I got struck down with Covid during the first wave.  After three months I thought I was totally recovered, I had started to play tennis and was regularly doing pilates.  Then one day as I was walking through Dublin airport and my legs suddenly gave up.  I spent the following months glued to the bed, I had periods when some progress was made, but often followed by a massive slump.  I never made it out of the house for around 1.5 years.  Standing for more than 20 seconds was always a struggle.  I had to give up my life, a big career in one of the biggest advertising agencies in the UK.  My relationship was in tatters.  I felt like I had PTSD from being so ill.

I had tried everything, from the best traditional doctors specialised in covid and post-viral illness, to functional medicine, homeopathy, trauma therapy, EMDR. But no treatment had any lasting impact.

Then 4 months ago, in a moment of total desperation, and determined to not remain a zombie for the rest of my life I decided to try the Lightning Process, I had heard many positive stories in my friend network, and I had read a lot about the power of neuroplasticity and was really curious.

I was fairly anxious about the training, given it was 3 days with a lot of screen time.  It felt like it would be a marathon.  But it went like a flash, and by the end the colour was returning to my face, and I was standing and moving a lot more freely.  I had planned a holiday to the south of France the following week, in an effort to change scenery after so long.  I had imagined it would be a case of moving from one bedroom to another.  But a week after my training I was sitting in a beautiful restaurant with friends and by week two I was wandering around the market marvelling at the goats cheese and olives.

By the end of the month’s holiday I had joined the land of the living again, I felt confident to take walks and drive around.  I was working on the computer and having full days without having to take major breaks.

4 months later I am planning work trips to America and running to get back to my 5k… I have taken several trips abroad and have wandered around Paris in 37 degree heat.

While the ascent to normality has been astonishing, there have been a few minor blips along the way.  But nothing remotely like the crashes I had previously experienced, and I always learn something new and always get back to normality a lot quicker, now I have the tools.

So I am eternally grateful to Phil and my coach Kathy who has empowered me to take charge of my own body and the old patterns that were stifling my enjoyment of life.  There is clearly a straightforward way to heal from chronic conditions.  It’s just a question of DOING it and believing it!

I am not a religious person, nor am I an ‘alternative’ type of person, nor am I a weirdo.  I am just someone with an open and curious mind who has always had a good sense of self-discipline.  As such, I embraced the philosophy fully and did what I was told with as much focus and application as possible.  At the beginning, it felt odd, but it did not take long to see the positive effects.  I went from someone who lived in permanent fear to embracing the life I love.

I hope that my story can encourage others to take their health into their own hands. There is nothing so disturbing than feeling utterly destroyed by post-viral illness.  It is a condition that erases your spirit and crushes your soul, but you can reverse it.  So many people I know have made full recoveries and many more will in the future.

Do not be put off, everyone will have their own route to recovery with this technique.  Some may take 6 days to recover, others 6 months…but the good news is that a route out of the darkness exists.