The Healing Process
I do believe in miraculous, instantaneous healings, however, it is my experience that most people will heal through a process that takes place over time. Healing processes are triggered in a variety of ways: Prayer, meditation, journaling, yoga, reiki, breath work, rituals, ceremonies, diet improvements, herbs, homeopathy, etc., etc. One of my favorites is with hands-on therapies, of course.
How the healing process is triggered is not as important as recognizing that it has begun.
People are not onions, but let’s just pretend for a moment that YOU are an onion!
You come into my office for a session with all the peelings still around you. When we’re done you feel wonderfully relaxed, you have no pain. You go home, with one less layer. Together, we unpeeled you. Hehe.
The next day, you still feel good….no pain!
Later, you start to feel a bit off…a bit tired? …. maybe a bit grouchy?…just OFF.
Guess what….the new layer of onion that is now exposed, has a different chemical composition than what you’ve been used to. What you’ve been used to, is the chemical soup that was giving you pain. Muscles will contract when they receive the message to do so via a chemical reaction that is sent by the brain. (The subconscious mind sends the message to the brain.) When muscles constantly receive a message to contract, they get very tight and sometimes, very painful! Even the tinniest of muscles…say a 1/4 inch long, can cause excruciating pain when they are holding tight for dear life.
So, you’re now in a different chemical state. One in which you have no pain, but you don’t feel so good anyway. You’re grouchy and not behaving the way you like to. These chemicals control your thinking, your emotions, and your behavior.
Healing will occur in layers, each with its own concoction of chemicals….in reverse chronological order.
The events of our lives, affect us on all levels…body, mind and spirit…..each layer has a story. And, as each is exposed, we can observe its affects and even remember things we haven’t thought about in years. This is called, “state dependent recall”. The chemicals must be the same as they were when the circumstances took place, in order for us to remember them.
If you were to brush off these newly exposed feelings and emotions, dismiss them, or worse, deny them, or blame others for them, then you’d probably end up hurting again. The new layer that was exposed, was not healed, and the peelings get put back on to cover them up.
Let’s look at a slightly bigger picture.
Let’s say that a person had mono 5 yrs ago, a seizure 8 yrs ago, got in a car crash 10 yrs ago. In the healing process, it’s possible that as each layer of their onion is revealed, they will have similar symptoms, thought patterns, and emotions as they did during those episodes. It might look like this: the mono layer could have a person feeling oh so low…woes me…is the emotion often associated with mono. They could be physically exhausted. This could last a few days. Time goes by, healing has continued, and suddenly this person feels like a seizure is coming on. They also are feeling over whelmed by all the circumstances in their life. The seizure doesn’t happen, just sort of feels like it will….then it passes. Time goes on, healing continues. Then, this person’s neck starts to ache and anger is the prominent emotion….stemming from a victim mentality. If healing occurs as each layer is revealed, then the symptoms will pass, never to be seen again.
How to do this?
The first step is to recognize what is happening.
Feeling “woes me” will pass when it is acknowledged and nurtured but not engaged in. In other words, take care of yourself because of how you’re feeling, rest more, drink more water, take vitamins, herbs, herbal teas, tinctures, whatever, and be more of an observer of yourself, try not to let the feelings take over. Don’t kick the dog. Recognize that the new layer’s chemicals will affect your thoughts, feelings, emotions and your body but they are only temporary. This is your opportunity to look closely. Rushing to the doctor and getting drugs to cover up your symptoms only puts the peelings back on.
This is very simple. But, it’s not easy!
The current layer of chemicals can and will interfere with this logic. In addition, this current chemical soup might be too far out of your comfort zone making it even more difficult to think in this way.
Conscious awareness is key and having “tools” to support a healing process can ensure success, since each layer can be different.
(These statements are not intended to replace medical treatment. Always consult your doctor if severe symptoms are present.)
- “Cold” like symptoms are also very common during the healing process. A cold is an elimination process. Mucus surrounds and protects us from accumulated dirt, debris, bacteria, viral infections and toxic wastes, so when you are blowing your nose, know that your body is very wise and doing a great job of cleaning house!
Other symptoms of positive change in a healing process might include:
- increased sweating at any time of the day or night
- increased bowl movements, even diarrhea
- increased thirst
- tiredness, feeling heavy, needing more sleep
- restless sleep
- increased body odor
- headache
- skin eruptions, rashes
- grouchiness, sadness, weepiness, agitation, fearfulness: emotions that seem out of sync with your current life circumstances (remember that these emotions have been buried in your body from previous experiences, ie: cellular memory)
- physical symptoms that resemble previous illnesses
You can actually gage your progress by carefully observing these things as they arise and remember to consider each layer from a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual perspective…acknowledging that this WAS how you felt and that you no longer need to carry it all around with you anymore!
In other words….for deep healing to occur, the old yucky stuff must come out first!
