#MeToo – Ready to Stand Up, Ready to Heal

Every 98 Seconds, an American is sexually assaulted (RAINN).
I am one of them – are you?
 
Are you still suffering from what has happened to you? Are you ready to release that trauma and heal?
 
Facebook and Twitter have erupted with the new consciousness-raising hashtag #MeToo from @MeTooProject, in an effort to get women to stand up in solidarity and illustrate to our communities exactly how pervasive this issue is. We’ve seen these efforts before in the hashtags #WhatWereYouWearing and #YesAllWomen, and we have seen a huge outpouring of support from people of all gender associations.
 
There is so much work that needs to be done to shift the cultural tide in regard to sexual violence and sexual harassment against women. There is also some work that we need to do personally to shed the layers of trauma that we have collected over the years.
 
The first step is acknowledging what has happened to you. I did not realize until my late-twenties that I had been the victim of sexual harassment and assault. So pervasive was the normalcy of these actions in society– that it was easy for me to accept these things as just part of life, instead of the wounding experiences that they were.
 
The sexual assault or harassment that we have experienced does not have to be traumatic or severe in order for us to be deeply affected. They can be built up of small and repeatable experiences that pile up until we form limiting beliefs about ourselves and our experiences.
 
Our future is determined, in part, by our past. We may see the shadows of those experiences in our every day life. We may avoid certain situations, places and people out of fear of what we might encounter. We may notice that we lack self-confidence and self-esteem. We may dissociate from our feelings, emotions, and even our bodies. We might have triggers that send us into a state of heightened stress and panic.
 
We can heal those emotional wounds. We can reprogram our minds and bodies to work for us, rather than against us. We can choose to release the trauma. When we do this, we choose to take back the power that was taken from us. We choose to stand up and say, no more.
 
The hashtags are helpful ways for us to see that many of us have shared experiences, and to recognize them for what they really are. They remind us that we are not alone.
 
I help my clients process these traumas through hypnotherapy and energy work, so that there will be more strong powerful women in the world unfettered by the shackles of their past experiences. If you are ready, reach out to me, and let’s get to the heart of the matter together.