Many people worried about the side effects of conventional treatments are turning to holistic healing methods. And for good reason. It treats the patient as an individual and addresses the whole person, not just the illness. It is natural and gentle, and doesn’t rely on poisons (drugs), sharp blades or burning (e.g. lasers) for results. It is suitable for all ages and dispositions, and most importantly, recognises that mental, emotional and spiritual factors all have a part to play.

Holistic healing is based on the principle that the part can never be well unless the whole is well. This can only happen when mind, body and spirit are working together in harmony. In my experience as a therapist, people with a well-developed spiritual perspective have a greater incentive to get better, more belief that they will and consequently recover more quickly.Above all, holistic healing acknowledges that it not doctors or therapists who heal – they are only catalysts. Their role is to stimulate the Life Force or Spirit within, thus enabling the body to heal.

123 The Remarkable Healing Of Myrtle Fillmore

Myrtle Fillmore was born in 1845. She was repeatedly told as a child that her health was poor and that she was prone to tuberculosis – believed fatal in those days. It wasn’t until her early forties when, having contracted tuberculosis, she attended a talk on healing by an influential teacher of the time. When she emerged from the hall, one thought repeated itself over and over in her mind:

Her belief that she was inherently fragile crumbled and within two years she was completely cured. The following year, at the age of 44, she gave birth to a third son.

She wrote the story of her healing. She told how she realised one day that life is a flow of energy guided by intelligence and that we can instruct the body to do as we require. She became attentive to her thoughts and prayed every hour for help from Spirit. She asked for forgiveness for past mistakes and told her muscles and organs that they were drawing on an unlimited Source and were healthy and strong.

After the healing, others asked her for help. She helped a crippled man to walk, cured a woman’s asthma, helped a boy blinded by cataracts to see, cured a boy of tonsillitis and another of croup. She told all who sought her help that it was God’s will that they be healthy and that the healing power of Spirit was within them. She later wrote a book based on her experiences, How to Let God Help You.

Her husband, Charles, meanwhile, a down-to-earth businessman with an enquiring, scientific mind, realised that something extraordinary had happened to his wife. He wanted to know the reason for the healing and found many conflicting explanations, all of which led to evidence of a great power behind it all.

Charles and Myrtle went on to found a prayer and healing ministry, Silent Unity. She died in 1931, aged 86. Charles lived to be 94.

124 The Body Wants To Be In Balance

The body wants to be in balance. Any imbalance indicates a state of lack, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Loneliness, fear, guilt, anger and so on can all lead to physical symptoms, or are a sign that some other aspect of our being needs correction.

I’ve known people who spend so much time at work they collapse exhausted every night unable to get pleasure from the fruits of their labours. One client who was permanently ill told me that his salary barely compensated for the stress to which he was subjected. I asked him why he stayed in the job. ‘If I quit now,’ he replied, ‘I would lose part of my pension. I’ve only ten years to go to retirement.’ I wondered if someone so beset with fear would live long enough to enjoy it.

Sooner or later a badly treated body will demand attention. If you are frequently ill, examine your thinking and lifestyle. Do you take good care of your body? Do you need to change your ideas or beliefs? Could it be that your Higher Self is sending you a message?