Energy Causes Of Swollen Lymph Nodes That Will Surprise You
Do you sense there is a spiritual meaning behind your lymph challenge?
Steve here. Back in 2014, I experienced a chain of lymph nodes swollen over 5 times their size on the right side of my neck. Along with chronic pain, fatigue, and other “mysterious symptoms.”
My family is my happy place, and I feel so grateful for their love and support while I navigated my health challenges. Anne is my rock and Ferne is my ball of endless entertainment.
That experience changed the direction of my life.
Despite consulting with doctors, having bloodwork taken, and an ultrasound scan done, I was left with no answers. After trying to heal my lymph nodes for two and a half years and investing in various treatments including acupuncture, massages, herbs, heavy metal detoxification, supplements, and a restrictive diet, I hit a plateau in 2016 where my healing halted.
I was frustrated, and exhausted, and I felt alone; however, I kept going and found a solution that works. (Shout out to Anne, my incredible wife and business partner, who was there to support me though my darkest times.)
First off, welcome to this healing space.
My name is Stephen, and I help individuals treat the emotional root of illness through spiritual somatic therapy. Working in partnership with the body, mind, and spirit is how we create the relief and change that people are seeking.
Whether improving self-confidence, stepping beyond trauma, relieving mental anxiety, or healing decades-long chronic health challenges, my goal is always to help individuals experience empowerment, growth, and connection within themselves. This is what vibrant health and expansive well-being is founded upon.
I’m happy you were led here.
After I hit my healing plateau with my swollen lymph nodes in 2016, I was awakened to the world of energy, emotions, and the mind-body connection. But when I focused on the emotional component, I experienced a breakthrough. I finally realized what my body wanted me to address and the swelling in my lymph nodes cleared in less than 3 weeks.
I felt so much lighter as emotional burdens I’ve carried for years softened and released. People started commenting on how peaceful my energy was, how I had a glow about me, and how I just looked content and more confident in myself. I felt freer and more expressed…more creative and alive.
While the experience with my swollen lymph nodes certainly challenged me, ultimately, I'm extremely grateful for it because it was the catalyst for my true calling as a healing guide for others. If someone would have told me that would all happen because of swollen lymph nodes…I would have never believed it.
I’m happy you were led here.
The Key
Your relationship with your emotional side profoundly impacts your health & well-being.
On that note, I invite you into a couple of self-reflection prompts.
How would you describe your relationship with your emotional side? (a very real part of yourself!)
And how is that side of you being treated?
Most of the people I work with tend to answer those questions with, “not so great, could be better, or I don’t go there.” Repression and suppression are usually the main culprits. (For context, repression is unconscious and automatic, while suppression is conscious and voluntary.)
We don’t often learn that repressed and suppressed emotional pain has the power to create physical & mental symptoms. Power that we cannot use our minds to outthink or take a pill to get rid of it. (which you’ve probably tried!)
Those who arrive here are seeking to solve health challenges, feel better, be more themselves, and live life more fully. Most often though, their emotional side is being overlooked.
This makes sense as society largely disregards the emotional aspect as a primary factor in our physical, mental, and relational health. It’s deeply misunderstood, and I am here to bring change to that. I'm here to help others discover the purpose within bodily symptoms.
I tried to fight my swollen lymph nodes for 2.5 years with a host of external treatments, believing that would solve it. It didn’t.
However, when I got curious about my body’s messages and tended to the emotional components it was pointing me to, my system found calm and the swelling in my lymph nodes dissolved. My self-relationship improved, and I felt a sense of love and appreciation for myself that I had never experienced before. If that is something you would like help with, I would love to help.
Swollen Lymph Nodes Spiritual Meaning
Like many, I was taught to believe that the body was wrong anytime it “spoke” through symptoms. Which made me fear it! I didn’t learn that the body was an intelligent and supportive system that takes care of me.
And I certainly wasn’t aware that my emotional side impacts my physical and mental health. I thought I just needed to eat “right,” get enough sleep, and exercise.
I didn’t know that my emotional side is a very powerful component of my health and well-being that actually roots my physical, mental, spiritual, and relational health.
I never did any sort of emotional hygiene, meaning, regular care for my emotional side. And that doing so had profoundly positive impacts of my health, well-being, and feeling connected to myself.
In truth, I was actually neglecting my emotional side…but I didn’t know it.
Here’s what I mean by emotional neglect. Imagine how it would feel to be pushed aside, rejected, and tamped down. That’s exactly what a whole part of you is feeling like if you are disregarding your emotional side.
This act, whether conscious or not, creates a divide within that you feel as tightness, stress, fearfulness, insecurity, anxiety, pressure, and feeling scattered, misunderstood, unfocused, and unfulfilled.
Neglecting your emotional side creates deep tensions and imbalances within your body and nervous system. Health issues, addictions, and feeling disconnected, dull, and stuck arise out of this inner environment. These feelings show that there’s an emotional component to address and tend to.
The spiritual reason for any illness is rooted in disconnection. And disconnection creates pain that you feel in your emotional and mental spaces first…then finally…in your physical body.
In my experience, the physical body responds to pains that are happening within the emotional body. The mind is the interpreter of this pain.
Where the symptom is happening is the body’s way of communicating where the disconnection within your emotional space is happening.
People tend to run away from the pain or try to eliminate it, but unfortunately that doesn’t work. In fact, running away from the pain feels much worse and can manifest as chronic symptoms.
Looking at the lymph, one of the main functions of the lymphatic system is to help defend the body by filtering toxic substances.
Pay especially close attention to the words DEFEND and FILTER because they are metaphors for lymph issues.
The conflict connected to chronic lymph swelling is: Filtering yourself to stay safe from attack or criticism.
Just as our body’s immune response is to defend and protect…so our emotional response is to defend and protect! Just like the lymph does this by filtering, we do this emotionally by filtering how we show up in life.
It's a direct mirror!
Self-filtering can look like:
Shutting down from expressing because of criticism, attack, or feeling unheard.
Filtering everything through your intellect and disregarding or doubting your heart & intuitive knowing.
Holding back your honest thoughts and feelings.
Dimming and dulling to fit in.
Analyzing conversations to see if the “correct” words were expressed.
Walking on eggshells and people-pleasing to avoid conflict.
Feeling the need to prove "rightness," overly explain, or defend beliefs to convince others.
I'm sure you can feel the energy in these...and how it doesn't feel great.
When you filter or hold yourself back like this, you will feel boxed in, unloved, and disconnected. You will feel this as pain physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Anytime you repress or suppress your emotional side, it creates a state of imbalance inside the body which you will feel as deep tensions within.
I learned this through my own health crises. That I was actually neglecting my emotional side…but I didn’t know it.
Here’s what I mean by emotional neglect. Imagine how it would feel to be pushed aside, rejected, and tamped down. That’s exactly what a whole part of you is feeling like if you are disregarding your emotional side.
This act, whether conscious or not, creates a divide within that you feel as tightness, stress, fearfulness, insecurity, anxiety, pressure, and feeling scattered, misunderstood, unfocused, and unfulfilled.
Neglecting your emotional side creates deep tensions and imbalances within your body and nervous system. Health issues, addictions, and feeling disconnected, dull, and stuck arise out of this inner environment. These feelings show that there’s an emotional component to address and tend to.
Me, happily amongst the dahlias in my garden holding our pup, Ferne. Gardening is a deeply nourishing outlet for me and holds many enriching metaphors that have profoundly impacted my spiritual growth.
The body points to the exact places that are in pain and asking for emotional tending. That’s what my services help people with.
Remember that the conflict connected to chronic lymph swelling is: Filtering yourself to stay safe from attack or criticism.
I want to talk about a way in which this showed up for me. As a child, I grew up in a very critical household and even learned criticism to be a way of showing love. Out of this environment, I learned how to utilize my emotional defense filter.
In my mind, receiving attention meant criticism was imminent. And so I wanted to avoid that pain all all costs.
My filter was dulling myself to stay safe.
I would hold back my voice, dress in ways to not stand out, hide my interests…all to blend in so that I didn't receive attention.
This defensive pattern created during my childhood followed my to adulthood. (they usually do!) I was trying to avoid pain and was shut down parts of myself over and over.
Over time, I learned that it was actually more painful to suppress myself. And my body was feeling it now.
Me and my wife, Anne. She guides this somatic healing work too, and she is brilliant at it if you feel more drawn to her energy. :) While we help individuals with a range of health challenges, Anne has a special niche with chronic acne and bladder challenges.
When I addressed the emotional pain that created this defensive pattern, everything changed. After fighting my swollen lymph nodes for 2.5 years…my system finally found calm and the swelling dissolved for good.
I felt a sense of freedom and empowerment I had never experienced before. Healing became enjoyable and meaningful for my personal growth.
This is what I help people address in the body, mind, and nervous system. We allow the emotional energy to express, process, and release. In doing so, the pain finally has an outlet and the symptom can resolve. 👏
I have helped individuals all over the globe experience the grounded strength, balance, and unity that comes from being in connection with their spiritual-emotional health.
And if you are seeking to feel lighter, at ease in your body, and in flow with your personal power, I would be honored to help you too. ↓
Ready to heal & feel lighter?
I would be honored to help. Let’s connect in an intro meeting to begin.
This introduction call is a space of self-discovery, “aha’s,” and initial emotional processing that I will guide. We’ll talk about what you are going through, what your body is trying to show you, and how my approach can help bring resolution to the issue. We can also discuss short-term and long-term investment options to support you if you are interested in working together deeper. Use the scheduler below to book your space. ↓
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Sources
Hay, Louise. (1988). Heal Your Body. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.
Romero, Joman. (2016). Knowing Ourselves: What Does The Body Want To Tell Us With Diseases? CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
