I don’t believe in methods. They lend themselves to prescriptive formulas that override each unique individual’s drive to heal their distinct injury, wound, trauma, addiction, illness or dis-ease … yes, we all have these lurking in the shadows of our beings waiting to be brought into the light as the gifts we bring to the world.

The holistic model incorporates all modalities and can be used to tailor-make fluid healing protocols that include a variety of specifically selected therapies for whatever an individual is focusing on at any moment in time.

Healers and Therapists don’t fix you; they hold you in a space of self-care and self-repair. This makes the most important precursor to any healing journey the guiding of a client to somatic self-communication; to touch into their inner oracle that will serve as their true guide and practitioner so that the healer or therapist is a critical partner on the path to healing and integration but not the navigator.

Having grown up in Durban, I was a ’quick-dip-in-the-ocean-when-I’m-baking-hot’ kind of person when I moved to Cape Town three decades ago. But 13 years ago, my intuition led me to the cold water. I was breaking apart my seemingly safely constructed reality and leaving my husband. And I was doing it sober, sugar-free and unsupported.

Besides the obvious trauma that comes of such a massive life event, it brought up all the traumas that had created my particular love pathology and attachment dysfunction and set me up for marrying him in the first place. Cold water became my meditation place, my breathing space, my calming clearing clarifying container where I could feel my outer edges, free-float, and learn that everything passes away with present moment awareness … and there’s nothing like immersion in ice water to bring you instantly to the present moment.

Since then it has become my go-to … a new lesson in how pushing into the edges of a discomfort zone can initially lead to more discomfort but will ultimately lead to a new comfort zone.

I have used many modalities through the various life events and trigger points and have, as such, been constantly reminded that what works for me in the moment doesn’t necessary work for me in a future moment and, therefore, doesn’t necessarily work for anyone else in the format I practice it.

#ice bathing isn’t for everyone; #dance isn’t for everyone; #running isn’t for everyone; #yoga isn’t for everyone; #craniosacral_therapy isn’t for everyone; #talk_therapy isn’t for everyone; #gyms, #steams, #saunas aren’t for everyone … and the list goes on and on and on.

No one — least of all me — would have imagined skinny little cold-averse Penelope would have gone running for 20km before floating in ice water until hypothermic … and no one — least of all me — would have imagined that hyperactive, inflexible yoga-averse Penelope would be currently registered to go to India next year to study #Transformational_Yoga and #Integral_Meditation.

So, no, there are no methods, no formulae, no prescriptions to finding wholeness and healing … there is only you … and what your being is seeking invariably moves towards the very thing that’s seeking you.