How Tania Reconnected with Her Younger Self to Heal Anxiety

Tania reconnected with her younger self, so that she can heal from deep-rooted anxiety. Tania is a client that I have worked with. This is her story.

When Tania first approached me for help, I found out that she had been experiencing bad anxiety for years. Her anxiety was getting increasingly worse. As someone high-achieving, she has challenges relaxing and feeling more at ease with herself.

Permission was granted from Tania, to share her story of how we worked together to help her heal from heightened anxiety.

Background of Heightened Anxiety

On the outside, Tania appears to have it made.

She has done well for herself, even though she came from an immigrant family in the U.S.

Her success was well-earned, after working hard during her school years and at her professional job.

Since young, Tania was brilliant in class. She knew that doing well was her ticket out of poverty. Tania even managed to get into an Ivy League school on a scholarship. Needless to say, her family was proud of her accomplishments.

However, as she entered her 40s, Tania found herself increasingly unhappy. She felt alone, disconnected with her family members, and would often compare her own progress with her peers. Her anxiety was affecting her ability to function well and striving for her goals was a constant struggle. She found herself having to work twice as hard for anything.

Even though Tania knew consciously that she ought to be less hard on herself, it wasn’t easy for her to do so. Her inner critic was especially demanding. Fortunately, Tania knew that if she did not do something about her heightened stress levels, it might just result in health problems. She was finally ready to address her deep-rooted issues.

How We Started to Work on Healing from Anxiety

Since Tania had been having anxiety for a long time, I was interested to know when her stress first began. Did she at any time in the past, experience anxiety about how she was performing?

We first worked on some simple exercises, so that Tania could relax. It didn’t take her long to recall memories from long ago that still haunted her. Based on her answers, I suggested that Tania meet her younger self to address any suppressed feelings.

The story described below is from the notes that I took from one of our sessions.

Reconnecting With Her Younger Self

After quite a search, Tania had found her.

She was hiding in a cave.

It was dark where she was.

With my prompting, Tania brought in a lamp for some light; so that she can see her more clearly.

The girl was evidently alone.

Tania saw that she was in the shadows.

All crouched up, head buried between her knees.

Even though she was not looking up, Tania guessed that this was her younger self.

Approaching her gingerly, Tania was guided to introduce herself.

Even then, her younger self refused to look at Tania at first.

By this time, Tania had tears in her eyes.

She apologised to her younger self for all the years that she had left her behind.

I asked Tania to keep assuring her that it would be safe to connect.

Finally, her younger self looked up.

The next moment took Tania completely by surprise.

Her younger self spoke.

“Triste,” she said.

It’s in Spanish!

All this while, Tania had assumed that the girl would understand her in English. Tania was simply repeating what I had guided her to say in order to connect with her younger self. Until then, I have had no idea that her younger self was more fluent in a different language.

Tania knew Spanish of course.

It was a language that she spoke as a child but rarely in her adult life.

Still it wasn’t difficult for Tania to recall Spanish.

By her response, Tania was assured that she had found the right person: her younger self at age 14 years.

Triste means sadness in Spanish.

Tania nodded, choking on more tears.

Now that she had built a connection, Tania conversed with her younger self in Spanish.

The girl continued hesitantly, “miedo”.

Her younger self proceeded to show Tania how deep in her cave she was.

Miedo is fear in Spanish.

Her young self also conveyed the following emotions…

Sadness. Anger. Confusion. Frustration.

Tania could feel the weight that she was carrying on her shoulders.

It was very heavy.

The weight of having to perform exceptionally well in school.

The pressure that she felt on having to score As.

The stress that she heaped on herself to make it, as someone who came from a migrant family.

It was how her anxiety had started.

Turning to Tania, her younger self pointed at her feet.

“Raiz,” she conveyed.

Tania could now sense how entrenched her younger self was in the ground.

There were thick roots holding on to the the soles of her feet, anchoring her down.

Indeed, it was a self that has been stuck for a long time.

30 years in fact.

How Tania Helped Her Younger Self

With guidance, Tania was able to help her younger self release the pain in her heart and the pressure in her shoulders at the somatic level. (We used EFT tapping for the release to happen).

We worked on helping her change the beliefs she had formed.

Her younger self found out that she did not need to achieve As, before she was accepted for who she is.

That she is loved unconditionally.

With a new understanding and the release done, the roots on her feet disappeared and the weight was lifted.

Reimprinting a New Vibrational Picture

Tania was guided to reimprint a new vibrational picture of her younger self.

The change was integrated energetically.

Through her mind’s eye, Tania saw her younger self on a swing.

Her younger self was giggling and having a fun time.

Feeling free. Looking radiant. Bathed in streams of golden sunlight.

A rainbow appeared in the horizon.

Tania could finally have her happy childhood.

Freeing from Anxiety to Self-Acceptance & Love

Tania worked through her past, to reconnect with the abandoned parts of herself over a few sessions.

These younger parts were holding on to unresolved anxiety. Once the disruptions were released, Tania experienced an easing that she had never felt before. We also worked on integrating more empowering pictures subconsciously, in place of old ones.

Tania’s new paradigm is that she can be free to be who she is — without feeling the need to perform or to please anyone else.

She can confidently pursue her goals with less anxiety and a lot more ease.

As for myself, I am just happy to have the opportunity to work with her!

Recommended Reading

Follow me on Medium for articles on self-love and what it means to live from the heart :-)