Healing Hands

Healing Hands, Artist Phillip Moore, permission given www.moorestuff.com

I was asked to bless Shirley through energy work. Shirley has three children at home and she is living with Cancer. The cancer started in her colon. She had several surgeries and chemotherapy. The cancer spread to her liver. Since the last cycle of chemo, the tumor in her liver has grown.

Shirley and I arranged for her to pick me up and then go to her home for the healing session. I no longer drive because of Parkinson's. When I could no longer trust my feet and legs to do braking, nor my mind to process quickly, nor my perception of distance to be accurate, I turned in my driver's license. Like so many people living with Parkinson's, I am slow.

Being asked to do healing work, leads me to again question where I am in living with PD? What am I able to do? Do I need to let go doing hands-on work? It has been a few years since I included healing energy work in my practice as a chaplain and before that as a therapist. How will PD affect my doing healing work? What accommodations do I need to make in order to care for my body? Will the energy flow be disrupted by PD? How might hands-on healing work be part of my commitment to bless?

I stood at her head and rested my hands on her shoulders, closed my eyes and centered. I focused on being present in God's unconditional love and waited. Resting and waiting, I felt the energy flow from my hands. I moved to her feet and cupped her right foot between my hands. Eyes closed, I rested there until the energy flowed freely. In this manner I continued with her right leg, then the left one.

When I reached her hips, I stayed there waiting to feel the energy flow freely. I was led to ask her to do deep breathing. "It feels full here," she gently touched her midriff. "You needn't breathe so deeply. Be aware of your breath going in and out. Follow your breath." As she changed her breathing, I placed my right hand on her lower abdomen and held my left hand, off-the-body, over the tumor. I led her through some of the 'presnt moment' mindfullness practices taught by Thich Naht Hanh as I observed her in and out breaths. I noticed her body relaxing and her breathing going deeper. www.judybrutz.net/resources/ .

I became aware of Jesus standing on the other side of Shirley, opposite me. His hands were healing, sending light and energy to Shirley. I gently touched the tumor area with my left hand, and pointed my right hand to the floor as I held Jesus in my awareness, my eyes still closed. I returned to Shirley's head and gently held her. When it was appropriate, I withdrew my hands slowly and whispered, "Rest and I will be resting on the couch."

After a few minutes, she moved, bringing the recliner to a sitting position. "It may be my imagination, but it feels like the tumor is softer."

Shirley asked, "Do you feel drained of energy when you do healing work?" She asks a good question. "The energy I use is not my own, it flows from the universe. I see Jesus when I do this work." I tuned into my own energy level and reported, "I feel energized."

"I'm focusing on the Art of Blessing as an element of spiritual practice, in
which, by discovering within ourselves a personal power with which to bless, and
by expressing that power into the world, we both deepen and unfold ourselves in
fulfilling ways. We become mindful and deliberate agents in increasing the joy
and wholeness we feel and increasing the unobstuctedness in our world. In the
process, in a way unique to each of us, our activity as blessers can lead us to
an appreciation of and unity with the Sources, however we may imagine it or name it." David Spangler, Blessing, the Art and the Practice, p.273. www.judybrutz.net/resources