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Writer's pictureAmy Stafford, M.S.

Healing is a return to wholeness.




Healing is a return to wholeness.


This article will introduce the concepts of wholeness and oneness, the age-old question of who we are, and the inner healer we each have within us. Further articles, videos and courses will dive deeper into the concepts introduced here. This is where the journey towards True North begins.


It is a mistake of our intellect that we see ourselves as separate – separate from God/Source/The Divine, separate from nature and mother earth, and separate from each other. Even the separations we see within ourselves – seeing our mind as separate from our body and our “parts” as separate from each other are misperceptions.


We are not separate from the life around us. If you separate plants from mammals, they will both die. We are energetically connected to all life on this planet – and even to the planet itself.


There is no difference between what is happening in our mind or emotions and what is happening in our body. This is why simply changing our beliefs, thoughts, and emotions can directly affect our health and our life in any given moment and in very profound ways.


Through the biofield (the electromagnetic field) that surrounds all living things (to include ourselves), we influence, monitor, and regulate each other – the same happens between us and the earth.

We are not separate from the biological rhythms found throughout nature and the cosmos – we are intimately connected to these rhythms – even if we ignore them or are unaware of them, they are still there. It is in our best interest to align ourselves with these rhythms.


So, separation is a misperception, an illusion, a hallucination. All atoms and cells are made of the same universe – and while they have an ability to take on different roles through differentiation, they are all essentially the same. With each breath, we are constantly exchanging atoms/cells with everything around us - we are not separate - we are all one.


Our body should also be viewed as a ‘verb’, an activity, and not a noun or a thing. Our body is always in motion, always changing – our cells and atoms are constantly dying and being created. 98% of our body recycles once a year. The body you woke up with this morning is not the same body you are experiencing life through now. It is this very fact that allows for "miraculous" healings to occur quite frequently.


A fundamental question in life that can be so difficult for many to answer – Who Am I? – is at the heart of understanding our truth, and is at the foundation of our healing. Many of our problems arise from not understanding who we are, and suffering is often caused by the stories we tell ourselves (about our life or about ourselves) that are based on a false understanding of who we are.


Who are you?


Most believe that they are their body and mind, or that they are the sum of their experiences, the sum of the stories told about them by themselves, or others. Yet, where are You right now? Scientists have yet to find the “source” of consciousness/spirit in our body.


If you go inside your body, there is no “I” to be found.


As Deepak puts it: “I is the one who is experiencing.” "I" is the awareness behind our thoughts.


As Eckhart Tolle has stated many times, "I" is the listener, the one who is present and aware of our thoughts.


“I”, or You, is the one having the body/mind experience we call life, the one regulating and choreographing life. We are not the body or the mind - these are merely aspects of the experience itself - aspects that we have the ability to self-regulate and control.

When trying to heal it is important to understand that you are not your body. It is also important to understand that it is the “I”/ your True Self / your consciousness, that has ultimate control of your thoughts and beliefs - which can guide the biology of your body.


It is when we get to this place of understanding of who we truly are that we can begin to heal – that we can begin our journey back to wholeness.


So, who are we?


Several ways of looking at the answer to this question are:

  • We are infinite beings living a finite experience.

  • We are spiritual beings on a cosmic journey living a human experience with awareness.

  • We are the universe expressing itself in various forms.

  • We are consciousness.

  • We are love.

I equate our individual natures to our unique ‘tone’ or ‘note’ that is part of the whole. A grand symphony of life where all living things express their own unique note. We are the symphony, but we are also our own unique note. If we get still enough and listen, we can hear our own unique inner tone and begin to recognize ourselves, and we can begin to understand how we fit within the whole.


At the quantum level our bodies are vibrating energy – light, sound, electromagnetic frequency. Our thoughts are energy in motion. Our hearts emit a field of emotional energy at least 3 feet, and up to 8 feet out from our body – which influences the energy fields of those around us, and yes, can even influence the electromagnetic frequency of the earth where we are standing.


Have you ever walked into a room and “felt” the energy of the room? This is where it is coming from. We can control and regulate our emotional energy field by getting our heart rate into coherence, an exercise that was developed and thoroughly researched by the HeartMath Institute. You can learn about this technique HERE.


It is at this level that we find true solutions for healing – of ourselves, and the world. We can’t heal problems of the mind with the very mind they were caused by – so we need to transcend our mind and our thoughts and learn to listen to our heart and get in touch with our True Self.


What is the “boots on the ground” application for this? Or in other words, what does this mean for us in our daily, practical lives?


First, when we reach this understanding and level of consciousness, there are a few very real practical values to come out of it:

  • We open to possibility and find a world full of potential and abundance

  • We open to creativity, and we begin to co-create with the Divine

  • We begin to harness the full power of our intention

  • We begin to live more harmoniously with nature and with those around us

  • We learn that our power rests only in the present moment (not in our past or in our future, but in our now)

  • We understand that physical and mental symptoms are simply our body/mind speaking to us, trying to direct us to where our imbalances are (which can be physical, mental, emotional, energetic, or spiritual)

  • We learn that imagination is more important than knowledge and understand what it means to have a childlike curiosity in our world.

  • We harness the power of our imagination to create new beliefs that can literally change our reality

  • We begin to transform our biology at the cellular level – our Vagus nerve is key to most of this ability.

  • We let go of those attachments (to thoughts, beliefs, and stories) that are limiting and harmful, and experience true freedom in our lives.

Essentially, we each hold within us the power to create our own reality, and therefore, we are responsible for the reality we are each living. (There are about 7.9 billion different realities (or perceptions of reality) currently happening on this planet right now.) Understanding this is incredibly empowering.


While there are some exceptions, for the most part, yes, we have the ability, and the power, to heal our body and mind – all we need to do is empower ourselves and get out of our own way.


“Beliefs and thoughts alter cells in your body.” – Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.


Our conscious ideas, expectations, and beliefs direct the health and activity of our biology and our cells. Bruce Lipton, PhD goes into detail on this in his book, “The Biology of Belief.”


With a shift in our beliefs, with conscious control of our mind and our thoughts, with the power of our intentions, and with prayer and use of visualization, we can move towards healing and transform our lives.


Unfortunately, most let their mind and thoughts control them. The majority of us aren’t aware of our own beliefs – mostly because they can show up as basic assumptions.


Beliefs have the potential to be empowering or limiting. They have the potential to be limiting, because when we hold a belief, our mind filters our memories to prove and reinforce this belief – thus literally shaping our past (how we remember it anyway).


When we hold a belief, our mind filters our present thoughts and perceptions of the world around us, in an effort to reinforce this belief. This then directly influences our actions and reactions and begins to create our future. So, if this belief is one that does not serve us, then it is instead limiting us, and possibly harming us.


How does one change or let go of a belief? As you elevate your consciousness, some beliefs and your attachments to them will fall away on their own. Others may take some time for you to become aware of them.


To change or let go of a belief, we first have to shift our awareness and open our mind- seeing the world as if for the first time with childlike curiosity and inquisitiveness, without attachments to outcome or expectations.


  • This quote from Lord Shiva is helpful: “Step out of the river of memory and conditioning and see the world as if for the first time.”

  • Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

  • Beginner’s mind – from Shoshin, Zen Buddhism. “What is beginner’s mind? It’s dropping our expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, just like a beginner.” -- Leo Babauta

When we know what belief we are choosing to accept in our life – such as a belief around self-healing – than there are visualization exercises one can do. If we repeat this exercise enough, our inner channels are repatterned. There will be some simple exercises for this in our Summit Monthly for March.


True healing leads us to wholeness. True healing does not come about by masking or blocking symptoms or by viewing our body as a sum of parts. While doing so may keep our physical form alive, it does not address what caused the imbalance and disturbance to begin with, and so further imbalances/disturbances are likely to occur until we do.


Our symptoms are messengers, and we will not be able to find true healing and a return to wholeness until we become aware of what they are communicating to us and address those, the true root causes.

This level of healing begins with awareness – of who you are, of any beliefs, thoughts, or ideas that you hold, of those things in your life you hold attachments to, of your current environment, and of what your body is trying to communicate to you.


Full awareness is where we need to start – getting to know who we truly are and the truths around our own lives. From there we can begin the inner work.


There are other approaches to healing that can assist and accelerate our body’s innate ability to heal itself alongside this inner work. While these can be very effective, even they are only temporary if we do not address what lies underneath.


I list a few below:

  • Detoxification (of anything toxic in nature – from pesticides, chemicals, emotions, situations, people, the ‘news’, social media, etc.) can accelerate and support the healing processes in our body.

  • Clean nutrition will support and accelerate the body’s ability to heal.

  • Yoga or Qi Gong help us to develop awareness of our inner body, activate our vagus nerve, and direct healing to where it is needed most.

  • With the use of plant and energy medicines, we can assist our body back towards balance.

  • Acupuncture, Reiki, and Chakra healing will assist our body back towards balance and allow healing to occur.

  • Spiritual healing will address deep subconscious issues and also assist our ability to heal ourselves.

None of those things listed above will heal us on their own, the real healing work lies with our thoughts, our beliefs, and our emotions. Inner work is an essential component of any healing journey.


We are the creators of our current reality, and as such, we have the power to transform that reality.


Some may not like hearing that we alone are responsible for the life we are living, for our current state of health - feeling perhaps that life is not in our control and is something that simply happens to us – whether through our DNA or external factors.


Some may not like hearing that approximately 95% of disease conditions are entirely under our influence – that through epigenetics our thoughts and our choices determine which genes activate and which don’t. Accepting responsibility for our own health and our lives is challenging yes, but in the end, is freeing and very healing.


When we empower ourselves to, as Dr. Mark Hyman puts it, “become the CEO of our own health”, then we can truly begin our journey towards health and longevity.


It can be hard work – but it is so very rewarding, and it is the only way to truly be free in this life. It is the only way towards a peaceful and harmonious life – where we can choose something other than suffering, and where we can extend our health and not just the years of our life.


Finally, this world will not change for the better and will not begin to heal until individuals first do the work within themselves to elevate their consciousness and heal themselves. It starts within each one of us. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to do what we can to create a better world.


“The only way to change the world is by changing ourselves,

because we are the world, we are the universe.” – Deepak Chopra



Further Reading:

The Alchemy of Inner Work by Lorie Eve Dechar and Benjamin Fox

Healing Ourselves by Shamini Jain, PhD

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, PhD

The Healer Within by Robert Jahnke, OMD

The Science of Self Empowerment by Gregg Braden


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