An inspirational healing journey
by Sarah Govind
Sweta’s eczema story began when her daughter was three months old. A description of her daughter’s skin would paint a picture that many of you are familiar with: the oozing, the flaking, the infections and of course the constant itching. The redness was all over her tiny body from her ankles to her knees, around her waist and up to her neck.
Sweta remembers being in a state of complete and utter exhaustion after dealing with yet another infection, feeling as if she had no strength left, neither emotional nor physical. Her stress levels were high and she wondered what on earth she could do to relieve the suffering that she and her husband were experiencing. Why was this happening to her and her family?
”I was emotionally all drained. I had no strength left to take care of my daughter. Why are we all suffering?”
She had already been down the many avenues that stressed out eczema mothers find themselves exploring. She had seen a number of doctors and had tried many remedies which she had hoped would alleviate her daughter’s suffering. She had had some success with homeopathy; the eczema had improved but the emotional issues and infections remained. And neither vaseline nor steroids had provided her with
the solution she was seeking. She had googled frantically, searching for a way out of this situation but had not yet found the answer.
But then came the moment that would change Sweta’s life: she happened upon the Eczema Expert Facebook group. Within this online community, she discovered other parents of children with eczema who were using natural healing methods and were happy to share their successes. She was initially unsure about taking the plunge and paying for the membership programme after
everything else she had tried. However, she was won over after chatting with one mother who had worked extensively with Rebecca and was full of praise for her methods.
As she learnt about Rebecca, her philosophy and experiences, she liked what she heard. One thing in particular resonated with her: Rebecca was not just a naturopath but a human being who had been on her own eczema journey and reached a place of healing. This personal experience made a difference - here was someone who had got to the root of her own eczema and had healed from within. Sweta thought to herself, “If she can do this, so can I!” She soon became a member of the Eczema Expert community with the feeling that Rebecca was her last hope!
It was at this point when Sweta’s daughter was 9 months old that her true healing began, even though it was hard to see at the time. “How long will it take for my daughter to heal?”, she asked herself.
At the moment of joining, Sweta’s daughter was going through yet another infection and as taking antibiotics for the third time. In their first one on one session together, Rebecca provided suggestions on how to reduce the infection cycle and prescribed herbal tinctures for Sweta’s daughter to take. Once following this advice, her daughter began to make gradual progress, but in her state of stress, Sweta struggled to take in what was happening before her eyes. The stress was almost clouding her judgement, preventing her from seeing the true extent of her daughter’s healing.
“So one day when I was talking to Rebecca, I knew my daughter was making progress but the next day when I saw my daughter itch, I just went numb and I did not know what to do”.
She turned up to every available group call, armed with questions: “Why is my daughter not sleeping! Why is my daughter not eating! Why is she still itching after several months of tinctures?” Mentally, she was unable to calm down. In this state of tension, she was even stressing out about how to be stress free! She kept going as best she could, taking advantage of the help on offer and the support of the other mothers in the eczema community. Throughout this period, Rebecca was a calming presence, encouraging her to imagine her daughter getting better, picturing in her mind an image of her daughter’s skin being healed.
Sweta’s saviour from stress came in the form of Gwen Orwiler, inner child advocate and tapping practitioner. As luck should have it, at this point in Sweta’s healing journey, Rebecca had introduced free group tapping sessions as a benefit of Caterpillar membership.
Tapping, also known as emotional freedom technique, involves tapping on acupressure points on the body, helping you to calm your nervous system. It is a powerful way of releasing feelings of anxiety, fear and overwhelm.
Sweta decided to sign up and see how this would work as a form of stress relief. She joined a group tapping session along with several other eczema mothers. To begin with, when she saw some of the other mothers in the group crying and openly sharing their vulnerability, she wondered what she was getting herself into. How could this possibly work? But the first time she volunteered to be the subject of the tapping was a revelation to her. As she tapped along with Gwen and released one of the emotions that was stuck deep inside her subconscious mind, she felt a huge change come over her.
“That day I felt very light. I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know what happened to my daughter. I saw a huge shift in my daughter’s skin and I’m just amazed how light I was feeling.”
Sweta continued to tap regularly with the weekly groups, supplementing them with some one on one sessions, and discovered that not only was she feeling calmer and able to deal with her daughter’s scratching but that the eczema was getting better. And all because she was now able to manage her feelings of stress!
“After tapping I was able to accept, yes my daughter has eczema and I know she will heal”.
Tapping as a form of stress release had a had a profound effect on Sweta’s feelings about her daughter having eczema and this was clear in several ways.
First of all, her mindset changed completely. She no longer wondered why her family and other families like hers were suffering. She was able to visualise her daughter healing and understand the importance of doing this.
Secondly, she could now take on board Rebecca’s advice and as a result understand the healing process taking place in her daughter’s body.
Thirdly, she could release her feelings of self doubt about the journey she was on towards taking control of eczema naturally. She could now deal with the external pressure being placed on her by friends and family members who doubted Rebecca’s methods.
“All these feelings of self doubt were there but after tapping, I knew that whatever I was doing was the right thing”.
Now looking back on her journey, Sweta feels as if she was led to Rebecca and Gwen by something divine. In those early months of never ending healing crises and infections, it seemed impossible to lift herself out of the state of stress that was her everyday existence. But now her life has transformed completely. Sweta and her daughter have reached a place of healing.
“Rebecca and Gwen have helped so much. Not only has my daughter’s skin healed but
also my stress levels - I hardly get stressed. I still get a little bit of anxiety when my
daughter itches but I am able to calm myself down. I don’t just sit and watch my daughter and feel helpless now. I feel like I can do this. I am able to take control of the eczema!
Sweta would like to leave everyone reading this with one last message of hope:
“I really want to tell all mothers that eczema is not the end of the world and your kids’ eczema definitely isn’t!”
コメント