So Many Healing Modalities!
Today I’m reflecting on the multitude of healing modalities out there – from medical to alternative to spiritual and beyond. I've received many such treatments over the years and each has informed me of different (at times, conflicting) aspects about the needs of my body, mind, and soul.
In my journey, I’ve been told to stretch, strengthen, lengthen, practice, express myself, exercise, eschew meat, soy, dairy, corn, gluten, cooked foods and specific vegetables. I’ve been told to confront family members, explore my past, nurse my inner child, settle into myself, speak to my spirit guides, and dismantle my ego. Trusted teachers and practitioners have used electricity, needles, suction cups, foam rollers, crystals, and blunt massage instruments dug deep into the muscles of my legs.
I’m a good student — after each session I did my homework and followed the advice of my trusted healing professionals, but inevitably I lost motivation to follow their instructions. I’d forget, get distracted, or find a new interest. I thought this meant I was hopeless, that I didn’t actually want to be better.
I thought this meant I was failing. I have a new theory now.
There is some underlying truth about who I am and what is right for me. Where this truth comes from, I’m sure you could argue about for all of humanity’s lifespan (hint: this has happened). But there is some kind of truth about me and why I am the way I am. It is some mix of my mysterious ever-present “me”ness, and in everything I have learned and done along the way (my history). There exists some kind of specific, dynamic truth.
There is another kind of truth too — in each healing modality. Each modality exists because someone(s) noticed a pattern to human beings, that a certain kind of intervention helps in a particular, general way.
When I receive a session, there are many truths present: my “me”ness, my history, the practitioner’s “me”ness and history, and then the wisdom/truth of the modality itself.
Those are a lot of truths, which makes for some complexity. The instructions I’m given after a session usually come from the truth of the modality as it relates to the truth of me on that day. But I’m forever evolving.
I’ve come to see each modality like a little hammer that dents me a little more in the direction of balance. I absorb the help/learning and incorporate it into my truth. Once that has happened, specific instructions aren’t as useful and I start to lose interest. Do I fall back into my old pattern? Sure I do, but not quite in the same way as before. If I return to an unhelpful pattern, it just means there is more to learn, more healing to do. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to get better!
I am getting better every day that I wake up and wonder how I’m doing.
In Healing Work, I recognize all of these truths. In session, we welcome the truth of you, find what needs attention right now, today, and that’s where we begin our work. Do we pick up the same thing again next week? No, that would be impossible because you (and I!) are ever-changing.
To me, that’s perfect.
