Physician Healer

Issue: 16 Healing

Healing

Before you start, I invite you to take a slow deep breath in through your nose, taking about 5 seconds to do so, expanding the chest as if you were breathing in all that good stuff into every cell of your body. Then, breathe out through your mouth, taking another 5 seconds, and sigh into the exhale as if you were removing all the heaviness built up inside your mind and body. Now, close your eyes and repeat this 2 to 3 more times. Then, open your eyes slowly. This brief exercise should relax you a bit.

Healing — this word means something different for different people. Everyday I deal with folks who are healing from physical discomfort and those from mental pain. What I have found, though, is that both are intimately connected. Stress tends to increase cortisol in our body causing inflammation. Unresolved past trauma can also add fuel to our physical manifestations via our emotions. Many individuals who come to me for help don’t actually realize that they can also suffer from spiritual pain. There has been scientific evidence emerging that suffering in our ancestral line from decades to centuries past can pass through all the generations and become responsible for influencing and contributing to our mental health.

Before infusing meditation into my practice, very few patients reported doing any type of purposeful quiet time. Many were either vaguely or not even familiar with the term. When asked, some thought a spiritual practice was synonymous with prayer and reading the bible or other sacred book. For these individuals, I try to encourage them to make meditation a separate event from prayer. From what I’ve observed, a few have been open-minded and have done so while the majority declined for personal reasons.

These days (for almost the past 6 years), I ask everyone about meditation as part of my screening set of questions, and if I see eyes rolling, I don’t pursue this topic further. If they don’t do any sitting but are eager and interested, then I spend time discussing with them what it is and what it isn’t. For those who have maintained a meditative practice for 20, 30, 40 years—this can be a double-edged sword. I have noticed that at times whatever they’ve been doing does not always seem to be effective.

I gauge my observation by how they present behaviorally. Very typically, these individuals will present with chronic symptoms that are the same as those who are not meditating and their symptoms tend to improve and resolve completely after they have practiced Meridian meditation at home daily for a few days and/or I’ve performed a guided version of that in the office (Meridian meditation: accessing acupressure endpoints while performing a silent or intentional meditation).

Sometimes I do find it challenging to even gently tell them that the way they are meditating may not be as effective as they assume. I remember telling a gentleman that sitting in meditation for 10 minutes a day for 25 years was really not enough. He then felt insulted and proceeded to ask me if I was aware that he was trained by a great wizard of an instructor.

My initial thought was that maybe he didn’t learn or practice it correctly or that the instructor wasn’t a wizard after all. Or, the ego-mind was directing the meditation all along and there was no true surrender to the moment. Whatever the reason, I realized the fact that he reacted in this manner indicated he still had a lot of avatars to come to terms with and to release.

In the last several years, I’ve learned that not everyone meditates with complete surrender into the present moment, but instead, they are in their mind and not their heart. Consequently, the meditation does not result in significant catharsis but the trash is held on because the mind is involved in the negotiation—what is it going to get out of the meditation? (The key is to sit without expecting any outcome).

This served to be a good test for me, as well, to avoid taking the encounter to heart. His feeling offended at my statement was not really my fault. My only intention was to help him with his issues. (I remembered that we see the world as we are, not as it is and our unresolved emotional traumas shape our perception of the world. Consequently, as long as we haven’t worked through our avatars, we feel insecure about ourselves and so will always be triggered into reacting with some negative emotion).

When I ask folks if they meditate and they tell me they have been doing hiking or movement meditation, I will encourage them to add a stillness version. Occasionally, I meet up with resistance, being told that they cannot and have never been able to sit still and then it is dismissed. The resistance comes from misunderstanding that unpleasant thoughts are coming into the mind when in reality, the thoughts are coming out and being released.

The reason why hiking, walking, cleaning and listening to music are not as effective in clearing negative stuff from within us is because while we are doing a task, our brain is always on alert to prevent us from tripping, falling, or some other mishap, so in essence, we are giving our brain a job to do. On the other hand, if we are sitting still, we are not occupying the brain at all and it can begin to truly relax, as well as the body. Now, this is not to say that I am against a good hike or other physical activity—we need to exercise daily for its benefits. All I’m saying is add the sitting to the exercise and it can be done at a different time.

I’ve learned over the years that meditation is indeed a practice and you don’t just get better and stop. It is analogous to learning to play the piano. You may have learned to read music and play simple pieces but if you stop practicing then you don’t get to advance. To perform Liszt or Rachmaninoff, for instance, you’d have to not only keep to it everyday, but you’d need to step up your game.

In the last several months, I’ve watched individuals come in on Day 1, feeling miserable physically and mentally. The mental misery feeds into the physical and vice versa. On top of that, their ability to work suffers and as a result, adds additional burden to both the mental and physical stress.

What I’ve found fascinating is that if they allow me to work on them and they begin to improve physically, mentally or both, then other parts of their lives begin to change, as well. However, they resist at first, feeling defeated and that this is too good to be true. Or, they think that I’m just teaching them to tolerate their horrible situation more effectively, so that they can numb themselves or ignore the situation altogether.

My advice in handling doubt is to just trust and take that leap. I remind them that there is nothing to lose. If nothing changes, they’ve lost nothing. But, it’s more than that. I believe the pain of allowing hope and expectation in and the risk of being disappointed create such a huge wall that they are their own worse enemy. As the saying goes,

“Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way.”

I do understand that at first glance it seems unbelievable that by changing ourselves we change our surroundings. Those people who knew you before you experienced personal growth frequently leave your circle or you step away for lack of common beliefs. This is due to energetic changes that are no longer in alignment. It is also during this time that new and different people find you and you begin to make fresh connections and new alliances. Personal growth journeys get you out of the status quo, the infamous comfort zone. Some people have reported opportunities seemingly out of nowhere just showing up at their doorstep. And, for those friends and family members who stay close even after you’ve changed, it is due to the simple rule of matching energy.

I have received reports of dreaded co-workers and colleagues leaving the company unexpectedly and that friends and loved ones who stay have been observed to change their behavior toward you, or suddenly you go from being unnoticed to being offered a promotion and new opportunities seem to miraculous appear. Remember that people’s responses to you change if you change.

A typical day would present with a new patient who has seen many other healthcare providers and was told that there would be nothing more they could do and to tolerate and expect the health issue to be indefinite. If a person’s external factors such as work or family are the core of the stress, then when you transform, the relationship dynamics shift and all of a sudden, there is connection and harmony through inner coherence between what the soul wants vs our purpose here according to the universe.

Once the shift happens, the patient becomes happier and lighter despite the fact that the family or work situation is still the same for now. Remember that our living situation as such in this moment is the cumulative result of all the decisions, behaviors and thoughts experienced leading up to that point. Whatever we change from here on out changes our future. The level of pain or discomfort seems to abate from the sheer change in disposition of the patient. This proves that we do not need an external reason or some aspect of our external life to change before we are happy. We can be happy first. Happiness originates from within us regardless of what is going on outside. This realization, this “Aha” moment is the start of the journey to healing.

Transformational exercises for healing:

1) Each morning as soon as you awaken, say 3 things you’re grateful for.

2) After the gratitudes, start with intentional questions beginning each sentence with “Why am I” or “How am I” (Why am I feeling so awesome everyday? Why am I so lucky to be surrounded by so much love? How am I so strong and healthy? How is it that there is so much magic in the world around me)? If you just make a statement that little voice in your head will find ways to contradict you. Forming a question out of a statement of affirmation removes that voice and allows your mind to think of good answers that support your question.

3) You can also add repetitive finger tip pressure on strategic acupressure endpoints on the head and body while saying your gratitudes and your intentional questions. An easy point to access is what they call the chest point. Using your right hand placed over the heart as if you were pledging to the flag, you would then curve your fingers and tap lightly on the skin; the same can be done using the other hand accessing the other side (Check out the Tapping Solution Foundation android/iPhone app for other acupressure points). This added method reinforces your statements and helps reprogram the brain’s hardwiring for negativity. Over time, the changes become obvious and permanent.

4) Remember everything takes time, hard work and practice. Nothing that is worth it in life has ever been easy. You must keep trying and pushing forward. The good news is that if you do this faithfully everyday perhaps even twice a day, you will change.

5) Remember to get a journal and write down the good stuff. Use it to plan out your day or week or future. This is much like a vision board where if you think it often enough it can become reality. The journal can help you craft the life you want. Remember that what you want has to also benefit many others.

6) “Your life is not about you; rather it’s about the people your life touches and will touch.” This is a very crucial point. Many folks who suffer from more days than not of sadness and depression are mainly focused on themselves but in a place of blame, victimhood, and stuckness. Think about how you can be of service to another and you will remove the spotlight of negative attention from yourself.

7) “It is good to be selfish. One has to be selfish to navigate this life, but be selfish for your community, be selfish for the world, be selfish in a global sense.”

Now, repeat the breathing exercise that you did in the beginning. Scroll up to the beginning if you need to refresh your memory.

Thank you for reading. If you found this article meaningful please share it with others. Be sure to check us out at www.desertmeridian.com or www.amayamedical.com for more information.