If you’re reading this and you suffer from depression, then please know I’m going to keep this short and simple. The last thing you need is to be bombarded with too much information. If you’re reading this for yourself or with someone in mind, please know that the message I’m about to give you is the starting place from which to begin healing. It’s the very first step. It’s how to get up and get going again.
From experience of working with people who suffer from depression, which spans now 11 years, the worst thing you can say is “just get up”, “just get a good night’s sleep”, “just go for a run and you’ll feel better” or the very worst “just get over it”. The point that these comments are missing is that a person with depression does not have the energy to click their fingers and make change. And by ‘energy’, I’m not just talking about calories and endurance – I’m talking about the energetic fuel for life that comes from within. I particularly love how Dr. Alexander Lowen in ‘Depression and the Body’ explains that
“Depression is a loss of an organism’s internal force comparable in one sense to the loss of air in a balloon or tire. This internal force is the constant flow of impulses and feeling from the vital centres of the body to the periphery… what moves the body is an energetic charge. When it results in an action, we call it an impulse – a pulse from within. In the depressed state impulse formation is sharply reduced both as to number of impulses and their strength…a loss of feeling on the inside and action on the outside”.
Thus, saying “just get up” is illogical.
Rather than kicking you when you’re down and exposing the pieces of your life that immobilise you, the most beneficial place to start is by reversing your deflation. This is done by helping you to tap into your internal force, the fire in your belly and the spark you once knew. Once you regain your balance of energy, we can begin to look at your triggers, trauma or behaviours. You’ll feel stronger to face them, more powerful to heal them and already on the way to reaching your full potential.
I always love to share some techniques to try at home and help you on your way, so let’s
start with sleep. There’s a mountain of research that connects depression with insomnia and other sleep disorders. One may lead to the other and for some, it’s unclear as to which started first. Have a read of The Sanctuary of Sleep Series Part Three: techniques to helpyou relax and sleep and try one or two of these simple techniques. Life is often that much better after proper rest and rejuvenation.
The gentle practices of kinesiology will help you connect back with your internal fire, teach
you a lot about yourself and the ways in which you can be your own friend. It’s about being
able to feel life again and break the hold that depression can have on you. Depression is
the opposite to feeling as it is indeed, the absence of feeling. Most importantly, depression
is a cloud and no matter your history with it, I leave you with the ancient writings of Persian
Sufi poets, with “This too shall pass”. Start moving the cloud by booking in for kinesiology!
Kate
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