Spiritual Healing Therapies

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Outside the realm of the evangelist and the healing ministries of the church, there is a whole different movement that embraces the healing ethic while not wishing to limit itself to the confines of a particular religious doctrine. The spiritual healer seeks to provide for the large sections of society that do not subscribe to any given religious system but do acknowledge the spiritual dimension of their existence.

In addition, spiritual healers reject the term 'faith healing' because, apart from suggesting a required religious belief, it implies that the patient must at least have faith in the healer's capacity to heal in order for the treatment to have any effect. This has been proved not to be the case, as on their list of successful healings, spiritual healers can include children, animals and even plants, which are presumably incapable of faith. Even the most hardened sceptic can be healed; the only thing that the patient is required to believe in is that he or she wants to be well.

Nowadays, the term 'spiritual healing' specifically refers to the type of healing practised by the National Federation of Spiritual Healers (NFSH), which has around 8,000 healers on its register. Spiritual healing is, in fact, listed as a recognized therapy within the National Health Service; GPs are permitted by the General Medical Council to refer their patients for spiritual healing, and it is possible for NFSH healers to visit hospital inpatients on request.

Some enlightened doctors do actually realize that good health is more than simply an absence of illness, and that a state of spiritual imbalance can be as debilitating as a physical disorder.

Spiritual healers address themselves to the non physical aspect of being, working on the level of the spirit or soul rather than that of the body. They direct healing energy to the inner essence of an individual, and if this vital spark responds, the body's healing mechanisms can be activated.

The other definitively 'spiritual' element of spiritual healing is the source of its healing power. Where the faith healer invokes the will of God to heal, the spiritual healer calls upon the power of nature, or the all-pervasive life force that unites us.

It should be pointed out at this stage that spiritual healing is not to be confused with spiritualist healing. Spiritualism entails a fervent belief in the afterlife as its basis and effects its healing through communication with dead spirits. This form of healing is discussed later in Healing and the Occult.

There are two basic types of spiritual healing-contact and absent.

Contact healing is the more common form employed by healers, usually identified by the term 'the laying on of hands'. This phrase has distinctly mystical, and even biblical, connotations, but in fact it is a very simple procedure, performed in order to implement healing. It is perhaps the oldest, and certainly the simplest, type of healing in existence. Everyone knows the therapeutic value of the intimacy of touch. When a fellow human being is in distress we instinctively reach out a hand to place on his or her arm or shoulder, and this gesture is immediately recognized to be both comforting and reassuring.

Obviously, the laying on of hands by professional healers goes beyond simply making someone 'feel better'. It is their way of transferring vital energy to the patient, thus stimulating the body's natural restorative mechanisms and enabling the healing process to be set into motion.

The 'laying on of hands' denotes exactly that-the healer lays his or her hands either directly on, or just above, the patient's body. The hands are usually placed on the head or shoulders, or on a specifically affected part of the body. Sometimes a healer likes to move his or her hands down the spine, an important part of the human body that can reveal ailments in other regions.

Many healers are able to diagnose with their hands, as well as heal, although this is not advisable in place of a proper medical examination and diagnosis. This method does, however, help to guide the healer to the areas of the body where energy levels have become depleted because of illness or injury. The healer will sense an imbalance and be able to restore lost energy by passing life force through the hands.

The patient will usually experience a sensation of heat in the area where the problem is located. This is the thermal energy, visible using Kirlian photography, that is transmitted through the touch of the healer's hands and penetrates the body in much the same way as scientifically proven deep heat treatment. The process of replacing lost energy usually feels wonderful for the recipient, inducing a feeling of calmness, contentment and deep relaxation.