He wiped tears from his cheeks and looked up at me. I smiled gently at him, knowing that he was just orienting back into time and space after coming out of our somatic session. 

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“I have been in therapy for years and have never felt a release like that” he responded. 

I smiled gently at him. I had heard versions of that statement countless times after finishing a somatic healing session with someone. I had an idea of what he was feeling because I had felt it myself as I started to learn about somatic healing.

“Somatic healing is really impressive, isn’t it?” I replied. 

“You are amazing” he said. 

“Thank you. But, it isn’t really me. I learned how to work with the nervous system. I learned how to work WITH the nervous system rather than fighting the nervous system. It truly isn’t me. It is your own nervous system.” I said as I smiled back at him. 

He laughed and shook his head, “yeah, but I have been in therapy for more than 10 years and I have never felt this kind of release that I got in my first session with you” he said while looking down. 

“It is just that you have never worked with your nervous system like this before. The good news is that you get to work with your nervous system like this NOW and it gets to have a significant impact on you now.”

“Ok, well, when can I see you again?” he asked.

Later that night while in meditation this interaction came up for me. As I sat in silence looking at the experience, I realized that an old version of me would have loved to be told how amazing I was. Another old version of me wouldn’t have been able to receive the complement and would have rejected it. I sat in silence, gently holding space for myself as I observed this growth inside of myself. I felt proud of myself for being able to receive the complement but also to not allow my ego to lead. The reality is that I feel confident that I am a very good energy practitioner and also the only reason that I am a good energy practitioner is because I understand energy, I understand the nervous system, I understand human behavior, I understand healing and I am passionate about supporting people with their own healing journey. With this client, the only thing that I did was to simply work with his nervous system and guide him in a way that unlocked and released a block. I didn’t create the nervous system and it would be ridiculous for me to claim that, I simply learned how to work with the nervous system and I became passionate about it so I immersed myself in the work until I really understood how to navigate the nervous system. I wasn’t minimizing myself and I also wasn’t claiming that I was healing him. I was working with his nervous system and I was doing it effectively.