Evolution Of The Energy Healer

Many healers begin their interest in energy healing through coming into contact with a populist author or healer who promotes a simplistic agenda: “Let me tell you how to do the miraculous things that I do. You just have to let go, and healing will happen all by itself.” Such charismatic individuals usually tell you that their healing system is superior to others, and that by joining them you will be on the cutting edge of the energy healing world. They often have expensive, cultish programs where, as part of your commitment, you are asked to evangelize the work to others.  We have seen several such healing teachers emerge into the public eye over the last few decades, bringing energy healing (or transformational work) back into vogue. Populists fulfill an important function in our field: they attract the public’s attention, and often inspire extreme action that can awaken dormant spiritual awareness within ordinary people. I don’t have a problem with that.

But we must take care that such teachers don’t take our innocence and inexperience and use it against us. The hidden agenda of any populist teacher (often self-serving or financial) eventually conflicts with what students healers really need to learn: that their evolution as a healer lies as much in the transformational journey itself, rather than the following of a charismatic leader. It is the search itself – and not the leader – that changes us.

Learning to become a professional energy healer is neither simplistic (“No training required, everyone: just tune in!”) nor eternally solipsistic (“Just one more year of my training program, everyone, and then you will see the aura just like I do!). Energy healing training exists along a continuum of growth, only starting with simplistic methods. The “No training required” groups appeals to anyone who has neither the time, nor has glimpsed the dedication required, to enter deeply into the eternal mystery that is spiritual transformation. This is all in spite of our real-world wisdom regarding professional competence. Would you go for a root canal treatment if your dentist had only received a weekend of “channeled” guidance on dentistry? Would you go to a marriage counselor who had never been counseled themselves, or even been part of a long-term relationship? No, of course not.

But people do eventually catch on to the game. After time spent with the “no training required” teachers they wisely begin to look around for an authentic training program. During this phase it is common to jump from from teacher to teacher, from healing system to healing system, on a quest to find the “perfect” teacher: someone who is not just another egoist or a businesswoman, but who can really offer a quality service. Once you find your teacher, hopefully one who is at the other end of the populist spectrum, you may find yourself signing up for a long-term training program. Significantly better than the simplistic approach, an in-depth program provides a deepening of knowledge, and the all-important factor of community. We come to learn as much from our fellow students as we do from the teacher. But even long-term training programs in energy healing come with an expiration date. A training program must, eventually, graduate you, and release you to resume your quest for personal and spiritual development. You may find yourself staying around to serve your teacher rather than choosing to deepen your own soul growth. Again, I don’t have a problem with that. Because, you may need this additional time to release the idealization of the outer teacher, a necessary step in order to allow yourself to be closer in touch with your own, inner teacher. Of course, you may authentically resonate with your teacher’s world task, and feel the desire to be an on-going part of their community. In the end, only you can know which is true.

At some point on your journey you may arrive at the unmistakable conclusion that to learn energy healing is, truly, a lifetime endeavor. There are no “Masters” out there, with secret keys to the kingdom. Like professionals in other disciplines, dedicated energy healers continually learn, practice, consult with specialists or with others with greater experience, in order to evolve. It is this eternal dedication to personal development that defines a truly helpful healer, or a useful teacher. And when you emerge from your training experiences more aware of your connection to yourself, and you begin to share your specialized work with the world, a new shift can begin. Your Guru chakra – the center of consciousness that lies just above your head, and holds the wisdom of your soul – learns to speak more directly through you, and balances the learning you receive from the outside with that from the inside. You learn to connect to yourself, and to your own spirit guides, as a vital part part of evolving towards spiritual adulthood. Once you are free of becoming lost in the charismatic orbit of an outer teacher you will learn to make new choices: for yourself, as well as for your clients. Your training will continue, new information and skills will find their way to you, and the apparent complexity of what is energy healing will finally shimmer into focus. When you are listening within yourself, with at least the same amount of attention that you used to invest in any outer teacher, something wonderful will happen. You will no longer be thirsty for another person’s verification of your value as a healer. You will know it, and express it,for yourself.

Good luck on your journey.

© 2013 by Dean Ramsden. All rights reserved.

Energy Healing, Energy Healing Training Program, Personal Development