Sunday, March 8, 2009

Spiritual Healing

Spiritual healing is the oldest type of healing known to humanity. There has always been some form of spiritual healing available in all tribes and societies: our own Druid tradition of healing and spirituality, the North American Medicine man, the wise men and women who occupied a special place in every tribe, helping to heal the sick through the power of the spirit, and to guide the tribe in times of crises, and in matters of life and death. Due to many people's disillusionment with traditional religions there has been a huge upsurge in interest in the whole area of spirituality in recent years.

Spirituality in its broadest sense concerns the exploration, the awareness and the integration of spirit with our other physical, mental and emotional sides to create balance, harmony, wholeness and meaning in our lives. Spirit is that part of ourselves which is eternal and unique to each individual. Yet spiritually we are connected to all other life forms in a transpersonal way, each being a vital part of the whole. People who wish to explore their personal spirituality need not have any specific beliefs, as the spiritual experience can be viewed humanistically - as the link between all earth-life, between the whole of nature, animals and human beings.

What is Spiritual healing?

Spiritual healing is the channelling of healing energies through the healer to the patient. It re-energies and relaxes patients to enable their own natural resources to deal with illness or injury in the best possible way. By directing energy, usually through the hands, the healer seeks to supplement the depleted energy of the recipient, releasing the body's own healing abilities to deal with the problem in the most effective way for that individual. The healer asks for healing to be channelled from Spirit, God, the highest level of light. Unlike faith healing, it is not required that the patient have faith in the healer or in the healing process in order for healing to take place.

Benefits of Spiritual healing

Spiritual healing can be beneficial for anyone who feels that they lack harmony of body, mind or spirit. It can be given for any illness, stress or injury. There are no conditions placed on the type of healing which the patient may require: the Spirit of the patient gets exactly the kind of healing it needs to distribute to the mind or body it occupies. Healing always takes place in the manner in which it is needed. It can be helpful in a wide range of physical and psychological conditions, sometimes to a remarkable degree: the medically diagnosed nature of the illness appears to be irrelevant to the outcome, and case histories range from the relieving of everyday stresses and strains to the recovery of people who had been previously medically diagnosed as being terminally ill. In all these cases spiritual healing seems to have made a vital contribution to the patient's recovery.

Spiritual healing has no side effects and is complimentary to any other therapy. It is completely non-intrusive as there is no touch used by the healer. The healer's hands are raised about a foot from the patient's body while the patient is sitting comfortably during the channelling of healing.

Absent Healing

Any person who asks for spiritual healing will receive it. If the healing is requested by one person for another, then the healing chain is set in motion between the person who requested it, the person who it is requested for and Spirit. The person does not have to attend for Spiritual healing in this instance. Each person's name who requires healing is written in a special book, kept specifically for this purpose. Periodically the healer can read each new name entered in the book and ask Spirit to grant this person spiritual healing. Each person is kept on the absent healing list for one month. Whatever healing is required then takes place. There have been many recorded cases of miraculous healing taking place using absent healing, even when the recipient of spiritual healing was not aware that healing had been requested for him/her.

What does Spiritual healing feel like for the recipient?

Many people say that they experience some of the following sensations during spiritual healing: heat, cold, tingly feelings, the feeling of being really taken care of, a feeling of expansion and a new awareness of their spiritual being. Sometimes the recipient doesn't feel anything in particular, just a sense of deep relaxation and peace. It is recommended that a person attend for spiritual healing at least three times, with approximately one week between each session, to maximise the benefits of spiritual healing. I can still vividly remember my own first experience of spiritual healing, some six years ago. One of my friends had recommended that I try it but I was quite sceptical and needed a lot of persuading to try it. I remember sitting in the healing chair in the Irish Spiritual Centre, feeling this amazing feeling of love and expansion, as though I was literally radiating a brilliant beautiful energy. Spiritual healing is still my own favourite form of healing when I feel in need of a real boost of energy: six years later I'm still at the centre, but now working as a Spiritual healer.

Extract from Irish Guide to Complementary and Alternative Therapies by Lucy Costigan, published by Wolfhound Press, 1997

http://www.lucycostigan.com/lucycostigan/

Lucy Costigans career has been quite eclectic. She has worked as a magazine editor, a technical writer, a counsellor and spiritual healer, and a programmes facilitator. Lucy holds Masters Degrees in Equality Studies (UCD, Ireland), and in Research (NCI, Ireland). From an early age Lucy has been on a quest to discover the ultimate meaning of life.

Lucy's books have been reviewed on RTE (Ireland's National Television and Radio stations), on BBC radio, and in various international publications. RTEs popular Sunday Show dedicated a full-length program to her book Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace (Columba Press, 1998). Lucys books include: Irish Guide to Complementary and Alternative Therapies (Wolfhound Press) Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace (Columba Press) Winter Solstice: A Novel (iUniverse) Social Awareness in Counselling (iUniverse) What is the Meaning of Your Life (iUniverse) Course in Consciousness (iUniverse) Women and Healing (iUniverse) The Transformation of Yvette (iUniverse).

Lucy lives in her native town of Wexford, Ireland.

Mary Baker Eddy

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