Healing Yourself: The Basics

At Leaves Institute we talk about Jikochiyu – or self-healing.

But, healing can mean different things to different people so we asked our founder, Yumiko Asakura, to explain what she means by healing, what pain and suffering might be trying to tell us and how we can incorporate some basic healing principles into our life.

What do we mean by ‘healing’?

When we talk about ‘healing’ we mean feeling better – whether that is physically, emotionally, psychologically or spiritually. It is about being released from something that is causing suffering, whether that is a big thing or a small thing. However, it’s important not to see pain or suffering as something inherently ‘bad’ because often it conceals some kind of gift – maybe helping us to let go of something that’s not serving us or to move towards greater contentment in our lives. It sounds counterintuitive, but if we can be grateful for the suffering, listen to what the body is trying to tell us and be patient, the pain will often begin to lessen as our understanding increases.

What might pain be trying to teach us?

If we have pain and we find a way to heal it, this might teach us not to be fearful or to expect positive things to happen. Maybe we might even start to believe in miracles. Yumiko has helped many different people to heal from all kinds of pain and suffering and almost invariably, they learn something from the experience.

Self-help for pain and suffering

1. Meditate: To someone who is experiencing suffering right now she advises meditation. Being in a meditative state not only provides brief respite from the pain but it offers the opportunity to connect with your higher self and, after the meditation, you may receive a message. Asking the question “What gift do I need to receive from this pain?” before you go into meditation may help the message to come, but do not worry if it doesn’t.

2. Notice: Always the first thing to do with any kind of pain or suffering is to notice it, because your body is trying to get your attention. Focus on whatever is painful and offer your sympathy to that part of you. You don’t need to understand it immediately but be open to receiving a message and consider that the pain may be asking for some kind of change or growth from you. Yumiko suggests seeing the painful area as something that is separate from you – a little being that is suffering, perhaps – and treating it with love and compassion. Often we tend to react to pain with anger, but a compassionate attitude may be more effective.

3. Draw a picture: To really give your attention to the painful area, you may want to give it your attention using your ears, your eyes or your hands. Sometimes drawing a picture of the pain can provide clues about what it is trying to tell you. Pain often draws you back into your body and forces you to focus on what is going on there.

4. Gratitude: Yumiko explains that this process of deeply listening to the body can sometimes cause the pain to go, but not always. She suggests that, if you are taking painkillers or drugs to ‘communicate’ with them in your mind and ask them to help you to make you feel better. Gratitude for the medication can also help to enhance the healing process.

5. Teate: The source of self-healing is the heart. Yumiko practices a traditional Japanese healing technique called Teate which involves holding her hands over her heart and visualising the warmth as healing energy. Then she places her hands on wherever there is pain – her own or someone else’s – and visualises healing power and love pouring into that place.

6. Nature: Being in nature can also help if you are in pain, particularly if you can lie on the grass and ask the earth to take your pain. If the pain is more emotional than physical then really tending to your own comfort levels, with soft blankets, comfortable clothes, things that smell nice, can help.

Leaves Institute helps people to learn effective self-healing techniques on our four-week Jikochiyu continuous self-healing course.

The next course starts in September.

For more information…