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When Holding Space feels...Awkward 😬

by Genevieve Zizzo
Nov 27, 2025
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* Trigger warning - Miscarriage is discussed in this post

👋🏻 Hey there healer!

Have you ever had one of those sessions where something really emotional comes up — and suddenly you’re not sure what to do? 

Yeah… same.

Early in my practice, I had this lovely patient come in and, almost as soon as she sat down, she started to cry and told me she’d just had a miscarriage.

It completely caught me off guard. 

One of my close colleagues had also just gone through a miscarriage, and I remember feeling this wave of emotion I didn’t quite know how to hold.

I could feel tears welling up, and before I even thought about it, I blurted out,

"I’m so sorry for your loss. My colleague just had the same thing happen to her, I know it's really difficult”

And then there was this long, awkward pause — both of us teary, both of us not really sure what to do next.

I felt like I totally said the wrong thing.😥

I kind of stumbled through the rest of the session.

Looking back, there are definitely things I’d say differently now… but that moment ended up being such an important one for both of us.

She’s actually still my patient today, more than ten years later.

And I think that small, awkward, honest moment of connection helped build a trust that’s carried through all those years.

These days, I’ve realized that’s really what “holding space” means — not having the perfect words or polished responses, but being real and steady when things get hard.

Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is just breathe, stay calm, and remind yourself,

“My presence is enough.”

Because it is.

👉You don’t have to fix everything.

👉You don’t have to make it okay.

👉You just have to stay with it — with them — without closing off your own heart.

If you’ve ever had a patient cry, or share something really heavy, and you weren’t sure what to do, I just want to say: you’re not alone.

We’ve all fumbled our way through those moments.

And honestly, they’re the ones that make us better practitioners and more compassionate humans.

 Keep going, you're doing great!

💛 Geneviève

 

🎧 This week on The Body Oracle...

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