There is a lot of buzz lately around the idea that the root of all healing is in the gut.

So many sensitive souls get stuck policing their food intake to “heal their gut” and end up in worse condition than when they started, often overly stressed and disordered in eating. It has gotten me really questioning, where is the root of healing beyond the bottom a probiotic bottle?

I humbly suggest the roots of healing can be found in:

• Uncovering the truth of who we are, both individually and collectively
• Opening and tending to our wounds, and letting others bear witness to this
• Finding and returning to the infinite well of love and resources that are our birthright
• When we stray from the well, as humans do, remembering how to find the way back, again and again

When I have the honor of holding space for another to touch their inner source of knowing, their own infinite well, I never fail to be deeply awed and humbled. In many ways, that is the root of healing as I have come to know it.

So many of our hearts are wounded, we have lost touch with our gut feelings, we overly rely on thinking, or on the flipside do not allow for enough logic and reason. Some of us find our hearts out of balance, our guts out of balance, our heads out of balance, and many times all three.

Here I offer some practical, action-oriented tips to consider as well.

For the gut:

1) Practicing mindfully slowing down your eating and chewing your food to aid in digestion and nutrient assimilation

2) Seeing about bringing more awareness to what you are eating and paying attention to how the foods you choose to eat feel in your body, bring you pleasure and fuel you

3) Absolutely consider experimenting with some probiotics or fermented foods to support gut microbes if your medical provider okays it

On to the heart, consider:

1) Soothing your heart with some expansive breathing

2) Learning some forgiveness practices and heart-centered yoga poses

3) Letting your feelings out constructively if you can and if you can’t, consider reaching out for help, this is courageous work

Finally, regarding thoughts consider:

1) Accepting you do not have to believe everything you think

2) Practicing gray thinking vs. black and white thinking (ie: replacing “always” and “never” with “sometimes” and replacing “but” with “and”)

3) Investigating and loosening outdated beliefs, and you do not have to do this alone either, many times it is impossible to do it alone, as we cannot see ourselves from all angles, we do not easily see our own armor and defenses because they have served us so well

The above practices support each other, so in turn attending to your gut may help your racing thoughts slow, or doing some expansive breathing may relax your belly, or reigning in rigid and chaotic thinking may open your heart. 

We are not pieces that act independently, everything is a part of the whole of who we are. 

And we have the power to pay attention, see what works for us, reach out for help and ultimately choose how we want to spend our time and how we want to care for ourselves.

Healing at the root is often so much more than popping some probiotics or eating sauerkraut. Healing at the root is really an on-going practice of connecting to and caring for all parts of ourselves when looking for answers to life’s big questions. The more we do this, the more we start to integrate and function from a place of wholeness, not perfection, but a continuum of loving presence. 

Healing happens moment to moment.

Let me know if I can support you around any of this. Jen@NourishedEnergy.com