Signs of a Nervous Breakdown or Signs of Spiritual Awakening?
Alchemy of the Goddess by Jeanette Amlie
Below is a list of possible "symptoms" of Spiritual/Conscious Awakening. Amazing that so many of these symptoms are also common to what is often called a "Nervous Breakdown"? I was extremely fortunate because when this began to happen to me (and all at once I might add!), I lived in what I now refer to as "Planet Santa Fe", because there was so much support for my experience being a gift of spiritual transformation rather than psycho-somatic pathology. The inspiration for this website was to try & provide a place where others going through this process could find support and alternative perspectives from the mainstream pathology that has predominated this area for centuries.
Midlife Crisis or Transformation?
It is also amazing how many of the people I work with are women in their middle years. So often the instability of hormonal imbalance is a direct catalyst for the "pressure cooker" of repressed energy to begin to crack the vessel. Although this can certainly be a painful & scary time, that view can be transformed when one begins to see that there is meaning & potential benefit in the experience.
The list below is by no means comprehensive or definitive. Yet the reports of people who have been through this kind of experience share so many of these "symptoms" that it is difficult not to take notice of the possibility for transformation that a so called "Nervous Breakdown" may offer. See for yourself & you be the judge. Can the symptoms of nervous breakdown also be the signs of a spiritual awakening? It's worth considering......
♡ Jeanette
Midlife Crisis or Transformation?
It is also amazing how many of the people I work with are women in their middle years. So often the instability of hormonal imbalance is a direct catalyst for the "pressure cooker" of repressed energy to begin to crack the vessel. Although this can certainly be a painful & scary time, that view can be transformed when one begins to see that there is meaning & potential benefit in the experience.
The list below is by no means comprehensive or definitive. Yet the reports of people who have been through this kind of experience share so many of these "symptoms" that it is difficult not to take notice of the possibility for transformation that a so called "Nervous Breakdown" may offer. See for yourself & you be the judge. Can the symptoms of nervous breakdown also be the signs of a spiritual awakening? It's worth considering......
- Feeling as if you are in a pressure cooker or in intense energy.
- Depression – or feeling like things are never going to get better.
- Anxiety, panic and feelings of hysteria – often related to the ego sensing it’s imminent demise.
- Diarrhea, constipation and Irritable Bowel Syndrome – The digestive system is directly linked to the autonomic nervous system and responds to fight, flight and freeze responses.
- Heart pain and palpitations – the heart is literally “opening” through calcified layers of conditioning and repression. But get it checked if symptoms resemble a heart attack. Most often they will say you have a healthy heart, but it's good to be reassured & take no chances!
- Emotional ups and downs, weeping and sensitivity – emotions are the key to the heart which often expands significantly during conscious awakening.
- Heightened sensitivity to surroundings including noise, electricity, food and other stimulus.
- Hot or cold flashes - many symptoms can mock menopause.
- Unusual aches and pains throughout different parts of your body.
- Energy & sensations in lower back, sacrum & spine. Sexual energy & spiritual awakening often intermingle as the Kundalini energy may begin to move up the spine from the base of the nervous system in the perineum.
- Migraines can sometimes be linked to old held trauma patterns as well as shifting or conflicting beliefs.
- Temporary recurrence of old conditions from earlier in life as the body works to clear them.
- Skin eruptions, acne, rashes, hives & boils – the skin is a major organ for eliminating toxins.
- Blurred vision and eye irritation – related to “3rd Eye” 6th Chakra activity as well as the fire of kundalini.
- Waking at night between 2 and 4 am – various theories for this common symptom, including our unconscious connection with greater knowing during these nocturnal hours than our conscious state often allows.
- Night sweats and hot flashes – body literally burning off denser energies and toxins.
- Extreme cold with inability to get warm – Often can follow a time of intense shifting & be a sign of possible dissociation when we are confronting old trauma patterns in order to release them.
- Struggle to follow usual routines and activities – old coping skills & discipline not working.
- Extreme fatigue and lethargy – possibly related to the body re-creating itself through tissue die-off and regeneration. Parasympathetic dominant activity of “rest and repair”.
♡ Jeanette