| Free Spiritual Counseling | | | | gifted spiritual healer can channel the power needed |
| For people looking to more fully understand | | | | to restore health. |
| themselves and their place in the world, spiritual | | | | In recent years, there have been a number of |
| counseling might be an attractive alternative to | | | | scientific studies aimed at determining if spiritual |
| pastoral/religious counseling. A spiritual counselor can | | | | healing can improve physical health. In Dr. Daniel J. |
| help provide support, encouragement and advice | | | | Benor's book "Spiritual healing: Scientific Validation of a |
| regarding human nature and how humans relate to | | | | Healing Revolution," the author claims to have begun |
| the greater world around them. Generally this type of | | | | his investigation as skeptical as many of us are. The |
| counseling will delve deeper than more traditional | | | | book takes a close look at a number of different |
| counseling, and is based more on emotions than a | | | | methodologies for healing, including Reiki, healing |
| psychological or analytical approach to counseling. | | | | touch, Bowen method, and others. The results of his |
| Many people might want to take advantage of the | | | | research made a believer out of him, and the |
| services of a spiritual counselor, but don't have much | | | | 100-plus studies cited in the book offer verifiable |
| money to spare. Fortunately, it is fairly easy to find a | | | | proof that many of these spiritual healing therapies |
| spiritual counselor who does not charge a fee. | | | | do have a restorative and recuperative effect on |
| There is a wide range of topics that spiritual | | | | health and well-being. |
| counseling covers and most counselors specialize in a | | | | Most spiritual healers are quick to acknowledge that |
| particular area. So before you choose a counselor, | | | | traditional medicine does have its place, and that |
| consider what it is that you are interested in learning | | | | spiritual healing should be used in tandem with more |
| more about. Some will work with you on personal | | | | traditional medical therapies. But in the same breath, |
| growth or relationship issues. Others may offer their | | | | these same practitioners will likely tell you that |
| expertise in modern or classical philosophy or | | | | physical cures alone are insufficient for lasting |
| psychotherapy. Still others can offer insight into | | | | well-being. It's important to consider the mind, the |
| meditation, visualization and energy therapies. Most | | | | spirit and the body as one comprehensive whole |
| counselors will be happy to provide information on | | | | package when attempting any healing therapy. |
| their areas of expertise before you begin the | | | | Ignoring one in favor of the other will result in |
| counseling sessions. | | | | incomplete healing at best, and enhance the chances |
| You will also be likely to find a spiritual counselor | | | | for a worse outcome for the patient. |
| offering free services by doing an online search. Many | | | | If you are considering adding a spiritual component to |
| spiritual counselors have local offices, and will offer | | | | your current medical treatment, be sure to discuss |
| personal, face-to-face consultations as well. Still | | | | your plans with your doctor. While you may run into |
| others offer "distance counseling," working with | | | | some resistance, most doctors are at least |
| people either via e-mail or phone. The Internet has | | | | somewhat aware of many of these spiritual healing |
| opened up a whole new way of networking, and | | | | methods, and will generally support your desire to |
| spiritual counselors have a significant presence on the | | | | improve your emotional and spiritual well-being. But |
| Web. | | | | they will likely urge you to continue with your |
| Spiritual counseling can be useful in a wide variety of | | | | prescribed course of medical treatment as well. If |
| areas in a person's life. A good spiritual counselor can | | | | you find that your doctor refuses to entertain the |
| help you understand the things that are going on | | | | possibility that spiritual healing might be a good |
| around you in an often confusing world. By utilizing | | | | addition to your overall treatment plan, it may be |
| spiritual counseling, you may find yourself able to | | | | time to shop around for a health care provider with |
| make better choices in life, and they can help you | | | | more modern sensibilities. |
| realize your full potential by encouraging personal | | | | Medical evidence for spiritual healing |
| growth. Some people use spiritual counseling to help | | | | Historically, it has been difficult to find reliable medical |
| chart their path for the future, by envisioning | | | | evidence to prove that spiritual healing methods |
| themselves as they wish to be. | | | | work. Part of the blame for this might lie within the |
| Some of the very best spiritual counselors are those | | | | medical community's general unwillingness to see |
| who are true near death experience survivors. | | | | some of these methods as worthy of research. |
| The uses for spiritual counseling are vast, as you can | | | | There have been many, many studies done on the |
| see. And so is the background, education and | | | | effectiveness of prayer. These studies have proven |
| philosophy of the huge numbers of spiritual | | | | that prayer can have a positive effect on someone |
| counselors available. It's important that you find a | | | | with a medical problem even if that person didn't |
| counselor to whom you can relate, honestly and | | | | know he or she was being prayed for. In one study, |
| openly, as this is a requirement for a positive | | | | hospital patients who were prayed for were |
| counseling session, as mentioned previously. | | | | significantly less likely to need antibiotics than the |
| Some spiritual counselors will list specific skills, including | | | | others, less likely to develop pulmonary edema, less |
| clairvoyance, and other psychic abilities. But these | | | | likely to need a breathing tube and less likely to die. |
| traits are not necessarily the crux of a spiritual | | | | It was also found that prayer had no barriers - |
| counseling session. It's more of an FYI thing than | | | | people who prayed inside a lead-lined, locked room in |
| anything else. | | | | one study still found results significantly higher than |
| Many spiritual counselors do believe that their gift for | | | | the control group. In another study, it was |
| healing and counseling comes from a divine source, | | | | discovered that prayer worked on non-human |
| and they are therefore uncomfortable charging for | | | | objects, as it caused crab grass to grow more |
| their services. Others will charge a small fee, and still | | | | quickly than grass that was not prayed for. |
| others make a good living by providing this service. | | | | It was found that prayer could be done miles away |
| Whatever level you are comfortable with, remember | | | | from its subject and still be effective. |
| that the ultimate goal is to know and understand | | | | But prayer is a relatively non-controversial form of |
| yourself, so be sure you are getting what you need | | | | healing. So what about one of the more questioned |
| out of the experience. | | | | methods? |
| Spiritual and Medical Healing | | | | Reiki, a healing technique created in early 20th |
| In recent years, many formerly traditional medical | | | | Century Japan by Mikao Usui, involves a practitioner |
| doctors have come to embrace spiritual healing as an | | | | using his or her hands to direct chi, or "life force," |
| important part of physical well-being. There is a new | | | | through the body of the client. Reiki has been known |
| breed of holistic health care providers who view the | | | | to be somewhat controversial within the medical |
| spiritual and emotional health of a patient as having | | | | community, though in recent years it has begun to |
| the ability to dramatically affect a person's physical | | | | show up as a service offered by many hospitals, |
| state. So much so, in fact, that the standard views | | | | hospices, and other medical facilities. |
| of treating just the body seem outdated and even | | | | Positive outcomes of Reiki have been recorded in |
| naive. | | | | some alternative medical journals, claiming that its |
| Many health care professionals, including doctors, | | | | proven benefits included reduced heart rate, pain, |
| nurses and others, are welcoming the inclusion of a | | | | depression and anxiety; increased relaxation and |
| spiritual component into their patients' wellness plans. | | | | immunity and improved blood pressure. Critics argue |
| And some are even practicing it themselves, gaining a | | | | that any of these could be a result of a placebo |
| deeper understanding of how the mind, the spirit and | | | | effect. Then again, there is a popular saying among |
| the body work in tandem to heal. | | | | hypnotherapists and a few others which states, "The |
| Interestingly, some of these practitioners have | | | | body will achieve what the mind perceives," and |
| turned to so-called "complementary" therapies when | | | | there may be much truth to that. Does it really |
| traditional medicine failed for themselves or their | | | | matter whether a cure's etiology was |
| patients. By incorporating the healing arts into the | | | | psychosomatic? |
| medical arts, physicians can often find root spiritual or | | | | A 2002 study of Reiki on the effects of depression |
| emotional causes for their patients' distress, and can | | | | yielded that the Reiki-treated patients were less |
| work with them to help them heal. | | | | depressed than the placebo group. When re-checked |
| Many Christian denominations profess a firm belief in | | | | a year later, the result stayed the same. |
| the healing power of the spirit to cure illness and | | | | In two separate studies (conducted in the United |
| injury. In fact, in the most literal translation of biblical | | | | States and Japan), the energy waves that passed |
| texts, Jesus himself was a spiritual healer, laying-on | | | | through Reiki practitioners' hands were tested. It was |
| hands to cause the blind to see, the | | | | found that the hands emitted a bio-magnetic field |
| physically-challenged to walk and even the dead to | | | | which pulsated with the same frequencies as brain |
| rise and awaken. Through prayer, meditation, | | | | waves. This, many believe, causes healing throughout |
| anointing and other methods, many contemporary | | | | the body. |
| Christian preachers seem to elicit astonishing | | | | It should be noted that over half of the medical |
| responses when asked to heal others. | | | | schools in the United States now offer at least one |
| Of course, as with anything, there is a LOT of fraud | | | | or two courses on spiritual healing and alternative |
| in this field as many recent media reports have | | | | medicine these days. |
| exposed. Still, the faithful continue to believe that a | | | | |