Empowered Healer

Balboa Press

Contents

Acknowledgements..............................................ixPreface: A Personal Story.....................................xiiiIntroduction: The Empowered Healer Method.....................1Part I: Believe You Can Heal..................................17Part II: Receive the Power to Heal............................41Part III: Achieve Self-Healing................................73Part IV: Perceive Greater Healing.............................99Notes.........................................................113Bibliography..................................................117

Chapter One

In the five years between 1992 and 1997 my father and mother died, my eighteen year old daughter became pregnant, my youngest child left for college, and my marriage of over twenty years ended. After this, I moved three times, changed professions, fell in love and remarried. I also became seriously ill and was able to heal myself.

Just reading this list of changes has my head whirling, and I remember these years as being ones of deep grief, panic, excitement and great joy. One of my former students during this time recalled that in 1992 I asked for this enormous change. I denied it at first, but she remembered the words I said to my writing class, "I can't stand my life. I need a change!" This reminds me of how powerful we are and how we must be careful what we ask for. It always comes true in some form to give us what we need, but rarely in the way we expect.

I'm sharing this part of my life with you to express how change, stress, anxiety, loss and grief, even excitement and positive change, can impact our immune systems and create emotional and physical symptoms. When my father died, when I left my marriage and when my mother died, I developed cysts in my left breast during each loss. I had to have sonograms and biopsies and the cysts were quite painful. I wrote a poem in 1994 that reflects how my emotions showed up in my body. A few lines are shared here:

    I found a lump in my left breast
    after my father died;
    just couldn't let him go
    held him in my tissue
    in a small smooth marble
    near my heart.
    Now I carry a stone
    in the same breast;
    it holds
    the ending of a marriage
    leaving of two children
    the losing of my home.
      From "Forgiveness"
      in Breathing Room

How I healed myself after my mother's death and have been free of cysts ever since, will be presented in Part III. What I'm illustrating here is that we store our emotions somewhere in our bodies if we're not expressing or dealing with them. Instead of talking about my loss more, I held my anger, sadness and powerlessness in my breast. I held people and events in my body that I grieved and couldn't seem to release. Part I will help you to notice any unresolved life experiences and feelings that could be compromising your health. You will learn how to release people, events and issues from your past, and how to move forward in the healing process. You already may be seeing a connection between your life experiences and your health just from reading the above words.

When my clients make the phone call and the appointment to see me, they've already begun to heal. Without even realizing it at times, they are setting an intention to feel better again. We are consciously and unconsciously expressing intentions all the time just by our words and actions, and these intentions set the stage for receiving and achieving what we want. In essence, we are taking the first step towards improved wellbeing and a more fulfilling life. In buying this book, you've followed your intuition, and may feel curious, interested and perhaps already committed to your own or others' healing.

Here in Part I, I'm asking you to prepare for self-healing by looking at your willingness and readiness. I'm asking you to let go of the past and of any negativity or resistance, so you can believe completely in your ability to heal yourself. Similarly, Dr. Bernie Siegel asks his patients to accept some of the responsibility for their illness, for if they have taken part in getting sick, they can also take part in getting well. And so can you.

As mentioned earlier, Part I will focus on how past experiences and emotions may have contributed to your illness or injury, and how you can release these issues and choose to be well. Parts I and II are the preparation sections, as their content and exercises will prepare you to achieve self-healing in Part III. As a reminder, the healing formula you will be using in Part III is: 1) Relax deeply, turn inward and visualize, 2) Explore and dialogue with what you find, 3) Remove or let go of any intrusion, and 4) Restore balance and normalcy with light and color imagery.

Before taking the Four Action Steps described above, you have the opportunity in Part I to explore and correct anything blocking your healing. By answering a series of questions, you can discover and resolve any issues related to your health. For instance, you may find certain events, people or feelings are connected to your illness, or you may discover that you are attached to your illness for some reason; perhaps it is giving you attention or a dividend that you may not realize consciously. If your answers do reveal any residual issues, you will be shown how to process and release them. Then you will be free to proceed, and able to believe more fully in the process of healing yourself.

Please answer the following questions honestly by writing your first intuitive response. Then add any comments or details that seem vital to the process. The more specific you can be the better. Give yourself plenty of time, sit in a calm environment and unplug the phone so you won't be disturbed. You can make a copy of the following questionnaire and answer the questions there, or write your responses in your journal.

Life-Issues Questionnaire

1. What have been your most challenging life experiences? (These experiences could have occurred from early childhood to the present). Star the ones that still feel unresolved or painful.

2. Did something significant happen near the onset of your illness, injury or emotional issue? If yes, describe this event, loss or change.

3. Are there aspects of your personality, your core beliefs or lifelong behavior patterns that may be contributing to your illness, injury or issue? If so, describe them here. (Examples might be: having low self-esteem, focusing on others' needs, not feeling loved, being resentful/unforgiving, disappointed, angry, guilty or sad).

4. After referring to the above answers, what are the main connections between your life experiences and your current illness, injury or emotional distress?

Now go back and review what you have written and add anything more that is surfacing. The more you reflect on the above issues and write your deepest heartfelt...