A Simple Somatic Practice to Uncover Your Innate Wisdom
One of the things I love about the work I do is I get to hold space for others and listen deeply to them. And in that space, I witness, again and again, the miracle of people finding their inner peace and freedom.
I get to see the innate wisdom we all carry in our hearts and bodies. People uncover beautiful answers to their questions and dilemmas.
I watch pain, difficult patterns, and stuck places, sometimes held for decades, dissolve. And I see the blossoming that follows in their lives, relationships, work, creativity.
It’s so simple, yet so astonishing every time. It takes my breath away.
The Surprising Path to Peace and Freedom
It might surprise you to hear that the key to your inner peace and freedom is in your suffering.
I love this. Because it means our suffering has gifts in it. Rich gifts of growth, healing, transformation, and yes, layers of deeper peace and freedom.
It means that the path through my suffering leads to a beautiful place if I know how to walk that path in a fertile way. And that the Universe is not out to get me, but rather is on my side, leading me to greater inner peace and freedom, if I am willing to accept the invitation.
Your suffering also tends to lead you to your calling, the unique brilliance and gifts you have to share, the way you find your most profound fulfillment and joy.
This doesn’t mean you should go out and court suffering. In any human life, we get plenty of it. And I don’t mean that you should wallow in suffering. That would be your key to inner hell.
Whatever suffering is arising in us is an invitation to let go of a place within where we are not yet free or not aligned with the truth of who we are and the truth of what is.
Saying this does not mean that others are given carte blanche to oppress, harm, or behave terribly toward us or anyone. It doesn’t make harmful behaviors acceptable in any way or excuse them. Nor does it mean you should beat yourself up for feeling suffering. It’s normal and a part of human life.
However, we can heal our suffering, rather than live with the pain and limitation of it.
Discovering the Miracle Cure
I want to share with you a simple, but powerfully effective tool I use with myself and my students to deal with inner pain. I call it The Miracle Cure because the results and the speed with which it works seem miraculous.
The Miracle Cure leads to our innate inner peace and freedom by welcoming and bringing loving awareness to our suffering, which is what our suffering wants. It wants to be seen, heard, felt all the way through, and then, released. Suffering is clamoring for attention, but loving, wise attention.
The greatest discovery of my life has been that everything dissolves in the presence of loving awareness, except the truth. And all we need is loving awareness for any suffering or lies we are carrying within to dissolve. Amazing, right? Test it out for yourself.
The Miracle Cure works by engaging the extraordinary wisdom of the body and letting go of your story about your suffering. The story about why you are suffering is what keeps you stuck. As long as you replay the story in your head, you will be stuck with the feelings and the unhelpful patterns. This is the first key to know about getting free inside.
I first learned a version of The Miracle Cure from a coach called Christian Mickelsen on a free webinar he led. I deepened my understanding of it through my study and practice of The Sedona Method. And I made it my own by practicing it over and over and blending my experience and study of somatic healing with it.
So, when I lead the process with a student, it may take different forms, as I let myself be led by my intuition, by what is arising and needed in the moment, and by the many modalities I have learned.
You can learn the simplest form right now and it will serve you beautifully. It’s a potent tool for helping yourself and others.
How to Practice the Miracle Cure
Think of an issue that has been troubling you in some way. Connect with that issue until you feel it. This usually doesn’t take long.
Now, look inside your body. Where do you feel those feelings most strongly in your body?
Focus on that part of the body and bring your attention to the very epicenter where the sensation is strongest.
Let go of all your thoughts about the issue and focus solely on the sensations. What do they feel like? Describe them.
Keep your awareness on the epicenter of the sensation. Breathe into it. Give it space. Let it know that you feel it, see it, hear it. Send it love and compassion.
Be patient. This pain is wanting to be acknowledged. Images and thoughts may arise. You can note these, but return to the sensations and keep breathing into them and bringing loving awareness to them.
Allow the sensations to be as they are and to shift and change as they do. They may get stronger, move to another part of the body, soften or dissolve, or change in some other way. Attend to them patiently without judgment and with compassion. Keep your focus on wherever the sensation is strongest and keep breathing into that point and sending it love.
Almost always, if you do this patiently without trying to make anything happen, the sensations will soften or dissolve. Usually, they will dissolve partially at first. Keep going, stay with what remains until it has completely dissolved, if possible.
Then, notice what remains. The space, peace, openness that remains. Welcome this with your awareness. Allow yourself to rest as that inner freedom, peace, or spaciousness which is your true nature. It may feel empty, quiet, calm, or neutral.
That’s it. You have done the Miracle Cure. You have released suffering.
After Finding Peace and Freedom
Notice there can sometimes be a tendency to go looking for the suffering and recreate it now that it’s gone, to feel uneasy without your familiar pain. Let yourself instead rest in the peace and freedom that you are.
If the Miracle Cure isn’t working for you in the moment, just let it go. Don’t stress. Don’t force it. Often, when we are dealing with a very painful issue, we need someone else to hold space for us and guide the process because it is hard to generate enough courage to bring awareness to our suffering without our defenses and distractions arising. And it can be hard for us to generate enough love and compassion for ourselves. Sometimes we need to talk about our suffering first, for it to be heard and for us to sort out things about it. Sometimes we need to take some action around it before it is ready to be released. Remember, suffering is a messenger and an invitation.
Or we may just need to return to the practice at another time. Or try another tool or practice.
Even if you just let go of a little bit of the suffering in one session, celebrate that. Often, if you begin the unraveling process within, it will continue on its own as you go about your day. And if there’s more to attend to, you can do so again another day.
To your inner peace and freedom,
Maxima