Healing At Our Fingertips

Don't turn away.
     Keep looking at the bandaged place.
     That's where the light enters you.
Rumi

Heal, from the Anglo-Saxon word "haelen,"
means to be or become whole.

 If you don't cringe when you read
this word---heal--- or retreat into
your frontal lobe where heavy
thinking and problem solving
reign, read on.

For those who who have already made a hasty retreat,
 
I'll see you in my next post.

Rod of Asclepius   

According to one version
of the Hippocratic Oath  the doctor says,

I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, 

and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement...

The Doctor continues as she or he promises 

to prescribe regimens for the good of my patients
according to my ability and my judgment
and never do harm to anyone.

I like regimens, though I prefer the word practice,

that open oneself up to healing.

Dr. Adam Perlman writes about healing
on his Integrative Health and Wellness site.
He talks about the concept of holism that lies within
the original intent of the word "heal." He says that
"true healing is a process of emerging into something new,
rather than simply returning to a prior state of being."


What does healing have to do
with our fingertips?
Like fingers that strum a soothing melody upon a harp
or palms that tap a soulful rhythm onto the skin of a drum,
so too our fingertips can tap us and others into wholeness.

The following two practices that promote
the healing of the body, mind and spirit
belong in my toolkit of soulful living.


Tapping, a simple technique that uses 

the fingertips to tap certain pressure points 

on the body that relate to the meridians or
 pathways through which the life energy, or qi (chee) flows.
When qi is blocked, dis-ease is felt within the body.
Surrogate tapping is when you tap for someone else,
a wonderful way to be present
to a friend in need.

Chunyi Lin of Spring Forest Qi Gong
teaches a simple technique
that allows the healing energy within you
to help heal someone else.

"We are all born to be healers,"
he says.

"Oh mum, you're such a hippy,"
Alec says as he hears me talk
about my practices or worse,
sees me practice.

"Oh Ye of little faith," I reply.

This is not some hippy, new-age technique I tell Alec.


Healing is as ancient as the gods and goddesses;
Panacea, goddess of Universal remedy
and her sister Hygieia, personification of health,
and their father, Asclepius, god of medicine and healing,

all practiced the power to heal.

Whatever your  practice, choose one,
keep looking at the bandaged place
in yourself or another,
for that is where the light enters.