What I Learned Along the Way

I almost drowned when I was sixteen

Petra Peyer · 2 min read

I got out. I moved on. I forgot about it. Years later, I found out my body hadn’t.

I almost drowned when I was sixteen.
Stuck underneath a kayak. I got out. I moved on. I forgot about it.
Years later, I found out my body hadn't.

Two years ago I did a full week of water rebirthing. Breathing in water held at the temperature of the womb.
And that's where it surfaced. The kayak. The panic. Something my system had been quietly carrying for decades without me knowing.

I worked through it there, with my teachers beside me.
I was proud of myself. I still am.

Here's why I'm sharing this.
It isn't only about what we do for others.
If we stop working on ourselves – if we decide we're finished, or that we know it all – we're in trouble. Because it will never be true.
The world changes. Our bodies change. What lives in us changes.

We don't have to keep working on ourselves. Nobody has to do anything.
But I want to.

And this is where the differences between practitioners actually show.
There are people in this field who work rough. Loud, forceful, breaking things open. Some of them are brilliant at it.
That's not me. I'm not rough, and I don't want to be.
I can be tough. I can be strong. I am both.
But I hold space where you feel cared for – and I will not push you to scream or perform or become something you're not.

If what draws you to work with me is softness, gentleness and depth – then we're aligned.
And that alignment matters more than technique.

So: how is it for you?
Do you keep working on yourself – or did you decide somewhere along the way that you were done?

~ Petra