Some Thoughts on True Healing...

My spiritual journey has taught me more about healing than I ever thought possible.

I used to think of healing as a simple, linear, process. I thought that healing the body was as simple as diagnosing an illness and then taking the right drug. After all, this is how society teaches us to "heal."

It took me a quarter of a century to learn the truth... that healing is often complex — that the healing process is rarely linear — and that when we put our focus on treating symptoms, we almost never heal the source of our disease.

I went to many doctors throughout my childhood, but I was almost 25 years-old before I ever sat down with a true healer. When I finally met my first spiritual healer I explained my symptoms and then immediately asked what I believed to be thoughtful question at the time.

I took a deep breath and said, "do you think this is a physical illness, or a spiritual illness?"

When the healer replied saying, "all illnesses are spiritual illnesses," my heart sank.

It wasn't easy for me to face the truth...I didn't want to face the fact that I wasn't sick because my body betrayed me, I was sick because I had ignored the longings of my soul. 

I actively resisted this realization. In fact, it took me almost a year to accept that there is no such thing as a purely physical illness...that all illnesses are manifestations of mental and emotional imbalances. I have since embraced the fact that dis-ease originates at the mental/emotional level and works its way down. 

I have also come to embrace the truth that our body is a system intentionally designed to heal itself in totality and that, because of this, it is impossible to heal one ailment completely without healing every ailment completely. This has proven true with the body, and I believe it is true within our emotional sphere as well.

Have you ever gotten emotionally upset about one thing...say a bad break up, or the death of a loved one...only to realize that, when you attempt to explore and heal your sadness, you seem to revisit sadness and upset from all throughout your life? It seems to me that the heart doesn't discriminate...it seems that our heart holds on to every experience that needs healing and then patiently waits for us to initiate the healing process. 

I suspect that, like physical pains, subtle emotional pains are an early warning sign from our etheric body that healing is needed. How many of us enthusiastically take these signs to heart?

What I have realized recently is that — whether it is in the realm of the body, or the realm of the heart —many of us never initiate the healing process. Most people get through life by treating the symptoms without ever inviting true healing to occur. This, to me, is deeply saddening.

I wish every person who has ever experienced dis-ease could also experience true healing. I wish this because I know that healing is an important part of the human experience and I sense that we are all meant to be awed by the miraculous nature of true healing.

My first true healing experience happened by accident. After a year of tests, surgeries, and "treatments" I was so fed-up with the failure of Western medicine that I decided to do my own research. This research led me into a three-month detoxification regiment of coffee enemas and raw food.

What happened next shocked me. For the first three days I felt incredible. On day four I began to feel worse than I ever had before... my lymph nodes became painful and swollen; I got a fever; I had a massive headache; and every bone and muscle in body ached with terrible pain. I could hardly muster the energy to walk and I sweat so much during the night that I could wring-out my sheets.

My symptoms were so bad that I thought I might be dying... but after a couple of days it became clear that I wasn't dying, I was healing!! I was experiencing a phenomenon that experts call a "healing crisis," which is a profound experience that occurs when your body gathers enough strength to activate powerful healing channels and to move from managing day-to-day maintenance to eradicating long standing traumas.

What surprised me most was that my healing crisis wasn't just physical, it was also emotional. I found myself releasing almost as much emotional toxicity as physical toxicity... It is a toss up whether I was sweating more, or crying more. This was all the confirmation I needed to know that the healer was right..."all illness is spiritual illness." Releasing the physical illness required me to release the spiritual and emotional pain that created it. 

Although it was scary, I quickly learned that the more I trusted the process and allowed the emotional pain and physical illness to move through me, the better I felt. I emerged from that healing crisis, ten days later, with a profound respect for the built-in healing mechanisms of the body and mind.

I also emerged with the understanding that my being had been waiting for me to initiate my healing for a very long time. I suspect that many of us have bodies and hearts that are patiently waiting for us to take some action that will activate our miraculous inner-healing mechanisms.

It seems that our healing mechanisms can be activated by physical detoxification, by a willingness to face our emotional pain, and by many other means... But, no matter which route we take, it seems pertinent that we invite true healing.

Looking back, my only regret about my path to true healing is that I waited so long to start it. I wish I would have spent less time running from my own pain more time letting my pain be my guide.

If you desire true healing (I hope you do) my best advice is this...embrace your pain and let it serve as your inspiration to ignite your miraculous healing power. Your body, your heart, mind, and your soul will thank you.

With Great Love,
Maya