Free Empathy Sessions in New Zealand

I think now, more than ever, I see the importance, the impact and the beauty in the simplicity of being heard. As humans we go through many initiations in life: birth, death, change, heartache. An important aspect of these experiences being integrated, processed and understood is in the being witnessed. Something that is so sadly missing in many of our everyday lives. This key piece of the human experience. To simply be witnessed. The medicine of being witnessed. Nothing to fix or to change in this exact moment. That can come later if needed. Right now, nothing to do, nothing to be. Just here in the moment when you need someone to talk to. Whatever you want to talk about.

Why being truly heard matters

Empathy is not a word that was in my vocabulary growing up. But I was aware of an inner desire to understand both myself and the worlds of others. However it did not translate into my life. No way to articulate the undercurrent of feeling. Of my perception of not being seen for my true intentions. Resulting in an inward drawing, unable to quite put words on it. How often have you felt like that? In conversation with a friend or significant other, the conversation shifts and there’s a sense of change in your inner world, a trigger or hurt rising up, activated by the other person without them ever meaning to. With uncertainty about how to process and understand the underlying emotions and the inner experience that might be unfolding.

Also, so you know, to have an Empathy Angels session you absolutely do not need any communication skills at all to benefit from the experience. You just need to show up. Book a free session.

What one session did for me

And oooweeee I can speak from my own experience about the profound effect and simplicity that being heard has brought to my daily life. Greater understanding of myself, in these sticky moments as described above. Less reactive with my children, because someone else heard me! I am infinitely grateful for how the last three years of learning Nonviolent Communication through Jess’s lens and receiving the Empathy Angels service has impacted me, and my family. I distinctly remember one day before a session a tightness in my chest. The weight on my chest physically weighing me down, a heaviness I couldn’t shake. One hour later I walked away lighter. I do not recall what the topic of the session was, but I remember how I felt afterwards. Absolutely a million kilos lighter. My chest free.

The session involved me sharing whatever was coming to me in the moment. I was heard, and felt heard through the experience of having what I was saying reflected back to me. I had the opportunity to say if it was misunderstood and explore further. Often in the reflection back it would allow me to feel what was actually true for me, something that I hadn’t earlier accessed. And then the needs guesses. The full body sensation of relief when the needs guess hits right on the mark. The ohhhhhh that’s what it is. And the information that it can bring when the needs guess doesn’t quite land, like a detective, eliminating suspects, getting to the core of what I am needing. And so lovingly held in this journey. Some moments there’s nothing, no words, not from the empathy practitioner or from myself, just the presence of being together. When I know the need I am more empowered within myself.

This is an anecdote of my own personal experience. You can see here how empathy has impacted others.

Have you ever heard of the term ‘vulnerability hangover’?

The feeling that can arise in the wake of sharing something tender or vulnerable, it especially can arise after sharing something that you perceive to carry shame or guilt around. For some people, sharing deeply takes a while to settle. What is so beautiful about the Empathy Angels service is that it is a place of safety, of the simple presence, no records held, no one analysing or trying to diagnose you, just you and the human in front of you, hearing you without judgment. A human practised in the art of empathy, and the stories cannot hold anything over you in this world of feelings and needs.

There are many different stories that may have been conditioned into our minds that often arise in the moments of vulnerability, exactly the moment when we need help and support the most. And for some of us this may mean not reaching for the support that is just there around the corner. We just have to be brave enough to ask. To book the session. To not listen to any of the stories that may come up in those tender moments such as ‘am I a burden if I share how I feel?’, ‘is how I feel too much? Or not enough or not right?’, ‘I don’t have enough time’, ‘no one listens to me’, ‘I can get through this on my own’, ‘I don’t make any sense right now’, ‘I don’t know what to do to feel better’, ‘I don’t know what to do!’, ‘I don’t need anyone’.

Every one of those stories is welcome in a session too. Book yours here.

This world of empathy, of relating from our hearts, it is not black and white, this world is a rainbow of life. Of sparks of divinity reflecting the beauty in each of us, when we open our eyes and hearts to see it. When we allow ourselves to be received in the fullest of our human experience, I wonder how our worlds could change?

How to book your free session

An Empathy Angels session is free. It runs for one hour on Zoom, with a trained empathy practitioner. You talk about whatever is alive for you, receive the medicine of an hour of simply being heard.

Book your free empathy session here.

Written by Zarna Deed, a fellow human whose life has been greatly supported through receiving the Empathy Angels service over the last three years.