healing eczema wholly
Eczema was always my warning signal — it still is. But I had to learn, over many years and a lot of work, to befriend these warnings rather than resent them.
Resentment, avoidance and pushing down of the signals my body was sending me only served to perpetuate the cycle of suffering.
Eczema is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks itself, much like an allergic reaction, or other autoimmune diseases.
What all of these conditions have in common is that they represent a departure from nature; the body attacking itself is a body that has been separated from its natural, whole, healed state, and our bodies are giving us signals to pay attention to something that lies deeper — literally, for eczema sufferers, below the surface.
What’s beneath the surface?
The answer will be unique and specific to every individual, and yet what all of us with skin and autoimmune conditions have in common is that these symptoms are a manifestation of some trauma or other that has not been fully digested.
We will have all experienced some sort of trauma in our lives; whether the loss of someone, abuse, neglect, abandonment, etc. These traumas come with emotional charges that need to be felt in order to be metabolised.
For eczema sufferers in particular this tends to be related to shame, guilt, unworthiness, and, perhaps unexpectedly, anger.
However, in our modern culture where emotional expression is often taboo and discouraged, it isn’t uncommon for us to hide these feelings, push them down and allow them to sit and stew in our bodies, forcing them to grow into all sorts of unhealthy shapes.
Emotional charges are energy, and they can be alchemised in beautiful and useful ways, if we know how; but all too often, we are taught that it is safer not to feel or express them, which means this energy is not being used, and in its state of neglect, grows in unhealthy ways.
The way that this manifests will be different from every person, but for those with chronic physical conditions, these symptoms are often an expression of a deeper emotion that has been ignored for months, years, or even lifetimes (I talk a little about intergenerational and ancestral trauma here).
On top of that, a lot of eczema sufferers are empaths; we take on the feelings and burdens of others, often unconsciously. These might be of people we are close to such as family members and friends, but also of the ‘collective’; if there is a global pandemic and widespread loneliness or frustration, for example.
Often, the load we take on is actually so great that we don’t actually have the coping mechanisms to deal with it, and so we bury it deeper within, pretending it isn’t there, numbing and dissociating from the enormity of pain asking to be felt.
This is when it can erupt as a skin condition, interminable, unbearable itching, physical discomfort and pain.
I know — I have been there, many times.
Eczema and other autoimmune conditions can take the body to a point of discomfort where any sort of movement is a challenge, getting out of bed an ordeal, showering an impossibility. The ‘reaction’ at that point, for most, is to numb further.
We haven’t been taught any other way.
Seemingly, the only choice we have is to avoid the pain and desensitise to the discomfort. Wanting it to go away, wishing it all away. Ultimately this desensitises us further from the body and from life itself. It can be extremely disorientating, debilitating, and energy-sapping. We can and do lose the will to live when we are in this cycle for long enough. I know, I have been there, many times.
And when we desensitise from the physical discomfort, these bodily warning signals, we are once again perpetuating the cycle of NOT paying attention to what our body is telling us.
I know it feels nonsensical and backwards, and I know just how impossible it feels to LEAN INTO the pain and discomfort when we are experiencing such extreme bodily angst.
But in my lived experience, I have discovered that this is where the true medicine lies. In being with the sensations, no matter how unbearable. There are many ways to do this — meditations, gentle movement practices, breathing and EFT techniques. Eventually, generally, from within the physical pain, an emotional pain arises.
This is the difficult part, but also the simplest; we have to ALLOW that emotional pain to exist. We have to be with it, allow and receive it, give it permission to move through us in whatever way it must — scream, cry, shake, hyperventilate [see my post on alchemising anger here].
And then, through that act of surrender, one layer of the suffering cycle is shed. We have to trust through this process, and be guided by this trust. We are only given what we can deal with.
This is a continuous practice. The reason I know with conviction that I will not experience another eczema flare-up in the extreme, debilitating ways that I have in the past, is because I am now DOING THE WORK. And I will always continue to do the work. The work, especially for people who manifest physical ailments, is almost always associated with the need to feel on the emotional level.
We need to learn to feel to heal.
Once we feel the ‘charge’ of a trauma or pain that has been asking us to pay attention, and which has manifested as a physical symptom, the charge of that trauma will no longer need to express itself physically. It will unravel and weave itself into something more loving, more beautiful — the essence of what you truly are, and always have been. It’s just that you haven’t been given the unconditional support and permission to BE that beautiful essence of yourself, the unfelt wounds warping your self and your body out of alignment — until now.
The thing about layers is that there are always more layers underneath. Healing is never a one-time event; it is a process.
But as long as you are continuing to be honest with yourself, feeling the feelings that arise rather than avoiding or numbing, and doing the work to move these emotional charges through your body, then you can feel safe in the knowledge that you are 1. no longer accumulating more negative emotional charges and 2. gradually metabolising the emotional charges that have held you in certain patterns, and that you ARE on the path to healing and liberating yourself from this cycle of suffering.
Are you willing to feel to heal?
I have been in extreme discomfort, have pushed away help and stewed in months and months of shame, self-disgust, pity and depression. I have had eczema so bad over my face, neck, torso, and whole body, that I could not go outside for weeks at a time, and only then in full protective gear, to the supermarket with sunglasses and mask and scarf, to avoid being seen. The physical discomfort, the shame, the self-loathing, the anxiety-depression waves, the insomnia — these were all-consuming. I denied any help anyone offered because I believed they couldn’t possibly understand the depth of pain and anguish I was experiencing — so what was the point? I knew I had to work this out for myself.
Things shifted when I started to accept help, even though they didn’t ‘understand’ my condition in an experiential sense. But it gave me the support that I needed to start looking within, gave me the courage and the strength to start looking more honestly at my conditioning, my patterning, my trauma and emotional charges that were keeping me in this ‘victim’ mentality.
I have been there, and I have freed myself now. I am no longer a victim, and I take responsibility and full ownership of my healing process. I am willing to be helped, and I am willing to help.
I am willing to be with my past, to dance with my shadows in honesty integrity, and to celebrate the interconnectedness of my healing journey with that of humanity.
I can be the support and the guide to help you through this process of healing your emotional landscape.
I can help you to navigate your triggers and patterns, bring clarity to the aspects that might be keeping you trapped and afraid of feeling, and provide a safe space for you to allow yourself to feel those feelings.
Once you have experienced ‘feeling’ in a safe space, you will then be able to practice this alone, when you are triggered or when other emotions arise in your healing journey. I will also equip you with tools such as meditation, movement and breathing practices that will allow you to alchemise your feelings into fuel for your journey, for serving your true life’s purpose.
If you feel ready to step into healing your autoimmune condition on an emotional, integrated level, you can find out more about my practice and healing offerings here.
