Liminality: Holistic support for navigating life transitions
Have you ever passed through an airport in the early hours of the morning, only to find it eerily quiet? Driven on a highway at twilight and wondered where all the other cars went? Been the last person to leave the shopping centre and found yourself to be completely alone?
These places gate keep the realm of liminality, a word rooted in the Latin ‘limen’, meaning threshold, or doorway: places that are not exactly unpleasant, yet are somehow unsettling and ambiguous because they are missing the information expected of them.
In psychology, Liminality marks the middle phase of a transition, where you no longer belong to your old reality, but have not yet entered the next one. It usually comes after some kind of separation, or metaphorical ‘death’, where you leave something behind, like an identity you’ve outgrown, or a long-standing routine, or perhaps even your social or relationship status. It can be a disorientating and even uncomfortable place to be and can have a person longing for the familiarity of what went before, because what lies ahead is uncertain and the human brain does not like the unknown.
From a neuroscience perspective, uncertainty triggers our limbic system, particularly the amygdala, which interprets ambiguity as a potential threat. This in turn can suppress our prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain responsible for executive functions like planning, decision making and emotional regulation. In short, the more uncertain a person feels, the more stressed and vulnerable they become.
In terms of how I work and blend talking therapy with Acupuncture and other modalities, I would gently encourage my client to think about how they had experienced earlier life transitions, like changing schools, moving home or a death in the family. I’d also be curious to know how they had navigated past losses or how other significant people in their lives, notably their parents, had responded to loss.
In respect of Chinese medicine theory I would be especially keen to check the functioning of the Kidney meridian, which is associated with fear and insecurity and is also where our willpower resides. I’d also investigate the Lung meridian, which is connected to grief, letting go and a sense of loss, or emptiness. While other meridians could also be affected, I would expect the Kidney and Lung meridians to be most impacted and choose relevant acupuncture points to balance these meridians.
Finally, I would likely blend a tincture of three Bach Flower Remedies for the client to take (as drops under the tongue), to support them outside of sessions . These would be: Walnut, which is indicated for major transitions and change; Honeysuckle, which is for when a person feels stuck in the past and longing for what was; and Sweet Chestnut, which is traditionally used for a feeling of inner emptiness.
By combining talking in a therapeutic environment, with Acupuncture and Flower Remedies, a person who is experiencing the stress and fear of an unknown future can gain much relief.
