Dear Friends,
What exactly does it mean to heal from the inside out? In my own life, the most powerful shifts have come from inside me, and I usually know the moment when my physical being has connected with this inner healer. If you think of this concept like a pilot light in your heart this might help. This flame is the spark of divinity that is within all of us. It is lit all the time. However, sometimes, it seems as if the pilot light has gone out and there is no way to get a fire going, to get some warmth of life force. The fire is the healing energy, God, life force, universal source or whatever you call a higher power.
Sometimes this light seems very dim or not lit at all. Every person has this spark within them. Unfortunately, in the most extreme cases, this light is buried deep within a person due to lack of tending to this flame.
Years ago, when I first moved to Seattle, I attended my first silent retreat. From the moment I arrived at the monastery, I started feeling sick. And for the whole weekend, I was miserable, blowing my nose constantly. Needless to say, I had no peace that weekend. On the Sunday afternoon just before we were to break silence, I immediately started to feel better. And within a few minutes, I was completely well physically.
My resistance to the silence was because the constant silence was scary to me. I had never participated in such a retreat and my hamster brain was going crazy. You know that wheel your mind gets on and even when you think your not thinking your thinking! I might have had snippets of silence but I doubt it! There were so many powerful things I gained from that weekend, not the least realizing what a busy mind I had. But also, realizing the power we have within us to heal.
Once I knew I was safe, in this case, being safe meant breaking silence, the healing occurred. My resistance all weekend to the retreat kept me sick. Once I no longer needed to resist the retreat, I got better instantly. I’m not talking about a few sniffles I was experiencing. I had a full blown miserable, nose dripping, coughing thing going on that was non-stop from Friday evening until Sunday. I’m sure I was an irritant to many of the participants and probably provided a source for their own contemplation and healing!
So how does the above sharing relate to my comment about healing from the inside out. The pilot light, the flame of divinity, was in me all along even while experiencing my miserable symptoms. If I had been able to embrace the retreat with an open heart, most likely I would not have become sick. The sickness in this case was my meditation and an incredibly valuable lesson.
When we acknowledge this pilot light, this spark within ourselves, then we can turn on the flame within us to create healing physically, emotionally and spiritually. Often times, we take medication or supplements in an attempt to make ourselves better. There is nothing wrong with doing that, but if we really want to get to the core of what is ailing us, then going inward and turning up the flame (awareness/consciousness) is what heals us on a deeper level.
By turning up the flame, we are creating energy, warmth, vitality that can flood all of our cells. And after we heal ourselves, we can turn up the flame even more so that that vitality reaches outwards to our fellow beings on this earth and beyond.
So how do we turn up this inner flame? Anything that allows us to become more conscious, aware, and deeper more soulful human beings ignites this flame. By all means, take the vitamins, supplements, medications, but at the same time go inward and feed this flame. You might say that by working with counselors or other healers, we are using things outside ourselves to get better. However, a counselor, or any healer, who has done his or her own inner work, will know how to tap into this pilot light and help ignite the fire of your own inner being, your soul.
Anyone who helps ignite this light within you is a healer if that person is coming from an authentic expression of their own being. This person could be a cashier who smiles at you and acknowledges something about you that touches you deeply. It could be a priest/pastor who helps you to go inward and feel the love of a higher power and find awareness to an issue that was bothering you. It could be the garbage man who smiles at you just at that moment when you needed it most. The commonality is that all of these people brought you back to your core, your essence, to the inner flame.
Meditation and prayer are so powerful because it helps us to get back to that essence, that flame within ourselves and to connect to the divine source energy that is within and around us all the time. Even if a person is meditating for the first time, and the hamster brain is doing it’s thing, the soul will feel the intention, and the light within them will grow. Yoga is another modality that creates an inner connection with our energetic beings/our souls and enhances this light within us.
Healing from the inside out, is about growing this flame, this fire within you. Sometimes it happens very slowly. Perhaps the embers are a bit wet, a bit soggy from the negative numb mind set you have been carrying. That is okay. Keep working on the fire, keep feeding it the dry kindling that is your intention, and awareness and the fire will become greater and provide more energy and vitality within you.
Anything that helps us to become more aware, more whole human beings feeds the flame within us. Feeds our souls. Even sitting and watching the birds, or your child, or sweet furry family member can ignite this flame within you if you do it with your full focus and awareness.
Sometimes awareness can bring pain, and you might ask, how does this help? It helps because it is a real, authentic expression of your soul and your being at that moment of time. Even if the pain seems like it’s dimming out any light within you, trust me it is not! Once awareness settles in and the resistance to whatever you are experiencing fades, you will feel more energy from this inner flame. You will be stronger and your cells will be more vital.
It is a good thing to remember that every single person on this earth has this pilot light within their being. And once you have learned how to turn up your own flame, and have healed from within, then you can shine your beautiful light on others and help them to acknowledge this within themselves. Once you know of your own inner light of awareness, even your smile, can ignite this flame within another. The reason for this is that your smile will be an authentic expression of yourself and the love you feel for another being whether you know them or not. You will recognize the inner essence of who this other being really is.
My friends, I wish for all of you the warmth and vitality of acknowledging your own inner flame of awareness. You are all healers in your own right.
Namaste,
Rosemary