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what is it?
As a therapy, healing can be described as the restoration to health by non-physical means. Explanations vary according to the healer's beliefs and procedures, but generally practitioners say they channel 'healing energy' to stimulate natural self-healing processes. This is usually done face-to-face, through laying hands on or just above the patient, or at a distance by thought ('intent') or prayer.
Distinguishing between the various forms of healing can be confusing but essentially it boils down to explanations of the healing source. Reiki healing deals with 'universal life energy', Therapeutic touch, practised by doctors, nurses and other health professionals, talks in terms of energy fields and quantum mechanics. Members of the UK National Federation of Spiritual Healers attribute healing power to a mysterious but benign source that some call God and others a kind of cosmic consciousness.
Virtually every culture, both today and in the past, has used some form of healing, often as part of a religious or magic ritual. Some British doctors will refer patients to healers, and they are allowed to work in British hospitals if requested by patients or medical staff.
what it's supposed to do
Healing energy is said to find its way to the area of greatest need, which may be psychological or spiritual. This can mean that the identified complaint is unchanged, but another unmentioned condition improves.
People most commonly go to healers for relief from chronic pain, stress-related conditions such as anxiety and depression, tension headaches, migraine, high blood pressure, menstrual problems or to help recovery from serious illness, major surgery or the effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
what happens
Healers work by several methods but if it is not distant healing, a session might take place in a church, the practitioner's home, your home, a centre or clinic. It can last a few minutes or over an hour.
After some general questions about your complaint, medical history and lifestyle, you will be asked to sit or lie down while the healer sits or stands beside you. Most begin by 'centering' themselves, relaxing and focusing their mind before attuning themselves to you. Many say they then open their mind to whatever source of healing energy they channel, and allow it to flow through them into the patient.
Laying on of hands, or contact healing, is the simplest and oldest form. The healer regards their hands as an amplifier or conduit of healing energy and places them on or above the site of the problem.
Some healers claim to see 'auras' or bands or fields of changing colours around the patient that reflect their state of health. They may use colour therapy crystals to harness healing energy that will restore harmony.
In spiritualist healing (not to be confused with spiritual healing which is the channelling of benign energy), a supernatural entity or the spirit of a dead person is said to take over the healer's body and perform healing.
In absent, remote or distant healing, a healer or group of healers, often at a prearranged time, 'send' or visualise a transfer of healing from themselves to the recipient. Prayer can be a form of this. Recipients often say they feel warmth or a tingling feeling and a surge of energy while healers report that their hands feel hot during the process.
what's the evidence?
There is evidence for and against healing and no scientific explanation of 'healing energy'. Professor Edzard Ernst of the Department of Complementary Medicine, Exeter, found that more than half of studies involving prayer and therapeutic touch were positive, but suspects this may be because negative studies are often not reported. In a recent controlled trial at Exeter University, healing had no effect on chronic pain, although some patients in the group that was not receiving healing claimed astonishing improvements. This has led some experts to suggest that belief in healing may be as effective as the actual procedure.
precautions
Go to the safety first section of 'before you start' for some general precautions to take into account when considering a complementary therapy.
- Be cautious of those practising 'faith' healing, in which improvement depends on the patient's trust in either the personal powers of the healer or the person or cult leader they represent.
- Beware of anyone who makes extortionate demands in return for healing, whether money, belief or commitment.
- Always check any symptoms with a doctor.
- Don't accept a diagnosis of disease from anyone who is not medically qualified.
- Don't abandon conventional medication or treatment without consulting your doctor.
how to find a practitioner
Anyone can claim to be a healer and indeed simple gestures like a hug or sympathetic smile have therapeutic value. The National Federation of Spiritual Healers, with over 6000 members, is the largest group of any complementary therapists in the UK. It offers training and support to members, who give healing in private practice, healing centres and when requested in hospitals and hospices.
Many religious organisations, such as the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, have priests who lead healing services. Some doctors and nurses also practise healing, especially a form known as therapeutic touch.
» help and info
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(July 2002)
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