What Does It Mean to Heal?

People often refer to me as a Healer.

I remember the first time someone called me a Healer. I had casually mentioned to a friend that I was starting my Healing Touch practice. She exclaimed, “You’re a Healer?! This is so amazing! You have to talk to my friend here–she has cancer…” and so on.

I was so uncomfortable with this title of Healer. It seemed that my friend thought that I could magically create healing. While I admit that there are times when the effect appears magical (in other words, that significant changes take place), I assure you that I am not the source.

What is a Healer?

We have a saying in the Healing Touch community: “All healing is self-healing.” What this means is that healing does not take place outside of an individual–it is an inside job. I cannot facilitate healing in anyone without their permission and active participation (on some level).

Healing happens when the right circumstances are set up for self-healing. A good example of this on the physical level is a doctor setting a broken bone. The doctor is not healing the broken bone, he/she is just setting up the right conditions for optimal self-healing. That person’s body, by Divine design, does the actual healing.

I see myself as a facilitator of healing. The greatest healing takes place when I work with people who are actively participating in their own healing process. Healing work is not something that is done *to* people as much as it is something that is done *with* people. It involves teamwork, commitment, mutual intention, and time. My goal is to create the environment for healing and to guide clients in their own healing journey.

What Is Healing?

To understand what healing is, we must define what it is we are trying to heal. Is healing simply the elimination of the physical manifestation of disease?

From an energetic standpoint, disease occurs on many levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual; individual, familial, and generational. (I like to refer to the literal definition of disease: dis=opposite of; ease=freedom from pain, care, or difficulty; comfort.) Dis-ease can occur on any level and affect the other levels.

Marianne Williamson in her book, A Return to Love, writes, “No matter what the illness or addiction or distorted physical expression, its cause is in the mind, and only there can it be healed. The greatest power we’re given… is the power to change our mind.”

In other words, healing is peace of mind or inner peace. And this is only achieved through examining and processing your own “stuff.”

The Role of Awareness and Acceptance

Healing happens best when you are actively involved in your own healing. Those who see the best results are those who are committed to doing their own inner work. And it is work, sometimes hard work, but the rewards are worth it.

Awareness is an important first step. Your body/mind will try to get your attention through discomfort and pain (physical, mental and emotional). Just recognizing that something is out of balance can be all that is needed to start the healing process.

We tend to resist pain and attempt to ignore it or eliminate it. But sometimes healing is stalled until we accept the pain, accept that we have dis-ease.

This process of awareness and acceptance is built into meridian tapping therapies such as EFT. I see the EFT Setup phrase “Even though ____, I love and accept myself” as the most powerful part of the tapping process for creating real shift. Other ways to achieve awareness and acceptance include meditation, journaling and dreamwork.

The Road to Healing

Healing is a process; more like a journey than a destination. There are milestones along the way that stand out but we are never “done.”

Disease occurs on many levels; healing occurs on many levels. Just getting started on the healing process can create a ripple effect throughout all levels of being. Find at least one way to get started and you’ll be on the road to healing.