How to heal your inner child :

One of the teachers who has most inspired and accompanied me on my spiritual and healing path has been Thich Nhat Hanh.

One of the first books I read was “The Art of Caring for Your Inner Child” and this little book was the beginning of a journey to the depths of my being. Very gently it led me to understand the deepest wounds of my childhood. It gave me real tools to heal traumatic experiences.

The book shows that anger, sadness and fear can be turned into peace and joy if we learn to explore, meditate and talk about our emotions. Through breathing and concentration practices and exercises we can heal the pain that many of us feel as adults due to childhood traumas and transform it into a force of compassion and reconciliation with our inner child.

Books speak directly to our soul, and are capable of opening doors in our hearts that we thought were closed. They take us back to our essence and help us understand, and sometimes almost without realizing it, we manage to let go of those backpacks that we carry with pain and suffering. Within that pain and suffering is encapsulated infinite wisdom and unconditional love. And if we allow ourselves to feel that deep pain, if we give that inner child the opportunity to express itself, we will discover that it is possible to transmute that pain into compassion.

Compassion is the antidote to the shame and guilt that we often carry from generation to generation. The magical thing about these processes is that with the right tools, and this book definitely provides them, we can dissolve blocks that prevent us from manifesting abundance and prosperity in our lives.

“The moment I can fully accept the wound and allow myself to feel it, it can no longer affect me. Accept it completely, allow yourself to feel it to understand what it came to teach you.”

Every one of us has a wounded child within who needs our care and love. But we run away from our inner child because we're afraid of the suffering. In addition to listening to others with compassion, we must also listen to the wounded child inside us. That little child needs our attention.

Take time to go back and tenderly embrace the wounded child within you. You can talk to the child with the language of love.

"Dear one, in the past, I left you alone. I've gone away from you for so long. I'm sorry. Now I have come back to take care of you, to embrace you. I know you suffer so much, and I have neglected you. But now I've learned the way to take care of you. I am here now."

If we have to, we can cry with that child. Whenever we sit, we can spend time sitting and breathing with that child. "Breathing in, I go back to my wounded child; breathing out, I take good care of my wounded child."

When we go for a walk, we can take the hand of our little child.

We should talk to our child several times a day for healing to take place. The little child has been left alone for a long time, so we need to begin this practice right away. Go back to your inner child every day and listen for five or ten minutes, and healing will take place.

Our wounded child is not only us; he or she may represent several generations of ancestors. Our parents and ancestors may have suffered all their lives without knowing how to look after the wounded child in themselves, so they transmitted that child to us. So when we're embracing the wounded child inside us, we're embracing all the wounded children of past generations. This practice doesn't just benefit us; it liberates numberless generations of ancestors and descendants. This practice can break the cycle.

— Thich Nhat Hanh in The Art of Communicating

With gratitude,

Gabriela Ana

Holistic Health Coach