3 Ways to Beat Resistance
Don’t let it hold you back from greatness
Have you ever been on the verge of a breakthrough, a life-changing event, and for whatever reason you can’t seem to DO the thing to make it happen?
Maybe it’s a new way of eating.
Maybe it’s writing that book.
Maybe it’s diving into a new spiritual practice.
I’m sure you know what I mean.
On the way to greatness of any kind, we always meet an opposing energy, and I call it Resistance.
It’s the energy that might keep you up late the night before you intend on starting a new habit of getting up early. Or chores that pop up when you’ve decided to use your free time for something creative.
Resistance is ever-present and can be a real beast to wrestle with.
But the truth is that we don’t have to. Resistance isn’t a negative energy and it’s not personal — it’s showing us how energy works. When we decide to head in one direction, the opposite comes to greet us. It wants to know how serious we are. It wants to see if we’ll give up easily. And if we aren’t careful, it can definitely take us down.
Authors always talk about this resistance — artists as well. It doesn’t matter how many books they’ve written, how many creations they’ve created, resistance always shows up. And sometimes it stays for a while.
Especially when on the precipice of something huge.
During my recent vacation, while staring blankly into the bonfire thinking about absolutely nothing, a breathtaking course was laid at my feet. While I have always been divinely led with my work, I’ve never had anything like this channel through before.
It only took a moment to breathe the entire project in — the name, how it would be managed, what the purpose was, and much more. They even showed me how it would not only change the lives of those who felt called to join but that it would change mine in the process.
I sat before the flames in wild wonder and marinated in how the Universe works. And an hour later, I walked inside and wrote out everything as if I had been working on it for months.
As you can imagine, when I got home, I was ready to put it all together so I could begin sharing it.
But that was not meant to be. I wrestled all through the week as if I was physically wrestling with someone — exchanging words, pushing back, doing all I could to get my butt in my office chair and get started.
Nadaaaa. Nothing happened.
However, at the end of the week — in the midst of recording a podcast episode about it — I realized “resistance” was what I had been fighting.
I laughed out loud when it came to me. Of course, of course. I haven’t truly been in the midst of birthing anything new like this in a longgg time.
And I rejoiced.
Rejoiced because it meant I was in the midst of creating something awesome! And then rejoiced for the awareness of it because making resistance our friend, accepting its inevitability is the first way to manage it.
Then comes the work of transforming that stuck energy into useful energy, and that’s what I’ve come to share.
Because after becoming aware of it, I knew that action was the only thing to assist me in moving through it.
And by Friday afternoon, I had my landing page written and a podcast episode outlining what is to come.
These are three of my best practices for moving through resistance, for transmuting it into something that doesn’t hold us back but fuels our desire to move forward.
Into greatness. Into new beginnings. Into that next wonderful endeavor.
Breathwork
As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing as powerful as breathwork to reshape the energy inside of our mind and body — fast. Ten minutes of hefty breathing has enabled me to power through major struggles in my past that were doing ALL to knock me down.
I’m talking about everything from showing up to meet people who absolutely terrified (in a good way) me to upleveling my businesses into a higher revenue tier.
It’s the dream solution because it helps us to get comfortable being uncomfortable, which is PRICELESS. Because idk about you but breathwork is NOT something I enjoy in the moment. I have to force myself to do it. But my oh my is it worth it!
There are numerous forms of breathwork out there and we’re all different so I can’t say one type will work for you over another. It’s your job to search YouTube or Google for someone who resonates and go for a spin.
However, I can highly recommend Jenn Mansell, who I interviewed on my podcast and completed a 8-week women’s breathwork course with last year. She’s that perfect medium between heavy and light and her voice and playlists are incredible! Plus, she hosts a monthly group breathwork session and offers “pay what you can” options. Check her out here.
Intense Exercise
I know, I know — this is an obvious one! But it’s obvious for a reason. Millions of people talk about the massive benefits of intense exercise for a reason — it works!
We’re a people who sit far too often these days. We’re sedentary. And (most of us) are disconnected from our bodies, aka the most powerful tool we have in this lifetime.
Intense exercise doesn’t have to be an everyday thing, it certainly isn’t in my life, but it’s fabulous for a good ole shakeup aka “resistance a$$-kicking”.
And if you’re not down for breathwork, then my next best recommendation is some heavy breathing, hard pounding exercise. Again, this is about kicking our love of comfort to the curb and taking our mind OFF the present dilemma.
I’m a very physical person who uses her body to express emotions and release energy, so whether that’s through an intense vinyasa flow, boxing session or going for a run — it melts my resistance away.
Some of my best work has been created after a run!
When we switch the focus from friction to movement, magic happens. Blood moves. Perspiration cleanses and detoxes. And the shower afterward feels like heaven!
Meditation
I can almost hear the cries — “I can’t meditate when I’m STUCK”! And I get it. Promise.
BUT if you use meditation to meet yourself where you’re at, then you will surely find relief. Even better, meditate after one of the previous two suggestions and see what comes through.
Meditation can be one helluva battleground when we decide to meet our emotions on that plane. By that, I mean setting the intention to close our eyes and meet the resistance, accept its existence, and get curious about why it showed up.
This is building on Tara Brach’s work in “Radical Acceptance”, which is akin to a bible for me. I have used breathwork and Tara’s practices to work my way through fear many times. And resistance is no different because fear is at the root of anything not founded in love.
In resistance, we’re battling with “what if this doesn’t work? what if I’m not good enough? what if I fail?” — all questions founded in fear.
Yet we are stronger than any fear. We are able and mighty to work through it AND to come out the other side better for it.
To summarize, resistance is not our enemy, not a negative energy that seeks to push us down — it’s simply doing its job to balance polarity on this planet. Without challenges, we wouldn’t know success. Without the storm, we wouldn’t appreciate the rainbow.
The good news is that we can always win this struggle against resistance!
I hope these practices serve you and if you have personal practices for dealing with resistance, please share below :))
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