Recoveryis possible for you!
A brief summary of my ME/CFS recovery, including an explanation of baseline.
Hello and welcome
I am Andrea, an advanced somatic coach practitioner, mom and musician. It is my passion to help clients get back to what they love free from ME/CFS symptoms.
For 8 years, I experienced the suffering of ME/CFS and the loss and hardships it causes as well. I know how difficult it is to recover. I am a single mom and faced unique challenges getting my health back. I could not have gotten to where I am now without individualized support from a coach and community that helped me believe it was possible and showed me how.
This is why I offer high-quality, individualized care. I want you to not only have the information you need, I want to help you put the information into practice so you start seeing results. I want to give you the most effective path to recovery possible. This process is not easy or formulaic. It is going to challenge you in all the best ways. But I believe with my whole heart that recovery is possible for you and I have the skills, knowledge and experience to help you get you where you want to go as quickly as possible.
The recovery process
Create stability and safety for ourselves - physically, cognitively and emotionally
Stretch ourselves - safely grow our physical, cognitive and emotional capacity
Commit to and trust this process for a long period of time
When our body’s perceived stress load becomes too much, our nervous system interprets the stress as a real threat to our life. The nervous system’s only job is to keep us alive, even if that comes at a high cost. In ME/CFS, the response to this perceived threat is to completely shut down the autonomic nervous system, which would normally regulate all the bodily functions we don’t consciously control. If you imagine stress like water in a hot pot, when there is too much stress, the pot overflows and creates chaos in the body.
The good news is that, despite how awful it feels, there is nothing wrong with us. In fact, our nervous system is working extremely well to protect us. To get out of this survival shut-down state, we lower the stress in our stress pot. When our stress load reduces, we are able to regulate with the everyday physical and emotional stress. We remind ourselves that normal activities are not dangerous and there is nothing to fear. Our capacity for more and more naturally increases as we create more and more evidence the threats are gone.
Gradually, we do start to feel safe and become more resilient to stress. We develop self-compassion and acceptance. We build evidence that movement, cognitive exertion and socializing are safe. We get back to doing what we love while developing a new relationship with ourselves and the world. What starts as a life-crippling conditioning turns into a life-renewing recovery.
How do we turn ME/CFS and Long Covid around?
1
Create safety & stability
Cultivate physical and cognitive stability
give yourself a peaceful environment (lighting, sound, air, comfort)
reduce toxins in the body (Perrin lymphatic drainage)
end the push-crash cycle and live within a stable baseline of activity (explanation in video above)
eat regular nourishing meals and snacks
sleep and rest at regular times
cultivate routines and habits that create rhythm and predictability for your nervous system
Emotional safety
prioritize supportive and nurturing relationships
take the pressure off yourself and surrender to the process
strengthen boundaries with others and yourself
voice your needs
express yourself freely in any way that is cathartic to you (writing, drawing, somatic bodywork, etc.)
integrate and love the parts of yourself that cause you to feel shame
resist feelings of urgency and, with self-compassion, allow yourself to slow down
2
Stretch your capacity
Gradually create evidence you can
strengthen muscles and move your body
spend time in more stimulating environments
do cognitive activities
eat a variety of foods
socialize, work and travel
To grow emotional resilience, self-compassion leads the way. As a coach trained in somatic techniques, I can help you discover what might be at play on an unconscious level.
Ultimately, this is about cultivating a loving relationship with yourself and finding equanimity within yourself no matter what is happening around you.
3
Commit to & trust the process
This process isn’t a step-by-step linear process. It’s cyclical. We stabilize, express our emotions, and stretch ourselves - all at the appropriate time, over and over again. The nervous system releases the stress response organically as we show ourselves compassion and open ourselves up more and more to this process.
It doesn’t work to urgently push ourselves or go through the motions without a strong commitment. The nervous system can’t be fooled. It takes time and trust in the process to see lasting benefit, and everyone’s process is different.
This is why I offer high quality, individualized support for ME/CFS recovery over a minimum of six months. I know this process well having gone through it myself and walked alongside so many who are on the same path.
In 2 years I went from being house-bound and unable to talk for more than 15 minutes to now being able to exercise, work and care for my kids. I also consider myself lucky. I had the right kind of support at the right time. I would not have gotten as far as I have without the kind of personal support and accountability I now provide for others.
Everything I do is personalized to you and what works best for you. If you are curious about how I can help you with your ME/CFS recovery or are ready to get started please book a free consult call with me!
My promise to you
Integrity
I value honesty, equality and collaboration. I am a co-creator with you and will honor your values, intuition and needs as a coach should. I am not a medical professional or licensed mental health professional and will let you know if anything is outside the scope of my training.
I celebrate the diversity of gender expressions, sexual orientations, abilities, brains, cultures, ethnicities, heritages, skin pigments, religions, spiritual practices and all forms of expression that inform our humanity.
Compassion
The investment of your time, your resources, your intention and your willingness to be seen, heard and loved is something I feel honored to hold and nurture. My training is trauma-informed and sensitive to all the ways human beings suffer. I am committed to creating safe containers that are healing and nurturing.
The only way forward, truly, is through compassion and love.
Value
It takes a lot of courage to do this work, and it takes a commitment. My promise to you is to offer individualized, high-quality coaching that integrates all levels of knowing - somatic, cognitive, spiritual and emotional - so you not only have the information and tools you need to heal, you also can embody and default to the new habits you choose for yourself.
There are no other coaching programs that I know of that offer this much individual coaching support and 24/7 chat and voice support. Please let me know if your financial situation is a barrier to care as there are a limited amount of sliding scale packages available.