What is a healer?

How can we define what a healer is when healing occurs in so many different ways from so many different sources. There are a vast variety of truly amazing healers using many different ways to heal, unfortunately there are also many unbelievable charlatans out there just wanting to make money from the heartache and suffering of others.

My journey into healing began shortly after I began my first teaching job. As the majority of teachers out there, and I hope many others, will understand, trying to cope with the amount of work involved in teaching and taking care of three growing children alone was very stressful. In particular because my children had all reached their teens by the time I had qualified to teach, not the easiest of situations. As the solution to my stress I enrolled in a weekly meditation group which allowed me to relax and calm myself ready for the week to come. I did not believe this was possible to be honest when I first went to join the group but after a few weeks I realised how beneficial it was to who I was as a person, be it mother or teacher.

Being totally new to meditation I did not really know what to expect but was happy to be able to relax and be taken on wonderful journeys by our host. Having said that I found that after the initial introduction to the meditation which was a short relaxation meditation followed by the journey we were going on, when we were brought back into the room to share our thoughts I could not remember where I had been, what I had seen, or anything to do with the journey our host had taken us on. I realised this was quite unusual as every other person in the group, even though there were often different people there each week, they could always recount the journey and what they had seen or felt. I would often just look at them and think well I don`t think I went there but in reality I had no idea where I had been.

There were very few meditation journeys that I could share with the others but two stand out in my memory as quite amazing. The first one was a journey into a forest, we followed a path and reached a beautiful green grass clearing with incredibly tall trees surrounding it. We were told to sit up against a tree of our choice and lean in becoming a part of the tree. I followed the instructions and as I leaned back into the tree I felt as if I was being transported up into the tree going higher and higher, when I reached the top it was as if I was looking over mother earth and at one with the universe. The feelings this experience brought forth were indescribable, I was up above the treetops with nothing holding me back, I was not flying but felt totally free and at peace. I remained there for what seemed like an age until from what seemed like a long distance away I heard our host’s voice calling us back to reality and I moved slowly back down the tree and rested against it once again before walking back through the forest.

The second one was extremely bizarre and on reflection life changing for me. Once again we all settled down for our meditation and I need to mention here that the curtains were always closed and we did our meditation in complete darkness - having our eyes closed anyway made no difference. During this particular session after the ‘warm up’ meditation I once again had no idea where I was , however, I was suddenly aware of a white light, directed onto the left side of my face, it was huge and felt like it was streaming into my head from above. Knowing that the room was in complete darkness and even the street lights outside could not command such an incredible white light I was sure when the session had ended that I had imagined it. Again I had nothing to offer the group as to my whereabouts and did not want to mention the white light as I felt it would sound a little contrived, as if I was making it up, so I left it. However, as I was leaving our host, a healer of many years asked me about the white light. I have to say I was totally flummoxed - he had seen it coming down into me during the meditation. I did explain why I said nothing and he then asked if I had thought about becoming a healer. I have to say I was very surprised when he asked and said I was not sure and that I would think about it.

I did think about it, a lot, but was very unsure on many aspects. I decided perhaps the best thing would be to get some answers to the questions buzzing around in my head and at the end of the next meditation session asked if he had time to spare as I had questions.

Of course the long and the short of it is I started my training as a healer two months later. Two years later I qualified as a healer. Incredible journey that brought so many challenges but also so many wonderful experiences and new friends. After qualifying I also went on to take a course on Past Life Healing and Indian Head Massage.

As you can imagine my life journey changed quite radically after this. I gave up teaching and took a part time job in the mornings at a therapy centre where I was able to have clients of my own own for healing, past-life healing and Indian Head Massage in the afternoons. Obviously my finances were not brilliant but I was able to manage even with three children to take care of.

Unfortunately almost two years later circumstances changed and I was in a position where the only alternative financially was to go back to teaching.

Since this time I have given friends and family healing whenever needed but have not been in a position to carry on as an independent healer and earn a living from it.

I truly believe we are given gifts but are not always aware of them being used because of society’s expectations of how they portray them. I was often told that I was a gifted healer, which, because of my lack of self-esteem, I did not believe was possible and have often questioned why I was unable to use my healing and earn a living at it which left me feeling totally deflated when thinking of it. Having said that I have come to believe, due to some very strange coincidences, that my healing has been used in ways I could never have imagined. My life has taken quite a few ups and downs and changes of direction over the years and I have been learning along the way. We are, as healers, called to be in a certain place at a certain time to help those who need it. This has happened to me more times that I can remember but it did take a while before I realised the meaning behind it all.

Becoming a healer also took me to another dimension in as far as my artwork was concerned. When I trained as a teacher my degree was in art and I developed my skills in fine art, photography, textiles and ceramics. My big love was ceramics but having always concentrated, when painting, on still life, landscapes, people etc. things changed radically for me as I ventured into my training. During my training as a healer I was drawn to shape and colour and some very abstract paintings and drawings. I felt that I had no real control on what came out of the pieces I was working on and drew or painted whatever came from that first mark on the paper. It was therapeutic, calming, enthralling when I was creating, something that I had seldom experienced with my previous work. It felt as if I was producing these creations for others, the colours, shapes and forms within the images were for others and would reach them on a deep emotional level.

I remain forever sure that my healing abilities are part of my journey and that wherever I go they will be called upon when necessary.