Articles and Interviews

I had my first Emotion Code session last week with my friend Shannon, and I wanted to share my wonderfully magical experience. For those of you who don’t know, Emotion Code is an energy healing modality that cleans up emotional baggage that you have collected during your life through a series of questions asked by a practitioner and answered by your subconscious.

Shannon wanted to trade emotion code for hypnotherapy, knowing that we would both have fun and experience some amazing healing benefits. I met Shannon for the first time last year at a coaching conference. On the very first day of the event, we were in a line together, and I zeroed in on her as a possible soul sister and asked her to have dinner with me that night. Not an hour later, we are sharing our deep, dark histories with each other over a glass of wine and a mushroom pasta that I still fantasize about.

Shannon is an inspiration to me, a guide, a teacher, and a close friend. She is a Reiki practitioner, a Certified Health and Life Coach, a Transformational Coach, an Emotion Code Practitioner, and a very intuitive person.

The session took place over Zoom while I snuggled in my bed with three chihuahuas. The process was intimate, as it started with her first making a connection to my subconscious. This way, the information was coming directly from me and not her own intuition. Then, one by one, she went through the emotions that we had previously chosen to start clearing and releasing. She asked my subconscious what words were associated with my emotion and then referenced her Emotion Code chart. Then she asked at which age this emotion got established in the body, followed by the most interesting question: where in the body did this emotion get stuck? Next, we released them by waving our hands over our heads three times. Then she asked my subconscious if that emotion was released and if there was more work to do related to the emotion. Once it was cleared, we moved on to the next one.

I have to admit that I have a healthy level of skepticism in matters of all things woo woo. I was raised by hippies and grew up with a general dislike of anything deemed new age-y. That said, I have entered a time in my life when I think that all of those new-age people had it right all along, and I am now on a quest to become so deeply and blissfully connected to spirit.

So now I’ll share the heart of the matter. I had a traumatic roller coaster experience when I was little, which altered the course of my life. When I was 6 (later Shannon confirmed I was 7), I was staying with my grandparents on their farm in East Texas. They were actually my brother’s grandparents, as we had different dads, but I always thought of them as mine. I loved visiting the farm. We would fish, ride horses, and herd the cows from one pasture to the next. This was heaven for an outdoorsy animal lover like me.

This particular summer, my brother’s other cousins were visiting, too. They were more girly girls, and Grandma doted on them, as I preferred the company of Grandpa and the cows. One day, they took us to Six Flags. Everyone wanted to go on the log ride, but because I had never ridden a roller coaster, I did not. It seemed really scary.

Now, here is where my memory diverges from reality. In my memory, I was put on this roller coaster alone, and the entire log ride was empty except for me. I remember the clicking sound as the car climbed up. I remember that sound very vividly. I remember being at the top and really enjoying the view, and then all of a sudden it went hurtling down the other side at warp speed. I was sitting in the very front car by myself. I remember the force of the speed kind of lifting me up and out of the car because I was a little tiny bird-boned girl and I thought I was going to fly out. Then the log hit the water with an abrupt smack. I got covered in water. I was soaking wet, and I remember shaking the rest of the day. I don’t remember the rest of the summer.

As I grew up I had a bunch of weird phobias that no one could explain. If we drove down any hilly roads I would be so terrified I would almost pass out. I remember where I lived in the mountains in New Mexico, there was this road, NM 217. Anytime we had to go anywhere new I would be absolutely terrified that we had to take 217. I would be sick to my stomach, dreading this road because I knew there were hills. I was terrified of any road trip because I didn’t know if they were going to be hills. I remember being really ashamed of this fear and feeling like I was so very different for having this issue when everybody else seemed to enjoy the thrill of the hills. I spent so much of my childhood being terrified of what was coming and having no way to control it. I developed a phobia of elevators and flying. Anything that made my stomach go up I just couldn’t handle.

Of course, I could consciously trace these fears back to the roller coaster event but I didn’t have the tools growing up to understand why so many seemingly unrelated emotions stemmed from this one experience. However, when I was getting my education to be a coach, I discovered many limiting beliefs along the way. I was doing some deep work with a friend of mine and it came up that I’ve never felt like I belonged. This is some really personal stuff I’m sharing here but I have never felt like I belonged. Which is an odd belief for me to have because I’ve also had the experience that I am a likable, fun, and happy person to be around.

Last year, I decided I finally wanted some clarity about that roller coaster experience. I called my brother, whom I trust and respect greatly. I told him my version of the memory, and he laughed, saying all of us went on the log ride together, and I was sitting next to Grandpa. I told him that I can’t remember much about that summer but that I have such weird feelings about it. He said, “Because you didn’t belong.”

He then proceeded to share with me some unsettling details of that summer that I didn’t remember. His grandma loved those other two little girls so much because they wanted to do all these fun girly things like bake and go shopping, but I was the fly in the ointment because I didn’t enjoy those things. I remember her talking to me with such distaste because I didn’t match my underwear to my outfit—I was 6. She was Catholic, and I had no religion. Upon entering her church, she put her hand in holy water to cross herself. I was behind her, so I did the same thing because I wanted to follow the rules. She slapped my hand and said I wasn’t allowed to touch the holy water because I wasn’t Catholic. I was so small I couldn’t eat a lot, and I did better with many small meals. But because I couldn’t finish my plate, she stopped feeding me, saying I was "ungrateful.”. Yeesh, no wonder I felt like I didn’t belong!

So this is the emotional baggage I wanted Shannon to clear. She took me through the process with this particular event, and these words came up on her emotion code chart. Terror, dread, anxiety, and love were unreceived. They got stuck in my body when I was 7. I’m sure that the terror, dread, and anxiety seem obvious, but it was so validating for me. These three emotions got trapped in my liver and kidneys, which makes a lot of sense to me. I have had so many health issues through the years, and it’s all because I don’t have functioning detox pathways. I have elevated liver enzymes, and basically anything toxic I ingest just kind of hangs around because I can’t dispose of it. Releasing these emotions from these areas makes me really hopeful. Not just because my health is going to improve, but because I don’t want terror, dread, and anxiety living in my body.

The unreceived love got stuck at age 7 in my heart, of course. That whole summer was filled with heart-wounding experiences, and then, when I needed support the most, I wasn’t heard and was then forced to go on a roller coaster against my will. I am so relieved to finally be done with that summer.

Shannon said that after the experience I might have some vivid dreams or epiphanies, which of course I did. First, I am so grateful to my brother for giving me clarity on that summer. The fear I have felt for most of my life was so out of character for me. I am an undeniably gutsy person in every other aspect of my life. I have traveled the world by myself, even though I was terrified of flying. I own my own travel trailer and drive around the country with a six pound chihuahua. I have sung a cappella at open mic nights, even though I’m not a very good singer. So these phobias that I carried for years did not fit who I really am.

I am also grateful to understand where the feelings of not belonging came from and to release the feelings of love unreceived. I do belong. I am deserving of love. I no longer need the approval of some hard ass, dead eyed adult to make me feel worthy. I am an adult now, and I approve of myself!

After the experience with Shannon, I feel so light and free. I don’t have the same dread that I have always carried; I am far less anxious, and I feel secure in my place in the world.

If you want to experience freedom from emotional baggage or past traumas, I highly recommend an emotion code session. Shannon is currently taking new clients; here is her information:

Email: coachwithshannon11@gmail.com

IG: shannon_mindsetcoach

Facebook: coachwithshannon11