From Medication to Freedom!
How my Achieving Your Wellness coaching program has helped my client move from medication to freedom.
I have an intelligent, insightful and attractive young client who came to meet and work with me late last year in 2013.
At only 18 she had spent years on anti-depressants suffering low moods, unhappiness, isolation and body image concerns that bordered on disordered eating. Her dreams of travel, true happiness, connection and vibrant health were being hindered by limiting beliefs and unhealthy habits and behaviours. She came to me with a desperate need to combat the life she had created for herself and turn it into a healthy and positive future.
Being quite a determined young woman she chose my Achieving Your Wellness self-directed coaching program, which is guided by my Achieving Your Wellness coaching ebook.
First it was important to help my client become clear in creating a future vision of her ideal self and life, so we could begin to look at how she was thinking, how she was feeling, and what she was doing in her life in that moment that was preventing her from achieving her dreams.
We also took a comprehensive wellbeing assessment (which you can download free with my newsletter) to clearly identify areas in her life that were needing attention and care. I coupled this with a lesson in understanding of the stress response, to enable my client to learn and appreciate how her body worked in always trying to protect her. Diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation techniques were also taught to help her immediately step back and calm her anxious mind throughout this journey ahead.
We began by addressing her relationship with herself: her self-perception, her irrational fears, her limited beliefs and negative thinking.
It became clear that her way of managing was merely a learned approach to her surroundings, so we began to challenge these programmed ideas one by one. Once we had established their lack of integrity, we went about clarifying a more authentic understanding of the young woman she was growing into. This helped her reshape her sense of self and identity into a more realistic, understanding, and appreciative way.
From there we began slowly to unravel some of her habitual approaches to life by starting with her self-perception, and her self-nourishment: nourishment of her self-talk, energy, information, rest, relationships and direction – or meaning – in her life.
This intelligent young woman began to consciously think about what she liked about herself on a daily basis. Her task was to write down the positives she liked about herself in the mirror: first physically, then characteristically.
Suddenly throughout the first week she discovered over a dozen positive aspects that she, as a unique individual, really liked about herself. These were things that perhaps her friends and family already knew or noticed, but not that she had never acknowledged or accepted about herself.
The second week she continued finding positive attributes in the mirror, and realised how readily she was able to see the growing list of features and characteristics becoming more apparent to her every day, which was important in helping her shift her perspective. Her self-awareness was steadily growing so that she was able to recognise her negative behaviours in others, and use that mirrored experience to make conscious choices in the future.
At the same time we looked at her quality of food – not quantity, but quality only. We focused on unprocessed, unrefined and natural, wholefoods. We also ensured that her metabolisms’ natural rhythm was adhered to throughout the day by making the most of breakfast and lunch time meals particularly. This dramatically reduced her mid-afternoon cravings, which in turn improved her mood, concentration, digestion and satisfaction.
We also spent time identifying types of hunger, as eating had become a mere habit with no pleasure. We practised mindfulness to tune into her body and decipher if indeed she was hungry, bored, emotional, or otherwise.
In planning to assist with replacing this habit, I asked my client to write a list of activities she could turn to when she recognised boredom (her biggest eating challenge) and employ them at any time she noticed this tendency beginning. It took a few days but gradually with her increasing awareness and switch of focus, combined with her self-talk, new perception and quality nourishment, my client came to realise how much better and clearer she felt, how much more stable her mood was, and how her cravings for processed and refined foods were naturally diminishing.
This particular young client has been creating and consistently achieving daily strategies in place of old habits and has now reached a point of complete turnaround in her eating, anxiety, moods and happiness levels.
She has decided with this results, her family’s support and her increasing confidence that she is coming OFF her anti-depressants. This is REAL results that was treated at a cellular level, not with toxic drugs.
Having experienced both and now knowing which avenue has brought real change from within she has made this decision for herself and I am so proud and pleased of her daily efforts to take responsibility for her own health and happiness.
The future is looking much brighter for this young client and I’m incredibly happy for her! 🙂
If any of this article resonated with you and you know within your own self that you need to make a change, let me help guide you towards greater health, happiness and whole-self nourishment here.
Love yourself enough to make your health and happiness your priority.
Viki xo
About Viki
Viki Thondley is a Holistic Counsellor, Wellness Coach, Meditation Teacher, Stress Therapist, and Eating Disorder and Wellbeing Specialist. Recovered from bulimia nervosa and the many years of hormonal imbalances, food challenges and self-sabotaging behaviours’, Viki now provides holistic personalised programs and retreats to inspire self-love, healing, body confidence and wellbeing. Viki’s passion is to help you balance your mindset, body and life to become happy, healthy, confident and free!
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