, you may recognize what are termed martyr behaviors – not speaking up, taking on others’ pain, and not expressing yourself. These behaviors are shadows because they come from a sense of unworthiness or a feeling of not deserving to be heard, seen or loved. 

If left unresolved, you will perpetuate your pain, and this leads to self-sabotage because you will end up getting what you didn’t want – you will not be heard in your relationship! 

This is a great learning opportunity for the following reasons: 

This teaches you how to re-parent yourself. To turn inward and give the inner child what she so lovingly needs – for you to listen. Re-parenting helps you heal the unresolved pains, feelings and emotions that were trapped around this narrative. 

You open to a new perspective creating freedom from the patterns through self-forgiveness. In this way, you recognize that your parents were doing the best they could. 

You release the martyr shadow behavior and become more self-expressed, authentic and transparent with your needs, and desires because you are not moving from pain, but from power. 

You invite great tools into your life like conscious communication. 

Here is a quick process to learn how to self-resource.  

  1. When you feel unheard, take a pause and a few deep breaths. If you have the space for a brief meditation that’s the best – after all, you want to hear yourself.  Place a hand on your belly and heart. This brings a sense of calm to your body. 
  2. Ask yourself, “what causes me to feel unheard?” Note any images or events from the past that remind you of this. Be curious. 
  3. Now, ask your heart to express what she truly desires – more love, more attention, more acceptance? Now you are listening, and your current needs will be born out of these desires. This form of listening helps you build trust and is self-resourcing. 
  4. In this moment, you may realize that you don’t need anything at all AND there still maybe room for growth in your communication and your partnership.   
  5. Maybe you need more reciprocation from your partner, more reflective listening, clearer reciprocity, softer moments, or them to ask more questions about you. Whatever it is, connect with your partner in the heart and ask for a specific request that can meet your need.
  6. Questions that are connective might be: Would you be willing to…? Can you help me understand…? Can you reflect back what you heard so I feel you hear me? 

And remember this. Your partner might be able to meet your need, and doesn’t “need to” either. If your partner cannot meet your needs, what could you do to get that need met? (That’s another blog!) 

The point is – now you feel heard.

Feel free to leave comments or questions below.  Want to understand how to go deeper, grab a free 15 min chat!   https://calendly.com/unleashthepriestess/15min

 

 

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9 Tools to Free Your Voice

What does it mean to free your voice?

It means feeling safe and grounded.

Freeing your voice is a deep dive into your childhood wounding to discover where you lost it in the first place.

It is to release the pain of our past ancestors, traumas, suppression and circumstances.

It’s about getting comfortable in your own skin and being honest with yourself.

Freeing your voice is liberating yourself from squelching your emotions and letting the rivers flow.

Freeing your voice is releasing projections, victim nature, martyrdom, blame, shame, guilt, gossip and lower frequencies.

Freeing your voice is a result of reclaiming your power.

It is being in right relationship with your heart and offering compassion to others.

Freeing your voice is to surrender to the Divine and love yourself.

It is having fine-tuned listening skills.

To free your voice is to be vulnerable enough to hear all the feedback and own what you are responsible for.

It is learning to speak your authentic truth.

Freeing your voice is creating healthy boundaries that protect you with a sensibility to uphold them with kindness versus defensiveness.

Freeing your voice is learning to communicate consciously and effectively which is truly is an art.

I’d say, at this moment, I am an artist that’s learning to develop her craft to live a more full heart-centered life.

Here are 9 tools along my path that have aided me in the art of communication and helped me free my voice.

1-  Getting Grounded, Breathing and Relaxing

When you are grounded, breathing and relaxed you heal.  When you heal, you have the space to turn inward and bring mindfulness and heart-centeredness to your communication.  Your tension is released and your voice is more powerful. Try this earthing meditation to get you started.

2 – Core Wound/Inner Child Healing Work

Your core wounds and the inner child within are holding your past.  As you hear her, listen to her, and love her you will regain your power and begin to learn that you are creating your life and everything in it.  That will change where you speak from, how you speak and will liberate you. Learn more about this deep journey work.

3 – Sacred Plant Medicines

The sacred plants speak through the human voice.  The medicinal songs of the plants have great power for healing. I personally have completely cured my vocal chords and received many spiritual surgeries in the mentorship of the plants and reclaimed my voice. I now sing ceremonially and transmit these songs in honor of this great gift. Check out MAPS for more information.

4 – Singing Kirtan/Yoga Chanting

Kirtan is a devotional singing and chanting practice that chants the names of the Divine to raise your vibration to the frequency of pure LOVE. It’s a beautiful practice that is a direct line to Source.  Check out my favorite studio, Bhakti Yoga Shala in Santa Monica.

5 – Creative Writing + Play

Being a beginner in life, in play, and innocence will connect you to the pure creative light within. Discovery and curiosity is where creativity lies. As you heal your sacral chakra and open up these energies it has a direct influence on your voice. After all, have you seen a picture of the Yoni and Vocal Chords? They align with what we create and express. One of my favorite books for accessing the inner creative is The Artist’s Way.

6 – Relationships – Those that trigger you the most!

Relationships are your mirror.  And the ones that trigger you the most will reveal your subconscious patterns, behaviors and past that is remain unhealed. This is a teaching relationship. What is beautiful about these teaching relationships is that they teach you what is important to you, your core values, and how to be a better communicator of healthy boundaries, desires and needs.  Practice the art of conscious communication.

7 – Amazing Coaches

Coaching and mentorship has been profound for me in my own shadow work which is why I now offer this gift to women. To have someone who can point out your deeper work in a safe and loving container catalyzes real change. It is priceless to liberating your voice.  Discover what you can work on now.

8 – Being in Community

When you have the opportunity to meet in sacred, safe space with other like-minded individuals it is so healing!  This is great practice for revealing your personal story and deep inner truths.  Circles provide great insight. It’s helpful to know that you are not alone in what you are going through.  Check out this coaching + healing women’s empowerment group.  And this Women’s Facebook group.

9-  Surrendering to Divine Love

The ultimate goal is surrendering and opening fully to Divine Love. It’s the pure ecstasy that we seek to return to. When we relax, surrender, and let go of our egoic nature that keeps us in suffering there is so much love to receive.


Could you imagine letting go of all the projections and stories and living in your authentic truth, speaking from your heart and revealing your whole being?

Freeing your voice is a lifetime practice of healing, surrender, sharing and loving yourself.

Freeing your voice is the conscious and truthful path of awakening.

Here is are two albums I’d love you to hear – Amrita and God’s Breath of Life – I’ve created these in a time when I was very much freeing my voice!!!

xo,

Nicole

Photos from my workshops at Oregon Eclipse Festival.

 

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Vulnerability + Bridging the Gap For Self-Love

In this very moment as I write, I’m in a healing process that feels extremely vulnerable.

I wanted to share this because it came up twice today with my clients when we were talking about victim, shame, self-punishment, vulnerability, forgiveness and power. They found it very valuable for them as a way of leaning into their healing process for self-love.

As a yogi, trauma-informed intuitive healer and coach, I have been in the depths of shadow work learning how to create empowered ways to shift my perceptions and awareness in life. I’ve been a seeker in understanding the mind and the heart, and the pathway in between.

Today, I’m taking myself on a transformational shamanic healing journey that I know can move me through this event that just happened that triggered this shame spiral within me.

I share this as an example and small sliver of how I journey with my clients in efforts to illustrate an understanding of what I call “bridging the gap between the subconscious and conscious mind” so that my clients and I can step more fully into our power, present moment awareness and practice the art of vulnerability.

The subconscious mind harbors our core wounds from childhood, or any events in our past that may still be unresolved or need deeper forgiveness.

In one of my first moments of separation, or pain, my little self spun a narrative that became the root belief system I have about myself. This story is a core wound or inner child story, or in some sciences called the ‘victim’ story.

In this example, I was triggered over the weekend into my core wound through the most elevating experience I’ve had in quite sometime, ironically. I was at an incredible wedding for a couple I adore with some of my best friends in this world.

Yet as I got off the plane to go home, I felt the little girl inside of me rise up in a mini tantrum. I say mini thankfully because they used to be HUGE. LOL.

My conscious mind was just over the moon with joy, love and ecstatic dance and play.

My subconscious mind got stuck in my core wound story with my dad. “I’m abandoned. I’m not seen. I’m not important or good enough. No one loves me.” All the happy couples I watched enjoy their time that day triggered this response within me. Emotions came to the surface for healing.

The development of this ego story is an entirely other article, but what’s important now is how powerfully I can track my ego, say hello to this old story, and welcome the little girl and her pain from that originating experience into my arms.

When the originating trauma event occurred for me, I had deep emotions around it.

Today my little girl reflects those and feels vulnerable, tender and sad. She feels unloved and confused. I see the trauma moment in my mind’s eye and the feelings of abandonment and loneliness.

I hear the “I’m not good enough to deserve love” story that rears its head to self-sabotage, punish or perpetuate the story that “no one will marry me, or love me like that.”

What I used to do was shut these feelings down. Like most of us, I would shame and punish myself for having them. I would want to be ‘good’ and ‘positive’ so I would try to stop thinking about it and shove them further down.

Then, I would find myself in isolation; overworking or doing any of the myriads of coping behaviors I’ve strategically created to not feel pain. My addictive behaviors would show up to avoid and distract (eating, watching videos, etc.) and help me forget again.

Let me tell you something.

If emotions that are felt are not met, seen, acknowledged, heard or processed in real time, we hold on to them like a security blanket and develop more generalized belief systems and stories about others, relationships and the world that stem from that pain.

We call these unconscious patterns, which in turn become unconscious behaviors.

The crux of healing from this humble soul who writes this is getting to the core of the emotional root of our traumas so we can learn to forgive, heal and step more fully into understanding, awareness, perception, intimacy, vulnerability and our voice.

If we can speak forward and lean into what needs to be said and find a way to be honest and true, instead of pushing things under the rug out of fear of rejection and weakness, then we learn vulnerability, courage and compassion.

Triggers are always an opportunity to heal, understand, and love.

So today, instead of pushing my little girl to the side, I invited her into my Higher Love, support and voice. I hugged her with tenderness and care. I decided not to overwork and instead journal, emote and let go.

I practiced the art of surrender to the beauty of this Divine plan. I felt her. I adored her. I played and prayed with her. I became present to her needs for attention, care and acceptance. And, I forgave myself for holding on so tightly to this narrative.

I forgave my dad for he knew not what he did back then. To him (and understanding as a parent now) this incident probably would have been so minor; yet, I took it so personally. I practiced understanding and compassion for he knew not the impact of this experience. I sent him deep love.

When we understand the above process and begin to see everyone through the lens of Source, we can shift our perception. It’s important to realize that we are not alone. We all carry core wounds, beliefs and perceptions. We all have pain and suffering. We all deal with these stories and narratives.

When we practice tracking the ego and stories this is what it means to bridge the gap between the subconscious and the conscious mind.

This is how we learn the art of vulnerability. Vulnerability is when we risk stepping into the fire of the unknown, challenge our perceptions, and expose our raw emotions for healing. As Brene Brown tells us in the Call to Courage, vulnerability is courage. They walk hand-in-hand.

Benefits of doing this inner healing work are:
• Practicing ahimsa, or non-violence – not projecting your stuff onto others
• Reducing the time you are affected by the flow of your emotions
• Being responsible for your life, so that you can manifest and create
• Learning to speak and express your needs from a place of power and love vs pain
• Minimizing your downtime away from your passions, purpose and power
• Feeling abundant and in love with yourself and others

I’ll invite you to see what behaviors and belief systems you want to change and reverse engineer your life for healing. This is the transformational process of healing that will help you unleash your power and bring you into presence.

Just as you can heal your past, you can change your future. It’s all a matter of getting present to what is happening now and learning to resource support. It’s an opportunity to trust yourself and create safety through connecting your Highest Self with your Inner Child and bringing yourself back to Innocence, Wholeness and Sacred Union with the Divine.

This is the journey from the head into the heart. This is what creates great strength and compassion. This is the process of awakening to Divine Love.

Many blessings dear one on your healing path!