USING SHAMANIC AND JUNGIAN TECHNIQUES FOR HEALING Volume (4) |Episode (65)
July 2, 2018
Host: Sheryl Glick R.M.T.
Special Guest: Dr. Carl Greer
Welcome to Healing From Within. I am your host Sheryl Glick author of
Life Is No Coincidence and The Living Spirit: Answers for Healing and
Infinite Love which shares a tale of awakenings, spiritual communication,
healing, miracles and ways to go within to an intuitive sense of soul
life. Today I once again welcome Dr. Carl Greer author of his newest book
Change the Story of Your Health. Dr Greer a former guest of the show may
be heard discussing his book Change Your Story Change Your Life on my
website www.sherylglick.com on the radio page.
Listeners of ³Healing From Within² are well aware that my guests and I
share intimate realizations about the nature of life from both an
energetic and physical reality so we might begin to conclude that we are
truly the masters of our own fate as we deal with karmic social and
environmental influences. In today¹s episode Dr. Greer will offer
suggestions for dealing with a chronic condition or figure out how to cope
with a sudden health issue like an accident or illness. Dr. Greer is an
author, clinical psychologist, shamanic practitioner and Jungian analyst,
and uses a mind body spirit approach to identifying our health story
showing how to use journaling dialoging and expanded awareness practices
to lead us to better health wellness and greater self awareness of
personal and collective behavior and perceptions.
Greer focuses on four key areas of personal health that often bring
challenges including eating, drinking movement, flexibility balance,
stamina and strength; sexuality, body image and acceptance of life
transitions such as menopause and andropause; and the management of acute
ailments and symptoms of health conditions such as autoimmune disorders
and cancer. Readers who begin using the practices on a regular basis will
find it easier to let go of what is no longer serves them and bring in
whatever can help them live according to a more satisfying health story.
Dr. Greer suggests using expanded awareness practices such as journaling
exercises which may begin by including questions such as, ³If there¹s a
saying, song, book, or movie title that expresses your story about this
aspect of your health what would it be. A couple of examples are ³Keep on
keeping on, no matter the cost,² and I deserve it, I earned it, I¹m eating
it.² This sounds like fun but we can also see that by doing this you
illuminate what is important to you and what may be missing from your
life, even what your attitude and experience of health is. Sheryl
remembers when she was seventeen and saw the show, ³Man of La Mancha, the
story of Don Quijote and his search for truth, justice, fairness and love.
The song The Impossible Dream² moved her greatly and thinking about these
very same words now seem to be reflective of the values and journey of her
soul. So finding or remembering your soul needs will greatly enhance your
understanding of self and encourage choices that will bring health
prosperity and compassion into your life.
Sheryl following Dr Greer¹s suggestion goes on to think of the title for
her next book which is New Life Awaits Creating Your Best Afterlife by
Living Consciously Now. Sheryl is inclined to remember that it is each
part choice or experience of our life that can be seen as new reinvented
or remembered on a daily basis, both now in life and later on in energetic
life. So Sheryl often tells people to wake up each morning and say ³I am
in a fit and healthy body and face the day with hope and awe for meeting
new people and having new experiences.² By surrounding ourselves with the
energy of hope, positivity and good thoughts, we create much of that in
our everyday experiences. The Law of Attraction describes that which we
focus our attention on eventually manifests including both our fears and
our desires, so we must begin to take responsibility for our thoughts and
actions.
Dr. Greer goes on to talk about dancing your health story through learning
more about what you¹ve experienced, gaining insights about for example,
your feelings about aging, or losing some of your strength and stamina
after an injury. He poses the question, ²What would dancing your health
story involve? Carl Greer wrote, The question is, ³What is healing,² and
³What is health.² We like to define healing as a return to our previous
state of wellness after becoming injured or developing a disease. However
a return to the past may feel impossibleŠso Healing may mean adjusting to
a new health story that you seem to be living, or a commitment to wellness
that results in you becoming a healthier you. What if despite aging
injuries health conditions and illness, you could not only return to the
state of health you enjoyed previously, but improve on it. If your goal is
to live well then you might see health challenges as opportunities for
attaining greater vitality strength and stamina and greater appreciation
for your body and the pleasure it gives you, and to have a better
relationship with it.
Dancing your health story would include expanded awareness ofŠ.. what
works/good habits, connections, being informed, partnering, genetics and
family history, stress, goals, payoffs to resisting change vs. payoffs to
change Identifying themes and patterns, origins of challenges, concerns
about mortality He gives stories of people who have used his practices to
gain greater self awareness and in turn improved the quality of their
health and in general gain new perspectives on how to move past
restrictions and ideas that no longer work for them. An example of a
client helped by expanded awareness practices is Olivia. Oliver shows how
her journey to learn more about how to overcome gastrointestinal problems
she was having helped her discovered she needed to let go or change her
attitude or relationship with competitive rowing, an activity she had
enjoyed for many years. By experiencing symbols and figures in her trans-
meditative journeying state, she discovered she was taking competitive
rowing too seriously and the stress created by her need to win was
contributing to her digestive issuesŠfurthermore, as a result of this new
awareness she ended up feeling less concerned about whether she won or
lost, and in doing so won a state of peace and wellness for herself.
Sheryl discovered in the next paragraph a key to her own health storyŠmany
people spend too much time sitting and this contributes to a risk for
developing dozens of chronic conditions: from cancer and diabetes to
cardiovascular disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseaseŠ..repetitive
stress injuries and deterioration of neck and spine due to sitting all day
are two examples you might want to address this topic in your new health
story. This is an issue that many of us have to recognize and work with to
improve the quality of our health.
Expanded Awareness practices involve reaching higher trans states through
meditation In Carl¹s book shamanic journeying and dialoguing are two
important expanded awareness practices for gaining insight. Dialoging can
be done with symbols inner figures emotions health symptoms your inner
healer, the earth the sky your resistance to changing a habit that is
affecting your health and so on. Many aspects of your personal story
including your relationships, your emotions and moods, your job or
vocation and your connection to God, Spirit Source or a higher power can
affect the story of your health which in turn can affect these other areas
of your life. We all know that being ill, feeling run down or having to
manage the symptoms of a disease can make it very hard to be giving and
attentive in our relationships, feel positive and optimistic and find the
energy and focus to address challenges at work. Conversely health
improvements lead to a better story fewer acute ailments less physical
discomfort or pain and make it easier to remain active and focus on other
aspects of your life. ANOTHER IMPORTANT PAYOFF YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE
CONSIDERED: It can help you to contribute to the wholeness and health of
society by affecting the energy field we all share. Whenever Sheryl does
Reiki healing sessions or mediation she remembers to feel blessed and
honored to be part of a mystery that is bigger than herself or her clients
Sheryl agrees and has discovered that same gratitude for life: both our
physical and spiritual and wrote in her book, The Living Spirit, The
assistance received from spiritual influences will be in proportion to our
wish for help and to the effort we expend in our self-growth process in
this life. I also learned that everything in the universe including our
physical bodies is made up of pure energy and that working with this
energy can affect a healing that repairs our bodies and allows our souls
to move towards greater levels of awareness and expansion. I became more
and more fascinated by the different modalities of energy healing and was
eventually guided to begin my Reiki studies at the Association for
Research and Enlightenment in New York City.I have learned through
meditation and traveling to other realms and levels of consciousness that
each moment is an opportunity to remember I must be grateful to be alive,
conscious and comfortable with my own energy physical body and spirit.
Throughout the world the idea of a universal interconnected grid comprised
of energy where we can access insights and energies that affect the
physical body as well as the psyche is a part of many healing traditions.
The existence of an unseen world and and what lies within it may be
important not only to our physical health but for healing mentally
emotionally and spiritually. Carl and Sheryl share a moment of
synchronicity when Carl tells of a tree in nature that lit up from the
bottom to the top with a radiating pulsating light when he was a young boy
and Sheryl is reminded of an event that happened in Maine where she
miraculously saw the same sight and truly understood the book she had just
read The Celestine Prophecy where the mysteries of the Unseen world of
energy were first shown to her in theory, and then proof of it in that
moment in Maine by seeing the illuminated tree showing her the
inter-connectedness and beauty of all life.
Dr. Greer talks about an inner healer that we all have. The inner healer
or our eternal soul essence connected to invisible realms of life can be
engaged when we incorporate techniques from Jungianism as well as from
shamanism which is practiced by healers in various culture all across the
globe. Shamans recognize a unified energy field and work with the energies
of nature and with transpersonal realms‹places we can all experience that
exist in another reality and are accessible only by shifting one¹s
consciousness into a trancelike state. Information brought back into
ordinary reality in the present can help us work with the past, so that it
lives within us differently and we are no longer caught in old habits
thereby allowing us to align with a future that is more desirable for us
and Spirit. You can learn to be your own shaman through discipline, focus
and practice as well as a willingness to recognize the value of shamanism
beyond merely fixing problems in the physical realm. Shamanic work awakens
a person to greater awareness of the interconnectedness of all that is
seen and unseen. This often leads to a greater sense of healing than
merely addressing health issues using allopathic (Western) medicine.
Healing from the same root word as whole may involve reintegrating into
your life what was lost or forgotten, and what your soul cries out for,
whether it is a renewal sense of worthiness, mystery, joy or purpose. A
guide can also be an inner healer who will help you achieve the insights
you seek and assist you in releasing energy you no longer need and in
bringing in energy you will find beneficial.
We can all learn to work with our inner healer to learn something about
our health that we might not discover otherwise. Through visualizations
and meditation we can access the inner healer and activate the ability to
help ourselves by becoming a master of our thoughts and using clearing
techniques to alleviate the condition and improve or eliminate the tumor
or health issue.
Carl wrote, The way to access the invisible world, collective unconscious
or transpersonal realms is through expanded-awareness practices that alter
consciousness. Altered states are often associated with feelings of
profound wellbeing and rejuvenation, harmony within oneself or with
nature, experiences of timelessness and reduction of physical pain.
Jungians and shamans would say that achieving these states has benefits
beyond helping you to feel good. Altered states of consciousness can allow
you to access insights and energies you can use to change your health
story and achieve healing².
Many of Dr. Greer¹s expanded awareness exercises involve posing the
question, ³What do I need to release or let go of? And, ³What do I need to
bring in? to achieve better health?² What¹s behind asking these two
questions? It follows that Expanded Awareness lets you see the positive
possibilities for any condition that you are passing through. For example,
If you identify yourself as a diabetic or asthma suffer you might derive
certain payoffs depending on the health story you write and tell yourself
that these payoffs which might include feeling sympathy from others:
getting out of social situations: or being part of a group that share a
common experiences of diabetes. These payoffs might also offer you excuses
for why you haven¹t been as productive as you want or achieved certain
goals for yourself. You might or might not be conscious of these payoffs
or you might decide there are better ways to achieve your goals and begin
to feel a sense of control over your choices and decisions.
Expanded-awareness practices can bring to light unconscious obstacles to
achieving better health. The truth is you are not your condition; or your
pain and you might have more power to manage them than it appears on the
surface. When you identify with your health challenge you lose your
ability to work with them and they begin to control you and dictate what
your health story is. Uncertainty about your physical health and mortality
can lead you to think about time and how you wish to use it. Although
these topics can be painful to explore they can lead to transformation.
Sheryl tells Carl of a story that just happened, ²You know Carl the other
day I had a client feeling so sad and she had such serious back pain that
life almost seemed not worth living. What she was lacking as so many
people are, was self love and self care, and respect for her own needs and
soul direction. She was busy blaming others for her life problems and was
unable to let go of her control instincts so she would be able to learn
how to allow and accept people to be as they were, even if she didn¹t like
their behaviors. Since we can only change ourselves, we must protect our
loving energy and our joy in life and not allow others who think and
behave unconsciously, not yet be aware of their spiritual divinity. We can
only wish them well and pray that someone upstairs looks after them until
they awaken to new possibilities for self improvement and change. We can¹t
allow pieces of our soul to be given away or taken away by those who do
not love themselves, much less love another or life.
Most people often don¹t think about their health until there is a crisis,
such as getting a cancer diagnosis. Dr Greer offers ways to help when
someone might suddenly have to deal with bad news about their health. As
you explore your health story it will soon become clear that energy
feelings and thoughts, both conscious and unconscious, are intertwined and
can influence your physical health. For example, anxiety can cause heart
arrhythmia and hyperventilation, while heart arrhythmia from atrial
fibrillation can cause anxiety. At the core of energy medicine including
shamanic approaches for healing is the idea that there are energy fields
surrounding and pervading the physical body and by working with these
fields you can improve your health. You might think of the physical body
as encased by a mental/emotional body which in turn is encased by a soul
body and beyond that a luminous energy body.
Understanding that beliefs and emotions affect the luminous energy body
around us and the body can develop imbalances and areas of disturbed stale
heavy or dark energy that will in turn affect the mental/emotional and
even the physical body. A shaman would say that if you were to heal an
illness, but not deal with the thoughts, causes and emotions of the
illness, it would probably return. Monitoring your thoughts and emotions
may prevent an ailment reduce its intensity promote physical healing or
improve your immunityŠ..So incorporate energy healing modalities into any
treatment plan for any continuing physical condition.
Sheryl feels that after reading Change The Story of Your Health it will
become abundantly clear that healing usually involves a new mind body
spirit assimilation of thought and actionŠthe shedding of long held ideas
that may no longer work for you, and a reevaluation of relationships and
what is important to you in life. Learning you are not in control of what
events may happen but you are in control of your response and greater
realization of a larger plan at work that is actually helping you explore
your inner world or eternal soul sense of life is the only way to truly
know yourself and others, and some of the deeper purposes for our physical
reality. Reflection and asking for help are beginning ways to love
yourself and life, and to create healing on many levels.
In summarizing today¹s episode of Healing From Within we have not only
addressed changing the story of your health but also discussed enlarging
the greater view of who we are as spiritual beings having a physical life
in an effort to develop greater self-awareness and self mastery of our
emotions, This view ultimately leads us to have gratitude and faith in
viewing all the challenges and events of a life as opportunities that brim
with possibilities for finally knowing the true nature of our human and
divine nature. Using expanded awareness practices are the key to gaining
insights along with mindful breathing and silent time in nature, which
help to find the inner map that helps overcome fear and allows you to
create joy and positivity. Dr Carl Greer in bringing together Jungian and
Shamanic healing approaches helps readers to know the value of mindful
change within attitudes and our lifestyle and also the need for greater
acceptance and patience in dealing with everyday life challenges.
Furthermore, he shares a greater awareness of the beauty and worthiness of
all passages through time in a life cycle that affect our sense of Self
and shows us how to honor all events with hope and trust in the larger
view of our eternal soul nature. By simply knowing this we can improve our
physical health story immensely.
Dr Greer writes ³ Going forward I hope you will continue to use this
book¹s techniques not just for yourself but with others to help them in
their quest for greater wellness. Many people need healing and working
with others can help them and you to feel a sense of community support as
you step into a new way of relating to your healthŠ through the power of
story and the power of claiming your role as the storyteller.
Carl and Sheryl would have you remember that while events may sometimes
happen unexpectedly and surprise us, that is the way life unfolds, and we
hope you can learn to relate to a larger view of the world of energy and
your inner life through using the many tools of energy medicine,
meditation and community involvement. When you help yourself to growŠ. the
world around you grows impressively more wonderful.