disorders
The Healing Power Of Herbs
Herbs have a potent healing power that can help us in every area of our life. For every dis-ease or ailment there is usually an herb specifically designed to cure it.
I was originally drawn to the study of herbalism years ago, in search of ways to improve my own health and well-being. After many years of my own research, I decided to take a course to become certified as a master clinical herbalist, which included studying the energetics of herbs and not just their medicinal uses.
There are thousands of herbs on the planet, however only around 600 are more widely used and generally recognized. Just like people, herbs have their own personalities and unique energies.
For example, a skinny person with dry skin and tendency towards lower body temperatures can be placed into a category of ‘cool-dry.’ They would be more susceptible to certain conditions both from the weather and climate they’re live in, as well as their core body temperature and mental-emotional state.
This type of individual might need some warming and lubricating herbs that will get their circulation going and energy flowing. Cardamom and Turmeric provide such warming qualities, while Licorice Root and Marshmallow are helpful to lubricate or provide moisture for someone who has very dry skin.
Herbal teas are one of my favorite methods for ingesting herbs for medicinal use. The other is tinctures.
For herbal teas, I have found maximum benefit by drawing the medicinal constituents out of the herb through herbal infusions and decoctions. Infusions are made from the flower or leaf of an herb, and typically involves boiling water and then turning off the burner, before adding your herbs into the water to steep for at least four hours. Personally, I like to leave them overnight in the water. For proportions, some herbal compendiums use ratios like 1:3, or parts, like one serving of herbs to three parts water.
Manifesting – Does The Outcome Justify The Intention?
You probably know by now, from your personal experiences, that the metaphysical process of manifestation is not always cut-and-dried. Sometimes the results are disappointing, while at other times it truly is a matter of ‘careful what you wish for.’ One aspect of deliberate creating that I never before anticipated, was that it might bring up a personal moral dilemma! Let me explain.
When I was 11 years old, it was discovered that I needed glasses for better eyesight. Like any other normal child, I certainly was not happy about the situation. However, I was smart enough to recognize that it would make seeing the teacher’s writing on the school blackboard much easier, as well as enable me to recognize people and appreciate beautiful sights more readily.
So, I had no choice, but to put up with wearing those awful eyeglasses until I turned 16. It was at that time I started to work and earning my own money, which gave me the ability to make some important decisions for myself and determine what I could purchase on my own behalf.
A lot of people were beginning to wear tinted contact lenses at that time, so I decided I would also get on the bandwagon. Soon, I was exceptionally proud to transform my ordinary hazel eyes into an appealing vibrant green! However, the lenses on the market then were not as easy to wear as they are today. They were very inflexible and abrasive on the eyes and, even while being meticulous with its care, still very easy to tear.
I kept up with this struggle of constantly switching back and forth between lenses and eyeglasses, until many years later when I developed hypoglycemia. One of the side effects of this ailment is extremely dry eyes, and so my contact lens days were pretty much over. I simply gave up the idea and continued with regular eyeglasses for many years after.
The Healing Power Of Movement
In my earliest years of life, I was severely shy, fearful of anyone I didn’t know, and acutely anxious of being separated from my mother. Any time we were out, or in the presence of others, I clung to her tightly and hid in silence behind her.
My mom soon received many recommendations to enroll me in dance lessons, to help me come out of my shell. She did, and I emerged. That was my first experience of the healing power of movement.
It continued into my ‘terribly turbulent’ teens, during which ballet became my only safe haven and sanctuary. In the ballet studio I could pour out every feeling. From the barre to the stage, every move was an opportunity to express what I needed to release, and to find the solace I needed.
A decade later, I found myself bedridden with chronic fatigue. Yet, visions of ballet spontaneously continued to dance across the screen of my mind’s eye – almost every moment of every day. I could feel the movement in my body, even though my body was unable to move. I know now it was a premonition of a life-changing return to dance, that ultimately remedied my illness and opened the way to reveal my gift of intuitive healing dance.
The power of movement is a beautiful thing. It can literally shift, shape, and reform energy. Energy itself comes in many forms and functions. Emotion, if you think about it, is energy in motion: e-motion. Everything, including you and I, are an emanation of energy from the Absolute Truth and Personality of Godhead.
The Miracle Healing Power Of Prayer
Every month, I host a healing prayer circle. All those who show up are invited to share what has been going on in their lives. Whoever may need a listening ear or a prayer, we go to work and pray for them.
Sometimes just listening to someone else’s problems can also be very healing. Many people don’t have anyone in their lives who will listen, and sometimes people say they will pray for us, but don’t.
There is much power in prayer. I once again witnessed this with a lady who, while attending one of our prayer circles, experienced a instant healing miracle.
She is a mature woman who lives on her own and doesn’t do much else but attend a knitting group and our monthly prayer circle. During one of our gatherings she shared how grateful she was for the group and that she urgently needed a prayer for herself this time. She had never before asked that we pray for her.
She had been experiencing severe pain in her spine and painful rashes. Her doctor had examined her two weeks prior and told her she had the viral infection known as shingles. She showed us some of the rashes on her body and it was clear that this was a severe case.
We then laid our hands on her, everyone present that day, and we prayed for her. She started to vibrate. I could feel it clearly in my hands. Her entire body was subtly vibrating and two of the other women said they could feel it too. I could also perceive white energy going through her entire body, and she said she could feel it too.
Spiritual Healing
Healing from a serious or chronic illness may happen under different circumstances, and it some cases it can appear fully spontaneous. Behind every healing option there is a complex process which we never fully understand.
Our mindset is however an important player in how things unfold. But it is more than just having a positive attitude—it has many facets. And since the term ‘mind’ is a more modern concept, I prefer to refer to ‘spirit,’ which encompasses the mind in all its complex depth, along with emotions and sensations.
Spiritual healing can be defined in many ways, through many traditions. It seems to me useful to talk about the effect on the person, and understand it from that point of view. An experience of any kind may be a spiritual healing process, whenever a breakthrough takes place, or a release of inner pain occurs to make room for acceptance.
This might not be a painless process, otherwise it would happen much more easily, but it is a necessary step, because it allows us to abandon a repeating loop focused on pain. As an example, I can think of someone in a dysfunctional marriage, into which much work has been invested, including some counseling or therapy, but the only thing still keeping it together is the desire to ‘not fail.’
The Spirit Rituals Of Life – Part 3
Pain can just make things downright miserable. We can have the best of everything: a great job; a wonderful, caring spouse; a wonderful home; wealth and luxury; the list goes on, but if you’re in emotional pain, or suffering from a chronic illness, it is very difficult to connect spiritually… let alone do anything uplifting every day.
But, committing to rituals that are good for us every day, can help relieve the pain. I have many clients who suffer from fibromyalgia, depression, and all kinds of pain. One thing that I can say for sure is that whatever may help or work for one person, may not for another. Each person needs to be helped on a individual level.
I have found that emotional pain is sometimes just as painful as physical pain. Those that have lost loved ones sometimes don’t want to get out of bed, just like my client who suffers from migraines, she just wants to lay in bed most days with the shades drawn and to be left alone.
While I was alone in the woods, I asked some questions regarding pain, and how pain can help us to take action to connect with more happiness or contentment.
How can we relieve physical pain? Spirit says, “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes me stronger.” Do things that help alleviate pain. For example, one of my clients suffered from severe osteoarthritis and arthritis, so she took it upon herself to start taking supplements that build up the joints and help cushion the bones when they grind against each other. She said that this one little daily ritual is what has saved her from experiencing the pain on a grand scale. It has minimized her discomfort remarkably.
Our Spiritual Contracts
Before we come into this lifetime, we design a soul contract. We choose a family that we want to be born to and we plan specific things that we want to accomplish, such as career, relationships, children, and so on. The contract is about our spiritual self and therefore also includes those things that we need to overcome and learn from.
Some of the more important things in your contract may come as a surprise, because often they are those things you do not want to do! This is usually a sure way of knowing that something is contractual. The things we prefer to do, or have done, we’ve already mastered, but the challenges and obstacles offer us opportunity to overcome our fears and anxieties, to step forward and learn more, to grow spiritually.
Some contracts are also much longer than others. Some of us remain here for a long time, while others do not. I doubt anyone knows for sure, but for the time that we are here, we must make every effort to learn and grow from every life experience.
This is also why some of us attract the wrong people, and constantly get into the wrong relationships? In these cases it is often your soul contract trying to teach you to speak up for yourself and claim your self-worth.
When old souls come in, usually nothing bothers them. They tend to take things with a grain of salt. However, when new souls come in, they are often very excited about so many things and can’t seem to get enough done.