Superhealing: Engaging Your Mind, Body, and Spirit to Create Optimal Health and Well-Being (ARC) (6 page)

of your being is a place where peace, joy, creativity, intelligence, and healing reside. At your essence, you are good, loving, and lovable, regardless of what you think or others may have told you.

In this book, I will interchangeably use the terms
spirit
and
soul
to indicate the core of your being that is a pure, loving intelligence.

Your spirit is the foundation of your life. It is from this intelligence that the remarkable superhealing capacity you possess derives.

ARE YOU READY TO SUPERHEAL YOUR LIFE?

When I initial y share with people the remarkable superhealing

capacity they possess, many of the patients, workshop participants, and individuals I’ve coached have asked me a basic question: “How

do I begin to heal myself? I don’t know where to start.”

I’ve heard this question from those in the throes of serious and

sometimes life-threatening disease, from those in the midst of emotional despair, and from others seeking a fuller way of living. They attempt to leave behind stress-ridden lifestyles and unhealthy behaviors. They are seeking peace, healing, and new meaning in their lives from the terrain of despair within themselves. Many believe that a doctor, therapist, or healer can do for them what they cannot do

for themselves. This is not true. Everyone, including you, has the 20

Introduction

capacity to heal whatever needs to be healed.

You are a superhealer. You have the capacity in this very mo-

ment—regardless of any other consideration—to engage your body,

mind, and spirit and begin to improve your health and well-being in a most profound and dramatic way. It does not matter what has happened in your past, what your doctors have said, or what your family or friends think about your choices. What matters right now is that you’ve made the decision to superheal
your life.

The notion of becoming responsible for your health may be caus-

ing you some confusion. Let me clarify. There’s no need to blame

yourself for anything that you’re experiencing. If you’re not experiencing your idea of optimal health and well-being, that has occurred in the absence of understanding the role your thoughts, feelings,

and emotions truly play. Your disease happened in a vacuum, with-

out your knowledge of its true causes. And even though you didn’t

choose to get sick, you can decide to get wel .

The potential for superhealing is everywhere. It is a precious part of your birthright. It is the process of expressing the intrinsic wholeness of your spirit, allowing it to issue forth into your body and mind. The path of superhealing is not a course of extremes. It is one of awareness and harmony.

There’s no magical formula that can or will release you from your

responsibility or your suffering. You must authentical y assess the areas of disharmony and disease in your life, for therein resides your power. Your honesty and self-awareness can ultimately lead to you

to optimal health and well-being. Although this course of healing

may sound challenging, when you allow yourself the opportunity by

removing your resistance, it is simple and the most powerful thing you can choose to do.

Superhealing fosters a heightened awareness of your percep-

Introduction

21

tions of your emotions and brings an increasing clarity and evolving awareness of the oneness and unity of life within yourself and all of creation. The resolution of denial breaks down behaviors that have prevented an honest assessment and transformation of old wounds,

and it soothes fears. It also allows you the great opportunity to heal your fears and to confront painful memories that you’ve held on to but that no longer serve your well-being.

This process fosters a growing awareness of honesty, forgiveness,

and completion. It is a process in which the newness of life and the refreshing fragrance of love penetrates everything. This leads to

peace, contentment, and healing.

Superhealing emphasizes personal responsibility and active par-

ticipation during the therapeutic experience. The ultimate goal is to enable you to live life ful y and abundantly. A superhealing approach considers any disease to be an important message that you need to

deal with and explore with awareness, not as a victim but as a survivor and thriver. Rather than focusing on the diseased portion of the body or psyche, superhealing
engages the broader aspects of life—including nutrition, environment, intellect, emotion, lifestyle, and spirituality—

in the creation and maintenance of health and the process of healing.

Instead of the cure-oriented, symptom-suppression approach that

is the foundation of our healthcare system, superhealing is primarily concerned with promoting health and well-being, preventing

disease, and supporting the natural healing process. Because
superhealing is a result of promoting healing from within, one therapy is not recommended over another. It’s holistic health and medicine on steroids, because of its focus on empowering self-care through your active participation.[AU: “On steroids” is a rather ironic metaphor, isn’t it?] Holistic medicine enables good health to emerge and fosters autonomy. It takes into consideration you as a unique and precious 22

Introduction

individual, not your body in isolation, and it addresses the cause rather than your symptoms.

All of the techniques and principles I discuss in this book arise

from the underlying reality that ultimately your superhealing
comes from within. It is a manifestation of your soul essence—the core of unconditional love.

***

A key ingredient in the superhealing approach is paying attention

to your inner life. Our world draws our attention to the outer reality.

Consequently, we don’t listen to or value the wisdom of our inner

voices, which are informing us of what we are experiencing and what we need. With the following inventory, you can reverse that tendency.

To facilitate an understanding and awareness of your emotional

needs, here’s a quiz—one you can’t fail. It’s a series of questions about your life. There are no right or wrong answers, only honest or dishonest ones. Why don’t you give it a try? Write down your answers

in a notebook or in the space provided.

How often do you consciously engage your body on a daily, week-

ly, or monthly basis?

1. How often do you consciously engage your mind

on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?

2. How often do you engage your spirit on a daily, weekly, or

monthly basis?

3. Why do you want to
experience
superhealing
at present?

4. What is your idea of optimal health and well-being?

5. What is your vision of superhealing for your life?

Introduction

23

6. Are you willing to make changes in order to

superheal
your life?

7. What unhealthy behaviors are you willing to transform?

8. What positive behaviors are you willing to enhance?

9. In general, are you contented with your life?

10. If so, why? If not, why not?

11. What, if anything, would you change

in your life at this time?

12. What are you passionate about?

13. What in your life makes you joyful?

14. Of those things, what gives you the greatest joy?

15. What causes you great regret?

16. What gives you peace?

17. What do you love?

18. Are you happy with your chosen vocation?

19. Are you happy with your friendships?

20. Are you happy with your relationship with

your family?

21. Are you happy with your romantic relationship?

22. Are you happy with yourself?

23. What’s more important to you, your opinion

of yourself or what others think of you?

24. How would you characterize each of the following

relationships?

− Your parents

− Your children

− Your friends

− Your significant other

− Your coworkers

24

Introduction

− Your neighbors

− The Divine, or God

25. Describe a significant memory you have of

your childhood.

26. Name some of your best and worst qualities.

27. What would you do if you discovered that your

life would end

− In one day?

− In one week?

− In one month?

− In one year?

Describe the goals you had in your life, when you were:

− An adolescent

− A young adult

28. Describe the goals you have in your life today.

29. What area of your life would you real y like to change?

30. What part of your life is difficult and challenging?

31. Why is that portion of your life difficult and challenging?

32. What are some important dreams in this life that you

have yet to achieve?

33. If you could change your life, what would your new

life look like?

Now that you’ve taken this quiz, you have a sense of where you are and where you want to go. Throughout the book, we’ll be exploring

how to put those intentions into action.

Part One

YOUR

MIND

25

CHAPTER 1

Your Superhealing

Mind-Body Connection

Remember to cure the patient as well as the disease.

—Alvan L. Barach, MD

The human mind is capable of accomplishing seemingly im-

possible feats. Have you ever seen its amazing superhealing power

yourself? You probably have, although you might not have thought

that what you were observing was il ustrative of this phenomenon.

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by photos of men from distant places resting on beds of nails. I wanted to know how they did that, and I knew I was looking at something very special.

Years later, I was watching an episode of the television program

That’s Incredible
that featured an American yogi, and I had a similar response. He was sealed into a tiny Plexiglas cube and then dropped into the deep end of a swimming pool, where he remained submerged for

almost half an hour. It was riveting to watch as the yogi emerged from the box at the end of the time span unharmed and in good health.

How could he do this? He remarked that learning how to master his

breathing and alter his state of consciousness had made it possible for him to control his body and accomplish his remarkable feat.

In 1979, Norman Cousins, the former editor of the
Saturday Review
, published
Anatomy of an Il ness
,
one of the earliest books on mind-body medicine. He had been diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis, a painful progressive degenerative disease of the col agen tissue—in his case, in the spine—after returning from a business trip to the Soviet 27

28

PART ONE:
Your Superhealing Mind

Union in the late 1960s. His doctors identified heavy-metal poisoning as a possible cause of his illness. He recalled some research findings he’d read that negative emotions can cause biochemical changes that have deleterious effects on the body. As a result, he suspected that adrenal exhaustion from stress had lessened his body’s ability to tolerate repeated exposure to toxic diesel exhaust fumes during his travels.

Based on the information in the study, Cousins theorized that

positive emotions might create changes in the body that would en-

hance his recovery process, so he began a program to uplift his spirits through exposure to comedy films. When his continual laughter began to disturb other patients in the hospital, he checked himself into a hotel (with his doctor’s approval) and hired a nurse to care for him.

As an IV solution infused with large amounts of vitamin C flowed

into his veins, he laughed for hours while watching films staring the Marx brothers and the Three Stooges. Cousins reported that watching these films decreased his pain and helped him to sleep better.

Significant changes in Cousins’s blood chemistry were revealed.

The sedimentation rate (an indicator of inflammation) was taken

daily, both before and after his laughter sessions, and significant decreases were noted. With this combination of conventional and

unconventional methods, he recovered. His controversial person-

al account was published in the
New England Journal of Medicine,
prompting an outpouring of disbelief and heated discussion within

medical circles of the day.
Anatomy of an Il ness
, which was an out-growth of the article, became a bestseller.

Recently I saw a news story on television about a young woman in

Maryland who lifted a BMW that had moments earlier col apsed on

top of her father. Her remarkable physical strength, which arose only in the midst of the crisis and as a result of her fierce determination to help him, saved his life.