The 12 Stages Of Healing: Your Guide To Accelerated Awakening
The energy of our wounds can act as the source of our healing. It is through our experience of this energy that our wounds may be transformed into gifts.
Donald Epstein, author of The 12 Stages Of Healing: A Network Approach To Wholeness
A Map Of Consciousness
Here’s a video I made on how to use The 12 Stages Of Healing to speed up your awakening process:
If you prefer to listen to audio podcasts, the BioSoul Integration Podcast and this episode can be found wherever you listen to your audio podcasts:
In today’s exploration, we’re diving deep into The 12 Stages of Healing: A Network Appraoch To Wholeness by Dr. Donald Epstein.
This transformative book is much more than just a guide; it’s a roadmap to understanding the layers of consciousness that shape our experiences of pain, healing, and self-discovery.
Epstein meticulously outlines twelve recurring themes or stages, each representing a pivotal moment in our journey toward wholeness.
These stages are not just abstract concepts; they are felt experiences that everyone encounters as they move through life’s challenges and transitions.
By processing and integrating the energy bound within us—often locked away by our defenses and conditioned responses—we begin to traverse these stages, each one a stepping stone in the ongoing journey of healing and awakening.
Be sure to read to the end of this article, where I’ll share a tool I created to identify your current stage of healing.
You’ll receive a four-page printout with detailed information about where you are on your healing journey, designed to help accelerate and smooth your process.
First, let’s learn a little bit about the man who came up with this system.
The 12 Stages Of Healing By Donald Epstein
Dr. Donald Epstein
Donald Epstein is a renowned chiropractor, author, and visionary in the field of wellness and personal transformation.
With a deep commitment to understanding the intricacies of the human body and mind, Epstein has dedicated his career to developing innovative approaches to healing.
He created such healing technologies as Network Spinal and Somato Respiratory Integration.
His work integrates principles from chiropractic care, energy medicine, and personal development, making him a pioneer in holistic health.
Epstein’s journey began with his extensive education in chiropractic care, where he quickly realized the limitations of traditional methods in addressing the deeper layers of human suffering and dis-ease.
This led him to explore various modalities and philosophies, seeking a more comprehensive understanding of health and healing.
Through years of practice, research, and personal exploration, Epstein identified recurring patterns in the healing processes of his patients.
The 12 Stages Of Healing
These insights culminated in the creation of The 12 Stages of Healing: A Network Approach To Wholeness, a groundbreaking framework that maps out the journey of personal transformation and self-healing.
The Twelve Stages of Healing are designed to help individuals understand and navigate the complex interplay between their physical, emotional, and spiritual selves.
Each stage represents a unique phase of awareness and growth, guiding individuals through a process of recognizing, releasing, and integrating the various aspects of their being.
Epstein’s work has had a profound impact on the field of holistic health, offering a new paradigm for understanding and facilitating healing.
His teachings emphasize the importance of self-awareness, the body’s innate wisdom, and the interconnectedness of all aspects of life.
The Creation Of Defended Sense of Self
To grasp how the unfolding process occurs within us through these twelve stages, it’s essential to first explore how our defended sense of self develops—a survival mechanism that gets its start in us very early on.
About two to four weeks after conception the foundational layer of our nervous systems, something I call the primal brain, comes online.
It attunes to the environment, absorbing the energetic imprints of those around us.
We internalize their survival patterns, leading us to fragment ourselves into many disparate parts, and judge some of those parts as “good” and some of those parts as “bad,” the same way they have.
Coincidentally I’ve created an in-depth blog article about a technique designed to help us resolve the conflict between all our parts called Parts Work.
Physical And Emotional Manifestations
There is a physical and emotional consequence of adopting these defense patterns.
Our defended self manifests physically through tension and postural changes.
We use tension to sequester the energy associated with certain parts of us, to keep those parts from being expressed fully.
Emotionally, we place limits on the range and depth of feelings we allow ourselves to experience.
These physical and emotional patterns become deeply wired into our nervous system and cells.
By age seven, we’ve typically formed a template based on these survival patterns that we then go about projecting onto our world.
Influence Of External Beliefs
The limiting physical and emotional programs support unproductive beliefs about who we are and our relationship to the world.
Our survival self, thinking it is protecting us, uses limiting thoughts and beliefs to constantly build the case that protection is necessary.
We end up peceiving and interacting with the world through the lens of the hurts and traumas and accidents we’ve experienced.
However, this way of living goes against the nature of Nature.
The Holographic Nature Of Existence
Life naturally wants us to be whole.
The holographic nature of existence means that the template for wholeness exists within us and around us.
This Universal template entrains us, as well, constantly nudging us towards evolution and a direct experience of wholeness.
Our defended self resists this natural pull, requiring ongoing energy and resources to maintain the artificial separation it has created.
Despite our resistance, life uses the people and circumstances we encounter to continually bring us into relationship with the parts we’ve pushed away and guide us back to this state of wholeness.
Our journey of healing and awakening involves bringing awareness to the interplay between the expansion tied to our inherent wholeness and our defended sense of self’s need to remain contracted.
Staying Anchored In The Present Moment
Staying anchored in the present moment is crucial for our healing journey.
When we get lost in thoughts about the future or past, it can slow down our awakening process or lead to suffering.
The real transformation happens when we remain present with our experiences.
Being in the now lubricates and accelerates our growth.
And that’s why tools like The 12 Stages Of Healing work.
They help us recognize, focus on and have a direct, felt experience of ourselves right now.
Now, let’s look at the 12 stages.
The Twelve Stages
The 12 stages represent recurring themes that emerge as we transform layers of our defended self.
These stages are:
Stage 1: Suffering The first stage is marked by suffering, the result of our deep identification with one of our many fragmented parts.
When we are triggered or under-resourced, one of our fragmented parts takes over and we see the world only through the lens of that part.
But there are many parts, and there are more resourced, as well.
These under-resourced parts think they need to do it all themselves without being aware that there are other parts who also have needs, or parts that could help.
This situation results in internal conflict and suffering.
Stage 2: Awareness of Parts In stage two, we begin to recognize that we are composed of multiple parts, each with its own perspective and emotions.
When this multiplicity of our personality is unconscious we’ll tend to project those parts onto the people and situations we encounter in life.
But when we’ve done some healing and start to become aware of the intelligent space surrouding some of our parts, we’re able to observe our parts as they come to the surface.
Stage 3: Stuckness Stage three is characterized by a feeling of being stuck.
When we start to develop a more refined awareness of our parts in stage 2, we’ll become aware that some of those parts are opposing each other.
For instance, you might become aware of a part of you that doesn’t feel satisfied in your love relationship.
At the same time there might be another part of you that is afraid to leave the relationship because it thinks you’ll won’t be able to find another one.
So you stay stuck in the relationship.
We acknowledge the conflicting desires within us—one part pulling us in one direction, another in the opposite.
This internal struggle keeps us in a state of inertia, unable to move forward and we experience feeling stuck.
Stage 4: Taking Our Power Back As the stuckness in stage 3 progresses, we move from anger and frustration to admitting to ourselves that we are stuck and don’t know how to get unstuck.
Paradoxically this simple acceptance of the situation opens the space we needed to move forward.
As we move into stage four, we begin to experience our parts from a place of compassion and non-judgment.
This shift allows us to access the wisdom of each part, empowering us to reclaim our personal power and integrate these aspects of ourselves.
Stage 5: Merging with the Shadow Stage five is a powerful experience of merging with the shadow—the energy associated with parts of ourself we’ve previously resisted.
This process of integration often feels like a rebirth, as we confront and assimilate the parts of ourselves we’ve been avoiding.
Stage 6: Building Energy In stage six, the energy that was previously confined within the parts of us we felt we had to hide is now liberated, propelling us toward a deeper connection with a higher source or our authentic self.
This phase involves a growing momentum towards transformation, akin to the pressure that builds before significant events like childbirth or a deep emotional release.
Stage 7: Discharge of Energy Stage seven is the culmination of this energy build-up, where we surrender control and allow a greater force to guide us through the transformation.
This release propels us forward, often resulting in a profound shift in consciousness.
Stage 8: Emptiness Following the discharge, stage eight brings a deep sense of emptiness—an expansive, quiet space where we can fully appreciate the stillness and clarity that comes after a significant release.
Stages 9-12: The Esoteric Stages The final stages, 9 through 12, are more subtle and esoteric.
In stage nine, we become aware of the light and energy that underlie all things.
Stage ten, ascension, involves a spiritual elevation of consciousness, where we connect with our soul’s gifts.
Stage eleven is the embodying and integration of our soul’s gifts, and stage twelve involves the sharing of these gifts with our community of fellow humans.
Every time we process and integrate a layer of our defended sense of self along with its associated bound energy, we move through these stages.
They are common to everyone’s experience and provide a framework for understanding our journey.
Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI): Born Of The 12 Stages
The Embodiment Of Healing
The 12 stages of healing are not just conceptual ideas—they are deeply intertwined with the body’s physical, emotional, and energetic experience.
Each stage represents a unique way in which we engage with our inner world, our pain, and our potential for healing.
As people progress through these stages, they often find that their experiences are not just mental or emotional but are also physically embodied.
This embodiment of the healing stages led to the development of Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI).
SRI is a set of exercises designed to help individuals connect with their body’s innate wisdom, enabling them to better navigate through the stages of healing.
With each of the 12 stages of healing is a specific exercise that involves placing your hands on your body, breathing in a certain way, or perhaps moving in a particular manner.
Dr. Donald Epstein, who created this methodology, noticed that as people were deeply engaging with their bodies and experiencing these stages, they would spontaneously enter into certain movements or postures.
Reverse Engineering The Process Of Transformation
People spontaneously had these experiences and movements, and Dr. Epstein essentially reverse-engineered them.
He observed, cataloged, and then taught these movements, breathing techniques, and postures as a way for others to access the consciousness and healing energy associated with each stage.
So, when you practice SRI, you’re not just performing an exercise—you’re engaging in a practice that has the potential to open up deeper levels of awareness, healing, and integration within your body and mind.
FREE Tool For Identifying Stages Of Healing
I have developed a useful tool inspired by the 12 stages of healing described in Donald Epstein’s book.
This tool helps you identify your current position in your healing journey and the specific stage you are experiencing.
To get started, simply click the link and select the statement that resonates most with your current life situation.
Once you’ve made your selection, the tool will generate a comprehensive four-page report detailing your current stage and offering valuable insights related to it.
I hope this resource supports you in staying grounded during the challenging phases of your awakening process, enabling you to trust your present experience and facilitating a smoother, more accelerated journey.
I look forward to helping you express more life,
Dr. Jay
About the Author Dr. Jay Uecker
Dr. Jay is the founder and owner of BioSoul Integration Center in Louisville, Colorado. He’s a chiropractor, a hands-on healer, an in-person and online soul integration coach and the author of If It Didn't Hurt: How To Resolve Your Pain And Discover Your Life Purpose. For two decades Dr. Jay has been helping people navigate their healing journeys. Over the course of that time he’s worked intimately with thousands of people. Those who are most drawn to Dr. Jay's work are those who are seeking to integrate and embody their soul's essence and their soul's gifts so they can share them with others. Life will keep nudging us in that direction, anyway. BioSoul Integration helps to speed up the process and smooth out the rough spots created by the innocent and unconscious resistance that lives in our primal brain and nervous system. Click the link to get your Personalized BioSoul Integration Guide.
