What is Holistic Healing?
As you read through my website, you'll see several references to either 'healing' or 'holistic healing-where a healer considers body, mind, and spirit when working with clients. While my guess is that many of you and the public in general don't fully understand these terms, I believe that will change over the next 10-20 years.
Healing is part art, part science and part mystery. Over time, many great physicians came to consider themselves healers. The holistic healing approach I refer to and practice is a new modality based on ideas dating back hundreds of years. It seems to go deeper, effect change more quickly, and touch places that some other approaches don't.
Why Healing?
People consider a holistic healing approach for a variety of reasons. Some have tried traditional methods but want to try what a body-mind-spirit psychotherapy can offer. Others may want something to augment medical treatment; still others are facing difficult situations and want to stay connected to their "true selves" and feel more connected to their spirituality.
Integrated Kabbalistic Healing (IKH)-A Brief Overview
While many spiritual paths are about getting somewhere, about striving, IKH is not about attaining purification or perfection. Rather, it teaches that the shared human condition of being imperfect, of "falling down and getting up over and over again," (to use IKH creator Jason Shulman's words), is the reality we all struggle with as humans.
IKH integrates at its core aspects of Kabbalistic wisdom-kabbalah being the Jewish mystical tradition-with ideas from Buddhism and western psychology. IKH teaches that the more we heal, the more we trust what life brings on a daily basis. And the more we trust, the more life's mysteries reveal themselves, and the more open-hearted we become.
People of all spiritual backgrounds or religious beliefs (or none at all) can benefit from Integrated Kabbalistic Healing. IKH is a powerful approach for finding personal meaning.
Why Did I Become a Holistic Healer?
After many years of practice as a psychotherapist and teacher of clinical social workers, I reached a point where I wanted to explore more fully how I-and by extension, my clients-could live more authentically in an imperfect world. Exploring how body, mind, and spirit are integrated is the path I chose.
There is an old saying, "when the student is ready, the teacher appears." Never was this truer for me than when I was introduced to Jason Shulman and Integrated Kabbalistic Healing (IKH). His combination of ideas from various wisdom traditions was appealing because they offered a way of looking at the world different from the traditional lens of my mainstream academic and religious approaches.
Through my study and practice of IKH since 2002, I've come to see life as a journey. I believe in a larger, benevolent universe where I regularly experience the awe of being connected to others, including clients with whom I share this journey. Through my work as a body-mind-spirit psychotherapist, I have found that my gratitude, kindness and forgiveness toward myself and others have naturally increased. Quite simply, my life has become more authentic.
How Does the Kabbalah Inform this Approach?
One of the most important ideas in kabbalah is Eitz Chayyim or the "Tree of Life." The Tree of Life, an ancient archetype, is a metaphoric representation of the relationships among dynamic forces of creation. Think of these as universal conditions such as flow, structure, connection, wisdom, and sense of place. Due to life's inevitable illusions, wounds and experiences of separateness, these forces that form all aspects of our being do not stay unified or harmonious. Integrated Kabbalistic Healing (IKH) seeks to heal this imbalance.
What Is an IKH Healing Session Like?
Sessions begin with a conversation about the concerns that bring you to the session. The kabbalistic healer listens with care and may ask questions or offer feedback during the conversation. Based on your needs and life situation, the healer chooses the appropriate healing for that session, the healing that will unify the forces on the Tree of Life. You rest comfortably while experiencing the healing in silence.
While some prefer the dynamic of in-person sessions, others many find that healing over the phone is more convenient and relaxing. Sessions are equally potent over the phone or in person.
Kabbalistic Healing Study Groups
For those interested exploring this holistic healing approach more fully, I offer study groups that enable them to explore core concepts of Integrated Kabbalistic Healing (IKH) including the following subjects:
- the four universes in Kabbalah
- the Tree of Life and its relevance to daily life
- suffering and healing
- approaches to the creative force that some call God
- prayer from an IKH perspective
- an introduction to the Healing of Immanence, one of the fundamental healings of IKH