You know how they say, "Misery loves company"? I know it refers to people, but for me, it was all the symptoms I was experiencing.
In the spring of 2008, I was diagnosed with anxiety, chronic depression, and PTSD. But it was never just that.
I felt myself changing in so many ways.
The exhaustion that made my body feel too heavy to move. Insomnia. Nightmares and flashbacks. Spacing out and forgetting what I was doing, even while driving (scary). Getting easily startled and triggered while at the same time feeling numb. Always feeling sick. Waking up in the mornings and barely being able to open my mouth because my jaw had clenched so tight during the night. So much tension in my body that I was in pain all the time.
It made me easily irritated and frustrated so I avoided other people, including phone calls and texts from friends and family.
Eventually, I felt like I was all alone.
The problem is, in this society, we only get to hear one perspective. The perspective that makes you believe that learning how to cope (read: learn to live) with stress and trauma is the only option.
And you know what it does? It makes us doubt healing is even possible. I know, because for eight years, it was all I listened to.
And no matter how unhappy it made me. No matter how much pain it caused me and how it kept me stuck in survival mode for all those years, I continued to listen to it.
My turning point was domestic violence. I knew that if I wanted a chance to get out of a home of violence— and out of a life of "just trying to get by"— I would have to listen to my grandmother.
I would have to listen to the knowledge of our bodies and nature that this society has tried so hard to push away and eliminate that it's almost forgotten— Indigenous Knowledge.
So I did. With a lot of doubt and skepticism, I'm ashamed to say. Because back then, I had no idea this decision would not only change my life but save it. Or that it would one day spread worldwide and do the same for others.
My name is Mandy Martini Chihuailaf (Mist Spreading Over a Lake), and I'm Indigenous Mapuche.
I'm the founder of SLG, the Science of Letting Go, which started in 2016 inside a domestic violence support group, and grew into what it is today–– a global online program that makes people repeatedly say, "It changed my life."
I teach the same IK (Indigenous Knowledge) that helped me heal. It's very different from the coping methods taught in Western society, and the reason why people in over forty countries are now actually living their lives, as opposed to just trying to survive it.
* Worried it won't work? SLG comes with
a 30-Day Peace of Mind Guarantee.
CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU
Like most people, you've probably tried everything that's out there without much luck. Therapy, medication, yoga classes, meditation, self-help books, positive affirmations, anxiety blankets, stress balls. You've done and tried it all.
Or... have you only tried what's offered here, in this society?
For a very long time, other perspectives and sources of knowledge have been pushed away and silenced in the efforts of creating an homogeneous Western society. Which is why when you walk out that door, or scroll through your phone, all you hear is the same: cope with this, manage that.
When you only hear one voice and one perspective it's easy to believe it's the truth and how it's supposed to be.
But ask yourself this: How can a world where so many people struggle just to keep going be normal? A world where stress is called both an epidemic and a silent killer. It's not.
Luckily, Indigenous Knowledge, which has existed much longer than this society we now live in, can help change this around.
My people call it Kuyfi Kimvn–– ancient knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation.
And since time immemorial, it has taught us how our bodies work, who we are as human beings, and yes— even how we heal.
It's knowledge that many Indigenous people, including my own family, have risked their lives to protect. Even through horrible efforts to assimilate us and make us forget.
"The past month has been the best I've felt in a while. I stopped drinking alcohol and eating toxic foods, and this is the first time I've wanted to live and feel in a very long time. I hadn't realized how numb I'd become. Food is tasting better, and my love for music is coming back. I take long walks in nature and realize how much I've been missing out on because I've just been surviving.
- Michelle
👉
👇 👇 👇 👇
No time commitments. No rush. Go through the program in your own time and pace.
* Worried it won't work? SLG comes with
a 30-Day Peace of Mind Guarantee.
CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU
* Worried it won't work? SLG comes with
a 30-Day Peace of Mind Guarantee.
CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU
Our Elders and family members have always had talking circles in our ruka (huts) to allow members of the community to come together and not only support each other, but help reinforce our knowledge and practices.
The live Talking Circles through Zoom are our "modern" version of it.