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Hands that Heal

New World Library

The Healing Touch

Have you ever noticed your hands becoming unusually warm, or feeling "full," almost as if there's something in them? What I'm describing is healing energy. The sensation is hard to put into words and even harder to explain.

The energy is not always hot. Sometimes the full feeling is so intense, my hands and arms shake or jerk. Sometimes during a healing my whole upper body feels like it's trembling. My clients each have different ways of experiencing the energy. Some say it feels like bolts of energy flowing through their body. Others say the energy feels like a cool mentholatum going into their body. Some have asked me to take my hands off their bodies because the heat is so intense. Some talk about seeing themselves surrounded in a white light during the healing. Others say they feel pain. Some say they feel nothing. Each client is different. My experience with each client is different, too.

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God heals people. God's healing energy flows through us to heal physical and emotional problems.

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A Healing Session

Some of you have asked me what kind of space is appropriate for doing healings. Before I describe an actual healing session, I would like to describe my office to you. The walls are a very soft yellow with mint green carpeting. I have a couch, chair, and desk on one end of the room, where I sit and talk with clients before our session. At the other end of the room, my healing table is set up, away from walls so that I can walk around it. I have an egg-carton foam-rubber pad on top of the table, covered by a sheet, a pillow for my client's head, and a pillow that fits under their knees to give their legs extra support. To help them relax, I've hung a nature scene poster on the ceiling above the table.

Directly behind the head of the table, I have a stereo with speakers mounted on the wall. I play some type of relaxing music with every session. My intuition guides me as to what music to play, to which of my tapes is best for the particular client and their specific process. Music can actually take people into a process. I had a client who came to heal her broken heart from a previous relationship. I was running my hands over the tapes and felt really pulled to one in particular. I put in the tape, and when it began playing, she said, "Oh no, this reminds me of my old boyfriend." We looked at each other, laughed, and decided that maybe this music was perfect for the healing session. We let the tape play, and it did help to open her heart and release some memories. At the end of the healing, she was grateful she was no longer in the relationship. That was her particular process for the day.

I have candles lit throughout the office and lots of plants in the windows. The furniture and all of the accents in the room are pastel colored. It's a very gentle room. I've put a lot of time and effort into creating an environment in which my clients will feel safe.

I also have several stuffed animals in my office for my clients, young and old, to cuddle with or play with during their session. It is not necessary that clients lie still or stay silent during the healing session. If holding a stuffed animal and listening to the tape Peter Pan helps them to relax, that's fine with me. As I said earlier, I make every effort (within reason, of course) to help clients feel comfortable, safe, and as relaxed as possible, so they can open up to receive the healing energy.

Sometimes I feel guided to burn a particular incense, but I don't burn incense every time. Some people don't like it, and some are allergic to it. That's why I need to listen to my intuition and only burn it when I feel guided to do so.

The next subject I would like to discuss before going into the actual healing session is clearing.

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Please clear my mind.
Please clear my body.
Please clear my soul.
Thank you.

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Clearing

One day a friend of mine, Warren, who is also a channel for healing, stopped by my office. He had never been there before, and because I had just redecorated, I was anxious for him to see the space I worked in. Warren's first comment was, "Oh my god, you need to clear this place. It's full of vibrations from former clients." He said I needed to clear my office after each client left and clear myself after each healing. He also said that before I began a healing, I must clear the client's aura.

At the time Warren visited, my former partner and I were sharing the same office space. I worked three days a week, and she worked three days a week. Warren told me it was very important that we not share the same space because each night angels prepared my work space for my vibration. He said each healer has a different vibration and that it was important that they work in their own space.

I asked Warren how to clear myself, my clients, and the office, and it turned out to be a very simple technique: stand apart from the client and ask the Universe or God to please clear so and so, body, mind, and soul. Then ask that the Universe or God, please clear me, body, mind, and soul. When the client leaves, ask that the office be cleared. Always say thank you, knowing that it has been done.

You may be wondering what we're clearing. Have you ever looked at your clothes at the end of the day and noticed all the lint you've picked up? Well, on a psychic level, we pick up other people's "lint" — their anger, sadness, loneliness, fear, depression, and even their physical problems. We're like little magnets! That's why we need to clear ourselves every day — two, three, four times a day if need be. My psychic teacher told me to clear myself each night before I went to bed so that I would not take the day's "stuff" with me into my sleep. It's hard to get used to doing, but as time has passed, I've gotten better and better at remembering to clear myself, my client, and my healing space when the client leaves. Try it. You'll be amazed at how much better you feel and how open and spacious your healing room feels afterwards.

Two or three days after Warren told me about clearing, two Indian guides appeared to me and told me that sweetgrass was a very good tool for clearing people's auras. ("Guides" refers to friends and helpers who exist on the spirit plane, but are not present in a physical body. They can offer assistance and advice if we are open to asking and to "hearing" a response.) Sweetgrass is an herb made into a braid that can be found in new age bookstores, co-ops, health food stores, et cetera. I hold the braid over a flame (not into it, but over it) and get it to smoke. Then I run the sweet grass down the client's aura, which is about five or six inches above the body. I do not touch the client with the sweetgrass because it could burn them. You just want the smoke of the sweetgrass to run down their aura, clearing them of other people's debris. In this way you know you're working on their healing needs and not everyone else's. Sometimes I have seen this "psychic lint" actually block the healing from going in as deeply as it can, so if it feels like the healing is not going in as deeply as it could, go back and clear the client once again.

I recently did a healing on another healer, and her aura was full of other people's discarded negative energy. When she first lay down on my healing table, she asked me to look psychically and see why people seemed to back away from her when they met her. When I looked at her, she had a haze about three feet wide of other people's pain. I ran sweetgrass up and down her aura for a good three minutes. I told her about clearing, and she said she would start doing it before and after each healing from now on.

Another thing that works very well to clear people is crushed sage. I put it in an abalone shell, light it, blow out the fire, and use the smoke to clear, again running the shell up and down the body and about six inches above it. When I do this, I ask God to please clear this person of all the "stuff" they have picked up throughout the day.

To recap: Either before or after your client lies down, run some sweetgrass or sage up and down their aura, or if you prefer, ask your Higher Power to please clear the person, body, mind, and soul. Then before you begin the healing, stand apart from the person and ask that you also be cleared, body, mind, and soul. This is a great time to get centered for channeling the healing.

We all have within us a center, a core. I visualize mine in the area of my solar plexus. I always visualize a white light in that area, and I see that as my connection to God. I take several deep breaths and feel a oneness with the earth. This gives me a feeling of being grounded. I place both feet solidly on the ground. It's very seldom that I wear shoes when I channel healings. I feel more grounded without them. When I'm feeling clear, connected to my center and grounded to the earth, I step up to the person, place handkerchiefs on the areas I will work on, and begin the healing session. After the client has left, I ask the Universe to please clear the office, and I always say thank you, knowing it has been done.

There's one more topic to discuss before we get into the actual healing session, and that is white handkerchiefs.

White Hankies

When the medium told me I was born with the gift of healing, she told me there were two things I was never to forget. One, that it was God who was healing people, that I was simply the channel; and two, always use white handkerchiefs on the area where I'm working. She told me she didn't know why the hankies were so important but that I would understand all of this someday.

I have learned that the hankies absorb and hold positive energy. I had a client from Hawaii who requested absentee healing for a pain in his abdomen. My guides told me to hold a couple of hankies in my hands and channel healing into them. They told me to fold them up, put them in a white envelope, and mail them to my client, instructing him to put the hankies on his abdomen daily until the hankies felt "empty." My guides said he could then mail the hankies back to get more energy in them if he needed it, but they felt it wouldn't be necessary. My client later wrote and told me he thought it was pretty hokey but that he had laid down and put the hankies on his abdomen anyway. He said that within a couple of days of doing this, his pain stopped. Since that time, I have sent several hankies out to people requesting absentee healings. Sometimes I send clients home with the hankies I used during their session, and when they come back for their next healing, they bring the same hankies back. I fill them up with healing energy, and they take them home again, to use whenever they have pain. They always tell me the hankies continue to work. Handkerchiefs also work well for clients who have physical problems that I don't touch directly, such as herpes, prostate problems, hemorrhoids, et cetera. The client puts the hankies directly on the problem when they're at home and tell me they get a lot of relief from their pain.

For practical reasons, the hankies are good to use in the summer because my hands sometimes get sweaty from the heat. The hankies protect the client's clothes from getting moist.

I have heard other healers talk about taking on their client's pain or illness, especially if they are a psychic sponge, which means they absorb other people's emotions, pain, et cetera. I believe the hankies protect me from absorbing my client's mental, emotional, or physical pain.

If I'm out in public and someone needs a healing when I don't have any hankies with me, I use Kleenex or borrow a napkin (if I'm in a restaurant.) I never do a healing without using something under my hands. I strongly suggest you do the same.

Before the Client Comes for a Session

After a new client calls for an appointment, my assistant sends them a letter describing the healing session to help alleviate any fears they may be having. The letter also answers questions they may have about removing clothing (which is never necessary), the length of the session (anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes), and how the healing may release stored emotions or blocked memories and make them feel like crying. I encourage clients to flow with their bodies. If they cry, fall asleep, or feel more comfortable talking, all of it is fine with me. In the letter and at the end of the session, I tell them to remain lying on the table until they feel clearheaded and awake. Sometimes if a person gets up too soon, they get lightheaded. I've had some clients sleep up to an hour after their healing, which can sometimes be a problem if I have another client coming right after that session, but it's usually just fine. Almost every time I do have a client who needs to lie for a while longer than anticipated, it ends up that the person coming next is running late or gets lost, so as I said, it usually works out!

People have said they appreciated the letter because it did help them feel more comfortable about coming.

Now to a Healing Session

When clients arrive, we talk for a while about what it is they would like healed. Some come for physical problems, some for emotional problems, and many for both. When I feel I have gotten the necessary information, I ask them to lie down on the healing table on their back — unless they've come with a back problem, in which case I have them lie on their stomach.

If you don't have a healing table, a bed or couch works just as well. But remember — you are going to be sitting or standing for twenty to forty minutes, so you need to be comfortable, too. If the client is cold, I cover them with a blanket.

Here is a typical step-by-step healing session:

1. As the client lies down and gets comfortable, I'm intuitively picking out the music and lighting the sage or sweetgrass.

2. I wash my hands to get any odor off them and put some lotion on them so they smell nice and feel soft.

3. I lay handkerchiefs on the areas where I plan on doing the healing. I usually start out sitting at their head, placing my hands on each shoulder to send the energy down the entire body and placing hankies on the shoulders, the solar plexus area, and wherever else I'm going to be working.

4. I ask for clearing for my client and myself. I focus on my center. I visualize myself being connected to the earth and When someone comes with a bad back and it is not too painful for them to lie on their stomach, I work directly on their back. feeling grounded. I focus on my client's body, taking deep breaths until I feel a connection to my client. I ask them if they are comfortable being touched or would prefer I keep my hands above their body.

5. Silently, I say some type of prayer to connect with God, such as the Prayer of Protection. Sometimes I simply thank God for using me as a channel for healing. I ask the energy to move through me to heal my client, and I ask God to direct me with the healing. I feel my oneness with my client and with my Higher Power.

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The Light of God surrounds me.
The Love of God enfolds me.
The Power of God protects me.
The Presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am, God is!

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6. I sit at the head of the table, place my hands on the client's shoulders, and move my hands in a counterclockwise circle three or four times to "get into" a deeper level in their body and soul. After about thirty seconds my hands begin to warm up. They may tremble, which is simply the healing energy flowing through. Sometimes my hands will jolt. There will be times throughout the healing when I will move my hands in that counterclockwise circle to go in deeper. I stay in this position for about ten minutes, and then I move to the specific areas requested. Sometimes I stay at the shoulder area for the entire time.

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Excerpted from Hands that Heal by Echo Bodine, Rod Radtke. Copyright © 2004 Echo Bodine. Excerpted by permission of New World Library.
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