In This Episode

• Using the MAP for Sensitivities Program for food, chemical and environmental intolerances.
• Contrasting live MAP sessions over Zoom with the experience of using a Program.
• How emotions, especially fear and anxiety, and beliefs contribute to sensitivity patterns.

Show Notes

Join me for episode 57 where we talk with my client, Geri Destasio, about the MAP Method for chronic pain and food, chemical and environmental sensitivities. She describes her experiences with the MAP for Sensitivities Program and how working with a program differs from live sessions over Zoom. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• How she heard about the MAP Method from her functional medicine provider.
• How live MAP sessions helped with chronic pain, anxiety, and thyroid imbalance.
• The importance of our thought processes in keeping us stuck and contributing to chronic symptoms.
• How sensitivities to food, chemicals, noise, and pets were running her life.
• How the emotion of fear underlies sensitivity symptoms.
• How she used the Program the first month pretty intensely for food sensitivities.
• How she did additional cycles of the Program for environmental sensitivities over 2 months.
• How her chemical sensitivities resolved on their own.
• The big moments when she realized she was free of sensitivities: eating croissants, being able to breathe at Fleet Farm and around Easter Lilies, and not having to take medicine before visiting friends with pets.
• The significance of negative thoughts and beliefs in sustaining sensitivity reactions.
• How the MAP Method is a holistic healing modality that connects mind, body and spirit.

If you enjoy this episode, don’t miss episode 38, MAP for Sensitivities, where I talk about the development of the MAP for Sensitivities Program and a case study. To learn more about the MAP Method and how it works, visit mapforhealth.us, to find our free courses and MAP Program offerings. To schedule an Introductory MAP session please schedule online by using the Book An Appointment button at the top of the page.

Moments from our conversation

MAP for chronic pain...

[4:00] Having had pain issues for 45 years, I have done all kinds of modalities, but this has been a piece that has helped me so much to become in touch and aware of all the thought processes that keep me stuck. We have messages in our brain and our bodies that play over and over and keep us stuck.

Using the MAP for Sensitivities Program...
[13:00] It was very powerful for me. Truly it was kind of amazing to do the process. Basically, I feel like I’ve gotten really, really far. It was interesting to me that the emotion of fear that I’ve never been able to feel in my life. It somehow popped up while doing the piece on emotions. It was really surprising to me the number of times that fear came up with each sensitivity. 

Learned information becomes beliefs that contribute to food sensitivities...
[14:00] All of the messages, especially around food. We live in this culture… that’s a feeding frenzy of information about food. It’s very distracting. We learn that we can’t trust our bodies to know what they need. 

How the Program has changed her relationship to negative emotions...
[22:00] Now, when a thought or an emotion comes up…instead of going full fling with mind chatter, I can just be with my emotion and feel it so that I can let it go.

How the Program has changed her relationship with food...
[26:00] It’s pretty profound really, what can happen…[with this Program]. [In terms of food sensitivities] gluten was big, dairy, nightshades, beans and legumes. Now, I just eat. Really, the idea that food is safe, that it’s nourishing and healthy, that’s a mantra I used during the whole first month. I trust my body to eat what is healthy.

Realizing she could eat gluten again without symptoms...
[27:00] After a month, we took a trip to Hawaii and I ate croissants filled with yummy fillings that we bought warm at the farmer’s market. That was my reward for all the hard work.

Reconciling the freedom she has now, in contrast to others...
[29:00] Another part that was hard for me is that I have family and friends that are gluten intolerant. I almost didn’t want to say out loud that I could eat it now. That was another huge emotional piece. I had trust in what my body was doing. And that this is the truth and the reality of my life now. 

Wishing she could have done this years ago...
[40:00] If people could do this when they are younger, when they don’t have as much baggage. Go young people, do this while you’re young! It’ll be easier.

MAP as holistic mindbody process...
[43:00] I think that’s what I like about [MAP], even after the first session, I didn’t have to think about things, it could just be rewired. And it made a difference in my whole body. You don’t have to analyze and look at stuff. You just let it be what it is and you let your superconscious heal those pieces. It’s so holistic - it connects mind, body and spirit. It connects all of it; it’s a huge piece that we’re missing in health.

Appreciating the freedom from fear and anxiety...
[46:00] In this culture, after COVID especially, so many people are suffering from anxiety. We have all that fear from what’s gone on and I saw that it all works to trap us in that thinking pattern. It makes you feel stuck. It’s good to be free from all of that.

Reflections

I love Geri's spirit and after listening to this conversation, I think you will too. I really appreciated her willingness to talk about her experiences with the MAP for Sensitivities Program because she's experienced live sessions, and now the program. and could speak to both.

Both have their place, of course, but programs offer a structured set of sessions, reinforced with educational pieces and other resources, that make the process very convenient and affordable if resolving sensitivities is your primary goal.

Geri approached the program with a lot of gusto in her first month, and it paid off for her. But, I want to emphasize that this is a self-paced program and is very approachable even if you don't have time to do more than a session or two each week.