The Benefits of Spiritual Healing

Do you believe in healing through supernatural intervention? Have you heard about this?

"Physician Heal Thy Self" is an old expression. It means that given time the body can on some levels actual heal itself. This belief is where the practice of the many spiritual healers and healings is based. In fact, spiritual healing was practiced long before the intervention of science. In the medieval days there were many such practices. Most religions had methods of spiritual healing and it is with the faith and belief in a power or a force external to us that spiritual healing stems from.

Do you know that there are many different kinds of spiritual healing practices? Here are four types of spiritual healing that you may like to investigate and try.

Reiki Healing

A Japanese word which means "Universal Life-Force-Energy", Reiki was discovered in the late 1800's by Dr. Usui, a teacher of a Christian academy in Japan who had stayed on the mountain to fast and meditate. On his 20th day on the mountain, a ball of light hit him and he was taken to a journey showing all the colors of the rainbow - the symbol of Reiki. Reiki, in its simplest form is done by a practitioner placing his hands on the recipient allowing the Reiki energy to flow and bring healing to the person. To experience the wonderful healing of Reiki, just search in Google for a practitioner in your area.

Pranic Healing is considered as one of the most distinctive and successful forms of the modern-day holistic health care. Pranic Healing has been around since time immemorial. Our ancient Tibetan Monks, Chinese Taoists and Rishis among others had used "Prana" or energy in their healing. As an art and a science, this practice was widely used in the great ancient civilizations of India, Egypt and China.

Pranic Healing is accomplished by removing the negative energy from the patient's body while transferring the fresh prana (energy) to the affected or suffering areas.

According to the practice of Pranic Healing, the body has the ability to heal itself. The life force is utilized in order to initiate the biochemical changes that will make the healing happen. Pranic Healing is believed to have the ability to heal and prevent a whole spectrum of emotional, mental and physical illnesses using the "no-touch" practice.

Chakra Healings

Chakra originated from Sanskrit meaning "circle" or "wheel". Chakra is believed to be the energy that is residing inside the body. There are different schools of thought about n how many chakra energies are found in the body. Most Chakra practitioners believe that the body has seven divisions of chakras each representing a basic center for energy running down the center of the body. The top system is represented by the crown, the middle system is the heart chakra and the base system is the root. Chakra healing work is done by opening the energy centers allowing them to go back to their natural flowing state. This involves the regaining of wellness by slowing down and being aware of one's own body, emotions, sensations and thoughts.

Kinesiology

Kinesiology is known as the science of human movement. It was founded in 1964 by Dr. George Goodheart, a chiropractor who used the muscle testing model to evaluate his chiropractic methods. Its approach applies both the evidence-based medical and scientific principles to analyze, preserve, and enhance the human movement.

You may like to participate in one of the above healing practices just to sample the methods. All methods of healing enhance our well being whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. Not all methods suit all people it is wonderful that choices in the different practices are available today and that more and more people are open to these concepts.

Intuitive Healing

Intuitive Healing is gaining wide popularity with many people throughout the world as they begin to combine it alongside traditional orthodox medicine. Intuitive healing recognises that each person is unique in their mental, emotional and spiritual outlook and so they must be treated as an individual by evaluating their overall wellbeing. This means that even though two people may have been diagnosed with the same illness, the actual cause of the illness can differ. Intuitive healing is another form of energy healing, which holds under its umbrella healing modalities such as acupuncture and Reiki.

As a person you are the combination of mind, body and spirit. This combination makes you 'who you are' and when one part of you is out of sync, then the other parts of you are also affected. You are an energetic being and you have a specific rate of vibration also known as your energy frequency or aura. Your mindset, beliefs, and the general state of your internal feelings, has a dramatic effect on your health and wellbeing. A positive mindset will help to create a healthier vibration and therefore give you better health and a negative overly stressed mindset will help to create physical health issues due to the direct affect it has on your body's immune system.

Intuitive healing involves becoming aware of your internal state of being so that you realise the impact a negative mindset and beliefs can have on your health. You will then become empowered to do something about your inner state and therefore help to improve any physical symptoms. Our intuition is strengthened whenever we listen to it and our body uses our intuition to help speak to us. For example, if we feel worried or concerned about any material issues such as finances, then our intuition can express itself with minor aches or pains in our lower back. If we feel that we are there for everyone else but no one is there for us, then our intuition can express itself as aches and pains within the area of our shoulders.

You have a spiritual anatomy just as you have a physical anatomy. Your spiritual anatomy consists of your aura, chakras and meridians. You have seven main chakras within your energy system that are equivalent to power stations within the body. They help to regulate the flow of life force energy around the body, feeding specific organs and bodily systems. If they are out of balance then this will affect the amount of energy that gets delivered and so issues with the body part they serve can become physically affected.

The flow of energy is carried around the body by channels called meridians and these can also become blocked based on our emotional state of being. A very popular energy healing therapy is called EFT (emotional freedom technique), which involves lightly tapping on the meridians whilst thinking of negative emotional issues and habits so that they can be released and healed. All of these energy healing abilities point to one thing - we have the power to heal ourselves by becoming intimately acquainted with our own energy field.

Your aura and chakras interpenetrate with your physical body. Your aura has several subtle bodies ranging in different frequencies that expand outwards in consciousness. Your physical body is the lowest and densest in vibration, and your higher-self is the fastest and lightest in vibration. Your aura acts as a protective force around you and is very sensitive to lots of different energies. It can absorb other people's energies, both positive or negative which can immediately impact the frequency of your vibration and physical health. If we are healthy our aura will be vibrant, and if we are sick or emotionally low then our aura will be dull and slow.

Our aura will glow and sparkle when it is strong and it will be drab and listless when it is weak. Stress will lower our vibes, and a balanced state of mind will help to raise them. If you are self-critical then you will attack your own energy field and lower your vibration. This kind of negativity will contaminate your aura and drain your valuable life force energy. Do you criticise yourself, put yourself down or ignore your body's needs for good health and wellbeing? If so, you are contributing to lowering your overall energy vibration.

You can also attack your energy vibration through being stuck in the past by being unable to forgive or let go of a trauma, or by fearing the future even though it hasn't happened yet. Both of these time frames take prisoner of part of your energy as you are unable to live fully in the present moment. This means that you will only have a limited amount of energy to get you through each day as you become easily tired and fatigued. You will also lack the mental focus and concentration to follow through on creating great changes within your life as you will lack the energy to do so. To help give yourself intuitive healing you must monitor your mindset, choose to empower yourself with positivity and be responsible for cleaning your energy vibration.

The following practical exercise is purposely created to help you clean, strengthen and maintain a good healthy vibration.

Clean & Colour your Energy Vibration

Sit comfortably in a chair and make sure you are not going to be disturbed. This exercise will only take a few minutes to do but if you do this exercise each day you will be contributing to your wellbeing. Mentally form an intention that you are going to clean your energy field and chakras. Now ask for the white light of the highest realms to enter through your crown chakra at the top of your head. Visualise this vibrant white light pouring in and filling you up entirely, from your head to your toes. Now expand this light outwards so that it spills into your aura.

Mentally instruct that all negative energies that you have unconsciously absorbed from people and the environment now be cleansed in the power of the vibrant white light. You will also be cleaning away the negative energy from any self-critical attack. Once you have finished this you can then choose from one of the colours below to help empower you with the specific healing vibration that each colour offers you.

Imagine your chosen colour to pour through the top of your head (Crown Chakra) and fill you up entirely from your head to your toes.

Red Light - to help you increase your energy levels and kick-start your ambition
Orange Light - to help you dissolve any sadness and ignite your spark for a new beginning
Yellow Light - to help you overcome your fears and empower you to make decisive clear decisions
Green Light - to help you gain balance within your daily life routine of work, rest and play
Pink Light - to help you heal a broken heart and to strengthen your intuitive nature
Turquoise Light - to help you communicate the true feelings of your heart within your life
Indigo Light - to help you see clearly what you need to do for the next phase of your life and to improve your psychic awareness
Violet Light - to help you connect with your spiritual team of helpers, and to help you sleep soundly

Seven Reasons Why People Don't Heal

1. Fear over Material Life Concerns, these concerns involve money, work/career, property and meeting their physical needs, such as food, clothing and being able to pay the bills on time. This kind of fear also incorporates a negative mindset about lack and limitation and often negative beliefs are formed, such as 'money is the root of all evil', or'life is hard' etc. People stay who stuck in these material life fears will often manifest health issues with their lower back, legs, knees and feet.

2. Loss of Joy in Life, people who live their lives by habitually accepting their unhappy daily life routine without even attempting to make any positive changes will often slow down their ability to help themselves heal. People often stay stuck in jobs they really hate, but they do nothing about changing their circumstances because they "fear" change. People stay attached to relationships that no longer serve their greatest good for fear of being alone if they did leave. People who who lose their joy are often addicted to things such as alcohol, food and drugs - to help replace the feelings of unhappiness with temporary fulfillment and pleasure.

3. Lack of Self-Belief, people who have lost their confidence and have low self-esteem will easily give their power away to those who are overpowering and are able to manipulate them. When a person loses their ability to believe in their own power, they will soon become very indecisive and will be unable to make wise life choices. They will also have many negative thoughts and feelings about themselves, such as 'not being good enough, clever enough, or they don't have the right look etc' and they will then allow these false beliefs to gain control of their lives. Depression can set in when a person lacks in their own inner power to help them make positive life choices.

4. Hardheartedness, people who are hardhearted do not care about other people and have a very hard and uncaring attitude. This will be due to being hurt themselves and so they are unable to move on, forgive and heal from their past traumas and pain. They will then carry their hardheartedness into their future and they will block their heart from receiving their hearts desires and hinder their healing.

5. Living a Lie, people who live a lie by pretending to be happy when they are really not will soon cause issues with their health and well-being. People put a mask on to show the world that all is well when secretly inside they are crying out in pain. Sooner or later something is going to give and it is usually their health. When you go against your own conscience, morals and beliefs you will create a conflict between your heart and your head. Ignoring the voice of your heart (where your spirit resides) will quickly lead to emotional issues and physical issues.

6. Ignoring the Body's Physical Needs, we all need to have plenty of rest, as the body is in healing and repair mode when we are sleeping. We need to find balance with work/rest and play so that we manage our time well and give priority to what is most important in our lives. We need to hydrate the body with plenty of water and we need to eat a healthy and balanced diet. The body also needs movement and exercise to help keep it in good shape and to maintain a good level of body strength. Ignoring the body's physical needs will soon affect the strength and vitality of the physical body.

7. No Belief in a Higher Power, people who have no belief in a power that is greater than themselves alone will only look to the material world to help them solve their problems. This is not the answer and it will only provide then with a limited amount of help. Lack of faith, trust and the ability to surrender your problems to a higher power will certainly help to create issues such as depression, insomnia and other health concerns as inner peace is lost. People often feel stuck in their lives and they feel lost as if there is something missing, (their relationship to God). People are often angry with God because their lives are in such a mess and this gives them the reason to disbelieve in a higher power, but they have never even attempted to establish a relationship to God. Lack of knowledge and understanding about a higher power causes people to hinder their connection towards receiving spiritual help and guidance. Learning more about 'who you really are', (an eternal energetic being) and developing your relationship with a higher power will help you to co-create your life as you lean and and depend on help from God.

Healing Touch

Healing Touch is a biofield energy therapy, an energy-based approach to health and well being.

Techniques

Techniques are gentle, nurturing and safe and can be used for all age groups and stages of life. There are no contra indications.

It is grounded in compassion, integrity, heart centredness and positive intention. The goal is to empower clients to reach an optimal position to activate the innate wisdom of the body to self heal, facilitating health in all aspects of life; the physical, emotional mental and spiritual dimensions.

Therapy

This Is an integrative therapy that can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies, and is becoming increasingly accepted in hospitals as a method to safely support medical treatments and enhance the healing process.

What is Healing Touch?

HT is a biofield energy therapy that is an energy based approach to health and well being. Practitioners use light touch or near body touch to influence the human energy field (aura) that surrounds the body and the energy centres (charkras) that control the flow of energy from the energy field to the physical body.

How does HT work?

Energy therapies, of which HT is one, are a part of the wider discipline of energy medicine.

Energy medicine recognizes energy as a vital, living moving force that determines much about health and well being.

In energy medicine, energy is the medicine.

The human body has an innate wisdom for self healing and maintaining balance. At times when our bodies are ill, injured, receiving treatments or under stress, this ability to maintain balance can be disrupted causing congestion or blockage of energy flow.

Our practitioners facilitate healing by using non-invasive specific techniques to realign, balance and restore flow to the Human Energy System. This creates an optimal environment for self-healing.

What to expect in a treatment session

Practitioners will complete a comprehensive interview asking about your Health History.

Then an energy assessment is completed giving the practitioner the information needed to select a technique suitable for that client at that time.

Techniques involve light touch or near body touch and are carried out with the client fully clothed and comfortable, either lying on a massage table or sitting in a chair.

Most clients experience a deep sense of relaxation and peace, often resulting in greater clarity of thought and clearer perspective with a feeling that "something has shifted."

Following a treatment, options for self-care are discussed with a priority given to well being and personal empowerment.

The Third Chakra

The third chakra is about YOU.

The image you have of yourself.

The person you want to become.

It is primarily concerned with personal strength and willpower. It is connected to our desire for social recognition as well as the realization of our goals.

If the chakra is balanced we will feel courageous, creative and have great inner strength and healthy levels of self-esteem.

If the chakra is unbalanced we will often be arrogant, domineering and overly ambitious. We might also feel angry with our parents or anyone else who appears to get in our way.

A lot of what is wrong in the world today can be attributed to unbalanced third chakras. The dark side of capitalism (there is a good side too!), the insane hours we work, our inability to slow down long enough to enjoy BEING where we are.

So many of us feel driven to achieve something, but have never slowed down long enough to ask why we want to achieve it.

Think about your goals? Are they yours? Or are they something you have taken onboard from outside - from friends, family or society?

This is an important question to ask, because if we live someone else's dream we are unlikely to find great happiness.

When the third chakra is unbalanced we generally find it very hard to relax, our mind tends to run crazy and we struggle to slow down.

If you are constantly stressed and have a ball of tension in your solar plexus, you've got an issue with your third chakra.

If so, maybe it's time to go for a slow stroll in the park, do some meditation, Reiki or yoga or anything else that is done primarily for the pleasure of the act in itself, rather than to get somewhere.

Alternatively, if you never have the drive to do anything, lack motivation and lounge about on the couch all day, then you've also got issues with your third chakra.

Fortunately, Reiki is incredibly effective here. Simply place one hand over the liver and the other over the spleen, let the energy flow and you'll find that your drive quickly returns.

Additional Information

The third chakra is connected to digestion and digestion related issues.

This chakra is connected to the element of fire.

Foods connected to the third chakra are starches.

The color associated with the third chakra is yellow.

Sanskrit name: Manipura.

Physical Problems Associated with the Third Chakra

Mental and nervous exhaustion, stomach complaints, digestive problems, liver and gallbladder complaints.

6 Tips for Integrating Meditation Into Your Day

Have you ever noticed that while your mind is often willing to focus when meditating, it will generally insist on lapsing into 'dreamland' for the rest of the day?

It's almost as if it has categorized meditation as a special activity that only takes place at certain moments of the day.

But if meditations feels great, if it's good for our health and general wellbeing, then why not try to integrate it into everything you do?

If you have been reading my newsletters for a while, you'll know that I have often written about this topic and have previously even given lists of tips for meditating better.

In this article, I'm therefore going to change tack slightly and focus on how we can integrate meditation into our day - and give 6 tips for doing so.

The tips are easy-to-apply, enjoyable, and, if you work them, will help you maintain your meditation flow well beyond the times you are sitting on you meditation mat.

6 Tips


1.Value Meditation.

Unless you place a value on meditation, you are never going to have the discipline and energy required to integrate it into you day. Humans can happily put up even with great hardships if there is a good enough reason for it. When there is no good reason, they will quickly grow resentful.

Of course, you do value meditation. But it is not good enough for this to be a vague kind of 'Oh yes, I know meditation is good for me and I should do more.' That is unlikely to get you focused when your day grows tricky.

Instead, you need to have the benefits of meditation firmly in your conscious mind.

You need to think about how meditation will give you greater inner balance and energy, how it will improve your health and relationships with others. Then, once you have these benefits (whatever they might be for you) firmly in mind, you need to 'feel' them.

Imagine (visualize) scenes where you are walking about in a bubble of meditation energy, where you are meeting external chaos with equanimity. Feel how good that feels! Make it a visceral thing. A real bodily sensation. This step isn't about indulging the rational mind; it is about creating a physical experience through visualization.

If you can really feel the benefits of meditation (and not just rationally understand them) then it will be far easier to have the energy needed to integrate it into you day.

2.Set the stage.

This means doing some formal meditation (or other such exercise that connects you to meditation energy, like T'ai Chi, Qi Gong or Reiki) in the morning before you start your day.

The idea here is to anchor yourself in meditation energy - energy that you will then nurture for the rest of the day.

It is difficult to connect to meditation energy in busy, energetically chaotic surroundings (e.g. most people's working environment). But it is not so difficult to maintain your meditation energy in such places if you are already connected to it.

So take time to connect every morning and then do what you can to stay connected as you go about your day.

3.Use affirmations.

You don't need to go crazy on this point. You don't have to spend every moment of the day repeating your affirmation. But if you repeat it in the morning and on a few occasions throughout the day, you'll find you have more energy and focus for your meditation. Words are like magic spells. They are energy that we send out into the universe to create our reality. It makes sense to harness their power constructively.

An affirmation for our purpose might go something like this:

Every moment of my day, I am connected to meditation energy.

Or,

No matter what I do, I am in a meditative state of being.

4.Use books, videos and audio programs to keep you focused and inspired.

There is a concept called 'neural mirroring'. Basically, it explains that we become like our environment.

If our bedroom is in a mess, we'll tend to find it harder to be settled and calm. If we hang around with drunken hooligans, it's unlikely we'll feel very meditative and peaceful. As the saying goes, 'If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas.'

Of course, the reverse is true as well. Mix with good company and their good qualities will rub off on you.

That is why it pays to spend some time with wise teachers and inspirational people - if not in person, then at least via books, videos and audio programs. If you do this each day, you'll almost certainly find you are more balanced, meditative and focused on the kind of person you wish to be.

Some suggested teachers you might consider are: Eckhart Tolle (you'll find lots of his free videos on Youtube), Adyashanti (try reading 'Emptiness Dancing' or watching his videos on Youtube) and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (read 'I Am That').

For audio programs, I am a fan of Tony Robbins. He has a lot of pragmatic and easy-to-apply tips for getting the most out of yourself.

5.Use meditation reminders.

For this purpose, some people tattoo themselves or wear a certain ring or necklace that helps remind them to stay in a meditative state. The problem with these things, however, is that while they work to begin with, after a short time we don't notice them anymore.

A more successful approach (popular in certain Buddhist circles), is to use 'triggers' to remind us to focus. A trigger might be something like a doorframe. Here, each time you go through one, you remind yourself to be meditative.

Another trigger might be your mobile phone ringing. In this case, its ringing will be a reminder to stay in the moment.

To keep things fresh, it is a good idea to regularly change the trigger. They will then serve as handy little 'wake up calls'.

6.Harness the power of groups.

If you've ever been to one of our Om Reiki practice nights, you'll have experienced how powerful group energy can be. At a practice night, you barely need to lift a finger to feel large amounts of healing energy flowing.

The reason for this is that the moment humans come into contact with each other, they connect energetically. Their energy fuses and what one person does, thinks or feels, affects the others. This is why we can behave so irrationally in large, 'emotional' gatherings (like soccer games and political rallies).

The flipside of this is that if we are with wise people with good energy, then their energy will positively affect us. We will be energetically drawn to experience the world as they do.

What's more, when people come together with a common intent (say, to meditate), then the collective intent has a force far greater than the intent of any individual. This can help us both sink into deep meditative states and learn new techniques far more quickly than we would alone.

Nothing particularly new here, but we need to convert this knowledge into action and find ways to meet with groups that will have a positive energetic impact on us. Ideally, we can meet weekly with such groups and then, periodically, do courses or retreats over 2 or more days for a massive energetic boost.

Retreats and courses are particularly useful because of their intensity and duration.

The hours spent in meditation compound and help individuals cross key energetic thresholds that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Think of it like this: Image you normally have an energy level of 4, but need to get to an energy level of 8 to have a new insight. Going to weekly practice might raise you a couple of points each time, but since, over the next few days, you are likely to fall back to your usual 4, you'll never make it to an 8 and have the insight (or key energetic shift). During a weekend gathering, however, your energy experiences will bit by bit accrue until you have moved all the way from 4 to 8 and beyond. That is why if you think back on your past experiences of courses, you will find that afterwards your healing and meditation almost always took on new life.

So use the power of groups, use the energy of others and massively accelerate your meditation growth.

Conserve Your Own Fuel

Everyone I know works really hard. Everyone I know has an incredibly busy life. Some people are hard wired for it - they feel the best when they are constantly out and about, socializing or working. They feel on top of their game when things are constantly moving forward and changing. These people thrive in places like NYC.

But others face physical and mental challenges that often prevent them from enjoying the busyness of the city. These people will be the ones that begin to show up just for work, stop working out, stop socializing or dating, are desperately just trying to get through the work week so they can crash on the weekend. Their physical symptoms appear and are diagnosed as fatigue, depression, food cravings (not the good kind!), moodiness, pms, digestive disturbances, insomnia, anxiety, infertility.

The truth is we only have as much pizzazz as we cultivate. You can't make something out of nothing people! So how do we change things? How do we work as hard as is required and still have time to enjoy our lives?

This is a great question and it has to do with qi conservation. I heard the same concept talked about recently when I heard the phrase, "Eat what you burn, spend what you earn." What a novel idea! But why is it so difficult? Because we are a nation out of balance...we eat more than we burn, we spend more than we earn and we try to accomplish more than we have fuel for and then we wonder why we have poor health.

At the beginning of the day - assess how you feel. How much juice do I have today? Then behave in conjunction with that. Offer a little less at work or a little more. Leave at the end of your day or stay late depending on your energy. Be responsible about creating the drive you need. (A little tip to the wise is that exercise actually creates more energy.) If you need to rest, rest. If you are low on endurance, watch out for these energy drains:

Drama - there is always human drama to engage in. But if your "get up and go" is low you can't afford it! Have proper boundaries with your co-workers and mind your own business! I used to work with this guy and he'd always say, "My name's Bennet and I ain't in it." Or another one, "My name's Paul and that's between y'all!" Its so hilarious and it works!

Gossip - Gossip is like refined sugar - it feels so good while you are doing it but it has a crash afterwards. Violating your conscience is also an energy drain.

Procrastination - It takes less energy to actually do something than it takes to put it off, suffer the nagging silent guilt and manufacture of self-hatred in the mean time. This is the silent energy sucker you need to stay away from.

Envy - try not to compare yourself to others. It is never fruitful or accurate. Everyone has challenges, even if they are not evident. Don't compare your insides to someone else's outsides.

Eat what you burn - overeating will suck your energy because your digestion is constantly trying to catch up, your mind is punishing you for "doing it again", and then you compare yourself to the skinny people who work out and then you hate yourself - all huge energy drains.

Spend what you earn - overspending probably causes the most insomnia across the United States than anything else. Spending within your means will relieve so much tension in your life you won't believe it.

All of these energy drains cause qi to become stuck in your body. When your qi is stuck it is not supplying your body with the fuel it needs to do its work in this world, whatever that may be. I will leave you with this fantastic quote by Thomas Jefferson:

"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits."