I used to work as an assistant psychologist.
Working with children and families.
Talking to them about mental health difficulties.
Helping them work through them using CBT.
I saw children with anxiety mostly.
And at the time, my mental health was not great.
I used to have panic attacks.
I would have one every time.
Before I had a session with a client.
I felt like a fraud, an imposter.
Who was I to be talking to my clients about anxiety and panic attacks.
When I didn't have a handle on my own panic.
It was embarrassing.
I was well into my healing journey at this stage.
Doing energy work.
And one day I decided to sit with my panic and get to the bottom of it.
So I did.
I sat.
I went into the energy.
I talked to it.
Asked it what the panic was about?
Why was I having panic attacks?
And after deep soul searching.
Deep diving.
I got to the root of the issue.
And the answer I got back was that I was having a panic attack because I didn't trust myself to handle whatever my clients brought up in session.
I didn't believe in myself.
My confidence was low.
This was really enlightening for me and of course it brought with it more questions.
And it just so happened that the week I had gotten to the bottom of my panic attacks.
I had booked myself into a women's only shamanic retreat.
I remember setting intentions and asking for healing.
But it has been so long ago that I cant remember what I asked for.
I do remember that the retreat was beautiful.
I cried a lot.
I took part in a sweat lodge naked.
Something I have never done before.
Something I never thought I could do.
But I did.
And I remember going into work the following week with a new found confidence.
And when it came to seeing clients.
I didn't have a panic attack before a session again.
I had healed it.
Which was contrary to the popular message at the time in psychology or at least where I was working.
Which was that it was all about managing anxiety and panic.
Which I did not agree with at all.
I didn't believe this in my heart.
It never sat right with me.
I believed it could be healed completely.
It wasn't a life sentence or something that needed to be managed for a lifetime.
It could be released.
And so I was super glad my belief was confirmed when I healed my own panic attacks completely.
So I wanted to share this.
To give you hope, inspiration and an idea of how you too can go about healing it for yourself.
Providing an alternative and an holistic treatment for panic attacks.