The Healing Journey is a therapeutic way to clear old hurts. Brandon Bays works in South Africa with child soldiers, who know better than anyone what emotional baggage is.
Who is Brandon Bays?
In 1992, Brandon Bays developed a tumor in her abdomen the size of a basketball. Surgeons wanted to remove the tumor, but she wanted to investigate why she had a tumor in that location using other medicines. It became a spiritual journey inward. On that trip she discovered the origin of her emotional baggage, which, she says, was stored in her cells. To get rid of that baggage, she discovered that ultimately forgiveness from your heart is what matters. Because things are often done to us by others (father, mother, partner, family, etc.) and we are left with resentment. That will proliferate in our physical body. When she lost the emotional baggage, the tumor disappeared, while she thought that she had already given everything a place in various therapeutic settings.
What is emotional baggage?
In the first three years of our lives, emotional connections are made in our brain. They guide us to this day. We cannot recall what took place at that important time, but the emotional events are recorded. In infancy we learn that life has its limitations; we discover what loneliness is, disappointment, rejection. Not because our parents took poor care of us, but because we were gaining experiences and our parents could not understand what was happening emotionally. A maternity assistant in our parents’ history stood at the door of the nursery when the baby cried and forbade the mother to feed, because the prevailing norm was to feed every four hours. The baby learned that his need for closeness and warmth was not being met and that experience became ingrained in him. When emotional things happen over and over again in a child’s life and accumulate, the emotions are stored. That can go well until the moment that in adulthood there is a so-called emotional trigger that suddenly touches that old part.
On a journey inward, to your source
Helen cleaned up and Brandon healed old pieces and forgave the people who did this to her. She did this by inviting those persons to the fire of Eternal love in a guided visualization. At that campfire she met her inner child, little Brandon, and this little girl spoke out about her sadness and anger, in short, she could explain in unlimited terms what it had done to her. And then she forgave her mother, who never realized how painfully she had felt pushed aside. Unfortunately, she could not talk about those things with her mother in the present. That was too vulnerable for both of them, it couldn’t land. But with forgiveness, something within herself healed.
Painful cells
Emotional pain travels in our cells. Everyone has their own weak spot and that is often the place where there is an emotional build-up. Because we often focus on a physical solution, we ignore the fact that mind and body are one, the so-called holistic view: everything is related. If the mind (read emotion) is out of balance, this can translate physically. That was clear with Brandon. Cleaning up emotionally means that we also free ourselves physically, in addition to the fact that we are better emotionally balanced.
Peeling an onion
Sadness and anger can exist in layers in our system. Cleaning up old waste is therefore not done in one trip. It can be like peeling an onion; feeling, expressing, healing layer by layer. Sometimes you come for one thing and during the journey it turns out that there is a layer that needs to be cleared up first. The effect on our physical well-being is great.
Children and the Healing Journey
A Healing Journey with children is often a matter of 20 minutes to half an hour. Children are much closer to their emotions and often have fewer layers. Except for children who have suffered serious trauma, for example child soldiers. In South Africa, Healing Journeys are done with this group of children. We can imagine that forgiveness has to happen in small steps, but it is wonderful to see that these children can also process something that is almost too big for words.