Holistic Therapy Unravelled
The Circle of Life
The sacredness of the circle is common to the aboriginal peoples. My connections to it have come through contact in my work or social circles within the Blackfoot peoples of Southern Alberta, the Cree in Central and North eastern Alberta. As well, one of my early teachers was raised in Northern Montana amongst the aboriginal peoples. The Medicine Wheel is a great example of the power of the circle. It has often been said “You can’t choose sides in a Circle”. Nature plays an integral role in showing us the circle through the celestial bodies and their rotation.
The Life Cycle itself is like a circle always renewing itself from Birth, Childhood, to
Adulthood and death. On some level we know where we come from, forget it, and finally remember it again.
Holistic Therapy Work
I have heard it said that we are called in some way to care for people-body, mind, and spirit. Some people have had adversity themselves of in their families, which creates an interest in some alternative therapy modality, or just the desire to search for another way to find healing.
Where do you Train for this
In past years, people had gifts of healing or were self-taught. Often this was passed down in a family. Intuitions and God-given talents and abilities were the norm and still are present and important. However, many practitioners found their entry to the holistic therapy field through Massage Therapy. Most cities, like Edmonton, have several recognized and accredited schools, of Massage Therapy and Holistic Therapist Programs. One of the bodies that represents many therapists, the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada, recognizes these schools and allows therapists to have a membership in this organization. This permits them to help clients access alternative health care through various insurance plans. Visit their website for schools teaching the modalities in which you may have an interest.
What part does the Client play?
The Intention of the Client and the Practitioner is essential to healing. Rev Michael B
Beckwith recently stated “We have too many people with Intention Deficit Person-alities today”. He means that too often we don’t create a positive intention for our physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and evolution.
How do You Describe Healing
I ascribe that a healing takes place instantaneously, or in passing of time, when the goals or intention of the client is met. Dr. Michael Greenwood of Victoria, BC stated in 1997 “Healing means wholeness and holistic medicine therefore is the kind of medicine that encourages us to return to wholeness”. Lisa Raphael stated several basic principles that I believe. In 2008, in Synchronicity magazine wrote “The first
Principle is that nobody heals anybody else”. We, in the healing profession are to facilitate an individuals own self-healing. Secondly Lisa states, “Healing, like Life Itself, is an ongoing process”. There is no beginning, and no end to Life on a Soul level, even after the death on the physical level. The Third Principle she suggests is “No single approach to a problem or symptom will necessarily resolve all aspects of the perceived discomfort or dis-ease”. We are multi-dimensional beings, individualized expressions of the Divine. How could one approach work with everyone? Even the common use over time of Prayer and Spiritual Mind Treatment which could be seen as being generalized, can be very personalized. The multi-disciplinary approach to healing seems to be the most effective.
What is Energy Healing?
Energy Healing is a form of Alternative Healing based on the East Indian knowledge of the human energy system of invisible bodies (aura) and energy centers (chakras).
People are taught to channel universal and spiritual energy for self healing and for assisting others’ healing. This energy is non-visible, and vibrates at a frequency higher than that of the unhealthy blocks in our own energy systems and that of others.
These blocks have been created through our issues and our reactions within or daily lives. Working at Cause level is very beneficial here and requires some training in muscle testing, dowsing, and/or intuition to find First Cause and determine the type of treatment to use. This is the exciting part of a therapist’s involvement in the healing process. The depth of training and skills comes into play to help the client regain a sense of wholeness through using the vibrations of colour, crystals, sound, visualization, symbols and the laying on of hands. Energy Healing promotes the belief in self-healing and in the ability of everyone to heal themselves. This allows us to have an ongoing consciousness of creating and maintaining health and wellness.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel Laureate in Medicine summarized all this as: “In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy”.
Safety of Holistic Therapy
Holistic therapy by its very nature empowers the client, rather than taking their power away. This gives the client the permission to leave a therapist and choose another one in the same field, a different field of study, or use the allopathic route to seek healing.
Pre-screening is always encouraged to inform the therapist of past or current issues that may affect the treatment plan for the client. The client is always in charge, no matter the type of alternative healing chosen to pursue. This insures the power where it needs to be.
