Why we feel like we don’t belong (and how the body brings us home)

A reminder

that I belong…

There are moments in life where you feel like you don’t belong…

not just in a place, but within yourself.

It can be subtle. A quiet disconnection. A sense that something isn’t quite right, even when everything on the surface looks fine.

The other day I felt a really strong pull to go to the rock I often sit on, not far from my home.

It’s a place I go to when I need grounding.

There wasn’t a big reason for it. I just knew I needed to go.

I’d been sitting with something for a couple of days. An old feeling around not belonging had come up, and I could feel it moving through me. I wasn’t trying to fix it, but I knew I needed something. Something more grounding. More nourishing.

And I know from experience that when I go there, the earth meets me in that way.

I went with my dog, like I normally do, and we walked first before heading over to the rock.

It’s a place I’ve been going to for a while now. A big stretch of sandstone with these deep reds and oranges running through it. There’s something about it that always grounds me.

If I’ve got the time, I’ll sit for a bit. Sometimes under a tree, sometimes just on the rock itself, depending on the sun. And I’ll just sit there for a while.

I find somewhere comfortable. The rock isn’t flat, so it’s always a bit different. Sometimes I sit cross-legged, sometimes with my legs out. I just move around until it feels right.

Then I close my eyes and come back to my breath. It’s really just a check-in with my body.

After a while, everything opens up a bit. Not in a heightened way. Just aware. I can hear the wind in the trees, the birds, the rustling around me. I can hear my dog moving about.

And then I go into my process. I connect up to the heavens and bring that into my body, then down into the earth, then out into the cosmos through my heart. And I just sit there with all of that moving through me.

After sitting like that for a while, I felt a really strong pull towards the earth. Stronger than usual. I didn’t think about it. I just placed my palms on the rock.

It was cold to touch, but almost straight away I felt this kind of electric connection. Different to how it normally feels when I connect with the earth. There was something about that place, that rock.

I could feel the energy coming in through my palms and into my body.

Not forced. Just flowing.

The first place I really noticed it was in my heart. There was a tingling at first, then that shifted into warmth, and then it started to expand. From there it spread through the rest of my body. What started in my hands and moved into my heart became a full-body experience.

There was a real sense of ease. Like I didn’t have to hold anything. Like I could just let go. And underneath that was this feeling of being supported. Fully.

As I was sitting there, I felt the spirits of the land come in. I’ve connected with them before.

They feel like an Aboriginal presence. They always arrive in a line. They carry sticks, and they’re in traditional dress, with markings on their faces.

They were happy to see me. Like I’d come back.

And there’s a feeling of family with them now.

Not something I think about. Just something I feel.

There was a familiarity in it. Not new. Just known.

And as they came in, that feeling in my body deepened. The warmth in my heart grew stronger. There was a sense of being held. Of being welcomed.

And the message was really clear.

I belong.

After I finished, I started walking back to the car. There’s a bush track that leads out, and I always take my time through there. It feels like a bit of a closing.

A quiet thank you.

As I was walking, I heard a bird call. Something about it caught my attention. It didn’t feel like background noise. It felt like it was directed, so I stopped.

And I responded.

Not in words I can remember, but there was an exchange. The bird called, I answered, and it called back again.

And in that moment, something opened up even more.

It wasn’t just the bird.

It was everything.

The trees, the earth, the rocks, the air… it all felt like it was in relationship with me. Like it was all saying the same thing.

You’re part of this.

What really landed for me in that moment was how simple it actually is.

That feeling of not belonging… it didn’t come from the earth. It didn’t come from nature. It didn’t come from anything real in that space.

It was something I’d been carrying. A belief.

And in that moment, I could see that clearly. I could feel something else was true.

That I am part of this. That there isn’t anywhere I don’t belong.

But it didn’t feel like something I’d suddenly “fixed”.

It felt more like a reminder. Something my body already knows.

And something I’ll probably keep coming back to.

If this resonates, you don’t need to force anything to change.

Sometimes it begins with simply noticing… coming back to your body, your breath, your centre.

This is the work we explore through Qigong and energy healing — not fixing, but gently returning to what’s already within you.