Thought for the day: Healing therapies are nonsense.

Or are they?

Across the world millions of people use therapies such as acupuncture, reflexology, herbal medicine, meditation and energy healing. Many claim they help them recover from illness, manage pain or restore balance in their lives.

Yet critics dismiss them as placebo, pseudoscience, or wishful thinking.

So, who is right?

Are all healing therapies nonsense?

Are they simply placebo?

I must admit, I get rather tired of hearing phrases like:

“The healer is just the channel or tool. It is the patient who heals themselves.”

All therapists have an explanation as to how their particular therapy works. Often it relies on a belief in something that has not yet been scientifically proven. Many refer to chakra points, meridians, auras, guides, energy or vibrations.

The list of available complementary or alternative healing therapies (many of which are accepted by orthodox medicine as proven) includes: Spiritual Healing, Therapeutic Touch, Trance Healing, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Reflexology, Reiki, Sound Healing, Bowen, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Vibrational Medicine, Bach Flowers, Massage, Aromatherapy, Energy Healing, Angel Healing, Tai Chi, Pilates, Yoga, Nutritionists, Iridology (diagnostic), and Meditation.

The above are not all seen as mainstream by society in the same sense that going to the GP or hospital would be, to obtain pharmaceutical medications, surgery, corrective splints, or physiotherapy, etc. Some people have theories that our automatic default of going the orthodox medical route has been created by big pharma and their marketers, and is actually money-driven rather than healing-driven. They propose that medicine is big business and that all research is funded and thus controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. Hence, it has been proposed that the whole medical health system is directed by them. Maybe this has some truth in it—maybe not.

Different cultures and countries also appear to come from different viewpoints. Basically, it could be drilled down to one approach treating the symptoms and another focusing on the cause; one seeing doctors as responsible for keeping us healthy and another seeing doctors as responsible for repairing us when we are ill. Proactive versus reactive practices.

Of course, all medical professionals want to find the cause, but some settle for a named diagnosis which, in reality, is a collection of symptoms that are then declared to be the cause — for example arthritis, MS, or cancer. Other medical professionals look beyond the diagnosis to the cause of the symptoms and ask, for example, why there is inflammation, why extra cells are growing, or why cells are dying.

Many people turn to healing therapies when the mainstream ones are not giving them enough recovery or the cure they desire. We are led to believe in the Western world that pharmaceutical or herbal medicines can repair, rebalance, or correct our bodies. But how did our bodies get into that poor state to start with? Internal or external cause? Is the answer always internal?

If the body and mind were holistically healthy enough, I suggest they would not be susceptible to any virus, infection, excess, or lack of xyz. They would be able to counteract adverse conditions and recover without intervention unless the situation was extreme, of course—such as a leg being blown off or a new superbug epidemic.

Should we view healing therapies as actual preventative measures aimed at building up our bodies to maintain optimum health so we are more protected? Should we have regular top-ups by the so-called complementary or alternative healing therapists so that we have fewer visits to our GPs requiring their intervention? Would this aid our ability to allow healing to happen?

If we get ill but have had regular check-ups, should we blame the GP? If we all had Health MOTs every six months, would that help to keep us on track? Can we ask our GPs to help us identify what is happening in our body that is causing the symptoms?

If we had a healing therapy given to us every week regardless of our presenting health or illness, would this improve our chances of always being healthy? To receive regular healing therapy—even when we appear very well—would this, in fact, produce a healthier population?

Scientists explain to us that we are a collection of ever-changing cells. We are made of atoms, so we vibrate; we are energy. Some scientists and researchers have even been able to track and show the existence of meridians and electromagnetic aura fields. Some have tracked brain-wave pattern changes before, during, and after various healing therapies. Some have shown MRI changes occurring as a result of healing therapies. On a basic level, biofeedback machines have shown how during healing sessions the person’s body relaxes and slows.

Most evidence for healing therapies, however, comes from the mental and emotional feedback of patients. Some cases do go on to prove that physical changes have indeed occurred in the patient via the usual X-ray or blood-test results. Yes, the same could be said for improvements due to the conventional medicine route only.

A person has to believe in a therapy—or at least have enough belief that it may help—to even try it. Just like taking medicines given by a doctor. Often it is presented only as a hope that it might help.

Is there a change happening in society at large in which years ago healing therapies were seen as a last resort (after the conventional approach failed to produce the required results) to one where complementary healing therapies are involved earlier in the process? Many healing therapies are now accepted as part of orthodox medical protocol, for example nutritional advice, physiotherapy, massage, and acupuncture.

Some hospitals even have Reiki practitioners or spiritual healers coming onto certain wards or into pain clinics.

Belief, however, still plays a major role.

1. Belief in your GP, your consultant, and any medical team assembled for your treatment and care.

2. Belief in your healing therapist—be that your Reiki practitioner, masseur, reflexologist, spiritual healer, acupuncturist, nutritionist, sound healer, etc.—that their practice will help.

   
   

Belief is usually based on evidence or enough people holding the same thoughts and opinions so that something becomes accepted as true. If you have any sort of treatment and you feel better afterwards, then you believe it worked and you are likely to have that treatment again if necessary.

But why wait until you are ill?

A Top-Up Healing Therapies Clinic could keep topping up your energy and health as a preventative measure. But let’s be sensible here—that’s not going to happen yet. However, I believe such clinics, as part of the NHS and mainstream healthcare, will be set up in the future.

In the meantime, however, when you feel ill, low in energy, or have a diagnosis of some sort, please consider trying one of the complementary therapies. You may be drawn to one of the healing therapies mentioned above. Once you understand how it works, your role in the process, and have experienced it—and as a result feel different or notice an improvement—then you owe it to yourself to return for more healing therapy. (Remember the prevention is better than cure philosophy of some cultures.)

If you don’t experience any of the above positive effects then clearly don’t return to that therapy, but please consider trying a different one. Get recommendations, because a different therapist or a different therapy may be better suited to you and your needs, and bring the results you desire.

Equally, all healing therapists owe it to their clients or patients to make each experience they offer even more effective, special, and relevant. How? Really connect with the person… connect with their soul… help them feel, understand, and be able to take back control of their own health. Continue to work on yourself, your own understanding, and your practice so that your client or patient senses this and knows you are a key person helping them get back on the road to recovery and sustained health.

Luckily, most therapists I know or have met are themselves following a path of self-discovery and greater awareness of the meaning of life. Often what they offer is part of their own Great Work—a passion or a calling to help others.

Thank you for reading and contemplating the above.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Mandy Brown