From Broken Trust to Inner Peace: The Tools That Helped Me Heal
Sixteen years ago, I stood in a workshop circle of about 80 people. The men were in the middle, facing outward. The women stood in a wider circle, facing in. The teacher asked us to hold eye contact with the person across from us, repeating after her as she slowly read Marianne Williamson’s prayer, "Amends Between Men and Women." First, the men repeated the amends to the women. Then, the women returned the gesture.
I didn’t know the gentle-eyed man across from me. He was holding steady eye contact with me as he repeated the amends to the women. As he made his way through the prayer, sincerity in his eyes, something broke open inside me. I fell apart. I collapsed to the floor, sobbing, unable to breathe. I couldn’t finish the prayer. I had to be helped out of the workshop. I couldn’t stop crying.
It wasn’t until that pivotal moment that I realized just how much I was holding.
My trust in the masculine was broken early in life, and boundaries were violated. I thought I had been doing my healing work, only to realize I had a long way to go. That moment in the workshop cracked open something I had been carrying for far too long. It was then that I knew I had a lot of work to do – emotional work, forgiveness work.
Sixteen years later, a changed person, I recently found myself sitting across from that same workshop teacher in a private mentoring session, asking, “What’s next for me?”
She looked at me, smiling gently, and said, “Share what you’ve learned, Laura.”
Over the years, I’ve shared parts of my story—pieces of my healing. But I know I’m only just beginning. Healing isn’t just personal—it’s universal. And if something I’ve walked through can help someone else find their way forward, then I want to share it. After all, very few of us make it through life without wounds that need tending.
Here is a summary of what my healing path has looked like over the years, in no particular order. Each of these has played a significant role. Perhaps something here will light a spark to help you start, resume, or keep going with your healing journey:
Mental health therapy: A compassionate male therapist helped me rebuild trust in the masculine and safely explore my grief, anger, and early wounds. His presence allowed me to feel seen and supported in ways I hadn’t known I needed. He acknowledged my broken heart. He allowed me to use his entire box of tissues each session.
Moved anger and rage energy: I let myself feel anger and rage. I let it move through my body – uninhibited, frightening, raw – only to discover that rage is like a cork that can hold in grief and shame, loss, disgust, and fear. I cried. I grieved. I raged some more. Allowing myself to feel anger and rage (in a safe setting) was probably one of the hardest and most transformative steps in my healing. It’s not easy, particularly for many women who are conditioned to tuck their anger in.
Relationship with Creator, Spirit, Universe, God: For years, I continued to study with that same teacher who led that powerful prayer, while learning to develop a close relationship with my Creator, with Spirit, with the Universe, with God – however you choose to name your higher power. For me, this has become a primary and deeply trusted relationship in my life. My closeness with my Creator has helped me to reclaim Trust.
Qi Gong: I studied for 12 years under a Qi Gong master who taught me how emotions and memories live in the body, and how to move, release, and transmute that energy. What began as a personal practice became a path of deep transformation. Qi Gong is not just exercise—it’s a sacred, embodied way to process trauma, regulate the nervous system, and reclaim the power stored in the body. Eventually, I became a Qi Gong teacher.
Naturopathic Care & Acupuncture: Healing had to happen on all levels. My nervous system, endocrine system, and immune systems were depleted, and natural medicine helped bring me back into balance gently and holistically. Today, I am a Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist.
Nutrition & Cleansing: I continued to heal my body with nutrition. I did cleanses, only to discover that physical cleansing supports emotional cleansing and vice versa. The more I listened to my body, the more I realized how much it had to say.
Energy Healing: I studied with a shaman, a Qi Gong master, Reiki masters, acupuncture masters, and energy healers. So much more to say here.
Emotional-Energetic Hygiene: I learned to manage my empathic, highly sensitive nature by setting strong energetic boundaries, practicing Qi Gong and self-care. Healing needed to happen at the energetic level, and then regular energetic hygiene maintains me. I became an empath educator and coach because that saying is true: if you want to truly learn something, teach it.
Alone Time: I learned to be alone: I traveled alone, camped alone, road tripped alone. I befriended myself. In that quiet, without the noise of others’ energy, I found peace and inner joy.
Connected with Others: I opened up to friends. I talked, I listened, I reflected, I made myself vulnerable, I listened to their vulnerabilities. Connection heals.
Marriage & Family: I married a kind and gentle man, and although we grew in different ways and divorced after 13 years, I am forever grateful for the safe container of our marriage that allowed me to grow into myself. We have two children who teach me and make me laugh every day. And while my early wounds began in the family system, I’m proud of the deep healing my family members and I have found. There could have been more woundedness and dysfunction, but we have done the work. I’m proud of how far we’ve come.
Womb Awakening: Womb Awakening is a feminine healing practice that reconnects you to the energetic and spiritual power of the womb space, whether or not you've given birth (or still have a physical womb), allowing you to release ancestral trauma, awaken creativity, and reclaim your deep inner wisdom. I apprenticed with a womb awakening mentor for three years and learned how to clear, activate, and celebrate my feminine life force, my Shakti, ultimately becoming a womb awakening teacher.
Forgiveness: I found forgiveness, but not in the way I expected. Forgiveness is not a one-time act or something you force. It’s a natural frequency that already lives inside of us, just beneath the layers of emotion, memory, and conditioning. It’s always there. And when I lose touch with it—under the waves of life—I now know where to look for it.
Coming Home to Myself
Healing is a lifelong process, but eventually, I was able to open my heart. I released the pain I had been carrying. I reclaimed my energy, my voice, my sense of safety and truth. And in doing so, I came home to my body, to my spirit, to my soul’s calling.
Healing isn’t just possible—it’s waiting for you. If you don’t know where to begin, perhaps something that helped me resonates with you. What are you drawn to? Start there.
Dr. Laura Chan is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor, Acupuncturist, and certified Qi Gong instructor specializing in empath empowerment, emotional-energetic hygiene, and feminine life force awakening. With two decades of study under Qi Gong masters and energy healers, she shares high-functioning empath strategies at https://highfunctioningempath.com.
