Hearing that Thay (Thich Naht Hahn) was ill, brought tears to my eyes. There is a sadness about this illness, not quite the gentle transition of a monk ready to leave, as if something is still left for him to do.
Buddhism came into my life through a series of coincidences. A friend took me to a buddhist temple. Another friend who brought me a singing bowl, when I had no idea how to play it. Still another friend who gently taught me how to breathe into the play and play the sounds that bring a mind into harmony. And the coincidence that led me to a little book that had slipped in to the back–a book titled, “The Energy of Prayer”. Thay was pictured on the book. He is a little man, with a giant humility, and just his body language was enough to tell me that I had a lot to learn from him. In that book, he gently talked about prayer with total humility. Not as a formula for success, arrival in god’s heaven, a command, but as a heart opening to receive a gift. I secretly studied Buddhism for years. But I never understood a thing until I started to meditate. Perhaps the greatest advice for any endeavour is to do or do not, there is no try.
I read that book end to end, and learnt to pray in the way Thay teaches. Not a grovelling request to a god sitting somewhere in the sky writing our fate, but an unfolding of the heart. Meditation is a direct communion with a divine stillness. It is necessary to have empathy to be able to talk to the divine. Repeatedly, in every book, every description of god, I have heard the words that god is compassion. Then why do humans make their children afraid of god? God is a friend, a well wisher, an unconditional empowering love, that protects and heals our soul for the journey on Earth. Kindness is the language of God.
When we heal spiritually and emotionally, we heal our body. Our emotions aren’t there to be fixed but to be understood as yearnings of the spirit. True healing can only really happen at the spiritual level. At the spiritual level, we are light. Thus only light can heal us.
This ‘light’ is channeled through many practices that were part of ancient traditions and religions. Meditation is the core practice used to channel light. There are probably 1001 ways to practice meditation. Even prayer is one of them. But there are some necessary conditions for light to be channeled. These are the necessary conditions, as I see it:
1. Intention. Intention is a word, but it has within it many things. One of them is the soul’s realization that the world around it is an illusion. Without this knowing, a real appreciation of what that means, it is almost impossible to channel light. In many religions, faith becomes a part of rituals. But faith, is not static, we have varying degrees of faith. We can spend a lifetime struggling to have faith, but it is natural and not a sin to have days where we believe and others where we just go hah!. This is ok. It is a journey of faith, not a destination.
2. Similarity of intent. The people who come together for healing must have the same intention. If the intention is healing, then both frequencies must match. If one is open to healing, the other is doubtful, healing can’t begin. So the healer has to ask the heart, are we ready? A sufi whirling teacher made me realize the importance of asking the heart. Far too often I would say yes to things just because they seemed fun, but struggle to do too many things. Asking the heart, helps to know if your spirit is in alignment with what you plan to do with your time. If they aren’t in tune, then it is such a waste of time! Living wholeheartedly isn’t easy to master, but once we get there, there is no other way . Living life in a state of flow, without doubt, without the mind going nuts, is the meaning of freedom.
3. Accept the realization that you are a piece of god. When people start out with energy healing, one of the hardest struggles is the realization of a force beyond ourselves. It challenges the materiality that we assume about the world around us. It changes how we think and act out our values. It is empowering.
4. Making peace with outcomes. Understand how to let go of outcomes after conducting a healing. Outcomes aren’t in your control. The healing comes, the healing goes. You have to learn to just observe as impartially as possible. When you are impartial, the healing begins, otherwise you are not witnessing. One of the best ways I find is to detach, is to watch my own reaction to someone with kindness. As we do that, we go into deeper state of stillness, where nothing is in opposition to the other.
5. The vibration of the healer must resonate with the receiver. This is a psychological and physical issue. If you can’t relate to someone’s suffering or hear them without judging them, then you aren’t in emotional resonance with their pain. This form of healing can’t happen. Yes, you can give them some kernels of wisdom. but energy healing happens at an unconditional level, where both people are in total energetic connection, one doesn’t resist the other.
Behind The Veil 