Healing Journey

Let's talk about sleep!!!!! Who here struggles with sleep? let me know below is it falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up in the early morning? Is it panic, gut symptoms? Please share!!!

Hey! Welcome to the Healing Journey tribe. In case you're new here and are wondering what I am all about - I help women crush anxiety so they can embrace life with calm confidence! I take a different spin on anxiety then most traditional therapists, because I heal from a holistic perspective. This means that in addition to therapy techniques (yes, I am a trained therapist), I also dive into the biological causes. I explore things like diet, detox, heavy metals, mold, ...gut infections and other lifestyle factors. I also have access to functional lab testing to do a deep dive, and often incorporate supplements into my work with clients. Healing involves a mind-body collaboration. If this is something that resonates with you, stick around! (and be sure to join my community FB group).

Can you think of 4 positive memories? Does it come easy or is it a STRUGGLE? I have talked to many women where this is a massive struggle. The present with this low grade depression. Nothing really excites them. Even their voice is heavy. Everything makes them anxious. They are easily startled, worry about everything, may suffer from panic attacks, and stress out all the time. They are locked in a world of negative emotions and have no idea how to get out. Does... this sound familiar? What is the problem that these women have in common? They have damage to their limbic system. This is the part of the brain that activates the stress response. And for many different reasons, it can become damaged and overactive. It will start to fire off warning bells over just about anything. Their brain is so busy in the limbic system loop, that it forgets all of the other stored memories that were positive. It doesn’t have time to journey into this part of the brain. So what I am essentially saying is that the brain damage in their limbic system is causing their anxiety. In one of my activities in the Holistic Anxiety Fix, we address the limbic system and I teach women how to heal it, just like I healed mine. In fact, it is a favourite part of the program. In fact, one of my client’s - Alison, shared that the result she was excited about the most during our work together was ‘learning how to calm the limbic system’. Want to learn more? This is the LAST CALL!! I am running a masterclass TOMORROW! - 3 Secrets to Healing Anxiety Without Medication. I’d love to see you here. Sign up with the link in the bio, or here: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #anxiety #stressrelief #limbicsystem #healing #healinganxiety #anxietystrategies #masterclass #anxietymasterclass #free #webinar #mentalhealth #healingmentalhealth #hiking #killarney #ontarioprovincialparks #anxietydisorder #depression #healingdepression

Do not eat these foods if you want to lower your anxiety... Want a meal plan? Tune in to learn how you can get my free FALL mealplan (this one rocks!)

I have spoken to so many women that said that COVID helped their anxiety, because they no longer had to leave the house. These women struggled with social anxiety, and for them, the day to day social interactions were super stressful. So, COVID gave them a break. But problems started happening when the lockdown was lifted and they had to return to normal. Because now, they had to re-engage in social interactions. But they were out of practice. Because they had be...en able to avoid it for so many months, their anxiety in social situations now felt even more out of control. Avoidance is one of the key strategies used with many people who struggle with anxiety. You don’t need to have social anxiety to be avoiding - we can avoid confrontation, events that make us stressful, doing certain things that are anxiety provoking, spiders, or whatever else we are afraid of. Don’t get me wrong - avoidance is a very successful strategy - the anxiety does decrease. But, avoidance is NOT a healthy one. It just allows you to avoid the inevitable. That is where courage comes in. It takes courage to take a step to move through anxiety. It takes courage to try a different strategy. It takes courage to heal. Want to learn more about strategies for deep healing of anxiety and stop the avoidance? Join me this coming Tuesday for my masterclass - 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Anxiety Without Medication. Link in bio, or here: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #anxiety #COVID #socialanxiety #healinganxiety #anxietystrategies #masterclass #webinar #anxietywebinar #mentalhealth #anxietystruggles #anxietydisorder #free #selfhealers #selfhealing #fears #facingyourfears

Kim thought she was doing everything right. She had a super solid yoga practice. She meditated every morning. She thought she ate a solid, healthy diet. She did everything - or THOUGHT she did everything within her power to be Zen. And yet, she wasn’t feeling very ZEN at all. In fact, she felt quite the opposite. Her anxiety was intense. She suffered from panic attacks and constantly felt on edge. ... And she was at a loss. Because she had no idea what to do. When Kim came to see me, one of the first things that I did was to put her on the ‘anti-anxiety diet’. What the heck is that, you may ask? This is a diet that eliminates all of the high inflammatory foods. So that your nervous system can start to calm down. Because belief it or not, your food can have a strong link to your anxiety. And if you are eating foods that are triggering an immune response, well you could be stuck in the anxiety loop for good. Want to know what to eat? Sign up for my FREE masterclass: 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Anxiety without medication. I’m giving away a FREE meal plan for 7 days - just like the one I used with this client and I use in my 12 Week Program - The Holistic Anxiety Fix. Sign up at the link in the bio, or here: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #mealplan #free #giveaway #testimony #anxiety #healinganxiety #anxietystrategies #webinar #masterclass #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #anxietydisorder #healingstrategies #therapist #funcitonalmedicine

I was speaking to a potential client on a complementary call. We were discussing her joining my program. She spent the call sharing her story of intense anxiety with me. She had numbness and her worries were getting so bad that she was afraid to go to the grocery store. She was miserable. And she wanted her old life back. She wanted to be calm, and dreamed of a time when she could live a day without the overhanging dread. We talked about her commitment level a...nd other types of treatment she had already tried and I really felt that she would be a GREAT fit for my 12 week foundational program - The Holistic Anxiety Fix. So I invited her to join. But she was incredibly hesitant to invest any sort of money to some random woman on the internet. This client had been taken to the cleaners before. And understandably she was hesitant. Very hesitant. What if I wasn't legit? What if I didn't know what I was doing? What if I was a scam. Given that I work with women who struggle with high levels of anxiety, her response didn't really surprise me. But, she took the leap. And she joined the program. And her results were incredible! She crushed it. (The anxiety that is). In less than a week, I am sharing my 3 secrets to getting rid of anxiety without having to take medication as well as many more stories of transformation. Want to learn more, join me free by click here, or the link in the bio. https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #anxiety #stressreduction #healinganxiety #free #masterclass #healingjourney #trust #kilarney #journey #mountainclimbing #stressrelief #anxietyrelief #anxietystrategies #anxietystruggles #healing #worry #OCD #panic

Feeling like you want to give up? Tired of the panic attacks? Here is what you may be missing... To get the link to my webinar, put WEBINAR in the comments box

I’ll be honest. Before I really took my own healing journey seriously, I was a HOT mess. I would have heart palpitations on the regular. One of the first times this happened to me was several years ago, right before I was supposed to be meeting with a therapy client. At this time, I couldn’t get my body to calm down, my thoughts were racing and I was super jittery. Obviously not putting forth my best self. I was so disturbed by what was going on with my body, that... I cancelled the session and headed straight to a walk-in clinic. You can probably guess that I didn’t get many answers there.. In fact, the symptoms continued. Fast forward a few months later when I ran my first DUTCH test (this is a test I do with private clients). It measures your cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that is produced in response to stress. And if you are under chronic stress (whether from internal hidden stressors, or external stressors) it can cause your cortisol levels to sky rocket. My test results were really telling. There was a point in my day that my cortisol levels were 4 TIMES higher than it was supposed to be. And you guessed it, it was the same time I offered therapy sessions. (I was a new therapist at the time and very nervous). High cortisol levels can cause a whole BUNCH of symptoms related to anxiety, as you can see. Want to learn how I reduced my cortisol levels? Join my for my webinar next week, 3 secrets to healing anxiety. The link is in my bio, or you can click here: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #masterclass #webinar #anxietyrelief #anxietysupport #healing #healingjourney #therapist #holsitictherapist #healingaxiety #covid #worry #stress #gutissues #ibs #cortisolmanager #cortisol #rootcause #healingjourney

I have to admit, I was not a big fan of conventional medical doctors after my intense struggle with gut health and anxiety. I held a lot of anger at the profession and was so frustrated at their inability to provide solutions that would actually heal me, instead of recommendations to medicate me. I didn't like that they wanted to bury my symptoms without getting to the root cause of why I was feeling like a$$. And then I met Dr Isabel. She is an MD who has turned to func...tional medicine because of her own health journey. She actually apologized to me on behalf of the medical community for my dreadful experiences. Talk about a healing moment. So you can imagine that I was incredibly honoured to be invited to her podcast. Dr Isabel and I sat down a few weeks ago and chatted about anxiety and alternative approaches to healing. You can download the podcast episode directly right HERE. https://www.buzzsprout.com//5531008-holistic-approach-to-h Or, if you wanna see our beautiful faces, you can check out the Youtube of the recording HERE. https://youtu.be/aMMXmBfme8E

What is cortisol, how it might be impacting your anxiety, and what to do if it is out of balance..

So many women tell me that they need to check in with their husband before they make a purchase that would help them to heal their anxiety. As a therapist, I get it. You want to make sure that you are both on the same page. Communication is important. If you don’t struggle with anxiety, it can be hard to truly understand what it feels like to be completely overwhelmed with an emotion that feels out of control. It can often be hard for partners to put themselves in ...your shoes. To people who don’t understand anxiety, the answer can be simple. Just STOP worrying. If you are reading this, you know that if the solution were that easy, you would have healed your anxiety already. Oftentimes it is hard to communicate to your partner just how debilitating anxiety can be. To help them to understand why healing is worth and, and the importance that accessing help from an expert actually plays. Your partner may not understand the panic or the sleepless nights, or the whirlwind your mind spends every day in, or how real the worries actually feel; how uncontrollable they seem. This is why it is important to let your partner know how valuable their support is on your healing journey and be honest with them around exactly what you are going through and how debilitating it is. Let them in on the dream. Share with them how different your life will be WHEN you are healed. Paint the picture for them of how you will be able to be more present with your children, more fun loving, able to travel or more chilled out. If you have tried to heal anxiety on your own and haven’t quite gotten to where you want to be, then it may be time to take the next step in the journey. #anxiety #healing #healanxeity #worry #thoughttraps #healthymarriage #mentalhealth #anxietydisroder #anxietyrelief #communication #husbandandwifeteam #healingmentalillness #stressrelief #anxietystrategies

I hear this all the time from women suffering from anxiety. The reason why I can’t achieve a calm mind is because I can’t control my thoughts, it’s because of my mindset The messages these women tell themselves take on this pattern: It’s my fault I haven’t healed because I am not good enough. My mindset isn’t strong enough. I am flawed, broken and a failure. It took me a while to realize the messages I was saying to myself about healing. I am going to be really vul...nerable here and share them with you. Despite wanting to prove to the medical and healing community that I could heal, I had these deep seated fears that I would fail. At times, I thought that I just needed to try harder. That I wasn’t doing it right and I needed to gain better control of my mind. I worried that my body was broken and that something was inherently wrong with me, that I would never be able to get rid of the anxiety and gut issues and that I just needed to learn to live this way. If I am really honest, I shamed myself for my inability to calm myself down and heal. Does this sound familiar? Let me know in the comments below. What these women were missing (and initially I missed out on this too) was that healing anxiety isn’t all about the mind. In the majority of cases, there is actually a physical cause that is triggering anxiety. This is what happens: *A physical trigger happens. *There is a cascade of symptoms. *One of these symptoms includes anxiety - racing thoughts, panic attacks, inability to calm down. What can the physical triggers be? These include *low potassium *low magnesium *worms and parasites (no, you don’t have to travel to have these) *mold toxicity *food intolerances *chemical toxicity *copper toxicity *limbic system damage And the list goes on. Let me know in the comments which triggers for anxiety are new to you! #anxiety #triggers #rootcause #healinganxiety #anxietystrategies #health #mentalhealth #healingmentalillness #strong #womenempowerment n #anxietydisorder #panic #racingthoughts #shame #guilt #healing #affirmations

This is your last call . . Take the next step in an incredible journey of self care - by realizing that you are worth it. .... . By acknowledging that you can heal . . You can do this by diving deeper into how to heal yourself and your anxiety. . . Join me tomorrow afternoon, that is Tuesday September 15th were I talk about 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Anxiety Without Medication. Sign up HERE to join me: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1. . . You won't regret this act of self-care. . . #quotes #quoteoftheday #quotestoliveby #quotesdaily #healing #healingjourney #selfcare #healinganxiety #anxiety #worry #anxietydisorder #stress #stressfree #stressrelief #youcanheal #holistic #webinar #therapist #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalillness #healingmentalillness #anxietysupport #anxietyproblems See more

For many women, the struggle to manage anxiety can feel like a never ending, hopeless battle. Each day, they start off completely drained - either exhausted from a restless sleep the night before, or overwhelmed by the high levels of panic they woke up with in the morning. They worry about the worry. And it turns into a vicious cycle. ... These women often try many strategies - yoga, breathing, therapy. All great strategies, but they never fully do the trick. Their anxiety continues to nag at them. Their body continues to verge on panic attacks, nausea or numbness. They just want their lives to return to normal. But they have no idea how to get it there. What these women don’t realize is that diet plays a HUGE role is either creating or healing anxiety. Often women are so focused on ‘willing’ the body and mind to calm down, that they miss this piece all together. Here is what they need to do: #1) Cut out the sugar and processed foods #2) Ditch inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy and soy #3) Nourish their bodies with healthy foods like organic veggies and healthy proteins. For many women, the idea of changing their diet can feel like it’s adding even more overwhelm to the anxiety that is already there. They have no idea exactly what to eat, or what to cut out. So they freeze and don’t do anything. And that is why on Tuesday September 15th I am giving away a free 7 day meal plan to all the women who attend my special webinar - 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Anxiety Without Medication. Here is the link: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 (or in the bio). Looking forward to seeing you there! #anxiety #stress #panic #diet #paleo #mentalhealth #Healingmentalhealth #mentalhealthdisorder #healinganxiety #reducinganxiety #stressfree #sleepstrategies #stressedout #women #nature

Taking time for you. 3 strategies to slow down the go/go/go Set aside some time to really dive into healing and join me this Tuesday for my Webinar. Want the link? Type WEBINAR in the comments!!

Many women tell me they go on medication for anxiety, but they don't want to. . . They are afraid of the side effects. They don't want to have to rely on a pill. They want to heal naturally. .... . But their anxiety, especially in this COVID era, became OUT OF CONTROL. . . They were desperate. They needed relief from the physical symptoms of panic, numbness, racing heart and sweating. They wanted a break from the racing thoughts, from the dread. They wanted to stop being afraid to socialize. They wanted their life back. . . Many of the medications for anxiety work today by activating the GABA receptors. GABA is calming, and so, if you are low in GABA, or for whatever reason, the GABA is not doing it's job, the medication works. It calms the body. . . But what it (the medication) doesn't do, is figure out WHY the GABA wasn't playing the role it was supposed to in the first place. Or why the nervous system is so heightened. . . What if there was a way to get to the bottom of things? A way to figure out why your body is so easily stressed out about seemingly small things? A way to get to the root cause. And then, when you figured out the root cause, you can actually heal it! . . This is what I talk about in my upcoming webinar - 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Your Anxiety without Medication. I'll be live this coming Tuesday September 15th. Sign up HERE to join me: https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 #anxiety #webinar #free #joinme #together #healinganixety #healanxiety #anxietyrelief #worry #panic #anxietydisorder #healinganxietydisorders #progress #medication #holistichealth #therapist #worryfree #mentalhealth #mentalhealthfacts #secret

I had one woman tell me she was sick and tired of learning breathing strategies. . . Instead, she wanted her anxiety GONE. She didn't want to have it ruining her life ANYMORE. .... . And quite franking, the breathing strategies just weren't cutting it. . . So why is it then, that everyone suggests breathing strategies for anxiety. . . I'm trained as a yoga teacher, so I cannot deny that breathing IS important. It helps to reset your ENTIRE nervous system. It tells your brain and body that it's safe and it allows your body to enter into a state of relaxation. . . It's an important player in the shift between anxious and calm. . . BUT . . It's not typically the root cause. Which is why its not usually enough. . . Healing anxiety involves getting to the root of EXACTLY what is causing it. The reason you need the breathing in the first place. . . Is it mindset? . . Is it tanked minerals? . . Is it inflammatory foods? . . Is it infections? . . Want to learn more about what the root cause of YOUR anxiety could be? Join me next Tuesday September 15 for my FREE webinar, 3 Secrets to Getting Rid of Your Anxiety Without Medication. https://go.healingjourneyservices.com/live-training-1 or link in the bio #anxiety #stress #worry #overwhelm #yoga #rootcause #healinganxiety #mentalhealth #mentalillness #anxietydisorderawareness #anxietyproblems #anxietyrelief #healingjourney #breathe #breath #breathingstrategies