HEALING FROM SPIRITUAL WOUNDS journey – overcoming the personal wounds that you experienced through distorted spiritual teachings and teachers
Spiritual teachings are supposed to be life giving, empowering instructions for living a happy, meaningful, joyful, love-filled life. They are supposed to help us become fulfilled, responsible adults with our own sense of agency and sovereignty. They are supposed to open our hearts and spirits so we love our neighbors, ourselves, the planet and serve humanity to make a world that’s good for all.
Unfortunately many spiritual teachings have been distorted to make us feel sinful, enslaved, suppressed, ashamed and guilt-ridden. They deliberately close down our hearts, our wills, and our spiritual capacities, taking away our divine birthright of sovereignty, self-esteem, and self-determination.
ARE YOU READY TO HEAL?
Step into the healing you deserve, and which is long overdue. Free yourself of unwarranted guilt, shame, and self- criticism.
In this 10-week journey, we identify common distorted spiritual teachings and explore how they have wounded us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We reframe the distortions to find new perspectives and approaches that are nurturing and uplifting.
What you’ll get when you join:
- A cohort of people who share your experience – you are not alone!
- A fresh new outlook on teachings that have wounded you
- An invitation to truly love yourself
- The freedom to think differently towards yourself and others
- The opportunity to bring forgiveness to yourself and others
Have you been held prisoner by guilt or shame because you were taught that…
- You were born a sinner and condemned to hell
- Your “flesh is weak”
- Your questioning nature is a sign of weakness or doubt
- You don’t have enough faith
- Your negative feelings are bad
- Your instincts are corrupting you
- Your sexual drives are evil
- You should always put God and Others before yourself
- You can do nothing, at least any good, without God
These are painful teachings that can undermine your self-esteem and true spiritual growth. It is time to heal from these old wounds and patterns!
Through the Healing from Spiritual Wounds journey, you receive the support and encouragement you deserve to reveal and restore the amazing individual you are.
- Revive the positive self-image you were born with
- Restore your belief in yourself
- Receive the Divine Love that is the source of all creation
- Learn to forgive yourself for whatever is holding you back
- Rediscover the decisive and strong person you are
- Identify the changes you want to make to become the person you were born to be
Through the Healing From Spiritual Wounds journey, you identify the ways you have been wounded and take steps to heal, grow and thrive!
10 Sessions:
Session 1: Introduction to the program and an opportunity (no obligation) to share your wound(s). In this sharing you learn that you are not alone in your experiences. You will recognize the potential for healing and see the wonderful possibilities awaiting you. Identifying your wounds is the first step.
Session 2: Healing the Body. Heal any negative messages you received from family or religious upbringing about your body. Many of us were taught that the body is a source of shame or is inherently bad. If you learned to mistrust your physical urges and instincts, it’s time to love your body and trust the wisdom your body gives you!
Session 3: Healthy Sexuality. Heal any negative messages you received from family or religious upbringing about your sexuality. Many of us learned that sexuality was wrong, bad or somehow perverse, instead of a powerful life-force energy we can utilize for creativity and pleasure. If your creative impulses were denied, ignored or discouraged, it is time to claim back your sexuality and affirm your own way of being sexual in the world.
Session 4: Radical Self-Care & Compassion. You may have learned that self-care and self-compassion are somehow selfish. Maybe you’ve been trained to think of others’ needs first and ignore or delay your own needs. This can lead to co-dependency, lack of healthy boundaries, giving your precious life energy away and ultimately not even knowing what you need and want. In this Session you look at any resistances you have to self-care and self-compassion. You honor your own needs and desires. You create healthy boundaries so that you’re no longer depleting yourself. Learn effective ways to ask for your own needs to be met and gain tools to give yourself daily compassion!
Session 5: Healing the Heart. Spiritual wounds can cause your heart to close down, contract, shatter or become frozen or caged. The heart is a magnificent, sensitive organ and one of your biggest allies, when you know how to clear pain and allow love to flow once again. When your heart is wounded and left unhealed, you can get stuck in past trauma and repeat emotional patterns over and over. In this Session you identify ways your heart has been wounded and gain tools to clear the heart of hurt, betrayal, anger, loss, and grief. When you are willing to let go of old resentments and pain, you free your heart to open once again.
Session 6: Claiming & Owning your Will. Some spiritual teachings ask you to submit your will to God’s will, discouraging you from developing your own will first. When you develop, claim and own your own will, you are able to make sovereign choices for yourself. In this session we identify how you may be using your will in unhealthy ways – either giving your power away to others or using it to dominate and control others. The secret to healing the will is to no longer allow anything or anyone to dominate and control you and to make free will choices according to your life purpose. In this session you also learn tools to activate and harness your will and visualize how to manifest your will to make your dreams come true.
7: Honor your True Self. If you had a religious upbringing, you may have conformed to a standard way of living and behaving and dutifully fulfilled certain roles and expectations. This often creates a “False Self”, a personal identity based on what others want you to be. This discourages you from forging your own identity or “True Self”. In this Session you explore “False Self” identities you are ready to let go (roles and rules that no longer serve you) and move towards your own Soul’s truth. Living from your True Self requires healthy separation from those who have expected you to be a certain way. Learn tools to speak your truth with love, compassion and non-judgment. In honoring your True Self you gain access to your Soul’s mission and purpose.
Session 8: Heal the Mind of Negative Thinking, Criticism & Judgment. Your mind is a powerful tool when not cluttered with negative thinking, self-criticism and judgment. It’s very common for people to love others and treat others well but treat themselves with corrosive negative self-talk. Your mind should be a tool for higher consciousness, intuition and positive thinking. In this session you take steps to track your negative thinking and negative self-talk and dissolve your inner critic / inner judge once and for all!
Session 9: Cultivating Spirit. Many spiritual teachings discourage your own direct connection to Spirit and require spirituality to look a certain way. What if you have everything you need to connect directly with Spirit? What if there were many creative, unique ways for you to connect with Spirit? In this session you explore this with freedom, excitement and inspiration. You look at any old spiritual beliefs that keep you from opening to Spirit and connecting directly with your own Spirit/Spirit Guides and multi-dimensional reality. You create your own “Inner Temple”, a sacred internal space to explore and honor your own ways of spiritual knowing.
Session 10: Conclusions and healing. There will, of course, be healing exercises and experiences throughout the process. Here you’ll look at self-love, forgiveness, letting go, and moving on. An invitation to expanding your thinking.
So much can come up in the context of these discussions. Join in and face your Truth. Love your body, feel your feelings, think your thoughts, explore who you are, and look at the Universe in a new way. Join the Healing From Spiritual Wounds journey and bring more and more of yourself forward as you revise, rewrite, and rediscover your spiritual truth.
Note: Many wounds inflicted by spiritual leaders: parents, ministers, nuns, priests or religious teachers are deeper than can be addressed in a program like this one. If you were repeatedly abused physically, sexually, and/or psychologically, I am so sorry that you experienced this and I highly recommend you seek one-on-one help through a licensed counselor or therapist.