Many of you out there are either working to heal ourself or know someone who is struggling with his or her health. As a practitioner, I get to witness firsthand what my clients are going through. So much of healing is about getting the supportive pieces in place so we can wrap our heads and hands around the task and stick to it for the long-term. So today, I wanted to share with you what I know about the healing journey and give you some tips and tools to use along the way.

1) Know that you are never alone.

Fighting your way to feel better can feel like an uphill battle, but it helps to realize there are people just like you going through it too. Many of us have what is termed as an “invisible disability”. There are so many of us out there working through this and trying to navigate the health maze. But when we unite, we can collectively get better and heal each other along the way.

2) Juice 12-16 ounces fresh celery and/or cucumber every morning.

Doing so will alkalinize your body chemistry, rebuild hydrochloric acid in the stomach, restore adrenal function, lower blood pressure, and hydrate the hell out of you. I bought a $60 Hamilton Wide Mouth Juicer on Amazon and absolutely love it. No excuses why you can’t take this simple step for yourself every day. It will make your health better, even if you are already feeling healthy.

3) You have to be relentlessly patient while you wait in the middle place and deal with the unknowns.

Meditative practices often teach us to focus on the present, but I’m a huge fan of focusing on the past to remember the healthy version of yourself, and then focusing on the future to envision the amazing things you will do when you’re back on your feet again. You may want to heal in 8 weeks, but if you’ve got chronic health issues the healing may take a lot longer than that.

Try holding space for your body to heal itself in due time — you will get there, I promise. On your down days remind yourself about how far you’ve come, celebrating the positive milestones. Have a good look at your past and remember how good you felt before you had any health challenges. And be sure to lift yourself out of your funk by looking at your future and manifesting the incredible things you can be/do/have once you’re feeling better and/or healed.

4) Get clear on what really, really matters to you and strategically ignore the rest. 

If you’re losing sleep or stressing over new ventures, commitments, or changes in your life, use those feelings as a barometer as to whether or not you should actually take on anything new. Simpler is better. Everything will happen for you in divine time — no sooner than that. Using this time and space to surrender to your path can be a sacred experience.

5) Move every day.

Sitting on your tush all day and ruminating about the state of your health is not going to move you forward. Go for a walk, take some restorative yoga, life weights slowly… just move. Walking outside in nature (also trending as “forest bathing” – ha!) and listening to the birds is restorative to the adrenals and the heart chakras and gives you healing hope.

6) Know that the body is capable of big healing and that nothing lasts forever.

The body and brain are both extremely elastic. Once we start understanding that we do contain the path to healing within ourselves, we will indeed begin moving down that yellow brick road. Try letting go of how you thought things were supposed to be and understand that you’re actually right where you should be. This is all okay and will be okay, and you will actually come out of this stronger and richer for it.

7) Make your bed every day.

On my worst days where I’d been on a bender or only getting 2-4 hours of very broken sleep per night, making my bed every day saved me from completely losing my shit. If I knew I at least accomplished one thing every day, I felt useful. And if I cooked a good dinner for my family at night, I gave myself a huge gold star. The littlest things can help you rise up from the ashes and help you understand that you will one day spread your wings and fly.

8) On the down days, celebrate each and every one of your milestones.

Every night before bed I write down at least three things I’m grateful for. This helps me understand just how lucky I am to have a roof over my head and food on the table. But it also helps me see how far I’ve come in my healing journey. It took me five months to detox from taking the tiniest amount of Xanex – as in 1/8 of a pill that was .25mg – but not only did I sleep better as a result, t was sheer hell and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Every doctor I see congratulates me because what I did was no easy task. I can’t help but feel proud of myself for accomplishing that. Healing is never a straight line; it’s often one step forward and two steps back. So make sure you take stock in all you’ve accomplished in your journey.

9) Call in the troops.

You cannot complete this journey alone and need to put together a team of people to help you. I personally work with a naturopath, homeopath, chakra therapist, and chiropractor to manage my symptoms and keep me functional. Sometimes I have to see everyone, and then months go by where I need to see no one. But it gives me great peace of mind to know that I have support when I need it. Everyone is onboard with my practice plan and everyone is clear on the direction my health needs to go. That being said, be careful not to overdo the amount of practitioners helping you. I have been through many practitioners over the years, but try to limit the amount I’m working with at one time. The people I’m currently with have been helping me for a few years now. But if they weren’t helping me, I would have moved on already.

Once you’ve been through the experience of finding a good practitioner, you start to develop a sense of whether or not someone can truly help you. And some practitioners do help for a while, and then reach their limits. You never need to apologize for moving on when the time is right; do what you need to do in healing your body. Each practitioner will be a stepping-stone in your journey and hopefully you won’t need to have too many along the way.

The other gift of having an A-Team is that I keep my loved ones out of it. For years I leaned heavily on my family and friends when my symptoms were at their worst and I needed the most help. But there is something to be said for hiring experts to help to lighten your load and keep you focused and accountable – something your inner circle may not have the tools (or desire) to do for you. They are human too and probably feel frustrated because although they may want to help you, they don’t know or understand how. It’s also important to throw a little money at the problem at hire someone to give you emotional support — another burden that may be too great to bear by the ones you love. Better to know you have help in place than put additional stress on your personal relationships.

10) Ask for help through a higher power.

The power of prayer is infinite and helps us plug in to what I call the spiritual superhighway. Many of us out there keep it real by praying to God directly, but you don’t have to be religious or even belong to a house of worship to bring prayer into your life. In fact, some of the most spiritual people I know are polyamorous when it comes to connecting to the deities. One of my favorite groups to pray to are the angels. According to the Medical Medium Anthony William, there are 144,000 unknown angels who are ready and willing to help you in times of need. They are not as busy as St. Peter or the other bigwigs and have more time to lend a helping hand. Speak out loud to them and speak from the heart on what you truly need. You can also call on the Angel of Faith, Angel of Mercy, and the Angel of Sleep to help you heal.

I hope this helps you along your healing journey – please let me know how else I can support you!

Live Gorgeously,