Crystal Healing: Helping Ourselves

Rainbow crystal

Hey everyone! Another question has come up that I thought I would address as a blog post. Curt asks:

“I find my crystal work is more effective in assisting others than it is when I assist myself. What do you advise?”

That’s a really great question, and one I have often asked myself over the years. Why is it that most healing modalities seem more effective when we apply them to others than when we work on ourselves?

When we work on ourselves, many different factors come into play: 1) our (sometimes desperate) desire for healing, 2) doubts about our ability coupled with the ingrained thought that others know better and can do more for us than we can do for ourselves (the pattern of chronically handing away our power), 3) being split between being the healer and the recipient  4) expecting results with only one healing session, and 5) forgetting to implement an ongoing healing practice.

These are but a few reasons working on ourselves may seem to be less effective than working on others. Let’s look at these reasons in more detail.

Golden Healer with Window

OUR (SOMETIMES DESPERATE) DESIRE FOR HEALING

For me, the level of my desire for healing, (coupled with the severity of the ailment from which I am needing relief), directly coincides with the amount of healing I feel I can usually achieve on my own. For example: oftentimes my back begins to hurt when I sit for long periods at the computer when I am posting crystals for adoption. When I become mindful of the fact that my back is aching, I may ask one of the crystals I am currently preparing for the website to assist me in easing the pain. Nine times out of ten, I will find that my back pain eases up right away if I put my attention there and remember to ask the crystals’ assistance.

In contrast, if I am sick with bronchitis or pneumonia, I find that I am not able to affect a noticeable difference in my level of healing as quickly as I would like. I may be able to ease my comfort level, and shorten the length of the illness in comparison to previous bouts, but I’m not able to snap my fingers and have it disappear immediately (as I would like). When my cancer was present and I was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, I could work with the crystals on alleviating small symptoms such as nausea or anxiety, but I really didn’t have faith in my ability to heal myself of cancer.

Self Healed Soulmate crystal

DOUBTS ABOUT OUR ABILITY

That leads me to the next point: faith in our ability. Normally when I am working with the crystals on another’s behalf, I am not coming from the mindset that I am healing them. I see myself completely as a conduit for something much greater than myself to work through me. In other words I remove myself from the equation. In this way, I don’t have to have faith in my ability, because it is not my ability. I know that I am working for the person’s greatest and highest good and I have called in guides and masters and helpers. I am simply the hose (channel) which the water (the healing principle) flows through to the plant (recipient) in need of nourishment or healing. I am not the water, nor do I expect myself to be. Which leads me to the next point:

Old soul crystal

BEING SPLIT BETWEEN BEING BOTH HEALER AND RECIPIENT

When we work with the crystals on another’s behalf (rather than on ourselves), 100% of our attention and energy is focused on the healing process of that other person. They are 100% in receiving mode, and we are 100% in giving mode. We are able to open to the channel of healing completely and without reservations. Our focus is outwardly directed and we work with the crystals as extensions of our energy stream.

When you direct that healing towards yourself, it is more difficult to differentiate between the hose (channel), the water (healing), and the plant (recipient). How can a person be both the hose (channel) and the plant (recipient)? For me, when working on myself, I feel like I am responsible for directing, causing and receiving the healing (being hose, plant and even water). Therefore I see myself as a failure (both as healer and healee) if I don’t see an immediate and complete response. The implication is that I have done something “wrong” as the patient or don’t have healing capabilities in the first place if I don’t see 100% relief in the first (and usually only) session. In the past, this mindset prevented me from even making the attempt in the first place, which admittedly was a very defeatist attitude. It is my desire that if you share this attitude that reading this post will help you change your outlook and bring you a renewed sense of confidence in your crystal healing abilities.

I don’t expect myself to “heal” another person of an ailment. I don’t go into it full of ego, waving my crystals and promising remission or complete and immediate relief. I am open and receptive to that happening, of course! But that part of the process is beyond my control as conduit to the healing flow. I am assisting the recipient’s own healing process. In contrast, when I work on myself, I find that secretly I expect such ego-driven results. This doesn’t take into consideration the “bigger picture” reasons we have illnesses (another blog post coming up on this topic). As much as possible, in your healing sessions, afford yourself the same compassion in the healing process that you allow for others. In other words, don’t be so hard on yourself either as the healer or as the recipient. Remember that in this situation, you are both the hose and the plant and because of this expect some differences in the process.

Perhaps in playing the two roles, you can set up your healing sessions with this in mind:

1. First be the “healer”

• Become clear on the desired outcome and make the steps small. (For example, if it is the flu, work to alleviate the nausea. Next session work to alleviate the aches and fatigue, and so on.)
• Once you are clear on the step you are working on, program your crystals. (Here is a reminder of how to do that: Choosing and Clearing your Crystal, then Programming Your Crystal.)
• Ask for assistance from your desired “Higher Power” (eg: Creator, God/Goddess, Spirit, Higher Self, Guides, Masters, Angels, etc).
• Prepare the room as if you are setting it up for a cherished friend.
• Place your crystals around the space in which you would place the “client”, and maybe reserve one to place on your body. (For examples of what to do, see these two posts, Crystal Grid for Lung Issues, My Most Recent Personal Grid. These are both examples of small scale grids. To set up a healing grid, simply apply the principles on a large scale, with your body as the central point.) I will write a post on crystal healing specifics soon!

2. Once you prepare the room and healing space as the healer, then take off that hat and
become the beneficiary of the healing.

• Enter the space the “healer” has prepared for you.
• Engage in the process 100% as the recipient of this healing session.
• Let your “helpers” work with the crystals, and you simply receive.

Don’t forget to cleanse and charge your crystals between healing sessions and remember to thank them for their assistance. (See: Cleansing and Charging Your Crystal)

Gas Phantom Channeler crystal

EXPECTING RESULTS WITH ONLY ONE HEALING SESSION

Plan to engage in more than one session with yourself and don’t expect an outside source to “cure” you. Like I said earlier, there are certainly “spontaneous” remissions and “miraculous” healing, but truth be told, there has been some internal healing work in progress there. Some of it happens more quickly than others. In the meantime, work on discovering the message or the lesson which has brought you this illness. I know my tendency is to resist the discomfort, rage at the disease, curse my body, harden against the symptoms or try to pretend they don’t exist. This doesn’t make the symptoms or illness go away, it tends to make them more persistent.

Rainbow crystal

FORGETTING TO IMPLEMENT AN ONGOING HEALING PRACTICE

One final note in helping self-healing sessions with crystal to work more effectively is to remember to do it ! Much the same way that antibiotics aren’t going to help a bit if you don’t take them, neither will healing with crystals work if you don’t remember to ask them. I know people who keep adopting crystals because they are touted to help heal a certain ailment, but they never put into practice the healing portion of the healing equation, which is actual engagement with the crystal. They buy another and another and another. Continuing to fill more and more prescriptions will not help unless you take the first antibiotic and give it a chance to work.

In summary:

• Be mindful when symptoms occur and remember there are helpers ready and able to assist you. You must ask and then work together. Healing is a co-creative process.
• Make your goal for the healing sessions clear and in small manageable steps.
• If your symptoms are persistent, don’t expect to get full relief from just one sitting. It will most probably require repeated sessions.
• Set up your healing sessions as if you are two separate people (the healer and the recipient) and engage fully in each aspect of the process, separately.
• Try not to resist the symptoms or blame your body. Greet each with loving-kindness.
• Do your best to understand and resolve the underlying message which has brought you these symptoms or illness.
• Engage fully with the crystals you have at hand before seeking a different remedy in the form of yet another crystal.
• The final and most important step in helping ourselves with crystal healing: DON’T FORGET TO DO IT!

I wish you crystal blessings and happy healing!

Find Genn at Arkansas Crystal Works