There are many forms of healing, including working with medicines, both natural plants, herbs, tonics, flower essences, homeopathy as well as modern chemical derivatives and surgery. Also there is psychology and psychiatry in all its many forms. There is a great world of technical knowledge of substances and methods, and in the field of energy medicine too there is value in the knowledge and accuracy of techniques for clearing energy blockages with massage, and acupuncture, and more subtle forms of healing with sound and light, etc.
When it comes to pure energy healing we are talking about the healer as a channel of universal healing energy. Someone who does Reiki is a Reiki channel – a channel of universal healing energy. There are many different schools and techniques being taught today. Training in any form often acts as a trigger or "permission slip" that allows you to access your natural gift of healing.
There are a few key differences between a skilled technician and a healer. This can sometimes be described as a good bedside manner, a doctor who cares. When we enter into the realm of laying-on-of-hands healing, electro-magnetism and the transference of energy from the healer to the patient, or the channeling of universal energy from the cosmos to the patient, we can discuss the aspects that determine the making of a good healer, a good channel, although we can never be definitive when it comes to explaining how and what happens - healing is usually an occurrence outside of normal space and time reality.
We can describe a healer as someone who has pure intention, is largely a whole and healthy person themselves, and able to be completely present and in the moment, available to and able to access that world of infinite energy, without the personal dramas and life-story and ego that interferes with this process. We can talk about how we can prepare ourselves, train, and become that person. We can discuss the difference between someone who does this work as a calling, or someone who is merely performing this service as on occupation.
None of this is as important as the thing we call LOVE.
As mentioned earlier, overcoming the feeling of separation is the essence of healing- convincing the person that they are not alone. Remind them of their true natural state, infinite being, their connection to all that is, and immerse them in that universal force called love, from whence they came, their natural home.
In the words of Nisargaddatta, All pain comes from not knowing the self, and all pleasure comes from knowing the self.
Removing mental and emotional patterns of guilt and shame is a direct path towards self knowledge and healing. Let your client know that they can wipe the slate clean, asking for forgiveness from those that you have hurt or harmed in any way, whether intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly, in this life or another, in this world or another. And forgiving those that have harmed or hurt you in any way ...
Forgiveness is for you, letting go, not for them...you can just leave that all up to karma and divine justice.
For many, the crucial thing is often to forgive yourself.
Illnesses also have their own timing, of their coming and going, sometimes as a condition of collectively held beliefs of the tribe/family. (Collectively we in a Western tribe might believe that cancer will take time to heal, while in some indigenous cultures there is a stronger belief in “miracles” and spontaneous remissions might occur more often).
Illnesses also come with a gift - every person needs to find out what has created this illness, there is a message for you from your body or your subconscious that can help you grow personally and spiritually. Often you need to accept the gift before the illness can depart. What benefit does the illness bring you? Can you give that to yourself?
There might be a need for humility, a need to allow others to help you, a need to be quiet for a while. Illness often takes so much energy that the patient does not have the mental energy for thinking and this in itself can be a benefit – a forced meditation period. The message: Just be, accept surrender, breath, relax.
The role of the healer is not to just remove the illness which is really just a symptom, as this might rob the patient of the insight needed not to recreate the imbalance. It is important for therapist and client/patient both to address the whole being, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Unresolved traumas and unprocessed emotions need to be acknowledged and addressed. Understanding yourself to be both the conscious and unconscious author of your own life story. The meaning of life is what we give to it.