CFS Recovery - the program that got me to the proverbial finish line. Plus, the Antidote #45: managing anxiety, FIGHTING BACK, and goodfuckingbye summer.
I'm so thrilled it worked for someone—now multiple someones–I know!
I was a devotee to brain retraining back in the dinosaur era of John Sarno, when my symptoms were much more spinal. I John Sarno'd my way across mountains and workfests in agony, leading to my eventual disability after an ill-advised evening backcountry ski and a sneeze.
I then jumped into Explain Pain tenets and led a Facebook group of Dim and Simmers, devoted (loosely!) to the practices of nervous system calming, meditation, mindfulness, acceptance, and transformation. Dental surgeries ensued as my neck crumbled and my teeth broke.
Next up was ANS Rewire, which I took 6 months off of work to attempt. I loved it and believed wholeheartedly, but I lost my ability to eat all but 12 ingredients. Zero pain or health improvements.
Throughout, I did six years of once or twice weekly Somatic Experiencing therapy. Capped off earlier this year with six months in a program that tracks down anyone who talks about it but rhymes with I'm All Rust.
All of these things were great for my life, but my symptoms worsened and worsened. Now, I'm more stressed than I ever have been since the great neck snap of 2016...but perversely am feeling objectively (if not remotely fully) better. Is it really just Zyzal?
I do think the retraining makes sense, even if it doesn't pencil out for me. I also wonder if my neck degeneration is simply too great to get over its own hump. Or what? Or did I do it "wrong?" despite trying for 15 years?
I just don't know. I'm always happy to see it work for anyone, and I wonder what the differences are that it doesn't do anything for me, or what I could shift to make it "work". (However, incorporating the practices, especially the meditation, does build something positive into my life.)
Thank you for sharing all of this. I adore you and trust what you say implicitly, so I believe that these things don’t always work as intended. I’m especially jazzed that you’re feeling better, and let’s not question it! (also, what’s Zyzal? Must look up).
I’m All Rust (hilarious workaround wording) - I had no idea they were like that. I do know a few for whom it’s helped somewhat.
Any connection between your neck snap and CCI or EDS? (Forgive me because I’m sure you’ve said before, I’m just not remembering).
Not functionally, but I think it should be...my (completely uneducated, no med degree) guess is that mast cells or simmering infection shred connective tissue. That actually seems more solvable than genetics.
hii -- maybe you're born with it -- maybe it's zyzal? xyzal? i'm embarrassed to say i love my levocetirizine aka xyzal. (amy it's a version of cetirizine aka zyrtec, i take 1 tab twice a day which is the equivalent of 4 zyrtec a day. just for some fun unnecessary context.)
kira i am terribly curious who the program is that you are encoding and i might just have to live with my curiosity.
You know, when both my shoulders went frozen at the same time in the midst of my LC, the orthopedist mentioned it could be caused by mast cells (after I told him I had MCAS). Then a few weeks ago, I mentioned this to my allergist/immunologist and she said no. So I took to Google and studied absolutely suggest this is possible. I am sooo tired of docs who speak with absolute certainty on things they don’t stay up on.
Excellent writing. And I do believe this program works. I happen to believe that each of us have the right to try what works for us. Because each of us are different, we must be willing to understand that everything won’t work for us but there’s a sweet spot. I’m happy you found it because you’ve always had the capacity inside of you.
It can be difficult to share with others because many of us don’t believe in our superhero power: we believe in it others more than ourselves. But you broke this down to the gritty ground. And I love you for it. I believe more people will find relief in what you shared.
I used to be cold brew all the way. But caffeine and I no longer get along either so I'm always on the hunt for another decaf recc. And I love an organic, chemical free processed coffee so this is right up my alley. But I could drink iced coffee 365 days a year so some days I reallyyyyy miss my cod brew.
I actually found a decaf coffee concentrate I love finally after much trial and error. I don't love that it's not organic but it's the closest to an iced coffee/latte I've been able to recreate. Its by a brand called Javy.
I cannot even express how happy I am for you! This is such a wonderful thing to read! I’m also amazed how so much of what I’m doing in Functional Neurological Disorder therapy mirrors what they are doing in the CFS recovery program. I think it’s because all of these conditions: LC, ME and FND have a common thread of extreme nervous system dysregulation. My FND therapist believes it’s because it all falls under the FND umbrella, but I disagree on that.
I did DNRS is 2020, when I wasn’t as severe and trying to find solutions. It did help me, but was so extreme with the rules. I’d considered the Gupta Program as well, which I’d heard was gentler, but I tend to gravitate towards militance so I made my choice haha. I agree that it didn’t fix things, but it was an important foundation. When I became severe, it couldn’t hold a candle to the level of terror I was experiencing once I was vegetative.
Eventually though, it was nervous system regulation techniques (some I had to work out on my own before I was well enough to get help) that got me this far. I’d considered the CFS program when I was first well-enough to talk to people, but couldn’t reconcile the cost. Your experience is definitely putting it back on the table for the future. Thank you for sharing your story! It helps those of us still in the trenches see what is possible. Hurrah Amy!!! Hurrah!!! ❤️
Thank you, my friend! Your excitement means a lot. And makes me feel so hopeful for you too, given the progress you’ve been making 🙌🏻.
You make a really good point about the timing of these programs. I don’t think the brain training parts were able to truly sink in for me for the first few years of LC because I was so very dysregulated. It’s kind of like how talk therapy won’t really work if you’re not first grounded or embodied. Or as Alex Howard often says, “you can’t think your way to a feeling of safety.” So true, I find. Sounds like you’d agree?
Super welcome and thank you!! “Cannot think your way to safety.” I’ve heard this one often in my current treatment processes. Totally agree!! When I was severe and terrified, no amount of visualization and meditation was going to fix the degree of dysregulation. I tried, lorddddttt, I really tried! 🤣😩 It did help me though through some of my darkest days by keeping my mind “entertained” and I’m so eternally grateful for that. I started with breathing exercises, 20 minutes every day for months, that was the start, but even that ended up being too much. It’s such a delicate process.
amy, i have a sort of big question for you about this brain retraining things... i've never tried one, except working with mary/jen with their chicken soup GAPS/keto protocols which had some brain retraining component but among other components. but watching white cis people tell each other how we have to remind ourselves that we're safe, in 2025, is leaving me with questions about how we navigate that if we are actually not safe.
for me, i am trans and i stay in my house and i love my house. but many -- most? -- of my beloveds are queer, trans, of color, or all three. there is worry that i have about being harrassed, being beat up, being deported, and some of that i can say the serenity prayer about....but if i tell myself, i am safe, my loved ones are safe, then i just lose credibility with myself.
i notice that there is some acknowledgement of this in some of these chats, like between raelyn and the Pain Free You person, but it doesn't seem adequate to address what i'm talking about. i'm curious if you've come across anything that is adequate for this -- do you know what i mean?
also big thanks for sharing what you're learning, along with your thoughtful caveats and contextualizations.
You bring up such a great point, because in this fiery hellscape in which we currently live, so many groups of people are not feeling safe and it can seem like truly laughable advice in that case. And I’m sorry - both that you and your beloveds have been made to feel that way and have effectively been told to stay out of sight, and for the lack of acknowledgement and clarity on this from the cis white “gurus” in this mind-body space.
My understanding is that they DO address this, just not in the context of queer, trans, BIPOC, immigrants, etc. (again, not okay). The brain cannot believe what feels false. In other words, as Alex Howard often says, “you can’t THINK your way to a feeling of safety.” So if that’s the case, we have to find those moments when we do feel safe and really be in touch with that feeling. Get out of our heads, if only briefly. For you, it sounds like that’s at home. You don’t have to get the feeling of fear down to zero, just low enough that you can do some grounding, breathwork, meditation, gentle (yoga-ish) floor movements (I do gentle rocking and stretching motions while listening to some meditative instrumental music). It sounds really simple and maybe dismissive in that way, but no one is calling this a quick fix. It’s a state you have to practice and cultivate. For me, it took a few years to really get there, but eventually my body started craving it.
It’s especially helpful when you come back from being outside in the hellscape and want to bring your body back to that place of safety. These things have to be felt in the body before the brain will believe it. I hope this helps in some way?
I've brought this up in conversation with a few people in the past 24 hours and a theme I'm noticing is, when I talk to people I trust about safety and what that means for us, it feels completely different than Strangers on the Internet who are White Cis People. (Including you, I don't know if you're white or cis but I already knew you gave a shit about people who are not which is why I knew I could bring this up here. So hearing your thoughts about it, I trust more than I trust Raelan -- as lovely as she is she was so agreeable to John's comments about therapy and journaling not being as relevant to healing, and I don't even know if his name is John but it will stay John in my brain.)
I love being in my house so much. When I sit out on the patio and greet everyone walking by, and their dogs, that includes a significant number of people who voted for Orange Menace...and I know I'm making myself safer by befriending people who wouldn't automatically be my friend, and humanizing myself to them. So my chant to myself is, "we keep us safe." I take neighboring very seriously and I do feel like it's an investment in future safety.
(oh brain fog...when i say i stay in my house, i mean my concern for my own safety is decreased because of being housebound. never zero, but decreased. but bae for example goes out into the world every day, the gross unmasked ICEy world.)
I’m so glad to hear about your recovery progress - I’m so happy for you! I always learn something or have a laugh when I read The Tonic. This time I enjoyed the story about the wedding crasher! 😆
Well I just popped on here to skim thru and return to Miguel’s CFS Recovery site…but… I read every word. And connected with just about all of it…and then I continued scrolling down to your related links…and I started laughing, and rolling my eyes at the same things you were rolling your eyes…so,… sorry Miguel, and Amy, but I just GOTTA watch the comedian above before returning to congratulate you both …because you’ve changed my life as well. Yup, I thought I was 75% “cured” when I joined CFS Recovery in February…little did I know I could expand my life into …My Now, which I a calmer, happier life than it has been at any other time in my life~
Thank you, Amy, for writing this blog…I’ll be back! 🙂💜
So happy you stopped by! Another CFS Recovery success story and I consider you one of my mentors in the program (athlete to athlete!). I’m glad you enjoyed the comedies too - he’s one of my faves 😁.
This article really hit me, because I am scared. I’m scared of the hope then disappointment rollercoaster that has resulted in wasted time, spoons, and money. My last attempt to improve my long covid made me sicker and set me further back. I’ve been following your journey & have discussed it with my husband, but my fear is holding me back. Fall is band season for my high school senior and soccer season for my college sophomore. I’m saving spoons to attend these events that will soon be gone. Each event takes its toll & requires recovery. I’ve been balancing that with physical therapy for my back which then also requires recovery. My mind wants to try this since I really trust you. However, I’m struggling with coming up with the energy to do anything but get by.
Molly, I so appreciate where you’re at - still very much in survival mode, understandably. The fear at that stage has to be slowly, quietly worked with. Nothing ‘big’ will do the convincing. I believe I live a quieter life than you - no kids - so it was a little easier to find that sense of safety to start quieting the fear.
One concept I like from this program is “take your symptoms with you.” Meaning, live your life and try not to let the symptoms stop you from doing that. It sounds like you are doing that for the important stuff. We can’t teach our brains that activities are safe if we don’t ever attempt them. It can be helpful too to not always automatically assume that you will crash after and need extensive recovery time. Sometimes we get what we expect to get, and that’s all part of the fear loop as well.
Perhaps once you get through these upcoming events, consider the seven day free trial? You can watch the videos and get a feel for the online community. If the fear becomes too great or if it’s just not your time, you can cancel by the seventh day.
Not trying to sell you on it necessarily - I have no arrangement with the program in that way, though I was invited to join the coaching team and decided now wasn’t the time for me. Hard decision because it’s such a great team and they treated me so well.
They’re some powerful shifts in your journey Amy !! 😍😍
I, too, found coaching utterly essential. The support I needed that I was told wasn’t available to me when exploring conventional medicine. Along with with this route imposing the belief that it wasn’t worth making any changes. Built by brick walls of impossibility.
But what happens when we identify the needs we have? And find creative ways to put in place measures to meet those needs? At the bare minimum I think it’s safe to suggest possibility.
If it helps you clarify any better, I was quick to bring in the support I needed back in 2018 -largely becoming my own self-support and then, the year after, aligning with the external support I needed (afforded to me by material and spiritual privilege).
I’m still working with the one main person (yoga teacher/bodywork therapist/coach) now (6 yrs on).
So though it helped my recovery immensely and made it possible for me to survive the pandemic, it didn’t speed up the process. But what it did bring was the holding, the guidance, the depth, the opening of doors …. The possibility.
So well said - I think the ‘possibility’ does the heavy lifting here, at least early on. Or maybe in small chunks as we go and build confidence in feeling safe and feeling better. Thank you for reading and for sharing all that 🫶🏻
I'm so thrilled it worked for someone—now multiple someones–I know!
I was a devotee to brain retraining back in the dinosaur era of John Sarno, when my symptoms were much more spinal. I John Sarno'd my way across mountains and workfests in agony, leading to my eventual disability after an ill-advised evening backcountry ski and a sneeze.
I then jumped into Explain Pain tenets and led a Facebook group of Dim and Simmers, devoted (loosely!) to the practices of nervous system calming, meditation, mindfulness, acceptance, and transformation. Dental surgeries ensued as my neck crumbled and my teeth broke.
Next up was ANS Rewire, which I took 6 months off of work to attempt. I loved it and believed wholeheartedly, but I lost my ability to eat all but 12 ingredients. Zero pain or health improvements.
Throughout, I did six years of once or twice weekly Somatic Experiencing therapy. Capped off earlier this year with six months in a program that tracks down anyone who talks about it but rhymes with I'm All Rust.
All of these things were great for my life, but my symptoms worsened and worsened. Now, I'm more stressed than I ever have been since the great neck snap of 2016...but perversely am feeling objectively (if not remotely fully) better. Is it really just Zyzal?
I do think the retraining makes sense, even if it doesn't pencil out for me. I also wonder if my neck degeneration is simply too great to get over its own hump. Or what? Or did I do it "wrong?" despite trying for 15 years?
I just don't know. I'm always happy to see it work for anyone, and I wonder what the differences are that it doesn't do anything for me, or what I could shift to make it "work". (However, incorporating the practices, especially the meditation, does build something positive into my life.)
Thank you for sharing all of this. I adore you and trust what you say implicitly, so I believe that these things don’t always work as intended. I’m especially jazzed that you’re feeling better, and let’s not question it! (also, what’s Zyzal? Must look up).
I’m All Rust (hilarious workaround wording) - I had no idea they were like that. I do know a few for whom it’s helped somewhat.
Any connection between your neck snap and CCI or EDS? (Forgive me because I’m sure you’ve said before, I’m just not remembering).
I want them to work. I'm glad they worked for YOU!
I'm jazzed too...and want more. Grateful and ungrateful at the same time!
I have CCI and hEDS, but not genetic EDS.
Is hEDS looked at differently if it’s not the genetic kind?
Not functionally, but I think it should be...my (completely uneducated, no med degree) guess is that mast cells or simmering infection shred connective tissue. That actually seems more solvable than genetics.
hii -- maybe you're born with it -- maybe it's zyzal? xyzal? i'm embarrassed to say i love my levocetirizine aka xyzal. (amy it's a version of cetirizine aka zyrtec, i take 1 tab twice a day which is the equivalent of 4 zyrtec a day. just for some fun unnecessary context.)
kira i am terribly curious who the program is that you are encoding and i might just have to live with my curiosity.
You know, when both my shoulders went frozen at the same time in the midst of my LC, the orthopedist mentioned it could be caused by mast cells (after I told him I had MCAS). Then a few weeks ago, I mentioned this to my allergist/immunologist and she said no. So I took to Google and studied absolutely suggest this is possible. I am sooo tired of docs who speak with absolute certainty on things they don’t stay up on.
Sooooo tired. The good ones know how much they don't know.
Excellent writing. And I do believe this program works. I happen to believe that each of us have the right to try what works for us. Because each of us are different, we must be willing to understand that everything won’t work for us but there’s a sweet spot. I’m happy you found it because you’ve always had the capacity inside of you.
It can be difficult to share with others because many of us don’t believe in our superhero power: we believe in it others more than ourselves. But you broke this down to the gritty ground. And I love you for it. I believe more people will find relief in what you shared.
My friend, your words mean more to me than you know. You just have a way with them. Thank you for reading and reflecting.
Came for the Long Covid resources, stayed for the coffee recommendation 🙌 ☕️ 🧘♀️
☺️ fellow decaf lover, are we?
I used to be cold brew all the way. But caffeine and I no longer get along either so I'm always on the hunt for another decaf recc. And I love an organic, chemical free processed coffee so this is right up my alley. But I could drink iced coffee 365 days a year so some days I reallyyyyy miss my cod brew.
Ahh, gotcha. Could you do a homemade decaf iced coffee? I know it’s probably not the same as cold brew.
That coffee I recommended recently jumped up in price by a lot ($3-4/bag), but that’s happening with coffee everywhere…sigh…
I actually found a decaf coffee concentrate I love finally after much trial and error. I don't love that it's not organic but it's the closest to an iced coffee/latte I've been able to recreate. Its by a brand called Javy.
Ooh, I’ll check that out. I have used a decaf instant called Mount Hagen that’s organic and very good.
I cannot even express how happy I am for you! This is such a wonderful thing to read! I’m also amazed how so much of what I’m doing in Functional Neurological Disorder therapy mirrors what they are doing in the CFS recovery program. I think it’s because all of these conditions: LC, ME and FND have a common thread of extreme nervous system dysregulation. My FND therapist believes it’s because it all falls under the FND umbrella, but I disagree on that.
I did DNRS is 2020, when I wasn’t as severe and trying to find solutions. It did help me, but was so extreme with the rules. I’d considered the Gupta Program as well, which I’d heard was gentler, but I tend to gravitate towards militance so I made my choice haha. I agree that it didn’t fix things, but it was an important foundation. When I became severe, it couldn’t hold a candle to the level of terror I was experiencing once I was vegetative.
Eventually though, it was nervous system regulation techniques (some I had to work out on my own before I was well enough to get help) that got me this far. I’d considered the CFS program when I was first well-enough to talk to people, but couldn’t reconcile the cost. Your experience is definitely putting it back on the table for the future. Thank you for sharing your story! It helps those of us still in the trenches see what is possible. Hurrah Amy!!! Hurrah!!! ❤️
Thank you, my friend! Your excitement means a lot. And makes me feel so hopeful for you too, given the progress you’ve been making 🙌🏻.
You make a really good point about the timing of these programs. I don’t think the brain training parts were able to truly sink in for me for the first few years of LC because I was so very dysregulated. It’s kind of like how talk therapy won’t really work if you’re not first grounded or embodied. Or as Alex Howard often says, “you can’t think your way to a feeling of safety.” So true, I find. Sounds like you’d agree?
Super welcome and thank you!! “Cannot think your way to safety.” I’ve heard this one often in my current treatment processes. Totally agree!! When I was severe and terrified, no amount of visualization and meditation was going to fix the degree of dysregulation. I tried, lorddddttt, I really tried! 🤣😩 It did help me though through some of my darkest days by keeping my mind “entertained” and I’m so eternally grateful for that. I started with breathing exercises, 20 minutes every day for months, that was the start, but even that ended up being too much. It’s such a delicate process.
I am so glad that time is over for you. It’s amazing how resourceful we had to become. We never could have imagined it before the illness.
So right, the level of resourcefulness we had to build is beyond. Happy for how far we’ve both come!
amy, i have a sort of big question for you about this brain retraining things... i've never tried one, except working with mary/jen with their chicken soup GAPS/keto protocols which had some brain retraining component but among other components. but watching white cis people tell each other how we have to remind ourselves that we're safe, in 2025, is leaving me with questions about how we navigate that if we are actually not safe.
for me, i am trans and i stay in my house and i love my house. but many -- most? -- of my beloveds are queer, trans, of color, or all three. there is worry that i have about being harrassed, being beat up, being deported, and some of that i can say the serenity prayer about....but if i tell myself, i am safe, my loved ones are safe, then i just lose credibility with myself.
i notice that there is some acknowledgement of this in some of these chats, like between raelyn and the Pain Free You person, but it doesn't seem adequate to address what i'm talking about. i'm curious if you've come across anything that is adequate for this -- do you know what i mean?
also big thanks for sharing what you're learning, along with your thoughtful caveats and contextualizations.
You bring up such a great point, because in this fiery hellscape in which we currently live, so many groups of people are not feeling safe and it can seem like truly laughable advice in that case. And I’m sorry - both that you and your beloveds have been made to feel that way and have effectively been told to stay out of sight, and for the lack of acknowledgement and clarity on this from the cis white “gurus” in this mind-body space.
My understanding is that they DO address this, just not in the context of queer, trans, BIPOC, immigrants, etc. (again, not okay). The brain cannot believe what feels false. In other words, as Alex Howard often says, “you can’t THINK your way to a feeling of safety.” So if that’s the case, we have to find those moments when we do feel safe and really be in touch with that feeling. Get out of our heads, if only briefly. For you, it sounds like that’s at home. You don’t have to get the feeling of fear down to zero, just low enough that you can do some grounding, breathwork, meditation, gentle (yoga-ish) floor movements (I do gentle rocking and stretching motions while listening to some meditative instrumental music). It sounds really simple and maybe dismissive in that way, but no one is calling this a quick fix. It’s a state you have to practice and cultivate. For me, it took a few years to really get there, but eventually my body started craving it.
It’s especially helpful when you come back from being outside in the hellscape and want to bring your body back to that place of safety. These things have to be felt in the body before the brain will believe it. I hope this helps in some way?
Thanks, Amy.
I've brought this up in conversation with a few people in the past 24 hours and a theme I'm noticing is, when I talk to people I trust about safety and what that means for us, it feels completely different than Strangers on the Internet who are White Cis People. (Including you, I don't know if you're white or cis but I already knew you gave a shit about people who are not which is why I knew I could bring this up here. So hearing your thoughts about it, I trust more than I trust Raelan -- as lovely as she is she was so agreeable to John's comments about therapy and journaling not being as relevant to healing, and I don't even know if his name is John but it will stay John in my brain.)
I love being in my house so much. When I sit out on the patio and greet everyone walking by, and their dogs, that includes a significant number of people who voted for Orange Menace...and I know I'm making myself safer by befriending people who wouldn't automatically be my friend, and humanizing myself to them. So my chant to myself is, "we keep us safe." I take neighboring very seriously and I do feel like it's an investment in future safety.
Thanks for talking about this with me!
(oh brain fog...when i say i stay in my house, i mean my concern for my own safety is decreased because of being housebound. never zero, but decreased. but bae for example goes out into the world every day, the gross unmasked ICEy world.)
I’m so glad to hear about your recovery progress - I’m so happy for you! I always learn something or have a laugh when I read The Tonic. This time I enjoyed the story about the wedding crasher! 😆
Thanks so much, Paula! You’ve been such a great cheerleader to me from the beginning 🥹.
Wasn’t that wedding crasher story a hoot?? That poor guy 🤣
Well I just popped on here to skim thru and return to Miguel’s CFS Recovery site…but… I read every word. And connected with just about all of it…and then I continued scrolling down to your related links…and I started laughing, and rolling my eyes at the same things you were rolling your eyes…so,… sorry Miguel, and Amy, but I just GOTTA watch the comedian above before returning to congratulate you both …because you’ve changed my life as well. Yup, I thought I was 75% “cured” when I joined CFS Recovery in February…little did I know I could expand my life into …My Now, which I a calmer, happier life than it has been at any other time in my life~
Thank you, Amy, for writing this blog…I’ll be back! 🙂💜
So happy you stopped by! Another CFS Recovery success story and I consider you one of my mentors in the program (athlete to athlete!). I’m glad you enjoyed the comedies too - he’s one of my faves 😁.
For anyone else reading who wants more proof, here’s Dusty’s recovery interview with Raelan Agle: https://youtu.be/A0CYfotCJoY?feature=shared
This article really hit me, because I am scared. I’m scared of the hope then disappointment rollercoaster that has resulted in wasted time, spoons, and money. My last attempt to improve my long covid made me sicker and set me further back. I’ve been following your journey & have discussed it with my husband, but my fear is holding me back. Fall is band season for my high school senior and soccer season for my college sophomore. I’m saving spoons to attend these events that will soon be gone. Each event takes its toll & requires recovery. I’ve been balancing that with physical therapy for my back which then also requires recovery. My mind wants to try this since I really trust you. However, I’m struggling with coming up with the energy to do anything but get by.
Molly, I so appreciate where you’re at - still very much in survival mode, understandably. The fear at that stage has to be slowly, quietly worked with. Nothing ‘big’ will do the convincing. I believe I live a quieter life than you - no kids - so it was a little easier to find that sense of safety to start quieting the fear.
One concept I like from this program is “take your symptoms with you.” Meaning, live your life and try not to let the symptoms stop you from doing that. It sounds like you are doing that for the important stuff. We can’t teach our brains that activities are safe if we don’t ever attempt them. It can be helpful too to not always automatically assume that you will crash after and need extensive recovery time. Sometimes we get what we expect to get, and that’s all part of the fear loop as well.
Perhaps once you get through these upcoming events, consider the seven day free trial? You can watch the videos and get a feel for the online community. If the fear becomes too great or if it’s just not your time, you can cancel by the seventh day.
Not trying to sell you on it necessarily - I have no arrangement with the program in that way, though I was invited to join the coaching team and decided now wasn’t the time for me. Hard decision because it’s such a great team and they treated me so well.
They’re some powerful shifts in your journey Amy !! 😍😍
I, too, found coaching utterly essential. The support I needed that I was told wasn’t available to me when exploring conventional medicine. Along with with this route imposing the belief that it wasn’t worth making any changes. Built by brick walls of impossibility.
But what happens when we identify the needs we have? And find creative ways to put in place measures to meet those needs? At the bare minimum I think it’s safe to suggest possibility.
If it helps you clarify any better, I was quick to bring in the support I needed back in 2018 -largely becoming my own self-support and then, the year after, aligning with the external support I needed (afforded to me by material and spiritual privilege).
I’m still working with the one main person (yoga teacher/bodywork therapist/coach) now (6 yrs on).
So though it helped my recovery immensely and made it possible for me to survive the pandemic, it didn’t speed up the process. But what it did bring was the holding, the guidance, the depth, the opening of doors …. The possibility.
So well said - I think the ‘possibility’ does the heavy lifting here, at least early on. Or maybe in small chunks as we go and build confidence in feeling safe and feeling better. Thank you for reading and for sharing all that 🫶🏻