It’s November, 2021.

We are at a particular point in history that has never been seen before. The world is somewhat messily coming through a pandemic, people are restless and there is a lot of emotional expression going on out there, in the news, in the shops and in our families and our bodies. 

Do you feel a restlessness?

Perhaps anxiety, anger or frustration?

Maybe there is a lot of fear rising, or great sadness or grief.

If you are, you are not alone. 

There is so much rising individually and in groups and on the surface it looks messy, upsetting and even dangerous. 

Our world is heating up, and bodies are thawing out of a collective freeze. 

What on earth do I mean by that? 

Our bodies have been living in a particular system that has been designed in a way to keep the lid on emotions, keep us scared and small, and the water is boiling over. 

Previous generations were coming out of collective traumas, world wars, the holocaust, and into the industrial machine that required rigid roles, a “get on with it” attitude, in a way that was not able to encourage individual expression, of emotions, oppression, gender, and unconsciously and consciously relied on some people benefitting and others being kept under control. 

That included all our emotions. 

The world is changing quickly and the stored energy is rising.

We can inherit through a field called epigenetics, our ancestors trauma.

But it is releasing through it’s expression.

Is it safe for you to express anger?

Do you have somewhere or someone to express your greatest fears and grief to?

In a world that on the surface has told us to “reach your potential”, “find yourself” and “be authentic”, can also be a clever design for “do it in a way that fits in, doesn’t ruffle the status quo and for God’s sake don’t cry or complain!”

How is it that our children have skyrocketing rates of anxiety?

How did we end up in a society where boys are not encouraged to cry?

Why have I seen so many male clients, afraid to be seen as a “failure” and admit they have lost their jobs, leave their home with their lunchbox and their shame in the morning?

How did women, particularly racial minorities, become silenced in the economic, social and physical spheres? #metoo 

All this is unravelling in what I am calling The Great Thaw. 

Covid stopped us in our tracks, took many of us off the hamster wheel of doing, and thrust us back on and in ourselves in our own bodies. 

For decades, even centuries, we have been able to avoid our bodies and everything that they contain and rely on the intelligence of the mind. In some ways, our advances have been absolutely extraordinary, in other ways, complete and utter failure to the humane race.

The mindfulness lens has now turned to embodiment. 

When we slow down, stay put and be with ourselves, not only does the s#$% hit the fan, but everything we have been superbly trained to avoid begins to surface. 

In other words, the freeze response we have been living in starts to thaw. 

This is good news. The bad news is it thaws the same way it froze. It comes out the same way it went in.

Emotional energy that has been trapped for generations is releasing. Anger, fear, sadness, grief, are exploding around the planet and in people’s bodies. 

The addictions such as busyness, striving, exercise, Netflix, alcohol, food we have been using to avoid, not on purpose but because we humans we have a natural tendency to move away from pain. 

(Don’t get me wrong, I like them all!).

I am seeing and hearing it everyday with those who are reaching out for help and support. 

In the western world we are largely safe enough, warm enough and bored enough, that we have time now. 

Time to create safety in our bodies to let the emotional energy release.

Time to breathe out the constriction of grief in our lungs where we would have naturally sobbed.

Time to finally feel what we feel without judgement and with compassion for ourselves and let go of the shame that has kept all emotional energy stuck. 

We have been living in a world of positivity that is now shifting to authenticity. 

Stay the course. 

Slow and deepen your breath.

Relax muscle tension.

Know that all your “shoulds” are old programming that is being shed. 

You are here in this moment and the possibilities are infinite. 

Follow your desires, however small they seem. 

This is exactly what the old world did not want you to know. 

That you have power, that all your emotions are real and valid, and that your desires and yearnings matter. 

Look under your anxiety and fear. What emotion is there?

Take care of your grief, it is important. It points you towards what you love and have lost. 

Take care of your anger. It gives you valuable information about what needs to be protected. 

Take care of your sadness. It is the heavy, grounded energy of loss and longing. 

This is the great thaw. 

And guess what? The old world would like you to believe that if we give to some, there won’t be enough for all. 

This is how patriarchy stays in control and hurts both men and women. 

How did we end up in a place where men feel ashamed to ask for help and women feel the need to look perfect? It’s all false and none of it is your fault.

We have been made to believe that harsh competition, do it alone, it’s all up to us, don’t be weak, are our mantras, when they are the furthest from the truth. 

We need each other, we don’t thrive without attachment, the trees need us and we need them to breathe. We are a “we” not a “me”.

Maybe community was always more important than capitalism. After all, we are simply organisms born onto this earth, everything else was made up.

We can say how this goes.

There is enough for all. For all people, all races, colours, gender identifications, physical shapes and intellectual abilities. 

This world was made for all and when we truly accept this we can see all with compassion and help all.

How does that feel? This is what is on the other side of groundswell of the Great Thaw. 

So, if you are experiencing heightened emotions, let them be felt and released. 

‘The healing lies in the feeling’ is the truth and the most well-kept secret.

The feeling happens in your body. Yup, below your neck.

It may look messy, but don’t close the closet door on it.

Research is showing us overwhelmingly that people are healing anxiety and chronic pain simply by the true expression of their emotions.  

Trapped emotional energy turns into stuck survival stress in our nervous system. 

We can run forever from it, but it is already showing up somewhere else in your body or your work, your relationships or your health. It has to go somewhere. 

This is important information for anyone who feels overwhelmed and stuck. Share it with anyone you know who would benefit. 

There are many people on this path, they just don’t make the news. 

Stay the course. 

You are safe. 

You are thawing.