The "Meeting Asclepius" practice uses visualization to help us access our inner healer. This inner healer will guide us to integral health. It is our subtle mind. We are instructed to close our eyes and visualize someone we respect and honor. We are asked to carefully observe the chosen individual we are visualizing and then sit in communion with the individual and feel the wisdom, love, peace, and compassion from that person. Stay with the mentor and allow the connection to grow deeper. When the image has stablized visualize a beam of white light from the individual's crown and then allow the beam and energy to enter your mind and allow it to cleanse and bath your thoughts, feelings, and images. Allow it infuse wisdom, pureness, and stillness into your mind. Next, allow another beam of light emerge from the heart of this individual and allow it to enter your heart. Allow it to infuse your heart with kindness, love, and compassion. Become this person by taking on his or her qualities. Next, allow the image of this individual dissolve into a bright white light. allow the light to enter your forehead and permeate your entire being. Experience what it is like to have the support and wisdom of this inner healer.
This exercise made me feel cared about and important to this individual, as if my well-being was the only concern. I loved how I felt towards the end when I realized this healer has always been within me, I just haven't allowed it to be present. If we didn't have it in us already we wouldn't be able to visualize it.
The prayer at the end was this:
May you be able to know the preciousness of your life, the beauty of your heart, and the qualities and capacities of your inner life. May you be able to use the well-endowed form of your body as a vessel to take your toward a life of meaning, depth, profound health, and service.
Even if it takes a lifetime we can achieve integral health. As it is said in the East, "A bucket is not filled with water by the first or last drop. It is filled by the collection of a very large number of drops."
This exercise has reminded me that I am my own healer and I have the capacity to heal myself through contemplative practice.
The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that anyone in a health care profession must work on their own spiritual revolution. To have a map is not the same as having been somewhere and seeing and experiencing it first-hand.
I very much agree with this saying and feel I have an obligation to my clients to develop my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually in order to have a better understanding of the process so that I can help others toward their own path to integral health.
I have been developing my health for a long time now. I eat a diet of natural foods that nourishes my body, I am physically active, and I spend time in prayer daily. This class has taught me several different practices I would like to incorporate into my life, especially the loving-kindness practice.
Hi Sarah
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you were able to learn from this exercise. And was able to access your inner healer.
I also eat a healthy diet of natural foods and other foods that are not natural but i make sure that they are cleaned very properly.
I know the loving-kindness is a everyday practice and that is something that can take time and is a life time of change and a process of change. I am working on that everyday of my life as well.
I enjoyed reading your post.
Sara it is great to see that you have been working to improve your health both physically and spiritually. This was my favorite exercise so far. I chose to visualize my grandfather who has been passed on for several years now. Even though is has been gone for a longer period of my life than he was here with me, he is probably the most memorable person in my life. He was an all around great man, and I would absolutely love to be like him. It was so nice to sit during this exercise and visualize him being there with me, and to feel that pieces of his soul were now within me. I am in tears right now thinking about having him with me for the rest of my life. I can see how this will be the most beneficial exercise for me in reaching integral health. It's like I've found a connection and something I can turn to when I feel that I need help with my mental health.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, Sara.
ReplyDeleteWorking on improving your health is always a great thing to do. It takes will power to do it and many people do not have that when it comes to being healthier. I am not the healthiest eater but I play basketball and workout at least 4 days a week so that keeps me from being over weight.
Sara, I really enjoyed reading your post. I find it hard to learn from most of our exercises, but it is very nice to know others like you have. I do agree, we ultimately are our own healer and are responsible for taking control of our own health, body, mind and spirit.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post. it made me reexperience the feelings I had when I first listened to the recording. I still feel like I need additional practice to experience what you did by this.
Good for you, it sounds like you are treating your inner and outer body very well. You have a good understanding of what it takes to achieve integral health.