Trust Thyself – A Path of Healing and Self Regulation

We have the gift of so many kinds and qualities of attention of the mind and, as healers, how well do we use them?

It’s in assessing the situation clearly, without prejudice, that we gain information that informs our response and our next action. Our ability to be fully present yet unattached to the outcome of the situation is often skewed by our inner state of being, personal needs, conflict of interest – our perception of the situation corrupted by our own mental paradigm.

Having a clear understanding of what we want from the situation, “why we want to be healers”, guides the assessment process and allows us to modulate the quality of our attention to suit the moment, enabling us to position ourselves so that we serve our purpose.

One of my clients, in a recent healing session, was facing the challenge of deciding whether to return to work while undergoing a second round of cancer therapy.  At the outset of our healing session, we clarified our purpose – by the end of the healing session, he wanted to be relaxed with his current circumstance and gain clarity on “his ideal terms and conditions and priorities” to prepare him for the conversation with his employer that was scheduled for later the same day.

Bringing my healing and coaching skills to bear in this situation, I invited my client to settle into the session with a few deep mindful breaths, attuning himself to his physical being, relaxing his mind and getting in touch with his feelings and sensations. Once settled in, with his mind quiet, I offered some guided imagery to help him transcend his fears and concerns and get in touch with his hopes and dreams while grounding him at his feet. This phase of our session helped him deeply relax, physically. The Therapeutic Touch session that followed helped to unruffled the hot spots, clear his field resulting in a deepening sense of enhanced flow and a deep sense of inner calm and serenity. After an extended rest period, through which I stayed with him to hold the space, he woke looking much refreshed.

He smiled at me and thanked me for the session. He shared with me that he had gained a new appreciation for his cancer and had recognized that he needed to take a break from his work, in order to dedicate his full time attention to his own healing journey.

Inwardly, I rejoiced, recognizing that in putting himself first, he had finally accepted himself fully and had committed himself to his healing path.

Had the healing session not taken place when it did, a few hours prior to the conversation scheduled with his employer, my client would not have enjoyed the same sense of relaxed, grounded and centered presence that resulted from the clarity of thought and intention he had gained through our work together.

Healing and coaching both offer a set of strategies and practices, an independent, objective and compassionate presence, a way of thinking and a way of being and working that invites the healee to relax, explore, unpack, discover and experience what feels true and right for them.

In coaching, that’s a more conscious process while in healing, the conscious mind quiets to allow the subconscious mind to play the dominant role. What a powerful combination, when you combine these two modalities, for once the truth is felt and known, the healee’s intent and creativity shapes and reshapes their thinking and enhances their inherent self-healing capabilities until they come up with a solution or an approach that feels right for them.

It is this moment of just-rightness that’s experienced as an “AHA!” or healing moment, an enhanced or heightened state of self-awareness – of knowing – that illuminates and disbands mental confusion and releases anxiety, pain and doubt. As Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently said,

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”