A few years ago, I attended an in-person retreat with Paul Selig, the conscious channel for The Guides. It was a deeply transformative experience — just not in the way I expected.
I found myself standing in the bathroom right before the next group session…feeling awful.
Nausea. A splitting headache. My body felt like it was rejecting something at a cellular level.
And yet, I knew this wasn’t illness. I wasn’t coming down with the flu.
I recognized this feeling. “This is the feeling of transformation.”
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar.
You’re evolving — shedding old patterns, stepping into new levels of awareness, and clearing deep energetic blocks — and your body responds. Sometimes subtly. Sometimes dramatically. Sometimes mysteriously in ways you don’t understand in the moment.
For me, when pain and illness come on, I choose to view it through the lens of spiritual growth and evolution to move through the discomfort more than anything “medical” to manage. It’s my way of collaborating with the pain to learn from it, with it, and to understand a deeper purpose of why it’s present.
So, I’m in that bathroom, with a choice.
I’m thinking, “It’s not that bad, I don’t really need any help. I can handle this. I don’t want to disturb the group, he’s just about to channel again.”
My thoughts are all justifying the way I usually do this — on my own, lone wolf style — navigating it quietly by myself.
Then a new thought arises, “Do something different, Marla. Make a new choice to get a new outcome.”
What could I do differently?
I could ask for support.
This is the part that felt uncomfortable. Vulnerable. Yet I knew that my usual pattern — growing in silence, processing alone, figuring it out myself — was not the path of my highest evolution, especially since I know the neuroscience of how community is essential in lasting transformation.
So I walked into the group, raised my hand, and chose to do the thing I don’t normally do.
I said, “I could use some support right now.“
The entire room quieted.
I shared exactly what I was experiencing — physically and emotionally — and Paul guided the group to “Word through me.”
He spoke healing through my body. Through my digestive tract. Through the parts of me that were resisting, that were holding.
And then… I ran outside and threw up.
Not an ounce of shame. No guilt, no fear, no judgment arose.
Just relief. Gratitude. Release.
And something wonderful happened afterward.
People came up to me, sharing their own physical struggles — things they had been keeping to themselves. They started asking different types of questions to the group, ones they maybe didn’t even know they could voice before.
They saw what happens when you allow your body to be part of your transformation.
Because your evolution includes your body.
We tend to separate growth as mental, emotional, spiritual — I promise, it’s also physical.
Your body isn’t separate from your evolution. It’s carrying the transformation. And it needs to be included in the process.
- If you’re feeling nauseous, foggy, or fatigued in times of deep growth… your body is processing, too.
- If you’ve ever cried, shaken, or felt physical exhaustion after a breakthrough… your body is releasing, too.
- If you’re trying to stoically push through discomfort instead of moving with it… your body is asking to be part of the healing, too.
This is why I always emphasize including the physical body in transformation, sales, and leadership.
It’s why I teach movement, writing, and nervous system regulation in the work here — not just “mindset shifts.”
Because when you ignore the body, eventually it will have its say. The journey always includes the body.
So for the next week, I invite you to actively include your body in your process:
- Notice: Where is your body speaking to you right now? What sensations — big or small — are asking for attention?
- Move: Instead of resisting discomfort or the cues of your body asking for attention… How can you move with it? A walk? Stretching? A deep breath? Even the smallest movement can shift energy.
- Ask for Support: Where are you still trying to process alone? What would it feel like to let someone witness your experience without trying to fix it?
And if you’re craving a space where you can grow your business and evolve with your body — where your transformations are witnessed and expanded — consider joining Rising Visionary.
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Marla Mattenson
With a 25+ year career, Mattenson is a trailblazer in transforming sales paradigms from transactional to relational for professionals who prioritize the integrity & fulfillment of their services. She is a champion of consent-based sales.
www.instagram.com/marla.mattenson
