My pain and the healing dream team
by Nancy B. Loughlin
Published in News Press on March 24, 2015
I have always been physically fearless.
I was the kid leaping out of trees, hanging upside down from monkey bars, jumping off swings, speeding down hills on bicycles. Bruises always dusted my legs and arms.
At the end of January, I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot, along with a pulmonary embolism. I will be taking blood thinners for the rest of my life, and bleeding will always be a worry.
For me, that diagnosis was a disaster. I haven’t finished my skydiving certification yet, but it’s out. It isn’t just from hard landings, but the rig rips my inner thighs and upper arms leaving “parachute kisses.” I’m thinking about my scuba diving, how my knee rams into reefs, and little shards of shell dig into my skin that I just pick out. I’m thinking about trail running; tree limbs attack my face, and I trip on exposed roots, fly through the air and land on rocks and twigs only to bounce up and keep going, bloodied at the finish line — marathoning and the raw chafe under my sports bra and waistband; hiking for hours, toenails popping off my bleeding feet.
The life I had known is now over. And, on top of it, my foot hurt.
“Why is this happening to me?”
I knew the medical reason, but that is really a spiritual question. So, I went to CasaShanti, the Fort Myers meditation center, to seek answers.
I sat in a circle with four of the most high-powered energy healers in SW Florida: Zachari VanDyne, clairsentient; Shakti Barnhill, Reiki Master, massage therapist and yoga teacher; Joy Purcell, a Druid and nature-based energy healer; and Nikki Busbee, Reiki Master. In their healing practices, they use herbs, crystals, essential oils, clapping and snapping, music, chanting, a laying of hands and allow their bodies to be conduits of energy.
This was my kind of crowd. And if you don’t believe in any of it, even the skeptic will get benefits. Energy works that way.
Energy healers agree that we create our own realities. Pain is an alarm, but it’s also a messenger. Pain and illness can be a sign of “dis-ease,” that something is off in the physical or energy bodies, and it’s a cry for attention.
Shakti asked me, “What started your pain experience?”
It all began in mid-January. I was doing Tree Pose in a yoga class, and my weight shifted to the outside of my right foot. I heard and felt a crunch.
I tried to shake it off, but over the next few days, the pain intensified. I kept massaging my foot, and when the pain moved into my calf, I massaged harder. I started to recap my hospital experience, but the healers stopped me.
“Go back to the moment in the class. Do you remember what was on your mind?” Zachari asked me.
That was two months ago. I was going to say that I didn’t remember, but my throat snapped shut, and I couldn’t breathe. When I opened my mouth, all that came out was an explosion of coughs. I grabbed for my water, and I heard the healers talking to one another.
“Mmmhmm. Fifth chakra. Communication.”
“She lost her voice.”
“She was denying her truth.”
When my throat relaxed, I covered my face with my hands. I did remember what was on my mind that day, and it had been bothering me for weeks before that.
“I was agitated,” I said, my voice muffled. And I told everyone why.
What happens in healing circle stays in healing circle.
I lay on my yoga mat, and they covered me with a sheet. The healers went to work.
I could feel the warmth of their hands hovering over me; the vibrations of their chants echoed through my skin and bones. Someone sprayed me with essential oils.
After five minutes, I visualized my body breaking. In my mind, I saw a layer of flesh-colored plaster coating my skin. With every jerk of the healers’ hands, a different section of the plaster cracked, splitting the façade of my body, freeing my skin and muscles underneath.
After 30 minutes, I stood up, and my foot was tender. I was urged to drink a lot of water, listen to my doctors, and heed my inner voice — and, of course, to live my truth and no one else’s version of it.
Spirit speaks to me in whispers. If I don’t listen, it will shout, even at my foot.
The next day, a much lighter soreness on the side of my foot whispered, but instead of prompting me to think about how bothersome it was, I pondered the discussion from the night before and the source of my agitation. I no longer felt the plaster. And, two days later, my foot’s whispers were barely audible.
When I sat down to write this, I opened my notebook to review my notes from CasaShanti.
During my session, Shakti had written this:
“Every true healer merely wants the client to feel love; it is not about a monetary anything! It is the healer’s true desire to be a helper, a gentle guide, a motivator for self-healing to occur, to transform, to inspire self-love.”
For more information about meditation and healing, visit www.CasaShanti.us.
