9 Tips for Do It Yourself Healing

You and I have heard medical stories with surprise endings, “No! – Your hand will never have flexible function,” or “Sorry, your prognosis is poor,” yet the patient fully recovered. In many of these anecdotal cases, the patient visualized his own healing like an athlete before a major competition seeing himself reach the finish line. In one such happy example, a patient in my stress-management class shared his personal healing imagery for his crushed hand. Every night at bedtime he visualized tiny men wearing green tee shirts with his name on it, holding a tool box and at the sound of a factory whistle they marched into his hand to hammer, file and lubricate. In the morning the factory whistle sounded again and they left. After a few months, he regained full use of his hand. By the way he is a great chef.

The secret to healing rests with you and so the responsibility! Whether you have a headache, the flu, a backache, a wound, or suffer from sadness, you can restore the balance because the body is beautifully engineered to heal itself – often more than not – when you put your mind to it. And if you are suffering from an environmental/genetic disease like cancer, or have been injured in an accident, it is beneficial to partner your healing with the treatment chosen to visualize how it is activating and assisting your immune system to clear the invaders while your body regenerates and repairs, finding its new level. Stress and resentment will rob you of your vitality, chipping away at the cellular level where you don’t notice the internal damage until much later. To help heal your body and spirit the best medicine is reducing inflammation. Here’s how:

• Exercise (your choice, your time, your space, moves inflammation out of the body, jumpstarts the immune system, and strengthens bone, muscle and neurons in the brain).
• Daily metabolic cleansing – 8 cups of water and plenty of fiber to move toxins out of your body
• Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins for a superior diet. They are all super foods. Avoid foods whose ingredients you can’t pronounce.
• Spiritual cleansing: Forgiveness and compassion – for yourself and others – let it go.
• Express your gratitude out loud to redirect your focus to what you have instead of what you don’t have. Perception is easily changed with focused attention.
• To put out the fire of external pressure create relaxation cues that work for you – meditation, deep breathing, aromatherapy, music, reading, art, etc. For example, yoga is an excellent de-stressor for many of us, but some people don’t like it and are actually stressed by this exercise. Find what resonates for you and do it because you want to, not because you feel that you should.
• Fill the loss and destruction which accompanies illness and fatigue with creative self-expression. Cells die and cells are born. Give birth to your creativity.
• Instead of thinking how you can please others, when you are unwell, try to absorb good energy instead of allowing it to radiate out of our body. Simply say, “Thank You.” It isn’t always necessary to reciprocate – immediately. Allow someone else to reap the joy of giving.
• When you experience a physical pain, ask your body what it is trying to tell the mind.  For example, if your neck hurts, are you being stubborn? As soon as you compromise, the pain might just disappear.

The next time we are sick with a bad cold or sick at heart, let’s communicate with the boss – our spirit and say: Do a good job and heal me! Thank you!