Energy Healing | Reduce stored trauma and Transform Your Life

Hi, I'm Rita De Michele, and you're listening to another episode of Beyond Diagnosis. Today's guest has a unique way of guiding women to release family narratives, stereotypes, fears, and limiting beliefs that hold them back in life, so they can so they can then discover their true passion and gain confidence without hindrance. Hello and welcome to Beyond Diagnosis, a podcast to raise your awareness, decisions. And voice for alternative practices so you can take back control of your health. I'm Rita De Michele, your host, a mindset and empowerment coach, and the founder of the Onus platform. Join me each week so you can create the health of your dreams. Leanne Sheargold is a holistic healer, a mindset coach, and a personal cheerleader of women 24/7. She guides women through their shadow aspects, pain, past abuse, trauma, and shame to see how it manifests in their beliefs, life, and physical body, creating illness. She empowers women to feel seen and be aware of their full potential to regain the confidence to their own power Or to take it back. Leanne, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me. It's so exciting to be here.

You're welcome. You're welcome. Leanne, let's start just by telling us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to do this work.

Okay, so I have been a school teacher for over 20 years, and maybe about 10 years ago, I was finding that I was quite burnt out from giving so much to all of my students and the school and everything like that. So I was looking for something to help me to feel a bit better or something that I was wanting to do. And then I stumbled across a meditation summit and I started listening to that over the weekend with all different guest speakers. And I was surprised at the difference in my body and the effects that it had in me feeling calmer and not as negative about the world and my perspective. So I then started doing meditation each day, especially on the days I went to school. And the benefits of that was that my body was in a lot calmer state. I was really connected to my body as well. So I, you know, every day I'd sort of scan it, my body, and see, okay, have I got any aches and pains here, or is that particular part of my body really fatigued? So I was really aware of what was happening in my body. And then from there, I also, you know, was working on my mindset and just connecting to being compassionate about myself and allowing myself to receive rather than just giving, overgiving to everybody, uh, to the point where I had nothing left for myself.

It's common for women though, isn't it?

That is, it's very, very common, the giving, giving, giving. And I think that's how we're raised as well, that Absolutely. So yeah, for women, it's bringing it back into balance and realizing they can only give as much as they actually allow themselves to receive. Otherwise, they're draining their body and causing illness in their body as well. Yeah. Um, so from there, yeah, I started doing the meditation and was really just noticing the benefits in that. So I wanted to go and get my certificate in meditation for adults and children so I could actually start helping other people to feel as good as I was feeling. And then I also went and did my Reiki training. And, and then, um, so that all was just— it was all fun and play with my friends and started doing healings on them. And, um, and then that was sort of the start of my business as a healer, but also doing the meditation. So I ended up doing, uh, meditation classes twice a week. I recorded sessions on the local radio station. So it was lots of different things I was doing.

Fantastic. If I can point out that most probably someone who's wanting to experience some of this but is unsure— not everyone understands what holistic healer actually means or even what they do. Can you speak a little bit to that, just to help educate people who, you know, uh, used to only traditional and are maybe coming into the alternative and want to know more, but are unsure?

Yeah, so the holistic healer, I would just see it as it walks alongside the medical side. Uh, so, but you're doing, you're doing things that support your body. So like with meditation, when you're meditating, you're coming down out of the fight-flight. You're actually self-regulating. You're helping your, your blood pressure and your heart rate is coming down, your breathing is slowing down. So you're actually coming out of that, that stressed state into a more relaxed and regulated system. Um, and then also like breathwork is similar to meditation, but it's just a different activity as, as in the breathing techniques. And I find with that is your brain is engaged because you're aware of the breathing and changing techniques and holding your breath. So that's really another good way to start because your brain is kept focused, whereas in meditation at times you're able to get distracted because your brain can just go wherever it wants to go. And then another one that I do is also TRE, and that is called tension and release exercises. And basically it's about your nervous system And gently releasing from your nervous system because it holds on to all the emotions in your body.

Yes.

And, um, also will start to create illness in your body. So it's a very gentle and supportive way of releasing all of the stress that's held in your nervous system. And then also it's really a good activity to do at night because it actually makes you feel a bit sleepy, and then you're able to go into a restful state to sleep at night as well.

Well, so do you actually teach people this so they can do it themselves as well as coming to see you?

Yeah, so what I offer is part of my programs is you can have an individual healing session. My only thing with that though is by just having the one session, you're just sort of doing in, you know, you're just doing the surface Mm-hmm. Whereas when you buy a program, you're actually going quite deep. So at the moment, my womb healing pro is a 6-week program, and it's about connecting to your inner child and actually seeing your inner child. Like, what's her environment like? What is she dressed like? How is she feeling? What has she been holding? What trauma or pain or memories has she been holding for you as the adult so that you can function? Um, and once we, we Remove lots of things there and create a happy environment where she feels safe and free, and she can just be a child and play. Then we move on to the womb, and your womb has so much energetic imprints that it is held in your womb space, like even from how the experience of your first period, if it was negative. I know that often my family they referred to it as the curse. So that was, you know, and, and I know it sounds really weird, but as a young child, you know, because I was 11 when I got my periods, I was like, oh, some— all of my, my experiences was I hated my periods, um, I hated my body. I felt like my body was betraying me. But then also that was reinforced about how it was taught, or the taboo.

Yeah.

Or only the whisper voices when you were talking about it.

Exactly. It was all the stigma around it, wasn't it?

Yes, yes. And like, at that time when I was 11, I, you know, my mum was speaking to me about it, but I don't know who was more embarrassed, my mum or me. I just wanted the conversation over so I could escape.

But that was the culture then. That was the culture with, you know, um, I know that my sister helped me You know, it wasn't my mother. You know, it was— that was— that wasn't spoken about, you know, before. Now it's— now it tends to be more spoken about or even celebrated, which is great.

Yeah, that makes me— you know, my friends, when they mention, oh, that they're having a celebration with their daughter, they're celebrating her coming into womanhood. Yeah, that makes me really happy because my experience was the total opposite. Yeah, it really wasn't until a couple of years ago when I actually started to do my own womb healing that, you know, so I'm my age, that's been with me such a long time. And it's actually the reason my periods were so heavy and so painful every month. I would take so much pain relief just to try to cope and function.

Mm-hmm.

Um, yeah, and lots of different reproduction problems. And all of that was because of my mindset and how much I hated my womb and hated myself. And it was continually reinforced as well.

So, so your negativity was directed towards your reproductive area?

Yes. Yes. So it was like, um, we were mirroring each other. Like I was hating my womb and it was showing me that it was hating me by all the amount of pain and health problems it was giving me as well. So it's very interesting when you look back and when, when you go to your womb and start to realize what else is being stored there.

Exactly. Like, that was my next question, was going to be around that sort of thing, was what are some of the signals that people get to know that they need help from someone like you? Like, emotionally, what are those very first signals, those very first signals of unease that they're experiencing? Is there a common— is there a common one that you find across most of your clients, or is it just totally unique to everybody?

No, no, there's definitely like childbirth and people's experiences of that, whether they had to have an emergency cesarean or their prenatal care, or it depends. And the high-risk pregnancies, um, even if you— when you were birthing, if they use forceps or vacuuming or, you know, all those different things, again, is another one that gets stored. And I would say most women have That's stored, that all their birthing experiences would be stored there to varying degrees. Um, also, if you've had any, um, you know, like if you've had cysts or endometriosis or you've had some sort of surgery on your womb, that would be stored there as well. Um, if you've had sexual abuse, of course, that would be there as well. Um, so there's lots of different ways that it's stored. I'm just— I am really aware that people are thinking when I say womb trauma that they naturally are thinking it's sexual abuse. But, and yes, that is true, but it's— there's so many other ways and things that get, um, stored in your womb. So, you know, like if your parents are getting divorced, or if a parent dies, or someone that you absolutely love. in your family that passes away, that also— the grief and the shame and the humiliation all go into there as well.

Um, for a lot of people, they're most probably thinking, I've never heard of this before, this is like way out there, um, you know, it's not something I can relate to. What can you speak to about when you say that this trauma or these emotions are stored there? Are they stored there? Can you— is that something that you find with your Reiki? Reiki is all about energy healing. Is that something that you pick up? Like, how do you know that?

Because, um, I— when in the program, I get my client to connect to their womb.

And how do they do that?

So with— I suppose my energy helps them with that, but they, they ask their womb if, if it would like to speak to them. And sometimes it will, and other times it doesn't want to borrow that person because of how it's been treated. It doesn't feel loved and nurtured and supported. So it's like connect, making that connection first and then speaking, asking the womb, okay, what would you like to release first? And then, um, with— yeah, then the client will go back to that memory and the womb gets a chance to speak. So, you know, like, As a human being, we as adults have our memories, but we actually, throughout this program, get it— the womb gets a chance to talk from their perspective. Also, your inner child gets a chance to talk from her perspective. So it's really creating a bigger picture of wholeness, of actually what else was going on rather than just your own mindset. So, you know, really by the end of the program, the 6 weeks, It's clearing everything out that's been stored in your womb space and creating wholeness so that you're connected to your body. You're aware of everything that's happening. You're connected to your womb, and you're treating your womb with love and nurturing and support. And, and the same with your inner child. It's like you're now an adult, so it's your role to take care of your womb and your inner child and show them love and just really be nice to yourself, doing all those self-care practices and, and, and allowing yourself to receive and without feeling guilty about it as well.

So where you're coming from, if I'm correct, where you're coming from is, which has been scientifically proven now, it's very common that there's the mind-body connection and you can't separate the— so what you think of has a physical effect. So when you say, um, the trauma in my womb, we do know that our emotions are not just what people think in the mind or in the brain. They're actually stored in different parts of the body.

Mm-hmm.

So you are talking about the, the trauma from both. So those emotions you are healing that are what you're saying stuck In the womb, trapped in the womb.

Yep. Yeah. So I was reading some research that's been done in the UK, and it was talking about while you're pregnant, if your environment is not loving and caring and nurturing, like if you're, you're in an environment that's aggressive or arguments, that, that the baby also takes that on. So they're finding that the babies, when they grow up, that they're suffering from depression and anxiety and other sort of things as well. And so that was really interesting to me. And so I've, I've had to do a little bit of research into that. Um, yeah, so it's, it's interesting.

I think that one actually, actually goes right back to folklore. I think there's many centuries of women who have passed that on through the centuries about being calm not being in an abusive environment or, you know, in any scary sort of situation. I remember one of my, my very first boyfriend, her— his sister-in-law was pregnant, and his mother would say to her, do not watch a scary movie whilst you're pregnant. Like, don't have that adrenaline rush. What it really comes down to is that adrenaline rush that it's—

Mm-hmm.

That it's causing and all the cortisol then floods into your body. And now it's starting to get, um, proved that it does cross over. Yeah, that's not a completely clean slate when we come through. Yeah, like we thought. Yeah.

And the other thing that's really interesting, I mean, there's so much that can get stored in your womb, but if you— your family line, so your mother's line, if It can also pass down the generations. So if perhaps a past grandmother was sexually abused, well, that then carries forward.

It's like a genetic imprint, isn't it?

Yeah, that's it exactly. Good words.

Yes.

And, and so often, like I found with myself, I had my own wound trauma from how I felt and about my periods, but I also had my ancestral mother's line of how they felt about their periods and, and other things as well. So it's like at times I was carrying like 3 or 4 people's, you know, trauma from their womb in my womb. So it's like wasn't just myself, it was other people's, my ancestral line as well, that I was trying to heal and remove.

Yeah. Can you explain a little bit, uh, in the introduction I said about the shadow aspect, can you explain a little bit what's the concept behind The shadow aspect for our listeners?

Yeah, so the shadow aspect in yourself, it's part of your personality that you have— you haven't liked, or perhaps as a child it might have even been your parents didn't like. So you've really like pushed that away. So often, like, I know growing up as a young girl, I was told don't cry, be a good girl. And so I, I really struggled to cry. Um, not that I want to cry, but I just had that ingrained that good girls don't cry. And so it's like, all right, well, I had to go and find where, where was that being held in my body that wasn't allowing me to cry. Or if I did, I felt like I was a bad person.

Yes.

So yeah, it's, it's— so your shadow aspects are different parts of your experiences of life that were perhaps a bit frightening, or you felt scared, or the situation— whatever the situation was when you're growing up, uh, you know, if you're in like a major car crash, well, maybe you're scared of being in a particular car with a certain, you know, whether it's a male or female driving. It's like the, the conditions and the environment that led to that actual memory, that's what you're— it's, it's sort of, yeah, it's still affecting you.

Yeah. So we, so we suppress them. We suppress them, I guess, and store them. And is this where your work helps someone recognize that, recognize what has been pushed away? And it's usually what is pushed away that is influencing the way we behave. Would you say that was right?

That's right, yes. So one of my clients has, um, she was going back to her, her childhood of where she was quite neglected and all her other siblings received a lot of love, but all she received was horrible words and being neglected and pushed aside and old clothes and all of that sort of thing.

And so Sounds like a Cinderella story.

Yes. Well, unfortunately it wasn't. It was extremely painful. But then throughout our— that particular session when we went and let her, her inner child speak and tell us what else was going on in the, the family dynamics, and then also letting the womb speak about what was going on, we realized that her mum and her had a very similar Um, like they were mirroring each other because the mum couldn't speak Australian, she couldn't speak English, and she also, you know, it was the taboo about your, your periods and that sort of thing. So yeah, it was really interesting. And by the end of it, like, but by the end of the session, my client, I could see her transformation in her face and in her body language and in her tone of voice, just By going in and clearing that and removing it and helping her to see the bigger picture of what was going on, it really transformed her. And because she's just like, I have resented my mum for so long and hated her. And she said, and I don't feel like that now.

Yeah.

I actually understand. I actually feel sorry for her. And she was so shocked at the change just from allowing her womb and her inner child to speak. And, and to see all of that. Um, another activity we did though also is we went, got her to speak to her mum, like visualizing that her mum was there with her in the room and speaking to her mum and sort of letting her know how she felt.

Mm-hmm.

But then at the same time, the mum also was able to, um, speak with her and sort of say, well, that's how I was raised. Like, I— we didn't show affection. We never talked about periods. It was a taboo topic, and we were actually pushed away, the girls, at that time of the month. So it really just allowed for my client to have a great bigger awareness and a bigger perspective and a deeper understanding, but then also forgiving herself with how she had been feeling towards her mum. She now understood all these years what actually was going on, and And seeing that mum and her had very similar paths as well. Yeah.

What would be one of the biggest myths people have around your work? Hearing, hearing all the speak to the inner child, uh, I spoke to my mother who wasn't in the room, you know, all the energetics, all the energy healing. What are one of the— what's one of the biggest myths that people have about it?

Uh, but they don't like me talking about this topic. I've got a few comments from people who I'm quite shocked because they know me quite well. And, um, yeah, and I'm like, well, why? Like, I'm just talking about something that's natural. You naturally get your periods, you naturally have childbirth.

Is that the myth part, or is the myth part the energetic side of it?

I think the myth part is more so about talking so openly about women's health and their reproduction organs and not shying away from those topics and subjects and trying to create discussions around it. And which is surprising because I know that at school in Australia, the— they actually do sex education from year 7. So I'm surprised when it's younger sort of people that are like, oh, we don't like all this. We look on your page and there's all these things about periods and bleeding. And I'm like, oh well, that's okay. So yeah, it's definitely interesting. And, and I find when people ask me what I do, or when I'm out and about, it's like they're open and happy. And then when I say, they're like that, they can't get away quick enough.

Yes. Yeah, it's still a subject. It's still an area that makes people feel uncomfortable. Yeah, it's still, it's still there, like that should be private.

Yes. You know, so, and yeah, for me, when I first started a couple of months, um, 6 months ago, I really needed to share with people exactly what I was talking about because I think a lot of people had that stigma was, oh, it's only sexual abuse. So that's when I really had to start talking about All the different ways in childbirth that you could have trauma stored, or you know your experience from your first period. If you have endometriosis, infertility, all of these different topics. If you've had a hysterectomy or you've had prolapse and it's attached to your womb space. So there's I just really wanted to make people aware that there's so many different things out there. around womb that things get stored there. And then, you know, also there's the, um, the emotions of that situation. If it was shameful or guilty or embarrassment, that also gets stored there. So you've got like the actual, the physical sensation, but you've also got the emotional sensation as well.

Well, there definitely is a lot of emotion attached to especially birth and cesarean and, you know, cancer, endometriosis, you know, all of that around a woman's reproductive. So I, I think you have definitely highlighted to many people who wouldn't have joined the dots, really. Like, they may have infertility, there may be, um, well, all sorts of, um, illness that happens around, around the womb, that they've never really connected the dots that it could be their emotions. that are, that are influencing it. Because when it comes to that, everyone just thinks, well, it's physical, it's only physical, it has to be a physical, measurable, uh, answer to that. Yeah, a lot of people wouldn't realize to speak to someone like you.

That's right. And the, the thing that I'm trying to make women aware of, whatever's going on in your life— so, um, for example, infertility, why is that there? Like, what's the core seed? What— where does that come from? What is it about? Does it belong to you? Does it belong to your ancestors? So if you were to do, um, the womb healing program around infertility, you would actually be able to find out why and where has it come from and how has it been growing. Um, so the cause and effect is what you'd really be able to look into. And then also doing like an energetic where you, um, like a curette, I suppose, of your uterus. And, and, and making sure— because you really need your womb to be healthy and loving and nurturing, because it's, it's going to nurture that little egg that turns into a baby. So, um, making sure that your womb space is in a really good, healthy state and that it's ready to be loving and nurturing to the little, um, the little egg, to the little egg, the little embryo.

What legacy do you hope to leave with your work in supporting women?

I want to help as many women as I can, really, at getting the message out there and Allowing women to think that there's other alternatives than going and just taking some tablet or something else. It's like, all right, let's, let's actually be brave and courageous and try and find out what is the core reason or the core seed. And is it mine or is it ancestors? It's like, you know, really being— going in deep to find out where has this come from. But then also I'm wanting women to be aware of all the different ways, all the different things that happen in your everyday life, like even going for a cervical screening, you know, that if you find that uncomfortable, and a mammogram, that also gets stored in your womb. So I'm just trying to make women aware of all the different ways and how that then will present in, in your physical body as well, and you'll start to get sick from that. So just, you know, being a bit more aware, connecting to your body, And doing, you know, really starting to allow yourself to receive as well.

Yeah. Well, for our listeners, what's your one best tip that they can do on their own at home to start prioritizing self-love?

I would suggest that they do a body scan. And to do that—

What do you mean by that? Yeah.

Okay. So a body scan would be if they were to start at their head And visualize like a screen door that we have in Australia on our front doors, but it's a really soft— so it might be pink in color, and you're just sort of bringing that screen door down through your body. And you might find that there's an area where it's not going to move so freely, and so that will let you know, okay, well, there's, there's a bit of ache or pain in that particular, or some blocked energy. And then if you just keep moving it down, it's like It clears your body out down to your feet, and then it goes— you just push it down into the earth, and then Mother Earth transforms it into fertilizer. So yeah, it's just as this screening, because it'll— concentrating on that, it'll keep your brain active, and you're just moving things throughout your body, pushing them down. And because You, throughout the day, you can pick up other people's energies or emotions, or if someone spoke to you not so nice, that can be with you as well. But as you're doing it, you'll be able to feel each part, each of your organs and different parts of your body and go, oh, okay, well, that's a week now I've had this pain in my hip. I wonder what that's about as well. So you'll just notice by doing it.

Yeah, becoming more curious. Yes, body. Yeah. That's fantastic.

Yeah, yeah. Leanne, and speaking to your body, like, I know it sounds strange talking to your womb, but really, you can even talk to your heart if you want to.

Well, people talk to plants, don't they?

So they do.

You're teaching people to talk to their body.

Yes, that's it.

Yeah. Leanne, thank you so much. for the work you do empowering women to create, to regain confidence in themselves and with their body and actually becoming more aware. Uh, if you'd like to—

Thank you for having me.

Thank you. Thank you for coming. If you'd like to connect with Leanne, check out her details in the show notes. I would love to know what was the biggest insight or aha moment you got from this interview so you can now speak up, take action, and make informed decisions for your health. And if you like this episode, get instant access to your free ebook, Alternative Wisdom: Taking Back Control of Your Health, at life-onus.com.