The Seasons of Healing: Learning When to Shed, and When to Grow

he other day, I found myself in a heartfelt conversation with a dear friend.We were speaking about the stages of self-awareness — the process of questioning our limiting beliefs, working with the hidden parts of ourselves, and doing the deep work of meeting our shadow.

At one point, she said something that stayed with me:"Some people get stuck working with their shadow."

It rang true. From my own experience, self-work can easily become an endless excavation. We begin exploring the hidden layers of our psyche, uncovering old wounds, patterns, and fears. The shadow opens the doorway to our subconscious. But if we aren't mindful, we can fall into the trap of constantly digging, constantly fixing, believing there is always something wrong that needs mending. Healing becomes another form of striving. We lose sight of the very life we are healing for.

In some spiritual circles, this phenomenon is even called becoming a "spiritual junkie" — endlessly seeking, endlessly processing, chasing the next workshop, therapy, and rarely allowing space for growth, integration, and simply being.

Ram and Bhavani in Oaxaca

Nature, however, reminds us of a different way.

Think of the snake.She does not shed her skin over and over without pause.Instead, she moves through a sacred cycle: she feels the tightness when her skin no longer fits. She goes inward, becomes still. She sheds when the time is right — letting go of the old skin that confined her growth.

But then she doesn't immediately shed again.

She lives.

A new skin forms — stronger, more expansive. She grows into this new version of herself. She moves through her own seasons of spring, summer, and autumn. It is only when her being has outgrown itself once more that she sheds again.

Healing works this way too.

There are seasons for inner work — for letting go, for sitting in the winter of our being, for allowing what is too small to fall away. But just as importantly, there must be seasons for living — for growing into the new skin, for celebrating the freedom we have found, for walking with trust into the world.

Without integration, healing remains incomplete.

The true purpose of inner work is not to stay in endless introspection. It is to liberate ourselves enough to experience life fully — to love, to create, to share, to be present, to risk, to thrive.

Healing is not meant to be our whole life.It is meant to serve life.

May we honor the cycles within us.May we know when it is time to shed — and when it is time to bask in the warmth of our own becoming.

❤️Have you noticed these cycles in your own journey? I'd love to hear how you move between seasons of deep work and seasons of joyful living.

Bhavani Davies

Bhavani Davies is a yoga and somatic therapist, retreat facilitator, and the founder of Sanctuary Hill Wellness Retreat in New Zealand. With over 15 years of experience guiding people through the rhythms of healing and self-discovery, she weaves ancient wisdom, nature-based practices, and somatic embodiment into her teachings. Bhavani believes that true transformation honors both the depths and the lightness of life — the sacred seasons of introspection, and the equally sacred seasons of growth and joy.

This year, Bhavani is offering several retreats that hold space for this natural cycle of healing and living.Each retreat is an invitation to release old layers with gentleness, to root into your being, and to step into the fullness of who you are becoming.