Spiritual Healing
Spiritual Healing is an ancient therapy that is still very much in use today, and whose use is becoming much more widespread. There are now more than 8,000 registered healers in the UK, and more than 50,000 healers provide 18 million sessions annually in the USA.
A formal version of Spiritual Healing known as 'Therapeutic Touch' was developed by an American nurse, Dolores Kreiger, and is now often used by American and British nurses on their patients; some hospitals now offer training in this therapy to their nursing staff.
Many doctors are registered healers, and Spiritual Healing is now often available in hospices, clinics and, if you live in the UK, in some doctors' surgeries.
Spiritual Healing is one of the most widely researched therapies in Complementary Medicine. Both controlled medical research and anecdotal evidence have shown it to be useful for a wide range of problems including stress, eczema, depression, chronic pain, wound healing, medication side-effects, arthritis, MS, ME, injuries, and recovery from illness or surgery.
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Other advantages of Spiritual Healing are: no known side-effects, patients can be taught self-healing techniques, and patients get long-term health benefits from the feelings of inner peace and relaxation that are induced by this therapy.
Whilst there are plenty of research studies proving the effectiveness of this therapy, nobody really knows how it works. There is, however, a general consensus among healers that some kind of beneficial energy transfer takes place between healer and patient, which stimulates the self-healing capabilities of the patient.
Remember that all healing is self-healing. Even when a doctor sets the broken fragments of a bone, it is the self-healing capabilities of the body that cause the fragments to fuse back together as one.
An American doctor, Daniel Benor MD, has defined the process of Spiritual Healing as follows:
a systematic, purposeful intervention by one or more persons aiming to help another living being (person, animal, plant or other living system) by means of focused intention, hand contact, or passes to improve their condition. Spiritual healing is brought about without the use of conventional energetic, mechanical, or chemical interventions.
Most healers would agree with this definition since it is applicable to all energy-healing therapies. Dr Benor became involved with Spiritual Healing when he witnessed a healer, Ethel Lombardi, produce effects in a patient which he could not explain medically.
The vast majority of healers believe the energy to come from an outside source; the source can be cosmic, universal or divine depending on the core beliefs of the individual healer. This belief is supported by the fact that Healers do not get tired or drained during healing sessions. Some research studies have also found that the electromagnetic field surrounding the hands of healers, during healing, is far in excess of anything that could be generated by biological processes alone — it has an electrical equivalent of 220 volts compared to the norm for non-healers of 4 volts. All of these suggest an external energy source. Some Healers believe the healing energy to be intelligent since it finds its way to problem points in the body; others believe the energy-source to be intelligent and to be guiding the energy to where it is needed; and some believe that the body knows what is best for it and uses the available energy in an intelligent way.
Despite the terminology, Healing Energy should not be confused with our everyday concepts of energy (e.g. heat, light, electricity); it is not that kind of energy. The energy transferred during healing is a vital life-force of the same nature as 'Ki' or 'Prana' from the Eastern healing traditions; this vital life-energy is an inherent part of the Universe.
Spiritual Healing is also known as Healing, Contact Healing, Energy Balancing, Holistic Healing, Natural Healing, Psychic Healing, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Biofield Therapeutics, Laying-on-of-Hands and many others. It is not related to Faith Healing and does not depend on the beliefs of either healer or patient for it to work; it works equally well on plants and animals, neither of which are known for their faith or suggestibility. The term 'Spiritual Healing' refers to healing of the human, or animal, spirit and does not have any religious connotations. It is practiced by members of all religions, and those of no religion, with equal effectiveness; the only requirement is a desire to help fellow beings on this planet.
To summarise, Spiritual Healing is a complementary therapy which can help with almost any problem and also provides long-term health benefits. It has been shown to be a very effective therapy by both modern research and by the fact that it has stood the test of time, thousands of years of time.