There is a lovely sub-set of people I work with that fall in the category of highly sensitive, intuitive, or empathic women.
If this is you, you know what I'm talking about. You might:
feel like the canary in the coal mine; you pick up on subtle energies and dynamics between people
enjoy going to the grocery store during "off hours"
appreciate peaceful environments in Nature or being around loving and grounding people
have a creative bent as an artist, dancer, therapist, or healer
have an interest in physical, spiritual, and emotional/psychological health
have an active mind, rich inner life, and might have a tendency to over-think, ruminate, or get overwhelmed
test as a "xNFx" on the Meyer-Briggs test, if you're into personality typing
even feel a little like an "alien visitor" on this planet from time to time
get what seems like "irrational" feelings about things (intuition)
And depending on your upbringing, you may have learned to squash down or judge your intuition or sensitive nature, and eventually experience a loss of autonomy and personal power as you learned to conform or perform in ways that were expected and not judged or condemned. The belief "something is wrong with me" becomes a familiar emotional undercurrent, whether conscious or not, and can contribute to questioning oneself in myriad ways. You may have experienced a loss of self-trust and defer your authority to other people or groups. You may have experienced shame and learned to unconsciously manage this through trying to control your body (its weight, symptoms, health), your eating, and your emotions.
RECLAIMING POWER
One powerful journey for sensitive, empathic, and intuitive women is to reclaim their sense of personal power, relinquish the burdened belief that "something is wrong with me," and reclaim their individuality and sense of personal power.
Some create a disempowering sense of identity or victimhood around being intuitive or sensitive or introverted or empathic, as if it's a handicap one must live with and suffer from. (For a long-while, especially in my 20s, I felt this strongly, and still get waves of self-consciousness). This need not be the case. As women grow, especially as they move into and through mid-life, women can learn to be more discerning, more energetically protective, more firmly boundaried, and less burdened by painful emotions and beliefs from our younger years.
Thriving as a sensitive, feeling person means you must take personal responsibility for caring for your energy, your inner life, your body, your relationships, and your growth and development.
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Next month (March) I'll be leading a small group in my Eastown office in Grand Rapids, MI: Empowerment & Inner Parts Work for Highly Sensitive Women. Space is limited. We gather on Sunday, March 10th, from 1pm-3:00pm*. We'll be working with themes relevant to sensitive types around: health, the body, and boundaries with oneself and in relationship through our inner work with the lenses of IFS therapy and Jungian Psychology and 15 years of experience supporting women. Join me! I know it's a great gift for sensitive, intuitive women to gather together and feel their commonality with others!
Sunday, March 10th 1pm-3:00pm: Sensitive Gifts & Common Constellations of Inner Personality Parts
Understand the archetype of the medial woman, the traits and gifts of sensitive, empathic types, and common personality clusterings that show up in this demographic. We'll begin mapping our parts and sharing with one another and sensing into any injuries growing up as a sensitive human being
Sunday, April 7th: 1pm-3:00pm: Sensitivity, Health, Mortality, & The Body
We'll examine challenges with caring for the body, disordered/unwanted eating patterns, specific bodily needs of the highly sensitive and common challenges around health/body anxieties. We'll touch on deeper existential dimensions as we work to cultivate a healthy, grounded body to call "home." Again, we'll identify and work with parts that arise in your own system
Sunday, May 5th: 1pm-3:00pm: HSPs & Inner and Outer Boundaries
In this gathering, we'll be working specifically with boundaries: energetic boundaries, boundaries we set with our own inner parts, and boundaries around other people. As empathic, deeply feeling people, fears and concerns often arise when working with boundaries. We'll be taking the time to work directly with parts to liberate energy and develop more Self-trust
*depending on the needs of the group, we might extend the time by 30 minutes
Save the dates! Each session is $80. Sign up for all three for $220.
Complete Enrollment and save your seat: Classes are currently full. Please inquire on availability
Single Session:
Venmo - send $80 to @lauraburkettgutierrez
PayPal - send $80 to lauraKburkett@gmail.com
All three sessions:
Venmo - send $220 to @lauraburkettgutierrez
PayPal - send $220 to lauraKburkett@gmail.com
Questions? Contact me here
Laura Burkett Gutierrez, MA, has been in private practice for the past 14 years. She holds a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology, is a certified practitioner of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, and holds multiple certifications in the fields of integrative nutrition, eating psychology, and psychoshamanism. You can read more at lauraburkett.com and realfoodwellness.com