Evolutionary Healing
In the Opening Your Gifts program we've been celebrating Imbolc, St. Brigid's Day and even Groundhog Day over the last week or so, and now we're focusing more on one of Brigid's most famous gifts, one that belongs to every one of us as well: healing. It's part of what I call our Higher Intelligence, and it's native to all of us, though we've been taught exactly the opposite. There are cultural reasons for this, which can be called the Old Story. In the New Story that we're discovering, living and creating all at the same time, we are all powerful, beautiful, magical beings who happen to currently inhabit human suits.
Learning to develop these skills we never realized we have is akin to Energy Literacy. It's like learning to read in that we are all born with the ability to do it, but we need to learn how. It's the same with healing and a variety of other skills such as developing our intuition, understanding synchronicities, cultivating healthy empathy and compassion, becoming skillful at divination and opening to Divine guidance, living a deeply purposeful life, manifesting abundance and prosperity, channeling creative inspiration, and much more. Our lovely little intellects are only a tiny fraction of our true Intelligence, and it's time to embrace these greater gifts, beginning right now with healing.
Healing can be so much more than just fixing what's broken, or shoring up our systems so we can get through the day. Maybe that's the best we could hope for in the Old Story, but in the New Story we can see healing as evolutionary. Cultivating, maintaining, and restoring health are all opportunities to gain a new level of wellness we've never attained before. When we combine and align mind, body, heart and soul, there's really no limit to our growth and well-being. It's not a linear path or a hierarchy of accomplishments, but a multi-faceted and cyclical experience we co-create by integrating all our systems lovingly and cooperatively, rather than fighting fat, conquering cancer or shaming ourselves into some perceived better behavior or condition. It's also not about masking symptoms so we can just blithely continue destructive habits until we collapse.
Right now, just take a few seconds to feel the life force in your body. A deep settling breath or two will probably help. Just notice what it feels like, or go ahead and imagine it if you don't feel a physical sensation. You've got to believe in the Spark of Life that animates your being - without it, you simply wouldn't be alive! That's the fire we fuel with self-care and wellness practices. When it's blazing steadily we have plenty of energy, rest easily, heal quickly, and feel happy with ourselves and generous toward others. We also generally have a desire to create, to learn, to grow and mature, naturally. We can even experience many or all of these things while struggling in some areas, without letting a condition or diagnosis keep us from cultivating the many powerful resources we possess.
Natural, energetic and holistic healing systems promote evolutionary healing. When we work with a practitioner who empowers us we can learn so much as we explore together what may be causing certain conditions, what might feel most helpful to us as individuals, and how we can use the experience to improve our relationships with our bodies, with Nature, with our spiritual life, and with other people, and activate our potential in myriad ways.
Plain and simple, the most powerful form of health care, the most ubiquitous, and the most lacking is self-care. When we rest peacefully, eat nutritionally, exercise moderately, enjoy mutually beneficial relationships, connect with Nature, do work that is rewarding and serves the greater good, express ourselves creatively, and cultivate compassion for ourselves and others - illness is just less likely to appear, especially if we live in an environment of natural materials and clean air and water.
Holistic health care practitioners will support you in creating such a lifestyle, and this can include doctors as well as naturopaths, because it's in the attitude as much as the method. Kindness can be found in any profession, just as charlatans will appear in every crowd as well, so I encourage you to cultivate a mutually respectful working relationship with each healing ally in your life, even if it takes some shopping around. It's your health, and you are the one hiring your support team, so you can act like a manager, as the various members are unlikely to work closely together, but they all work with you.
In fact, becoming an empowered consumer and participant in your own health and well-being is a powerful position as a citizen. I even consider responsible self-care a radical act of defiance against oppression, both internalized and external. We are much less vulnerable to the harmful influences of others when we treat ourselves well. Our internal self-talk is the foundation of our well-being, so be sure you're kind and gentle with yourself. Go ahead and be your own biggest cheerleader! You can't really afford to waste your energy on criticizing yourself when it does no good and becomes a bad habit. Even if someone else taught you to do it, you can choose to unlearn it. Just be gentle with yourself as you learn to replace every negative thought about yourself with its opposite, even if it feels funny at first. It's worth a little patience. You're worth it!
Exploring natural and holistic healing systems might seem overwhelming because there are so many wonderful choices available now, which is also a great blessing. I encourage you to use your intuition as well as doing some research, and also always be sure that what you choose feels right, and genuinely helps you to be well. That's putting your mind, body, heart and soul together!
I practice Reiki every day as an important foundation of my well-being. It's as simple as it gets, just pure healing, loving energy transmitted through my hands or in meditation, to all my chakras and major body systems, and any place that's sore or needs a little extra support. It's a wonderful modality because it can't do any harm, you can't do it wrong, and the basics can be learned initially in a day, though it does improve with practice like anything else. Reiki can be considered a form of spiritual healing, but is not limited to any religion or belief system, nor will it interfere with any other medical or health treatment.
In addition to my self-practice, I also offer Reiki healing energy sessions at two of the Opening Your Gifts package levels, in person or even at a distance. It's great to learn on your own from the Opening Your Gifts Guidebook and to enjoy the supportive community in the Opening Your Gifts online circle, but Reiki treatments really provide the energy boost you just can't get any other way. I will also be teaching Reiki classes soon, so please let me know if you are interested in learning this amazing healing art yourself. Reiki training boosts the natural healing ability available to us by incalculable measure, activating much more power, much more quickly than we can develop it on our own. You can also experience this healing energy for yourself at the Opening Your Gifts program I'll be presenting this weekend at Vision of Light Church of Spiritualism and Healing.
Meanwhile, you can begin to develop your innate healing abilities and improve your self-care practice right away. I'll be sharing an excerpt from the Opening Your Gifts Guidebook to show you how, as well as other daily suggestions for self-care and wellness, in the Opening Your Gifts Facebook group, which is open to anyone, and also included in all the package levels in Opening Your Gifts. Visit essentialarts.net to discover the possibilities for support in Opening Your Gifts this season, from healing to intuition to love and compassion and more, or contact me at connect@essentialarts.net. I love to help you celebrate your gifts!
What are your favorite healing modalities or methods? Do you practice them yourself or go to a practitioner for treatments, or both? I would love to hear from you about your experiences.
Love and blessings,
Dawn
