Day 65 of 365 - What The Body Holds - Part Three
I'm going to begin today with a quote from Dr. Gabor Maté's book, When The Body Says No, from his opening note to the reader.
"This is not a book of prescriptions, but I do hope it will serve its readers as a catalyst for personal transformation. Prescriptions come from the outside, transformation occurs within." And, "Prescriptions assume that something needs to be fixed; transformation brings forth the healing - the coming to integrity, to wholeness - of what is already there."
When I think back on the presentation from the practitioner using special tuning forks to clear blockages and restore balance to the body's energy field, I remember her saying something along the lines that the stories behind those imbalances do not really matter, that once the restoration has occurred that is all that is needed. She thinks of the body as more an electrical system in that way.
But, what I wonder is, do these restorations of balance 'hold' if the subject continues to live under the same circumstances of stress that may have facilitated the imbalance in the first place? Or, if they have not done any kind of internal, emotional exploration around those stresses, are they more likely to be knocked out of balance again?
I have heard or read about people going to healing retreats and having amazing experiences in the high vibration of a healer and in a hugely supportive environment during the retreat. But, they don't always maintain that when they go back to daily life.
To be fair to practitioners, I believe most of the time they would tell their clients that to maintain their healing or progress, there would be certain recommendations to follow. That's a prescription from the outside, as Maté refers to.
In our modern health care, we are very much entrained by our culture to go to someone to have them identify our problem and then fix us. This attitude is also often carried over to our expectations from body workers or alternative health care practitioners. But, for more lasting benefits, it is helpful also for us to take equal responsibility for doing our own inner work to understand root causes and transform our inner stressors.
Some people may interpret taking responsibility for their situation as a 'blame the patient' assertion. I would suggest that if we have that defensive response, it is worth exploring the source of it, either on our own or with the help of a therapist. It's not about being a victim; it's about having compassionate curiosity towards oneself to examine things, realizing that there are multiple causal factors to illness or bodily discomforts.
Fortunately, in clinics which deal with chronic illness such as heart disease and cancer, emotional and psychological support services are often offered in some form. Outcomes tend to be better for those who partake in those services.
Of course, I'm also open to miracles and believe those do occur as well. But, I have to say that my analytical mind wants to believe that in those circumstances, everything is lined up, internally and externally for that to happen. That takes us back to the idea of coming back into the wholeness of what is already there, what we are born with. It's both an outside and an inside job.
I have to say it makes me wonder whether that's one of our main purposes of being here together on this planet, as both physical and energetic beings. Maybe we are meant to be helping one another to rediscover that integrity and wholeness. Otherwise, why do we create so much suffering which pulls us away from that birthright? It's a head scratcher, for sure.
"This is not a book of prescriptions, but I do hope it will serve its readers as a catalyst for personal transformation. Prescriptions come from the outside, transformation occurs within." And, "Prescriptions assume that something needs to be fixed; transformation brings forth the healing - the coming to integrity, to wholeness - of what is already there."
When I think back on the presentation from the practitioner using special tuning forks to clear blockages and restore balance to the body's energy field, I remember her saying something along the lines that the stories behind those imbalances do not really matter, that once the restoration has occurred that is all that is needed. She thinks of the body as more an electrical system in that way.
But, what I wonder is, do these restorations of balance 'hold' if the subject continues to live under the same circumstances of stress that may have facilitated the imbalance in the first place? Or, if they have not done any kind of internal, emotional exploration around those stresses, are they more likely to be knocked out of balance again?
I have heard or read about people going to healing retreats and having amazing experiences in the high vibration of a healer and in a hugely supportive environment during the retreat. But, they don't always maintain that when they go back to daily life.
To be fair to practitioners, I believe most of the time they would tell their clients that to maintain their healing or progress, there would be certain recommendations to follow. That's a prescription from the outside, as Maté refers to.
In our modern health care, we are very much entrained by our culture to go to someone to have them identify our problem and then fix us. This attitude is also often carried over to our expectations from body workers or alternative health care practitioners. But, for more lasting benefits, it is helpful also for us to take equal responsibility for doing our own inner work to understand root causes and transform our inner stressors.
Some people may interpret taking responsibility for their situation as a 'blame the patient' assertion. I would suggest that if we have that defensive response, it is worth exploring the source of it, either on our own or with the help of a therapist. It's not about being a victim; it's about having compassionate curiosity towards oneself to examine things, realizing that there are multiple causal factors to illness or bodily discomforts.
Fortunately, in clinics which deal with chronic illness such as heart disease and cancer, emotional and psychological support services are often offered in some form. Outcomes tend to be better for those who partake in those services.
Of course, I'm also open to miracles and believe those do occur as well. But, I have to say that my analytical mind wants to believe that in those circumstances, everything is lined up, internally and externally for that to happen. That takes us back to the idea of coming back into the wholeness of what is already there, what we are born with. It's both an outside and an inside job.
I have to say it makes me wonder whether that's one of our main purposes of being here together on this planet, as both physical and energetic beings. Maybe we are meant to be helping one another to rediscover that integrity and wholeness. Otherwise, why do we create so much suffering which pulls us away from that birthright? It's a head scratcher, for sure.
Great thoughts Joan!
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