Embrace your healing journey

E065 | Effortless Healing: A New Standard for Women Tired of Doing Everything ‘Right’ and Still Not Feeling Better

Anindita Guha Maulik Rungta Season 3 Episode 65

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Have you ever followed every healing rule—and still felt stuck?

You’re not alone. Many high-functioning women with chronic symptoms are doing everything right and yet feeling more exhausted, confused, and disconnected than ever.

What if the real reason you’re not getting better… is because you’re pushing so hard, your body no longer feels safe enough to receive?

In this episode, I introduce you to Effortless Healing.

It's a clear, compassionate path that helps you reconnect with your body, simplify your wellness, and finally experience sustainable relief.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE, YOU'LL DISCOVER:

  • Why “doing more” isn’t always the answer—and what your body actually needs instead
  • The hidden reason your symptoms might be persisting, even when your labs are “normal”
  • A small, powerful mindset shift that will help you stop chasing healing and start creating it

If you're done with burnout-as-a-lifestyle and ready to build a healing process that honors both your body and your life—this one’s for you.

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Inside, you’ll learn how to:

✔ Identify patterns behind your chronic symptoms
✔ Uncover root causes (without more tests or confusion)
✔ Start building a personalized, body-wise healing plan today

🎁 It’s completely free—grab it here →

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You've been following the protocols. You've been doing the work, you've been trying soups, you've been having healthy salads, healthy foods. And, uh, lately it started to feel a bit like punishment, in fact. And somehow you are still not seeing the results. You're still not seeing a sustainable improvement in your symptoms. So what's really going on here? Because what I want to offer you is that maybe the real reason you're not healing is not, is that you're pushing too hard, so your body is actually not feeling safe enough to receive. It happens. And we're going to talk a bit more about that, because in today's episode, I'm introducing to you a radically new concept. It's called effortless effortless healing. It's a very, very different approach from what you've been used to. It's not about being lazy. It's not about being, uh, passive, but it's about being precise, intuitive, and grounded in what your body is trying to tell you. So if you've done with this, uh, approach of, uh, like a punishment, like burnout, dealing with burnout, feeling like it's a second job, then this episode is for you. 

Welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate their illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty, and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you are ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then this show is for you. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine Certified Health Coach, deliver tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more. 

So you've done everything right. You've checked all the boxes. As I said, you've been trying different diets, but instead of getting better, you're feeling more depleted, right? That's something that I hear from so many women. They have been doing all the things. Yesterday morning I was speaking to someone who wants to take my help to figure out her gut issues and some pain related issues. And, you know, it's something that I hear from so many of you that, you know, I don't know what's really going on. I mean, I'm going to see one specialist and I'm going to see a one specialist for my hormonal issues because I'm about to hit menopause. I'm going to one specialist for my gastro issues because I've been having a lot of gas and bloating. Then one day it's constipation, the next day it's diarrhea, and I should probably go and see somebody for my migraines. And that's what some people, you know, remain stuck at because they are not really able to see the, uh, picture and this and this, even when they're able to do that, healing often starts feeling like a second job, right? It doesn't have to be that way. And this in this episode, I'm introducing to you the concept of effortless healing. It's a bold, new healing standard that I want to share with you so that you can actually, uh, prioritize self-trust over perfection, simplicity over symptom, uh, chasing and sustainability over struggle. That's what I'm offering you. And this episode is going to dive deep into that. But before I go any further, I would like to, uh, you know, talk about, uh, I would like to share an excerpt from an excellent book by Amy B Scher. it's called How to Heal Yourself When No One Can. Let me start with the excerpt. She says, '

I finally stopped. I just stopped. I stopped pointing to symptoms and syndromes and the perceived external causes of those I turned within instead. There is a saying that the when the student is ready, the teacher appears. How true it is. The information that I discovered was not brand new. Just like many of our realizations or epiphanies do not often come from information we have never encountered or that isn't already held within us. The key is readiness. You can see or hear the same thing a hundred times, but not until are you. You are ready with your whole self. Receive it. I needed to get to a point of being so finished with the disease, the burden and the struggle that I just refused to participate in it anymore. Not in a way that caused me to fight it or be angry with it, but in a way my. Where my spirit was finally done, I was ready to take a deep breath, surrender to a new starting point, and complete the experience I had been going through. Being sick was not my fault, but if I wanted to get better, it had to be my responsibility. 

I love those last words. I mean, I use that in some of my presentations. Being sick was not my fault, but if I had to get better, it had to be my responsibility. You see, a lot of us get into this deep hole of self-blame, self, you know, guilt, self judgment when we fall sick, believing, of course, that, you know, it's a, you know, I you know, we've done certain things that have led us to the point and that may be true, but is it really helpful. It's not actually. And I remember that. Well, actually coming to Amy Scher, this she actually was dealing with late stage Lyme disease, which is a really, really painful condition to have. Uh, it happens from a tick bite and neurological, uh, complications and a years of chronic illness that actually had let, left her bedridden and emotionally depleted. And she had gone to many different doctors across many countries and continents. And only after that she realized that true healing would not just come from treating the body. It would also have to involve her mind and emotions. You know, everything, the whole being. And I can relate to it to a large extent. Of course, it's nowhere even close to what she went through. 

But several a few years ago, actually, I was dealing with major sciatica nerve pain. And it was I was traveling a lot at the time. The only excuse I have is that, you know, honestly, even as a health coach, we all make mistakes. And even being in this profession, I, I thought I could take care of it. And initially I did ignore it. I was traveling, so that was a good excuse. But to cut a long story short, by the time I went to the doctors, I did my MRI. I was told that surgery was the only option. At that point, I put my foot down and I was trying, and by that time I was also trying different things. Uh, went to a couple of other, uh, physiotherapists. Nothing seemed to be working. When I was actually determined that surgery could not be the only option because honestly, I had not really tried anything else to address and to figure out what the root cause was and address it. Finally, I did go to somebody who, you know, immediately told me that the posture, this, this, this, you know, were the issues and my hips and hamstrings. So all of it had to be worked on, and it took me more than five weeks, I think it was almost six weeks and about 32 sessions that I my pain level started to go down naturally because I didn't take painkillers. It was really excruciating. But I was determined that, you know, I would be able to figure out I did take something to, you know, help the muscles relax, but that's about it. And it was a really low point in a long time because, you know, it sort of just every day was a remind. Pain was a reminder of the mistake that I had made, but not, you know, taking help earlier and taking action earlier. And, you know, it was it was hard. It was it was really hard to deal with the pain and deal with all the emotional, the negativity that comes with it. And. Yeah, and I and I knew it was a dangerous path to tread. thread. Uh, fortunately, because I've been through a certain crisis in my life. Because of my daughter's health, because of my father's death many years back, that, you know, really, really dark times in my life. I do know how to pull myself out of these holes. And I remembered Amy's words at that time, which is why I chose to share it with you today, that being sick was not my fault. But if I wanted to get better, it had to be my responsibility. And these feelings of guilt and blame honestly, have never motivated anyone to do anything in the long run. Fear is also not a motivator. It can motivate you to continue to make the changes, to make healthy choices, make healthy decisions. So do not even go down that road. And for that, sometimes you need to surrender. And you know, when, uh, when, when you believe you should be getting better. And the same thing that I did, I had to surrender what I thought I should be doing, what I should have done, you know, when I should be getting, should be getting better, etc. and so forth. And I just let it surrender and let it be. Let nature take its course. Because I finally realized I was on the right path and it worked. So here's what you may be going through. You may be getting random pain in places that don't make sense your neck, your lower back, your jaw and it's hard to know what triggers it. A lot of lot of people actually end up getting this. Your body may be crashing at unpredictable times. You feel fine one day. The next day you hit a brick. It's like you're hitting a brick wall. Or maybe you've just stopped trusting your energy levels because you don't know, and you've stopped making plans because you don't know how you will feel from one day to another, how your energy levels will be. And the same person I was speaking to today morning, she's been going through some of these things. So pain levels, they come up suddenly. They are there throughout the day. It's, you know, really hard when she was traveling recently. So so these are things that it's not just you, the many, many women who fall through the cracks. 

And I wrote about it recently in my Substack publication, Healing From Within. If you haven't read that, check it out. I have been writing about different things. Anyway, coming back to this topic and many women fall through the cracks in this manner. And then again, they go from one expert to another. Never ever seen the real picture. Never. Nobody ever sees them as a whole person. So you will probably end up being told that it's your thyroid, it's your hormones. If you're a woman in your 40s, it's everything is attributed to hormones. I mean, that's really rubbish. I mean, why should everything be attributed to our hormones? Right? It's not about only hormones. It is, of course, about that. But it's about other things too. It's maybe about something else. Completely. Uh, it may be, uh, the structural issues. So you are you may be told it's your gut, your hormones is a very, very common thing. But it's not just about food sensitivities. It is not just about hormone imbalances or genes. It's. Also that your body is stuck in survival mode, and because it is not feeling safe enough to heal, it is not felt safe enough to heal. So the deeper root is usually nervous system dysregulation. And Dr Aviva Romm has a superb book on this or not on this topic, but thyroid I think it's called the Thyroid Revolution. Doctor Viva Rome! I love that book, The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution. I think it's called, uh, she terms, uh, she coined this term the SOS mode. 

And that's true. Many women, many especially women, are stuck in this chronic survival mode. It's like this. Your body is running on high. Alert it for so long, it doesn't really know how to switch off. And it's it's this is a chronic survival mode. And it has long term consequences. It has downstream consequences. In fact, the aches and pains that, uh, you know, the person I was speaking to is going through and many women that they go through, especially those who get it in the morning, it's usually a sign of local, uh, called, uh, cortisol levels. Right. The body has been producing high levels of cortisol for so long that, you know, wisely. And it has, uh, side effects, high cortisol levels all the time, prediabetes and many other side effects. Which is why the body finally decides that enough is enough. If you're not doing anything about your stress levels or dealing with them, I'm going to reduce production of cortisol to help us survive. So this is one reason why a lot of people, uh, and, you know, cortisol, we know actually. Keeps inflammation at bay, and a lot of times because of low cortisol levels in the morning, our pain levels can be really high. So that's one one connection. So it's about how your body is managing stress inflammation. It may be trauma past trauma pressure to perform very common especially pressure to perform wellness to be perfect at wellness perfect at healing. So this is why your symptoms keep cycling. 

So if you are here and listening to this episode then you know you've you you're here because you've tried so many things. Because you care, because you're committed, you're not lazy, but these have not worked for you because they were not built for you. Whether it's protocols, whether it's restrictions, whether it's testing, whether it's data overload, too much data is also detrimental. It doesn't really help always, whether it's a forced mindset and self-improvement tactic, you know, forced positivity, being upbeat and positive all the time, that's not genuine. So these are all tools. And also these are all tools that are incomplete with the one thing nobody taught you to build, which is a healthy relationship with your body. So this effortless healing approach helps you to do just that. And uh, you know, you know, I'll be discussing a bit more and I'll discuss also a way that you can start practicing it right from today. So the most radical question that you can ask yourself is not what else should I do? But it's actually what can I let go of, what can I release? And I have, as I mentioned earlier, letting go is not the same as giving up. So because healing. Healing is not just it's not about chasing symptoms. It's not about chasing wellness. It's about actually figuring out what needs to be done and why, which is going to help your body. 

So let's try one activity today. It's a very short activity. Again, all these activities are usually very brief but extremely powerful because it helps to bring awareness to something probably you've never thought of before. It changes the way you look at things. I think I think Doctor Wayne Dyer is it who had said that when you change the way you look at the world, the world changes. That's exactly what these are. You know, these tools that I'm giving you are supposed to help you. So choose one decision that you've been outsourcing. What to eat, how to rest, when to rest, how to move. You know, all of these things that others are telling you like like yoga is the only way. This is how you should move. You should not be doing that. You should do only more of weights and not something else. You know, maybe you love walking and you've been told that, okay, walking is okay, but it's not really much of a, you know, a help when you're looking at cardio, uh, you know, cardio, cardiovascular health. Maybe you should do more weight training and forget about your walking. So many of these things that we outsource and we listen to actually don't really help us. 

So one for just one day, let your body decide. Not the protocol. So so think of it this way. I'm going to give you a couple of prompts and you can journal on them. I find journaling and writing down your answer on my answers is a brilliant way of getting clarity in my mind of figuring out what I'm going through or processing emotions. So here's the first prompt. If your body were a good friend, how would you treat it? Just imagine how you would treat another friend, right? And suppose a friend is in trouble. You can visualize it that way. But if your body were a good friend, how would you treat it? Would that be different from how you treat it now? Right. That's the next part. The second part. So the first part is, if your body were a good friend, how would you treat it? The second part is would that be different from how you treat it now? And this is you know, this will is a bonus. It's a brownie point you get if you do this as well. Imagine a day of treating your body like another good friend, like maybe it's a Sunday like this coming Sunday. Imagine loving this friend your body as you wake up and help you to get out of bed. Being gentle with it, staying with it, staying connected to it, and not rushing about what it feel like. Just imagine it. Even if you can't do it, and if you can practice it right, it will give you it will, you know, it will bring about answers. It will bring about an awareness that you would have never even dreamed of. And of course, then reflect on that. What did I learn? What felt different? What felt lighter?  It will give you a lot of answers. So this is part of the effortless healing approach. 

Healing does not have to be very complicated. It does not have to be really hard. Right. And that's what I'm sharing with you because most women, as I said, confuse rest or letting go with giving up. But they also confuse simplicity with laziness. But it's not. It's actually a very powerful strategy. And in, in fact, approaching your health, you know, in this manner, in an effortless manner and very intentional. By the way, it also means that you don't wait for things to happen to you. You are actually more proactive, not less. You are not passive, you're actually more proactive. And you can actually prevent from things become worse in the future. It's the same difference between guessing your next move and sensing it. So it's also not. But I would like to add here, it's not about rebelling against functional medicine, or which whenever you take supplements where you also do tests, etc. and figure out the root cause or conventional medicine. It's not about that. Uh, this approach goes hand in hand with the treatments that you may have to do, the medications that you may have to take, the diagnosis that you will want to seek. To know what disease you have. It all goes hand in hand with the labs that you might be doing. It goes hand in hand. It's never an either or situation. A lot of times we need both. Most of the times actually we need both. 

So because it's not also about it's, you know, upgrading your from the role of just being a passive follower to an active collaborator with your body. That's what you're trying to do here because you are your body's partner. You are your body's healing partner. It is your partner, and it's high time that you start acting accordingly. And the moment you stop outsourcing your healing completely is the time that your body starts acting differently, shifts out of this survival mode, and you will know when it shifts, because finally you're paying attention. So if this actually helped you in some way resonated with you, and you're starting to wonder, how do I take the first step? How do you even get started with effortless healing? Then you can actually. Head to aninditarungta.com/decode. That's dot com forward slash decode. I'm sharing the link in the show notes below It's a workbook. 

Decode your decode your symptoms. It's a workbook. It's a simple tool that helps you to move from just symptom tracking to figuring out what they actually mean. So you can get your free copy there. And here's what we covered today. 

This is the body wise wrap up that I shared at the end of every episode. 

Number one, your symptoms are not random. They are actually signals.

 Number two, you have tried the protocol tests and mindset tools, and the reason they did not work is not because you failed, but because they were not designed for you. 

Number three, the real shift is effortless healing, which is a path that begins with self-trust, simplicity, and safety so that your body can finally start moving from survival to thriving. 

Number four, this first step is not adding more. It's actually subtracting what no longer serves you.

 And number five healing. It's about healing that feels more like coming home, not more hard work. Because when you stop chasing and start listening, that's when everything changes. So if you are, if you think that this episode is going to share, you know it's going to benefit someone who is struggling with some of these things with chronic health issues. And they need to hear this, that there is an easier path, that this effortless healing approach, you know, is a complete mindset shift that can help them. Then feel free to share this episode. I'll see you in the next one.