Holistic Support for Empaths

“By protecting others from our trauma, we offer them safety and the opportunity to build resilience. They can then pass this down to the next generation. We create more room for growth in their nervous systems by first creating more room in our own.”

— Resmaa Menakem

We are in an unprecedented and momentous time in history.

Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) are those who are naturally empathetic with huge hearts and often find themselves in caretaking roles at home and in society. They tend to be nurses, therapists, healers, teachers, activists, and artists.

Recently the coronavirus is demanding that sensitive folks take on even more work and care taking as so many in our collective community have been negatively impacted.

I myself am a sensitive soul as a psychotherapist, teacher, and energy healer, and many of my clients and students are as well.

In my past, as a sensitive healer I suffered from burnout and energy depletion daily.  I would choose to go weeks without reading the news because it felt too overwhelming.  I remember not returning phone calls to loved ones because I felt too tired from others’ stories and emotional experiences. I suffered sleepless nights as a result of my thoughts getting stuck in repetitive loops. 

Community, nature, and inner resourcing are vital to an empath’s overall health.

If you are a sensitive person, it is vital for you to learn how to regulate your nervous system and remain connected to community and the Earth. If you are suffering from burnout, you may be negatively impacting your own health and the people you care for and tend to.

Besides this, you deserve to live a meaningful life outside of the valuable work that you do. Most training in the healing and helping professions teaches best practices to support and guide others. However, you can also learn how to do this without discounting your own wellbeing.

The combination of community, nature connection, and inner resourcing provides sustainable and preventative medicine for empaths. Sensitive folks need each other. We also need to nurture and be nurtured by our relationship with mother Earth as we support others. It is detrimental that you learn how to tend to your own well being as you tend to others.

Community

COVID-19 has led to more social isolation; however we still need community. Study after study shows the positive impact of learning and interacting within community settings. Psychologist Susan Pinker states, “Face to face contact releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters…and is enough to release oxytocin, which increases your level of trust, and it lowers your cortisol levels, so it lowers your stress.” During quarantine, the zoom group calls are very important to your sense of belonging.  Community activities outside and with small groups are vital to overall health.  Sensitive people need to feel held after holding so many others throughout the day.

Nature

Quarantine during the coronavirus has forced many empaths to work inside and on screens or work long hours in hospital settings. It is now more important than ever to balance your time on screen with your time outside. Your health is directly connected to your relationship with nature. In Eva M. Selhub MD and Alan C. Logan ND’s Your Brain on Nature, they write:

“Negative ions are charged molecules that we cannot feel, see, smell, or taste. The level of these molecules that we inhale is dependent on the environment that surrounds us. Negative ions are found in abundance in forests and near bodies of moving water.  Negative ions are also lowered by electronic devices found in homes and offices, such as computer screens, photocopy machines, and televisions.”

Empaths are often more sensitive to their environments. It is crucial to spend long amounts of time outside. Also, studies have proven that human beings are innately connected to nature. This relational imprint is within our genetic code. It is no wonder that, “City dwellers have a 20 percent higher risk of anxiety disorders and a 40 percent higher risk of mood disorders as compared to people in rural areas.”

Inner Resourcing 

It is more important than ever for the sensitive ones to learn new resources for self care. Sensitive people’s clients, patients, students, and children now have a new set of struggles including health issues, unresolved individual, collective, and ancestral trauma, as well the negative impacts of climate change. Your inner capacity  must grow in order to adjust to the current social and ecological environment. Simply learning how to wash your hands and wear protective gear, (nurses) the significance of countertransference (therapists), and creating concrete lesson plans and instructions (teachers) is no longer sufficient for self care.

Grounding and connecting to your body and the Earth can support the work that you do. In the book, Earthing, Clinton Ober states:

“We humans have a bio-electrical connection with the earth. One that, with simple ground contact, neutralizes charge in the body and naturally protects the nervous system and the endogenous fields of the body from extraneous electrical interference.”

“Earthing” or “Grounding” is an example of a basic tool that can support holistic health and well being. When you learn how to ground you are more present and engaged with the people you love and nurture. Through grounding into your body, you are creating a more loving relationship with yourself while also deepening your relationship with Mother Earth. 

Community, Earth connection, and new inner resources are integral to your health and joy as a sensitive person.

As an empath you are being called to expand your emotional and energetic capacity to step forward into leadership for your families and greater Earth community.  You deserve a meaningful and soulful life, and it is important that you have new tools and support systems to hold you and the people you love and care for during this challenging time.