Thankfully, my case was fairly mild. I had a patch larger than my hand — red, blistered, and feeling like shards of glass under my skin — but I didn’t have the extreme pain that so many people describe. I know I was lucky.

Still, it was a huge wake-up call. For months, I’d been pushing myself hard — creating the Switch Webinar Series, building a new website, and then spending long hours revising manuals and forms. I thought I was just enjoying the momentum, but looking back, I can see I was caught in a constant cycle of doing, doing, doing.

On top of that, I’d felt really angry at a couple of people the weekend before. And then — bang! Shingles.

When I looked up the metaphysical meaning, it described shingles as:

• A release of pent-up negative energy

• Bursts of suppressed anger

• A signal to slow down and care for yourself, because stress has weakened your immune system

Well… guilty on all three counts!

At first, I felt angry with myself for letting it happen. But anger wasn’t going to help. So I used The Switch to release that frustration at myself. I put all my editing projects on hold, apologised to my body for not listening sooner, and thanked it for forcing me to stop.

That same afternoon, I did Quick Switches to let go of the anger I’d been holding toward others, and a Deep Switch on some anxiety that had been fueling my overwork. Then I simply rested, allowing my body to restore balance.

By Day 5, the prickling had completely gone, and the rash was fading fast. By Day 8, it was all over.

Considering shingles often takes up to 8 weeks to heal, I believe my quick recovery came from addressing the root cause immediately, so my body could move into natural healing mode.

I’ve seen similar results in my clients, too.

• One woman had shingles in her eye (incredibly painful!). Together, we identified bursts of anger and her fear of long-term complications after reading a terrifying pamphlet from her doctor. After doing Switches, all her pain disappeared within two days, leaving just a tiny fading patch. Two weeks later, she had forgotten she’d even had shingles.

• Another man came to me five years after a shingles attack, still suffering severe nerve pain in his foot and ankle that kept him housebound. By calming his stress response and addressing the original emotional triggers, his pain disappeared within two weeks.

Shingles can be a powerful reminder to slow down and care for ourselves. If you’d like support to reduce stress and bring your body back into balance, you might consider attending The Switch - a four-day programme at Empower Therapies. Shingles is only one way that your body shows you that you are out of balance.  You can attend The Switch for any number of ways in which you feel your body is warning you that you are not in a good state of balance.  When we calm stress and balance emotions, bodies have a wonderful ability to right themselves.