You can use your spiritual practice to relieve physical pain. In this blog, I’ll explain how! But first, I have a story for you …

I often feel the presence of my mentors and spirit guides when I write. 

While I was writing Happy Days, an affirmation from my late friend and publisher, Louise Hay, came into my head … and I knew I had to share it! Chapter 4, “Hiding Behind the Body,” explains how subconscious emotional problems can contribute to physical pain. And I open the chapter with these words from Louise:   

“With every breath I take, I am sending love, gratitude and healing to every single cell in my body. Yes, yes, yes, yes.” 

“Lulu,” as we call her at Hay House, was a pioneer in mind-body healing. She believed positive affirmations could bring powerful relief to both body and mind.  

How I Recovered from Physical Pain

I believe that too! And in today’s episode of the Dear Gabby podcast, I share how affirmations have helped me recover from jaw pain, gastrointestinal issues, chronic stress and more. 

Using these affirmations has been a beautiful way to bring my spiritual practice into my overall plan for relieving pain in my body. 

And today, I am deeply proud to say that my gastrointestinal issues have resolved. 

And that’s not all …

I have perfect sleep. 

I have no anxiety. 

And I feel completely at ease! I am so excited to share more about this on today’s Dear Gabby. The topic of mind-body healing is a big one for me, and I really geek out on it. 

Here’s what you’ll get from this episode and blog post:

  • The POWERFUL affirmations I use to soothe my body in an instant
  • A gorgeous practice that will help you slow down, relax—and stop feeling  so burnt out! 
  • The game-changing spiritual exercise I do for 40 minutes a day (it helped me with my jaw pain!) 
  • A playlist that will help you process emotional distress (to make it super easy for you to access, I uploaded the list to Spotify!)  

What’s Behind Your Physical Pain?

Want to learn more about the mind-body connection? In Chapter 4 of Happy Days, I also dive deep into the work of Dr. John Sarno. 

Dr. Sarno believed we push our unresolved, impermissible feelings onto our physical body. That way, we can focus on the physical symptoms rather than addressing those deeply difficult emotions.

When I was dealing with my TMJ ( or jaw pain), I used a powerful practice that I call “Rage on the Page.” This practice enabled me to work through those impermissible feelings so that they would stop manifesting as jaw pain! 

Relief Through Writing

I explain “Rage on the Page” in detail on today’s Dear Gabby. You can also read about it in this passage from Happy Days: 

My friend Nicole Sachs—a therapist who specializes in the work of Dr. Sarno—told me about her journaling method that she recommends to everyone. She calls it Journal Speak and adapted it from Dr. Sarno. Nicole suggested that I journal for 20 minutes about all of my anger, rage, fear and discomfort. Then, after 20 minutes of writing, she instructed me to meditate for 20 minutes to allow the emotional release to set in.

Ready to relieve my jaw tension, I was willing to do whatever she suggested.

Rage on the Page

I made a few of my own tweaks to the practice as she described it. For one, I renamed it Rage on the Page. Then I decided to add bilateral music. Bilateral music rhythmically stimulates each side of the brain to help fully process thoughts. It opens our “window of tolerance,” which is the psychological state when we’re best able to respond to whatever comes our way by building emotional resilience. Emotional resilience increases our ability to process stress and big emotions, keeping them from getting stuck in our subconscious.

Twenty minutes of Rage on the Page brings your unconscious rage and fear (or worry, sadness, judgment, or any other repressed emotions) to the surface. Then, in your meditation, while listening to the bilateral music (found at DearGabby.com/HappyResources), you allow yourself to become more present with those feelings so you can take the tension and pressure off your body. —Happy Days, Chapter 4, pages 82-83 

Affirmations to Relieve Physical Pain

No matter what your plan is for soothing and relief, you can add in any of the following affirmations. Choose one that calls to you, and repeat it several times a day. 

 I’m safe in my body. Everything is working out for me.

I am truly taken care of.

My presence is my power.

I am at ease. I am free in my mind and body.

My energy has the power to be restored.

I can let go and trust that everything is working out for me. 

My body is strong and resilient.

I am still, I am well. 

Use Prayer to Relieve Physical Pain

Super Attractor card deck - mobile featured image

I also use prayer to contribute to my feeling of well-being. 

Over the years, I’ve shared a lot about my morning routine

I’ve talked about lying down on my sofa and practicing Transcendental Meditation for at least 20 minutes. (This is nonnegotiable.) 

I’ve described how I like my coffee (dairy-free creamer + collagen powder, please!). I’ve talked about pulling a card to set the tone for my day.

And I’ve shared my secret for settling my nervous system before diving into work. (I take a nice salt bath and sometimes even throw in some crystals.) 

But there’s one beautiful aspect of my morning routine that I haven’t spoken much about: When I’m taking my medication in the morning, I pray over it. 

Here’s what I say: Thank you, medicine, for giving my body what it needs. 

This is such a beautiful way to start the day! 

For more positive affirmations to settle your nervous system, check out this video. 

Get More Gabby

The following are helpful resources and books I mention in the episode: 

Want even more support? I created the Miracle Membership to help you design a spiritual practice you can stick to—so you can feel connected, supported and inspired every day. Each week I deliver brand new workshops, guided meditations, community connection and so much more. Plus, it’s easy to access on your phone, computer or tablet. Click here to join.

In this episode of Dear Gabby, I refer to my new book, Happy Days. The entire book is intended to soothe and settle your nervous system. Chapter 4, in particular, which is called “Hiding Behind the Body,” focuses on the mind-body soothing practices I cover on the podcast today. 

Head to my Happy Days Resources page to find the binaural-beats playlist I created! This will help you with the Rage on the Page exercise I mentioned in this episode of Dear Gabby.

Here are some of my favorite positive affirmations for soothing the body. You may want to print these out, so that you can use them regularly.

Affirmations to Relieve Physical Pain

I’m safe in my body. Everything is working out for me.

I am truly taken care of.

My presence is my power.

I am at ease. I am free in my mind and body. 

My energy has the power to be restored.

I can let go and trust that everything is working out for me. 

My body is strong and resilient. 

I am still, I am well. 

If you feel that you need additional support, please refer to this list of mental health resources. I’m proud of you for being here! 

Transcript

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Hi there, Gabby here. This podcast is intended to educate, inspire and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I’m not a psychologist or a medical doctor, ...

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

Hi there, Gabby here. This podcast is intended to educate, inspire and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I’m not a psychologist or a medical doctor, and do not offer any professional health or medical. If you are suffering from a psychological or medical condition, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

Hey there. Welcome to Dear Gabby. I’m your host, Gabby Bernstein. And if you landed here, it is absolutely no accident. It means that you’re ready to feel good and manifest a life beyond your wildest dreams. Let’s get started.

Welcome back to Dear Gabby. I have a such a powerful practice for you today I can’t wait for you to experience this. So much of our stress and our fear and anxiety begins to take a toll on our body. So if you’ve ever said I’ve got really bad back pain, or I can’t sleep at night, or I have migraines, or my gastrointestinal issues are always up for me.

Well, it could have something to do with what you’re thinking and the feelings that you’re suppressing. And when we have stress that’s been pushed down or ignored. It gets to a place of what’s known as the alostatic load. We literally blow out our system beyond our stress response. So beyond our ability to naturally resolve that stress.

And there are many, many methods that I write about in my book, Happy Days, and other practices that you can use to regulate your stress. But today I want to talk about positive affirmations. Affirmations have been a huge part of my spiritual practice and my personal growth practice for decades. And in particular, affirmations for soothing my nervous system, calming my energy, relaxing my body and relaxing my mind.

And when we repeat affirmations over and over, we begin to settle our system. Because the words alone have energy and the words ground us in our breath. And they remind us of the truth of who we are. I’m going to leave a list of my favorite positive affirmations for soothing your body in the show notes so that you can really take them home with you, print them out, use them regularly.

And in this episode, I’m going to guide you to really strengthen your faith in the power of your thoughts and your words. So that you can begin to soothe yourself whenever you notice that anxiety or that stress or that tension show up. Let’s get to the show.
The majority of chronic illness stems from the inability to manage our blood glucose levels.

And for the past week, I have been using this amazing product NutriSense. And it’s this CGM program where you put on a continuous glucose monitor for 14 days, which is truly pain-free. I was freaking out when I was putting it in but no pain at all. And each subscription plan includes one month of free support from a registered dietician.

So you put this little CGM monitor into your arm and you can monitor your glucose levels throughout the day by just tapping your iPhone to your arm. And it just gives you a level. This was so fascinating. I became obsessed with it. I started putting all of my meals in there. I started tracking how my glucose spikes were going throughout the day.

And then they gave me this one-on-one counseling with this nutritionist who could really explain to me when I’m spiking, how I can really level out my glucose and the ways that I can really optimize for energy and just overall wellbeing throughout the day. I’m obsessed.

I never really considered myself somebody who would get nerdy about this kind of thing. But I have gone full nerd. I am super, super into it. And you can try this now. Each subscription plan includes one month of free support from a registered dietician. NutriSense dieticians will help you identify what you should be paying attention to, to achieve your health goals.

They will hold your hand on your health journey. And if you’re already knowledgeable in this space, they will be able to provide more advanced tips and recommendations. The CGM program also comes with an app, which helps you track your data, understand your glucose trends, log meals, see the macros breakdown and much more.

And as I mentioned, I’m obsessed with this app. I’m constantly checking it and the app will give you an overall score for each meal and how your body’s responding. I mean, it’s awesome. This is so exciting. NutriSense also provides a private Facebook group for members where you can find support from other members and learn about their experience with the program.

Head over to nutrisense.io/Gabby and use code Gabby for $30 off any subscription to the CGM program. That’s N U T R I S E N S E.io/gabby.

GABBY: Who’s our first guest Sam? Let’s bring in Keiara. I saw my sister Kiarra in the background and I miss her. And I want to see her. And I want to selfishly Dear Gabby her right now.

Hello, my love.

CALLER: Hey!

GABBY: I can’t believe I’m going to see you so soon.

CALLER: I know I almost missed that. I was scrolling through your page and I was like…

GABBY: I would’ve snuck you in the back door. Don’t worry, baby. For the sake of this moment, how can I Dear Gabby you? Offline, I’ll catch up with you, but let’s get into this moment and I love you and I miss you and you’re so beautiful. Thank you for coming with me today.

CALLER: I love you too. So it’s crazy. Like you was talking about pain in the body. I’m feeling that in my, so I’ve been having this pain in my shoulder, this shoulder, my index finger here. And then the other day, my thumb was like shaking uncontrollably. Now I did just start a new job and I will be on my feet like a lot.

The new job is the people crazy. So it’s kind of stressful. I just don’t know it’s a lot going on in my real life. So maybe that’s contributing to, I really don’t know, but it’s interesting that this is what you’re talking about today.

GABBY: So a lot going on in your life. You started a new job. You’ve got some stressors that are going on in your world, and you’re noticing tension in your shoulder, going down your arm into your hand.

Yeah, so Keiara you and I go way back, right? So you’ve been with me behind the scenes backstage, signing books, you know, really in the deep, deep background with me with so many book tours and so many events and Spirit Junkie Masterclass. And you’ve always been by my side, like my right hand woman, really signing thousands of books.

So you’ve probably seen me holding my neck. Right? Like even on stage, like massaging my neck, like stretching my back. So for years much like the gastro issues, I’ve experienced very similar to what you’re experiencing, which is that, that physical tension in the shoulders. Boom, another classic place that the stress response goes to.

So it’s not only the feeling of the gastro issues, but it’s often the back pain and the neck pain and the shoulder pain. And then of course, when you’re out in your neck, because of that stress and that tension, it’s going to send some issues down to the fingers too. So sometimes your fingers can feel painful or even like kind of numb because of whatever’s happening up in your neck and your shoulders.

I’m not a doctor, I’m not going to get into that stuff. And there’s definitely people out there that can speak to this from the physical, but I’m going to speak to it from the psychological. So according to Dr. John Sarno, who I write about in Happy Days, he wrote the book, Healing Back Pain. He also wrote the MINDBODY Prescription.

I really go deep into the Sarno work in that chapter. So in chapter four of Happy Days called ‘Hiding Behind the Body,’ I teach all about the ways that we push our unresolved, impermissible experiences and feelings onto our physical body, so that we can focus on the physical rather than the impermissible.

And it’s easy for me right now. I know you, right. And Sarno’s belief system and work is really, really based on the premise that what happens and shows up in our body is a reflection of our impermissible rage. Resonating with you, Keiara?

CALLER: Yes.

GABBY: So when we have this awareness that you now have with me right here right now, oh, I’m having some physical tension.

And you have a greater awareness of what you’ve been running from and what you’ve worked through. And it’s easy to Dear Gabby you, cause I’ve known you for so many years and you’re my sister, but to be able to witness the ways that you may have been running, what I’m going to suggest to you is the practice inside Happy Days in that chapter four of Hiding Behind the Body, the practice of ‘rage on the page.’

CALLER: Okay.

GABBY: And I’m going to break it down again for you here right now. Back it up. My girlfriend, Nicole Sachs, she’s a student of John Sarno’s work. And she suggested when I was having TMJ that I do this practice that she calls, journal, speak, where you journal for 20 minutes and then about all the feelings that you haven’t been acknowledging.

And then you meditate for 20 minutes. And then in Happy Days, I really took it to the next level. And I called it rage on the page, which was 20 minutes. This is what I’ve been doing for the last, since 2020. I’ve been doing this daily for 40 minutes and it’s the most game-changing thing. So you journal for 20 minutes and I play binaural music and that’s it’s music that stimulates both sides of the brain.

And I’m going to put the music in the show notes. And so it’s music that really stimulates the right brain and the left brain by a tone in either. So it’s music with like a tone in the right ear and a tone in the left ear. And when you have that bilateral brain stimulation, it opens up your brain’s capacity to process unresolved, emotional distresses.

And so what I want you to do Keiara, and I really, really, really want you to do this, my love and everybody listening that’s inspired by this is to 40 minutes a day. And even if you only have 20, you can do 10 minutes of journaling and 10 minutes of meditation, but make it a commitment. I want you to journal for 20 minutes.

And get it all out on the page. Now for the listener, if rage is a feeling that is too impermissible for you and for you too, Keiara. That’s fine. Just, just put anxiety on the page, put anger on the page, put frustration on the page, put sadness on the page, put just, you know, mad about your lunch on the page, whatever you need to do, just get it out.

The stuff that’s stuck inside needs to be put on the page. So 20 minutes listening to the binaural music, that’s going to be in the show notes and followed by that 20-minute method of raging on the page or anxiety on the page or whatever needs to get out. 20 minutes of deep meditation, just listening to that same music.

And you can even lie down for the meditation. You can lie on your back. You could put your palms facing upward and just let that meditation work you. And I am super, I want you to do 40 days on this, and I actually want you to text me every day because this is my friend guys that’s listening. So she can actually text me, text me, DM me, let me know that you did it.

Let me know when you. I’m going to sponsor you through rage on the page, because I think it’s going to change your life. If there was one method of all of my methods that you’ve been studying for over a decade, probably it’s this for you. Game-changing. What happens when we get out, what we’ve been holding within is that it gets out onto the page and off of our neck pain, off of our back pain, off of our gastro issues.

So when we just give voice to the impermissible, we can set our body free. You got me, baby?

CALLER: Yeah.

GABBY: I love you. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.

This podcast is sponsored by Better Help online therapy. People don’t realize that physical symptoms and headaches and teeth grinding and digestive issues can be indicators of stress. And let’s not forget about doom scrolling, sleeping, too little sleeping, too much under eating and overeating. Stress shows up in all kinds of ways, and we do not pay attention to it.

And in a world that’s telling us that you need to do more, sleep less and grind. Here’s your reminder to take care of yourself, do less and maybe try some therapy. As you’ve heard me share over and over on this podcast, in my book, Happy Days, therapy has been the cornerstone of my own personal recovery and is the reason why I am as happy and stable and committed and connected as I am today.

And that’s why I love having Better Help as a sponsor here, because so many of you are cracking open to that presence of your own possibility. We can go further with therapy, Better Help is customized online therapy that offers video phone and even live chat sessions with your therapist. So you don’t have to see anyone on camera.

If you don’t want to. It’s much more affordable than in-person therapy. Give it a try and see if online therapy can help lower your stress. By the way, all of my therapy I’ve been doing online for years. This podcast is sponsored by better help. And Dear Gabby listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/DearGabby. That’s B E T T E R H E L P.com/DearGabby.

One thing we all need to be taking care of is our gut. People, you hear me talk about this all the time. I suffered for so many years with gastrointestinal issues. And once I cleared up my gut, my skin cleared up, my weight changed. My digestion changed.

I just had more clarity. I just felt better. I could think better. Everything was better. Everything is better as a result of clearing and healing my gut. And your gut houses up to 80% of your immune system. A healthy gut is truly the gateway to feeling your best. Unfortunately, our bodies are being attacked every single day with stress and toxins.

And just one day of eating a Western diet can really mess with your gut. And thankfully we have a solution. The Just Thrive probiotic is now easier than ever to give your gut what it needs. Just Thrive’s breakthrough, award-winning probiotic is the only product on the market that’s proven to turn your gut into an antioxidant factory.

Yes. This probiotic actually produces antioxidants right in your gut. Meaning you get maximum immune, digestive and total body health support. So if you’re looking for the best in gut health and immune support, choose the clinically-proven, award-winning power of Just Thrive Probiotic. Just Thrive has been loudly endorsed by some of the biggest health luminaries on the planet.

And this company is changing the game in the supplement industry. For a limited time, get 15% off site-wide when you go to justthrivehealth.com and use code Gabby at checkout. That’s justthrivehealth.com discount gabby, or just use code Gabby at checkout.

GABBY: Hi Meredith.

CALLER: Oh my gosh. Hey, how are you?

GABBY: Good, sweetheart. How are you doing?

CALLER: Wow. This was not the topic I thought it was coming today. It was not just like everyone says on Dear Gabby. Right. They expect something else. And.

GABBY: Comes in for when you need it.

CALLER: It’s taken me about a year to come to terms with the fact that my stabbing stomach pains I’ve had for about seven years are straight-up a result of stress.

I was. As with everyone, like going through a lot of transitions, probably seven years ago, moved to Costa Rica, had a wonderful restart reboot to my life, started having these intense stomach pains and just thought it was like something I ate, you know, was taking more probiotics, trying all the kombucha, trying all this physical stuff.

Right. Until I realized, like I put my hand on my stomach and my stomach literally said to me, You’re stressed and you’re carrying stress. I log it now. And it’s been about, it’s been about seven years. I’ve been on the journey with it. I’ve not seen a functional medicine doctor. Um, but I will say it’s a result, not when I’m in the middle of the stress, but it’s usually like the stress hangover.

GABBY: Okay. So let me jump in here. All right. I am someone who is quite familiar with gastrointestinal issues and has really come to accept that my healing one definitely had a medicated supported path with the naturopath and GI doctors. So I never want to say that we don’t want to incorporate the modern medicine because when we’re having a stress response that is in a, in any form, physically showing up and manifesting in our physical body.

Whenever we’re having a physical manifestation of a psychosomatic issue related to stress, what is happening is. We have to first and foremost, get the physical support that we need from a doctor or a naturopath or whoever it is that we’re guided to.

We got to make sure that we’re not getting to the point where our GI tract is just so inflamed that we can’t live our life properly. So we need support, but we have to also be in conjunction, looking at the root cause condition. And often stress is one of the major causes of gastro issues. When we are stressed, we contract, we tighten.

And one of the first places that we often tighten is in our stomach. I can think back to a time when I was dealing with a lot of my, my stomach issues. I’ve had it all from, from Sibo to GERD, to gastritis. So Sibo, GERD, gastritis, all of it. I was diagnosed with throughout the years. And this went on for decades.

But what I started to notice was when I began to witness the moments when the, when the stomach would flare up, just like what you said, similarly for me, it was in the moment. I would literally notice my stomach contracting. I would notice the pattern. It was when I was in a serious stress response. And for me, for so many years, as I write about in Happy Days, I lived with this chronic hyper-vigilance.

And so for me, the gastro issues were chronic. And for many people they are because there’s this consistent hyper-vigilance. It’s a, it’s a chronic state of stress. So if you’re in a chronic state of stress, then your body’s going to wherever your body is manifesting it, it’s going to be chronic. It’s going to show up every day.

It’s going to be flaring up at more stressful times and it’s going to be feeling pretty consistently uncomfortable. So here’s my advice for you right now. First things first, I want you to ask the stress what it needs right now. And if I were just to ask you that, what does the stress need?

CALLER: I know the answer right away. You’re doing too much.

GABBY: You’re doing too much. Okay.

CALLER: You’ve just, you you’re always doing too much.

GABBY: Why?

CALLER: Because doing equals being, right? I think one of my mindset is just, I dunno if it’s workaholic, but it’s just, I love to create, produce, dream similar stuff you’ve shared by doing. I feel alive, but then it burns me out because I’m just, my energy is scattered.

GABBY: If you’re not doing then, who are you?

CALLER: I’m me.

GABBY: But what is the belief that if I’m not doing, I will be dot, dot dot.

CALLER: There must be some belief in laziness. Or. I don’t want to say not good enough, but I think I tie somehow my overdoing achievements, accolades with you’re amazing. You’re magnificent. You can do a million things.

And so I continue to do those because they’re feeding some part of me.

GABBY: That’s right. Okay. Beautiful. Okay. If you weren’t doing, doing, doing, what else would you be doing?

CALLER: Oh man, playing with my babies more back to my mat, yoga practice, meditating, walking in nature. Just sleeping.

GABBY: Let’s take a moment to just dream into the feeling of what it would be like to just spend time with your babies more, get back on the mat, sleeping.

Is there somewhere in your mind’s eye, that’s in particular, really soothing for you relaxed place in your world?

CALLER: Yeah, I think the sense I got immediately has just rested to space. Like the word space comes up. Even through my joints. I was diagnosed with RA a few years ago and healed. It was. And of course I’m like you, I would definitely, yeah.

I took the medicine when I needed to, and now I’m on the food thing and it’s working, but I think even space in my joints, like space in every cell space in my physical creation. Okay. De-clutter space to be with people space to do those things that are nourishing my soul.

GABBY: So I want you to close your eyes for a moment and I’m going to give you some affirmations for creating space in your body.

I want you to place your hand on your heart and your other hand on your belly, whichever hand feels most soothing on the heart, and I’m just going to affirm some of what I heard you say.

I am spacious in my body. Take a deep breath in and let that go. It’s safe to slow down. Take a deep breath in and let that go. I’m safe in my body. Breathe that in and let that go gently. It’s safe to play. I can play, relax and have more fun. Breathe that in and let that go. I can do less and attract more. Take that in and let that go.

Take another deep breath in and let that go. When you’re ready, Meredith open your eyes when you’re ready, open your eyes. Beautiful. How does your stomach feel in this moment?

CALLER: It’s um. There was a lot of anxiety going into it, just knowing that I was asking myself to slow down. I think I’m just so amped and on that spiral that it was hard to just take it down.

But I think as we got, there was a point where you said it’s safe to play, where I felt like spirit. That was the moment where it’s like, okay. Kind of like when. You’re not in the flow, but then all of a sudden it opens and you’re.

GABBY: Yeah. So somatic, so let’s focus on the body. Just take place your hand on your belly and your other hand on your heart.
And I just want you to just check in now, take a deep breath and let it go and check in with your stomach and just see if there’s any images or any words or anything that comes to mind.

CALLER: Soft.

GABBY: Beautiful, soft. Is your belly relaxed? Are you, is it soft in this moment? Not trying to hold anything in. Yeah, that’s good.

CALLER: My pants were a little tight today, but other than that it’s um…

GABBY: So just, you can feel the tightness of your pants because your belly is relaxed. Excellent. Tap into this feeling right now of that soft belly relaxed and let’s contract it in your body. Okay? Take note and sign a contract with your mind and your body now. That the next time you notice stress trigger you to come back to with, with your affirmation. I am safe to play. I’m safe in my body. You can come back to that soft belly; contract signed?

CALLER: Yeah.

GABBY: Right on. Beautiful, Meredith.

CALLER: Thanks Gabby.

GABBY: Are you reading Happy Days?

CALLER: I am going to, I just got the nice taste of chapter one at the podcast and I’ll be ordering it soon.

GABBY: Um, well, no pressure, but, but I would say is there’s a whole chapter in the book about hiding behind the body and how we use the body as a way of avoiding impermissible feelings and you and I just began to touch into, slightly, feelings of unworthiness feelings of, of not being good enough feelings of if I’m not producing, I’m not good enough, very common.

I had them too. And I, the whole entire book, will support you in soothing that belief system, and also soothing the physical somatic experience of that belief system. So I’m excited that you’re, you have the desire to learn more and that’s the next step for you for sure.

CALLER: Definitely. Thank you so much.

GABBY: Thank you, my love.

CALLER: We have a lot in common. We’re both 42 and we’re both, um, we’ve been on the path for about the same number of years. You know, what path I’m talking about?

GABBY: Oh beautiful.

CALLER: Yeah.

GABBY: Proud of you proud of you.

CALLER: A lot of alignment. Thanks so much.

GABBY: Beautiful Meredith you know, we have a lot of similarities beyond just the spiritual journey because the trauma triggers lead us into this journey.

Okay? So. Now where you are in your recovery is a beautiful moment to level it up. Happy Days will do that with you. Beautiful. So proud of you, keep it up, sweetheart. Nice work today. Thank you so much for, for being that vulnerable and going there with me. Great job. Great job.

All right. Yesterday I got this package in the mail and it was a miracle.

I opened the package and I screamed, I have meals for weeks. I was so excited now, a lot of people think I’m vegan. I’m not a vegan. I eat meat. And for me, meat is very, very restorative. In my pregnancies, I got very anemic and it’s always been extremely beneficial for me to have meat in my diet and that’s why I love ButcherBox.

It is the best way to have your beautiful meat ready to go in the freezer so that when you want to make a steak for dinner, you can just open the freezer and cook it up. And every month, Butcher Box ships a curated selection of high quality meat, right to your home. Free shipping for the continental US.

No antibiotics or added hormones in their meat. So you can feel good about what you’re eating. Butcher Box sources their meat from partners with the highest standards for quality. No more searching the grocery store for a hundred percent grass-fed meat. That’s been such a hassle for me, but instead you can just order from Butcher Box.

Get your free range organic chicken, wild-caught seafood and so much more. And their sourcing decisions are made holistically keeping the farmer, the planet and your family in mind. Packed fresh and shipped frozen for convenience. So you can save time on your next grocery store trip. Customize your own box, or go with one of theirs, either way you get exactly what you want.

This is your chance to never have to shop for ground beef again. That’s right. Butcher Box is giving members free ground beef for life. Sign up at butcherbox.com/gabby and get two pounds of ground beef free on every order for the life of your membership. Log onto butcherbox.com/gabby to claim this deal.

GABBY: Kareem, how are you, gorgeous?

CALLER: Hi Gabby.

GABBY: Where are you in the world?

CALLER: I’m in Mexico. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was your first Zoom wedding back in 2020.

GABBY: Oh my God! Sorry. Let me not scream into the microphone. I officiated your 2020 Zoom wedding and you guys were so gorgeous. You were in the park, right? No. You were in your house.

You had your bed. You’re up in that bed right there. This was the setting. This I’m like I had so many zoom weddings. I’m like were you in the park; you were sitting right with that bed behind you and you guys got married. I officiated your wedding.

CALLER: Yeah. And my cat was there. My cat was in the background.

GABBY: I have a full body chills, Kareem, how’s your husband?

CALLER: Oh, he’s very, very we’re just so happy and so grateful. And every time I remember that happened, I just can’t believe it even was true.

GABBY: That was such a privilege to be able to officiate your wedding. Oh, wow. Wow.

CALLER: It was the best gift, thank you.

GABBY: Especially at that scary time. Right?

CALLER: So, yeah.

GABBY: Wow. So cool to see you again, check back in with all of the people I married. Okay. Well here we are. So how can I help you today, my love?

CALLER: So today’s topic is perfect for me because I have a deep, deep fear of my parents passing away. My mom has hypothyroidism and my dad has type one diabetes. He’s been very, very sick for 10 years. Even I’ve had to say goodbye to him about four times thinking that it was, he was going to pass away.

And I have this fear every single day, many times a day. I’m just so terrified. Every time I hug them. I think this is the last time that I’m going to hug them. And in 2020, I was diagnosed with both hypothyroidism and diabetes, both their illnesses. And I just think there’s something there because it’s just too weird.

GABBY: Well, your biggest fear is of them dying of these illnesses. And I, again, I’m not a medical doctors so I don’t want to take away the physical symptoms nor the diagnosis. And there’s a lot you can do with your doctors, but I will say that you said it out loud. My biggest fear was that they would die from these conditions. When we are attached to parents, bonded to them.

We’re often co-regulating with them. And in this case, you’re looking for your sense of safety. We all would be seeking safety in our parents. It’s understandable that these would be the symptoms that you might be picking up. I don’t want to ever inform people to think that they manifest their physical issues.

Because that’s going to take people into the wrong direction, thinking, oh, every time I have a bad thought, I’m going to make myself get sick. That’s not true, but you’ve had a specific point of focus, something that you’ve been afraid of, that you’ve been running from that you’ve been thinking about, thinking about, thinking about, and that creates a stress response.

And so the stress response is now showing up in. You said, what was it? Uh, diabetes.

CALLER: And in hypothyroidism.

GABBY: Hypothyroidism okay. So both of these are treatable conditions, but stress makes them worse. And also I want to really acknowledge that many, most women have a thyroid thing going on. I’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroid and I’ve had medication for it and work on my stress response so that doesn’t have to be extreme.

The work here isn’t about what has occurred or what the diagnosis is. Some of these diagnoses are hereditary. That is all true. The goal right now is to witness that you have had fear around this for your parents and to heal that fear for them so that you can heal it for yourself. Because the fear, isn’t why you’ve gotten these problems.

Stress response can activate these things, but listen, these are hormonal things that happen to people. These are diagnoses that are very, very hereditary. These are common things to show up, but I think that what you can do is really support your system to not have them flare up.

CALLER: Yeah.

GABBY: We can co-exist with diabetes, we can co-exist with a hypothyroid.

Absolutely with the supportive medication, but mostly the support of our practices for stress relief, so, and diet and all the other things. So in the topic here that we’re addressing is what are some affirmations we could use for you today. To begin to settle your system around your condition. Okay. So I’m going to go there with you right now.

And it’s also sort of talking back to your diagnosis a little bit repudiating the diagnosis a little bit saying, okay. You know, I see that you’re there. Maybe you’re hereditary, maybe you’re showing up because of a stress response, but I also have a message for you. And now we’re going to affirm a few new ways of thinking.

An affirmation for this, these types of physical conditions could be it’s safe to relax. I trust my body’s ability to heal. I trust myself and my ability to release stress. I have the capacity to calm my energy and therefore calm every cell in my body. I can contribute to my wellbeing. How does it feel for me to repeat these back to you?

CALLER: It makes me feel calm.

GABBY: Yeah.

CALLER: My shoulders were like tense and I can feel calm now.

GABBY: Yeah. So in addition to whatever you do daily, from a medical perspective, you take some kind of thyroid medication, or if you do some kind of insulin, whatever you need to do for these conditions. At the same time, I want you to say these affirmations.

Because whenever I’ve taken a medication in my life, I pray over the bottle or I pray over the shot or whatever it is. And I say, thank you for giving my body what it needs. And when we send that positive energy into the medicine, it’s actually having a more beneficial effect. Whereas if you’re taking the medicine and you’re like, oh no, I’ve got hypothyroidism.

And my mom has had it. Now I’m sick. It’s not actually helping your body take that medication and really use it to the highest and best. And so I want you to say these affirmations as part of your medicinal plan. So every morning before breakfast, when you take your thyroid meds, which I am very familiar with.

I do too. And by the way, you know, anyone who’s been pregnant likely has some kind of thyroid issue, women in their forties. It’s just so common. Okay. So just don’t, don’t take that as, as a, uh, a fearful thing. There’s so many things that we can do to support our thyroid, but the number one thing is stress reduction.

CALLER: Yeah.

GABBY: Okay, sweetheart? And of course, the medicated path that you’re on. So the same time you’re taking your meds. I want you to also say these affirmations and ground yourself in the practices that we talk about here on this show.

CALLER: Okay. Thank you.

GABBY: Oh my God. So good to see my bride again.

CALLER: I know I’m so happy.

I got the book and I’m so excited because, you know, I was worried about my honeymoon and I’m actually leaving on Saturday for that trip and I’m taking the book and I’m going to read it there. I’m so excited.

GABBY: Yeah. You know, when we wait around, sometimes it can be even better. Right?

CALLER: It’s our anniversary trip now so it’s fine.

GABBY: Even better and it’s a beautiful time to travel and I’m just so happy you have Happy Days with you. Send me a picture from the beach.

CALLER: Yes. I’m going to send you some pictures cause we’re going to Bora Bora. So I’m going to send pictures of the book.

GABBY: Send my love to your husband please. Bye sweetheart. What an awesome show today. So I want to wrap up what we learned here and what we can take home.

The premise of today’s show is really that our physical conditions often reveal to us the impermissible feelings that we haven’t been willing to face. Yes. They’re physical. Yes. They need medicated support. Yes. We have to see our doctors and stay on our medication. But we also can add the additional support system of self-soothing and regulating our energy and our nervous system

With Meredith, we noticed how she was grounding herself in her body with the affirmations and through her breath. And she began to feel softer in her belly and that stomach tension began to subside and she started to feel ease in her body. And we made a contract with her body that she would come back to that place of soften.

With Keiara, we noticed that through my experience and knowing her well that the practice of rage on the page is going to be extremely transformational for her physical body. Because when we have impermissible rage typically goes to our back. Our neck. Our lumbar. And so we want to be able to get it out of the back and onto the page so that we can begin the process of reprocessing those emotions in that rage on the page exercise with that binaural music, and really let that body restore itself as the mind restores simultaneously.

And then with Kareem, we had a really cool moment because. This idea of taking your medication in the morning while saying affirmations is profound and it’s something that I’ve been doing for so many years, but I don’t talk about it enough that I say prayers over the medication, or I affirm that my body is at ease or I thank the medication for all that it’s providing me.

And so, what if you shifted your perception off of, oh, I have to take this medication every day to feel good. To thank you medication for supporting me and helping me get to a place where I can feel at ease in my body and my mind or whatever the affirmation is for you and affirming that steadiness and that groundedness while you also use these allopathic approaches.

And so that’s a really neat way to begin your day and bring your spiritual practice into your journey of healing your body. I definitely love this topic. It’s been extremely present in my life. I am so deeply proud to say that I have absolutely healed my gastro issues. I don’t have any problems with my gut or my digestion anymore.

I have perfect sleep. I have no anxiety. I feel completely at ease as a result of really addressing the root cause conditions. And I go so deeply into these methods in my book. Happy Days. It’s been profound to witness. So many of your reviews of the book, some of these beautiful reviews on Amazon have been a life-changing book.

Someone says the stop drop and roll book for trauma. Life-changing. Transformational inspiring, real vulnerable content with simple manageable tools to happiness. So my intention here is to give you the guidebook from trauma to profound freedom and inner peace. And in this book, you will be given more tools, much like what we did today for grounding your body.

And there’s an entire chapter in the book called Hiding Behind the Book. Taking the methods that we learned today and bringing them far deeper with more practices and more meditations and more grounding exercises. So if you want more of this, click the link in the show notes, or go to deargabby.com/happydays.

I am so proud to be able to have these conversations with you guys. It’s a privilege to be able to guide you in this way. And I’m so glad that you joined me here on Dear Gabby. May your body be filled with ease. May your mind be free of fear. May you release stress and ground yourself in the presence of love that you are. See you next time.

IF you made it to the end of this episode, that means you’re truly committed to miracles. I’m really proud of you. If you want to get more Gabby, tune in every Monday for a new episode. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any of the guidance or special bonus episodes. Your experience at this show means a lot to me.

So I really want to welcome you to leave an honest review and you can follow me on social media at @GabbyBernstein. And if you want to get in on the action, sign up for a chance to be Dear Gabby’d live deargabby.com. See you next week.

Check Out More Dear Gabby Podcasts