Healing Meditation by Asghar Ghorbani

The knowledge of how to heal ourselves is already in our brains and bodies. This knowledge does not work at the conscious level. The brain/mind discovers something that is broken in the body and immediately sets about fixing it. All of the knowledge required for healing is already there and does not require any special action of the conscious mind, except to get out of the way and allow the healing to take place. The conscious mind does have an influence on the process; though it is not one of detailed and direct control. 
 

The way the conscious mind can help or hurt the healing process is by being aligned with the healing process or being opposed to it. By believing in the healing process, by taking as much of an active role as possible in the care of one's body, by having a positive attitude, and by focusing on the goal of healing, the conscious mind aligns itself with the healing process and does what it can to aid the body's natural healing intelligence. By having the mindset of illness and defeat, the conscious mind can become an obstacle to healing.

But how does one attain the positive outlook that contributes to healing? One attains it by working on it. While illness can make one feel out of control- a passive victim- the truth is that there are several extremely important things that are in one's control and that will alter the course of one's illness.

First, one controls what goes into the body: food and drink. We create a lot of illness by giving our body poor fuel, and we frustrate our bodies' efforts to heal us when we are sick. The body has the knowledge to heal us, but it is up to us to give the body the building blocks of healing.

Second, we can move our bodies. There are many healing processes that cannot take place without movement. For example, someone with joint pain uses the pain as an excuse to stop moving the joint. But that is a mistake. Movement is essential to the healing of joints. They cannot heal without movement. For one thing, the fluid inside joints needs to be replenished just as the blood inside of our arteries needs to be replenished. For this to happen, it needs to be physically moved around. In the case of the blood, the heart does the moving, but in the case of the fluid in joints, only moving the joint will pump the fluid through the joint. We can't escape the essential physicality of our bodies. Our bodies evolved to heal through motion.

Third, we can change our thinking patterns. It is a scientific fact that people with positive attitudes toward the healing process actually heal better than those with a defeatist attitude. But it may seem like these attitudes are just a matter of personality- that they are fixed. Not so. We can change our attitudes by working on them, by acting as if we have a positive attitude, even if we don't feel it yet, by helping others, and by meditating.

Meditation-reflection on the positive, or even just mindful reflection on any negative thought process that one has, can help calm destructive thinking patterns and will eventually allow one to focus on the positive, on a path to healing. Helping others can also help us develop positive attitudes by giving one a general sense of well-being. Helping others makes people happy.

And finally, one simple tool is just to go through the motions of having a positive attitude. For example, one can actually become happier by smiling, even when one does not, at first, feel like smiling.

By developing a positive attitude, giving one's body the right nutrition, and by moving it around, one can align oneself with the healing process and let the brain and body do what they already know, how to heal.

Asghar Ghorbani 3/7/13