Before You Create a New Future, You Have to Let Go of the Past
In her clinical work, Melinda Webb brings together Chinese medicine, acupuncture, breathwork and somatic therapy to help people become more aware of the patterns held within both mind and body. Central to this work is the understanding that creating a different future begins with recognising what we continue to carry from the past, and creating enough space within ourselves to choose something different.
Before you can create a new future, you first have to become aware of what keeps recreating the past: the thoughts you think every day, the emotions you repeatedly feel, the behaviours you automatically return to, and the people and environments that remind you who you have always been.
Becoming Conscious of the Familiar
So much of what we call our personality is familiar. We wake up in the same environment, see the same people, remember the same problems and generate many of the same emotions. Change begins when we become conscious of this. What thoughts have become so automatic that you barely notice yourself thinking them? What emotions have become so familiar that they feel like part of who you are?
Our environment can also continually remind us of our old self. The people we spend time with, the conversations we have and the situations we repeatedly find ourselves in can reinforce familiar ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. As you begin to change, it is worth asking: Does my environment support the person I am becoming, or continually remind me of the person I have been?
This isn't about judging or blaming others. It is about noticing what happens within you. Awareness gives you the opportunity to recognise an old reaction before automatically following it and, in that moment, make a different choice.
Rehearse the Person You Want to Become
Instead of beginning your morning by remembering yesterday, what would happen if you began rehearsing tomorrow? Before reaching for your phone or allowing the outside world to capture your attention, ask yourself: Who do I want to be today? How does that person think, communicate, love and make decisions? How do they respond when life doesn't go according to plan?
Then consider how that future feels. Perhaps it is freedom, abundance, courage, gratitude, love, purpose or possibility. You don't have to wait for every external circumstance to change before beginning to cultivate those emotions. The more you practise the thoughts, choices and behaviours associated with the person you want to become, the more familiar that new way of being becomes.
There is often an uncomfortable space between the old self and the new. This is the unknown. There is no need to rush through it. Becoming your future self happens step by step, choice by choice, as you learn to become more comfortable with possibility rather than continually returning to what is familiar.
Creating Change Through the Body
This understanding is also at the heart of Melinda's work and ongoing training with Dr Joe Dispenza. Creating change isn't simply about talking about what you want to do differently. The body is part of the conversation too.
In clinic, Melinda combines awareness and conversation with acupuncture, breathwork and somatic therapy. Acupuncture is used to support nervous-system regulation and help settle the body, while breath and somatic awareness bring you back into the present moment. It creates an opportunity to recognise what has become familiar, understand what you would like to create instead and begin experiencing what a different state of being may feel like.
You don't need to arrive knowing exactly what your future looks like. Perhaps you simply know that something needs to change. Start there.
If you are ready to create change, you can book an Acupuncture and Breathwork session to work more deeply with the body and breath; Somatic Acupuncture, combining acupuncture with breath and energy work; or Somatic Therapy, a needle-free session combining breath, awareness and energy work. And for those that want a deeper session Melinda offers Spinal Energetics - Spinal Energetics is a gentle, body-based practice that works with the spine, nervous system and energetic patterns to support greater awareness, release and connection within the body.
Book with Melinda Webb and begin creating space for what comes next.
About Melinda Webb
Melinda Webb is a Dr Chinese Medicine, Dr Joe Dispenza Health Practitioner, Level 2 Spinal Energetics Practitioner, Insight Breathwork facilitator and founder of Beattie Street Health in Balmain, Sydney.
Her work brings together Chinese medicine, acupuncture, nervous-system regulation, breath, somatic practice and Spinal Energetics, with a particular focus on nervous-system regulation and the relationship between the physical, emotional and energetic body.
