In my clinical work, there seems to be a growing number of times when I’m enlisting the help of the part of me I lovingly call “woo-woo Shana”. Back when I was training, I remember when patients would come in with vague complaints like dizziness or weird sensations in their chest or bizarre aches and pains, and I’d be totally lost. I would do all the usual things I’d been taught to do. I’d take a history, do a physical exam, formulate a differential diagnosis and make a plan. The challenge was that the differential diagnosis (list of things it could be) was really long, and yet none of them really seemed to fit. I found it challenging to make sense of what was going on and felt powerless to help. I could tell the person was suffering but I couldn’t find anything “wrong” that I could “fix” using the tools that were available to me – drugs, surgery, various procedures and other therapies.
Over the years, as I was working as a physician, I began to get curious about some of the things I was learning outside the Western Medicine model of care. I had a “spiritual awakening” only 2 months after finishing residency, which opened a whole new path for me. On this parallel path of healing, I was learning about so many cool things that resonated deep down to the core of my being. I learned about different healing modalities within energy medicine and did my Reiki level 1 and Therapeutic Touch level 1. I completed a multi year certificate of counselling at The Haven Institute, where I learned about a wide variety of therapeutic modalities including breath work, bodywork to move energy, communication tools, parts work, somatic tools to facilitate health and healing… the list goes on and on. Shortly after burning out and leaving my practice, I did a lot of work in the Infinite Possibilities program and a variety of other courses to learn about both the power of the mind and about nervous system regulation. More recently, I’ve circled back around to my deep fascination for energy healing as I’ve been immersing myself in the ancient art of anointing and doing a deep dive into healing through working with our chakras (7 primary energy centres of the body) in my Priestess training.
As I’ve been working my way through my own healing journey after burnout and a rough menopause transition, I find myself enlisting the help of “woo-woo Shana” increasingly often in both my own healing path, and in my consults in the office. I’ve been very fortunate to find 3 work environments where I’m supported in moving at a slower pace than the usual pace expected of a physician. It’s still faster than I’d ideally like to work, but it allows me to bring BOTH parts of me to some of the more challenging consults. There are many things throughout the day for which I can just do the doctor-y things, but for the more challenging situations, where I’ve taken a history, done a physical exam, fixed anything fixable and ruled out anything bad and don’t have much to offer… that’s when I bring in “woo-woo Shana”, and I have to say, I LOVE when I get to bring her in!
“Woo-woo Shana” likes to zoom out and notice patterns of dis-ease in the body, mind and/or spirit that might be contributing to energy blockages in the body which manifest as physical symptoms. She takes more of a “google Earth” view, looking at the whole bio-psycho-social context and gets curious about what the body is trying to say. What do these symptoms mean? In what ways is this person out of alignment with who they really are? Where are they falling back into conditioned patterns and giving their power away to please others or pushing themselves really hard or finding themselves on the hamster wheel of busy-ness with their head down trying to get through to some vague time in the future when they can finally rest? In what ways are they not nurturing their spirit or following their joy? Where have they lost connection to their bodies, their communities, to our beautiful Mother Earth? The list goes on, but you get the idea.
I was reflecting on this yesterday as I was driving home from work. I was thinking about how Western Medicine has taught me a lot of really great skills and how I’ve been able to help a lot of people over the years using the skills and tools I’ve learned as a doctor. Western Medicine is really great at what I would consider the more masculine aspects of health and healing. It excels in helping with issues for which there is a defined problem with a known solution. Heart attack with a big clot in one of the arteries around the heart? We’ve got clot busters, stents and the cardiac ICU. Car accident with a ruptured spleen? We’ve got IV fluids, blood transfusions and operating rooms where we can stop the bleeding. Really sick with a pneumonia? We’ve got antibiotics, oxygen, puffers/nebulizers, hospitals to offer supportive care. It really is amazing the number of things that can be done to facilitate health and healing for defined problems with a known solution.
Where I’ve found our model falls short sometimes is in the more feminine aspects of health and healing. We’re so busy rushing around in our bright, noisy, crowded clinics and hospitals, trying to keep up with the overwhelming demands on our system … and it’s hard to find the time to stop. Sit with someone who’s suffering and hold their hand. Offer them a tissue. Comfort them in their pain. It’s also easy to lose sight of the big picture, of what is happening for this person that they’re experiencing dis-ease in their body, mind and/or spirit. The ways they are suffering. The ways their past trauma is causing nervous system dysregulation, making it challenging to find their bearings. The ways their body might be shouting at them for attention but they are so stressed out and dysregulated that they are reacting from conditioned patterns rather than making the conscious choices that deep down they really want to make. The ways life in our busy world has pushed us to disconnect from our hearts, our souls, The Divine that we often find ourselves feeling alone, isolated, lost.
My hope for the future of our healthcare system is that we are able to find a way to bring together the best of both worlds. The masculine, linear, directed energy that does an amazing job at coming up with creative ways of “fixing” problems with the more feminine, nurturing, big picture, holistic “art” of healing.
I think there is a huge merit to bringing together the best of both worlds, and I suspect it’s one of the reasons I became a doctor in this lifetime. I don’t know if you believe in past lives or not, but I have this sense that I’ve been a Medicine Woman, a Midwife, a Priestess for many, many lifetimes. It feels so natural and easy for me to be in this feminine “art of healing” type energy. Western Medicine feels familiar because I’ve been doing it for 30 years, but it doesn’t feel as natural to me. It feels like something I’ve learned in this lifetime as opposed to everything “woo-woo Shana” has been geeking out on for decades, which feels more like skills and tools I’m REMEMBERING.
What about you? What does healing mean to you? Are there ways your body is speaking to you? What is it saying? Are there ways you notice yourself ignoring your needs or making decisions you know are not in alignment with what your inner wise woman has been saying which are creating dis-ease in your body?
Life in our world right now is tough. There is so much noise. So many distractions. So many demands of us. It’s so easy to lose ourselves in this busy, noisy, chaotic world… and there is another way. As we each slow down, tap into our inner wisdom and begin to make more aligned choices, we create ripples of change. We begin to normalize some of the more feminine ways of caring for ourselves and others. We begin the journey of reclaiming the energy of the Sacred Feminine and bringing balance to our busy, lost, chaotic world.
We can do this. Together.
Sending you so much love sister,
Until next week,
Shana
* I understand that these newsletters and audio messages offered by Dr. Shana Johnston are designed to help me tap into my own inner wisdom and find my own answers. I understand the information presented by Dr. Johnston is based on a combination of her personal experience and current medical knowledge in a constantly evolving field where a variety of different opinions exist. I understand that the ideas and information presented should not act as a substitute for the individualized advice of my qualified and licensed healthcare practitioner. In reading/listening to the material presented, I agree to accept full responsibility for my interpretation of any content I consume, and thereby release Dr. Shana Johnston from any liability related to the information and ideas presented in any of her offerings.