Is it possible to “do all the healing work” and still not make progress?

Yes.

If you’re in a place in life where you’re asking yourself:

…it might be that you’ve been running in (healing) circles without realising it.

Very often, we end up:

• confusing insight with transformation
• confusing intense emotional reactions with emotional release
• confusing the relief we feel after a big cry with actual “unstuckness” in our life

A real sign that an old emotional wound has healed is not just how we feel right after a session, retreat, or ceremony, but whether something actually shifts in our day-to-day reality:

• Do we stop looping in the same dynamics?
• Do we respond differently in similar situations?
• Do we feel a little more free, a little less trapped?

If not, it might not be a lack of effort.
It might be a lack of a clear inner map.

Today I want to share the best one I’ve found so far:
a map by Vivian Dittmar that helps us understand the inner world in a very precise and compassionate way.

Vivian Dittmar’s map: 5 types of inner experience

Vivian makes a simple but powerful point:

And when we mix them up, we get stuck.

Here’s a simplified version of her map of five types of inner experience:

1. Physical sensations

This is the most basic layer, the raw data of the body.
Pressure, temperature, tightness, tingling, heart rate, breath patterns, trembling, numbness.

These sensations don’t carry meaning by themselves.
They’re simply signals that something is happening in your system.

2. Biological programs

These are instinctual reactions wired for survival:
fight, flight, freeze, fawn, hunger, sexual drives, impulsive protection, and other primal responses.

They are fast, automatic, and non-negotiable.

Vivian distinguishes this as a separate layer because we often mistake these instinctual reactions for emotions or intuition, which creates confusion and misinterpretation.

3. Feelings (which have a social function)

These are what Vivian calls the “social powers.”

Healthy anger → boundary
Healthy fear → orientation
Healthy sadness → letting go
Healthy joy → connection and expansion
Healthy shame → integrity, and self-correction

These feelings belong to the present moment and have a purpose.
They help us navigate relationships, make decisions, deepen intimacy, and respond appropriately to what is happening now.

Vivian emphasizes that these feelings are functional and carry intelligence.

4. Emotions (emotional baggage)

Emotions here are unfinished feelings from the past that were never fully processed.

They show up as:

• overwhelm
• disproportionate reactions
• distorted perception and reaction
• shutting down
• spiraling thoughts
• emotional flashbacks
• getting triggered
• looping in the same relational patterns

Vivian is very clear:
these emotions are not about the present moment, even if they get activated by something in the present.

This is where most people get stuck in their healing, reliving, re-triggering, re-understanding, but not releasing.

5. States of consciousness (trans-rational abilities)

This is the layer of:

• intuition
• trust
• connectedness
• compassion
• gratitude
• faith
• presence
• clarity without effort
• the ability to hold complexity
• insight that feels “downloaded,” not thought

Vivian calls this the trans-rational/ transpersonal ability, the part of us that can hold the emotional layers with love, perspective, and non-reactivity.

This is not dissociation.
This is a higher, clearer state of consciousness that supports real healing.

Why this map matters (and why we stay stuck even after “doing the work”)

Most people mix these layers up.

• We feel a biological survival reaction and call it “intuition.”
• We experience an old emotional wound and call it “healing.”
• We have a present-moment feeling and confuse it with a trauma response.
• We touch a transrational state in a ceremony but never learn to develop it as a skill.
• We intellectualize emotional baggage and assume the insight itself will transform us, but it doesn’t.

Confusion = looping.
Clarity = movement.

This map is powerful because once you know which layer you’re in, you know what kind of response is appropriate.

And this is where microdosing becomes incredibly supportive.

Microdosing through the lens of this map

In my experience, microdosing can activate any of these layers.

On a microdosing day, you might notice:

• More physical sensations​
  - increased sensitivity, subtle energy, tightness or expansion in certain areas of the body.
• Biological programs being activated​
  - increased freeze, flight or fight, fawning states
• Emotional backpack material surfacing​
  - old sadness, anger, shame, or fear rising seemingly “out of nowhere,” often with familiar stories.
• Clear, appropriate feelings​
  - “I’m actually just hurt,” “I need to say no,” “This doesn’t feel right for me,” “I really care about this.”
• Transpersonal awareness​
  - a sense of being guided, connected, held; spontaneous compassion for yourself or others; a quiet “deep knowing.”

The power of this map is that it gives you choice.

When microdosing activates the transpersonal (Layer 5):

You can choose to cultivate it:

• slow down and stay with that quality of awareness
• let it inform how you see a situation
• ask for guidance, then listen inwardly
• gently bring this perspective into more challenging, triggering situations over time

This is how transpersonal awareness becomes a skill, not just a peak experience.

When microdosing activates any other layer:

Instead of trying to fix it or interpret it, you can let it complete:

• If it’s body sensation → bring attention there, breathe, allow.
• If it’s emotional backpack material → let the emotion move, cry, tremble, feel; no story needed.
• If it's a biological program → you give the body space to discharge the activation. Shaking, trembling, orienting, or grounding may happen naturally.
• If it’s feeling → listen to what it asks (set a boundary, rest, speak, grieve).
• If it’s insight → note them down without getting lost in the explanation or rationalisation.

The goal is not to make everything “nice.”
The goal is movement – to shift from closed inner loops into genuine flow.

​

A simple practice: Free-flow journaling as a release valve

One of the most effective ways I’ve found to work with this map while microdosing is free-flow journaling:

1. Name the layer:​
   “Right now I’m noticing… body sensation / emotion from the past / a clear feeling / a story / a transpersonal sense.”
2. Let it speak on paper:​
   Set a timer for 10 minutes and write without censoring. No editing, no making it pretty.
3. Don’t argue with it:​
   Whatever comes out is allowed. You don’t have to believe every thought; you just let it leave your system.
4. Close with one question:​
   ​“What do I need now?”​
   Notice if the answer comes as a feeling, a simple action, or a quiet knowing.

Free-flow journaling acts like a release valve for the emotional backpack, and a landing strip for transpersonal insight. It clears the channel so you don’t just understand your patterns – you can start making different choices.

Next time: The neuropsychology of journaling

In my next newsletter, I’ll dive into:

• what happens in the brain when we write
• how journaling supports emotional regulation and nervous system balance
• why it’s such a powerful integration tool when microdosing
• and a simple structure you can use on your microdosing days (even if you “hate journaling”)

For now, I invite you to hold this question gently:

December openings

So, if you feel called to try microdosing and connect with your inner rhythm, I have 1 open coaching spots this December. Click here and fill in the form.

​

Also, the next Slow Remembering Circle

happens on December 3, 2025 at 6:45am PST // 9:45am EST // 4:45pm EEST

​