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How do we heal, a personal journey


Reposted from The LOA Podcast with Walt Theissen, published March 17, 2026

What if the part of you that hurts the most is also the part of you that knows the way home?

In this powerful conversation on LOA Today, Christine shares how growing up with a brilliant physician father and an alcoholic mother launched a lifelong quest to answer one haunting inner question: “I need a doctor. I need somebody to help me. I need some help. I need somebody to fix me.”

As a child, she had access to medical excellence, but not to the emotional safety she desperately needed. The family looked solid on the outside -success, status, financial comfort but, as Christine put it, “We had an interesting shell of a life, there was a lot missing on the inside.”

There were no emotional conversations, only trauma, distance, and a deep, unspoken loneliness. That gap pushed her into a lifelong search: How do we heal?

Christine devoured psychology books as a teen, explored countless modalities – psychology, plant medicine, reflexology, bodywork and eventually earned a master’s in Counseling Psychology. But the real turning point came when she faced the grief she had buried for decades: “It took me into my 40s before I could really acknowledge it and feel the grief and feel the child that was extremely afraid and felt abandoned.”

During her graduate program, in the “strange safety net” of learning to help others, she finally turned toward her own wounded inner child. This is where the conversation dives into one of the deepest themes of the episode: the wounded healer.

Christine realized that if she tried to heal others instead of healing herself, she would always be unconsciously using clients to fix her own pain. So she made a new commitment:

  • Heal herself while helping others.
  • Clear her own patterns so she could be “a clear channel” for her clients.
  • Stop “secretly, subversively, unconsciously” trying to heal herself through them.

Host Walt connected this to his own experiences as a Reiki practitioner and former partner of a psychotherapist. He echoed a vital truth his ex-wife learned from a supervisor: “It’s not your job to heal them. It’s your job to provide the information. It’s their job to heal themselves.”

Christine’s work as a clinical hypnotherapist rests on that same foundation of empowerment. She dismantles the myth that hypnosis is about losing control: Hypnotherapy, she explains, is actually about giving people more control over their minds, not less.

She collaborates with clients to craft language that fits their truth and their goals, then delivers those suggestions to the subconscious in a relaxed, focused state. It’s not magic. It’s a partnership.

Throughout the episode, Walt keeps returning to one core insight: “You can always trust your heart, but the last thing we’re willing to trust is our own heart.”

Christine admits she didn’t even know how to feel her heart for a long time. Her parents never mirrored her, never reflected back, “Oh my gosh, I just love you so much.” So she had to learn later in life how to recognize and interpret those heart signals.

The big takeaway?

  • Healing isn’t something a guru, doctor, or therapist does to you.
  • Healing is what happens when you reclaim your heart, your story, and your sovereignty.
  • Helpers – whether they’re hypnotherapists, Reiki practitioners, or friends don’t fix you. They help you clear the blockages so your own “spark of the divine” can do what it’s always wanted to do: heal.

You can’t think your way to that kind of healing. But you can feel your way there. One brave step, one released pattern, one kinder thought toward yourself at a time.

LOA Today Episode Page: https://www.loatoday.net/christine-brodmerkel

Christine Brodmerkel’s Website: https://christinebrodmerkelhypnotherapy.com/

Follow the LOA Today podcast:  https://www.loatoday.net/follow

#lawofattraction
#manifesting
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#HealingJourney #WoundedHealer #InnerChildHealing #TraumaRecovery #EmotionalHealing #Hypnotherapy #Reiki #SelfCompassion #TrustYourHeart


About the Author

Christine Brodmerkel is a Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and a Fellow of the International Board of Hypnotherapy.  She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and brings a wealth of experience in healing, personal development, and behavior change. She helps her clients break through stuck patterns, shift long-standing habits, and find greater clarity using proven hypnotherapy techniques.

Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, Christine works with clients locally and online. Her sessions are practical, focused, and rooted in the belief that real change is possible—often more quickly than you'd think.

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Christine Brodmerkel,
Fellow, International Board of Hypnotherapy
Cert. # F10425-880

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Ready to make a real change? Christine Brodmerkel Hypnotherapy in Charlottesville, VA offers a practical, personalized path forward. Schedule a 30-minute consultation to explore how hypnotherapy can help shift your mindset, change unhelpful habits, and support meaningful growth. Christine brings both skill and heart to the process, helping you tap into your own resources and create lasting results. Reach out today to take the first step.


Disclaimer

Hypnotherapy is an educational and self-improvement process that facilitates access to a person’s internal resources to assist him/her in solving problems, increasing motivation, or altering behavior patterns to create positive change.

Hypnotherapy is not a substitute for medical treatment or psychotherapy. Ms. Brodmerkel does not practice medicine or psychotherapy, and her services are not a replacement for counseling, psychotherapy, psychiatric, or medical treatment. No service or product provided is intended to diagnose or treat any disease or illness or psychological or mental health condition.

Medical Support Hypnotherapy is used only as an adjunct to conventional medical treatment. Consultation with a licensed physician is required before medical support hypnotherapy services are provided.