Our bodies and psychosomatic symptoms
Our bodies are a refuge for our being. They are there for us day after day accompanying us in this journey. When we are in a healthy state, our bodies allow us to work and enjoy life. It’s easy to take this for granted and, when things are smooth, we rarely give back in the form of rest or in allowing the pain and difficult sensations to have their own place.
Sometimes, we enter a new phase due to some event (or events) happening where we feel like our bodies have suffered too much and a chronic illness starts to become a reality. We don’t see a way out of it, and it seems like we will never feel like we used to. Our bodies ask us to stop, because something is not aligned anymore and we need to take care of the new emerging reality.
These are difficult moments where we often feel lost and that there is no way back. However, these moments also invite for reflection on life, on our place in it and how we relate in our families and other circles. There are many remedies for chronic illness, but they usually focus on reducing simptoms and maintaining a decent quality of life, if possible. This offers some relief, and can be good enough for many people.
Other times, the nature of the illness puzzles us and we want to understand it in a different way. Maybe the official treatments no longer bring the relief they once did, and we find ourselves in a crossroads. We wonder if there is a different way to relate to the illness, and if we have to live with this forever. We often think that this is the genetic lottery, and that we are bound to this experience because of our luck. This can bring acceptance for some people, but it can also make us wonder if everything in life is set in stone and there is no flexibility to our condition.
Managing autoimmune conditions with EFT
I was at this crossroads in 2020, after years of chronic eczema and having tried every remedy I could think of. The topical steroids were causing more itching when I applied them, reinforcing the rashes. I was getting out of options and getting tired of it all. I felt helpless and frustrated, hoping there could be another way.
When I found EFT, something inside knew that this was the path, and that I could finally access the root of the illness. EFT works by reducing the emotional charge of situations of the present and memories of the past. I thought that, even if this didn’t help with the eczema, I could still have a more relaxed life. I also had the intuition that certain situations and expectations were causing my skin to itch, even if the connection was a mystery.
EFT allowed me to work on various aspects: the physical itch and wounds, the possible connection to food, the situations that were making the skin react, and the memories that I thought were the origin of the rashes. It took time and a lot of persistance, and gradually I started to be okay with the eczema. This acceptance meant that I wasn’t worrying so much about the state of my skin and that I would be okay with whatever state it was in.
My worries started dissolving, by letting them be. This sounds paradoxical, and it often is with many things in the inner world, our bodies and our psyches. At this point, the eczema wasn’t part of my identity any longer, and it started to go away on its own. Who could’ve guessed this after so much effort to make it go away in the past.
Looking back, the eczema has been such a great teacher: about myself, my body, the nature of illness, and how I was living my life.
I often hear about people’s stories with chronic illness and autoimmune deseases. I can see the amount of suffering they are going through. There are so many possible benefits when we start looking inward into the pain we’ve suffered, our experiences and our bodies.