“And God declares, I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…”
~~Jeremiah 30:17
A few months ago on the Blessings Blog, I started a conversation about distance healing. In the first post, I talked about science and research regarding distance healing. If you are interested, you can find that information in a post here.
Several people have asked me about distance healing lately, so I wanted to post that article again here. If you would like to learn more about healing in general, I wrote an article for The Heroic Journal about the difference in healing vs. curing, which can also be found here, in the July 11 archives of the Blessings Blog.
About half of my Blessings Enterprises practice involves distance healing. I have clients of all ages, all seeking a healer for different reasons on the surface…depression, anxiety, childhood illness, cancer and a myriad of other things. I have a lot of clients who feel good but want to feel great, who want to grow by working with a life coach or spiritual director, who want to develop a spiritual practice or just move through some challenging times. Everyone is welcome and everyone comes for a different surface reason, but all seek the same underlying thing–everyone is seeking healing. The people who come to me all have a certain level of faith that healing is possible, or they wouldn’t come to someone like me at all. Children often don’t know they are being worked on, but their parents have faith—or at least hope—and so they come seeking relief for whatever plagues the ones whom they love.
I think in order to have faith, you have to have hope. Yet many who come to me suffer from a true crisis of faith, a loss of hope or both. But I believe that buried under the fear or grief that makes a person feel as though there is no hope, there is a spark of life that remains, a soft spot that is open and receptive to healing. This is what opens us to even greater healing and often into a whole new way of being.
Distance healing is a different experience for the person on the receiving end only in the sense that you are not physically here. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t together. Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and most traditions incorporate distance healing into their repertoire of health and healing practices because it works and has worked for centuries. Because I believe All Is One and we are all connected at a deep collective and energetic level, I believe all healing is possible.
The Buddhist practice of Tonglen, Hindu and Buddhist practices of pujas or other ceremonies, Shamanic journeys in many traditions and intercessory prayer in the Christian tradition are just a few examples of distance healing practices. There are several Biblical examples of healing, but my favorite is the Healing of the Centurion’s Servant, found in the books of Matthew and Luke. A few things to keep in mind about this story…Let’s just say for the sake of argument that this all happened the way it is written. I’m not as concerned about the details as about the story and the events that unfold here.
A Centurion was a Roman soldier, sort of like an Army Captain. He had 100 men under him and was part of an occupying force in the city. Technically, since Jesus was a Jew, this man had authority over Jesus, the Centurion was an oppressor. But he recognizes the authority of Jesus to heal someone he loves, and because he understands authority—even when he isn’t present—he has faith that Jesus can heal his servant at a distance. The book of Luke says that the centurion’s other servants came to Jesus, not the centurion himself. While there have been some arguments over the two versions of this story, to me it remains the same, because I understand representatives and authority. Put another way, if I have authority over you and send you as my representative, it is as if I came myself. It’s no different than us expecting our elected representatives to really represent us, or knowing the Secretary of State represents the President and entire U.S. when she travels abroad.
The Faith of the Centurion (Matthew 8:5-13)
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. …Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour…
This is the essence of what distance healing is all about. Someone we love needs healing, and so we seek that out, even if the “someone” is us. So many people show up at my door saying they cannot believe, saying they cannot love themselves, full of self-hatred or fear, depression or anxiety. But the truth is that’s not who you are. The truth is that another thing Jesus says in the book of Matthew is true and that is,
You are the Light of the World.
Because you are the Light, and I am the Light, and we are all in that Light together as One, this allows distance healing to be possible. The Centurion understood this in a way even the followers of Jesus did not. He understood that when we use the gifts we’ve been given, it plugs us into the reality and understanding of that Light. He understood that to ask in faith and to really be in our own authority as the giver and as the receiver opens the door for healing. He understood that the healing he sought for his loved one was physical, but the true healing taking place was spiritual. The Centurion didn’t have to ask for this—the man for whom he sought healing was a slave. But he loved him. And that love opens him up to asking, which opens him up to receiving, which opens everyone up to healing.
In a previous Blessings Blog Post, I spoke of the science of healing. But there is an aspect of healing that is so personal, yet so universal, that science may never capture it–the art of love. Love makes us do things for others society tells us we shouldn’t, like a Roman military officer approaching an oppressed subject seeking healing for a slave. Distance healing is outside the mainstream western understanding of curing. But healing can take place at any time, any place, in many ways.
Just as you can love someone at a distance, pray for them or remember them fondly at a distance, you can heal at a distance. Just as you can feel the agony over the suffering of the pains of the world and of loved ones and seek out a cure, you can look for that at a distance. All of the religions and spiritual traditions have practices and beliefs about this and in their most pure form teach this concept. The religions are not the same, yet the mystics of each tradition share similar experiences and tell us over and over that we are One with the Divine. Separation is illusion. Because you are One with all that is, healing at a distance is possible, because the distance truly is only in your mind–it is an illusion.
I believe it is our Divine right to be happy, healthy, whole and free. This does not mean that we won’t have struggles or get sick, need healing or have a full range of emotions. That is your direct experience so be with it and really see what it can offer you, whatever it is. The great mystics, shamans, teachers and healers all got sick, all had severe illnesses and pain and all said it made them better healers and teachers. As the saying goes in Zen,
The obstacle is the path. No pain, no compassion.
Needing a healer isn’t failure or evidence of some terrible spiritual malady. It just means you are at a place in your journey in which you can come more deeply into who you are and who you were created to be. I believe by doing so, regardless of your beliefs about God or any particular faith tradition, that you can find a depth you may not have experienced before. You can call this God or your soul, your Buddha nature, your karma, your prana or any number of other things. What you call it won’t change what it is—pure essence, pure energy, pure Light. And you share that essence with every living being, science proves that over and over, and the mystics teach it again and again.
As the saying goes, we are not promised a quiet journey, just a safe arrival. Sometimes we need another person to help us with the journey, a guide and a witness to help us honor our path. Healing is part of that and just like love, healing comes in many people, places and things. And just like with love, distance is irrelevant.
If you have questions about distance healing, or healing in general, or would like to ask a question or make a comment, feel free to do so on the blog or contact me directly.
Peace and blessings.
Happy Merry all you may celebrate this time of year!
