Choosing a Healer
For years people have told me their problems and then asked me which healing technique's the best for them. Do they need acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs, homeopathy, massage, energy healing?
I always tell them it's not the technique. It's the person using it.
The personal chemistry between healer and client is delicate and inexplicable. For best results, client and healer must click.
There's a good reason for this. Healing is all about energy, information, communication, presence, trust. Each of us is unique and we each have to wrestle with our own special mix of health strengths and weaknesses, tests and challenges. One of the foundation ideas of holistic health is that treatment should be tailored to the individual. One of the best ways of knowing how good a fit the healer/client relationship is is how it feels.
The first clue (but only the first) is that personal chemistry. The body knows things, sometimes, before the mind does. This can be tricky. Part of the best healing is teaching and learning. But recognizing relationships between health habits and health problems can take some time; changing those habits can take a little longer. Helping people feel better and relieving symptoms isn't all that difficult a technical trick for a competent practitioner in all but the most difficult cases. But the best healing involves teaching clients the relationships between their everyday choices and their problems, and clients putting that knowledge to work.
Not everyone's ready for this. The part of us that's comfortable and stuck can be very stubborn. Sometimes meeting one's teacher is wonderful. Sometimes it makes us defensive. Chinese proverbs say that when one is really ready, the teacher promptly arrives. A good healer should know when to take care of you, and when and how you should come to be ready to take care of yourself someday. It's always best when they're patient and let the patient take their own time coming to terms with the situation. Assuming, of course, that they have that time. If not, then sometimes the healer needs to be tough. Not everyone's ready for that, either.
Another clue is reputation. How did we hear about the healer in the first place? Anyone can advertise.
Of course when considering reputation you have to consider the source. Professionals who've been working in an area for awhile often know where and how to find the best of their peers. If you're completely new to this you might want to get a copy of the local weekly paper and start calling massage therapists - the real ones. Ask them for the name of a good healer in your neighborhood. If you hear about the same person more than once or twice, this is a very good sign (this may not always happen in large urban areas where one good referral from the right person sometimes has to be enough.)
The most important clue is results. Someone might have a sterling reputation . . . the two of you might have great rapport . . . but if you're weeks into your process and you're not seeing noticeable results it's probably time to try a new healer. There are healing processes that take months and years; it's entirely legitimate for a healer to take a number of visits to really zero in on a client's needs, and a number more for their work to take effect. But even in the early stages of such a journey one should notice periods, if only brief at first, of marked improvement.
Reputation, chemistry, results. These are probably the best early indicators that you're making a good choice in your healer. It's a very idiosyncratic process; the choosing and the healing. Very few healers can master every case; be especially aware when encountering folks who claim to be able to help everyone. Just because something/someone helped your friend doesn't mean it/they'll be able to help you. But the odds are much better than they would be with something/someone you hear of in an ad or pick from a directory.