After years of not paying attention to the honest voices inside you, you may not remember how to listen to your intuition. This disconnection may have caused you to feel worn down or depressed, weakened, and powerless, and left your immune systems vulnerable and open to illness. In Empowered Healer, author Dr. Susan Allison helps you relearn how to access and listen to your inner guidance and become empowered to take action to heal yourself completely-both physically and emotionally. Allison has spent more than twenty years developing a formula to help you: Believe in yourself and stop blocking your healing Fill with power and create a team to support you Tune into and listen to your physical symptoms Find the emotional causes of your distress Release physical and emotional pain Create and live the life of your dreams Using anecdotes and examples from her personal experiences as a healer, Allison communicates the keys to believing in your own power to restore yourself to wholeness. A powerhouse of wisdom, Empowered Healer helps you heal from the inside out to create greater happiness in every area of your life.

Empowered Healer

Gain the Confidence, Power and Ability to Heal YourselfBy Susan Allison

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2011 Susan Allison, Ph.D.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-3777-1

Contents

Acknowledgements..............................................ixPreface: A Personal Story.....................................xiiiIntroduction: The Empowered Healer Method.....................1Part I: Believe You Can Heal..................................17Part II: Receive the Power to Heal............................41Part III: Achieve Self-Healing................................73Part IV: Perceive Greater Healing.............................99Notes.........................................................113Bibliography..................................................117

Chapter One

PART I: Believe You Can Heal

In the five years between 1992 and 1997 my father and mother died, my eighteen year old daughter became pregnant, my youngest child left for college, and my marriage of over twenty years ended. After this, I moved three times, changed professions, fell in love and remarried. I also became seriously ill and was able to heal myself.

Just reading this list of changes has my head whirling, and I remember these years as being ones of deep grief, panic, excitement and great joy. One of my former students during this time recalled that in 1992 I asked for this enormous change. I denied it at first, but she remembered the words I said to my writing class, "I can't stand my life. I need a change!" This reminds me of how powerful we are and how we must be careful what we ask for. It always comes true in some form to give us what we need, but rarely in the way we expect.

I'm sharing this part of my life with you to express how change, stress, anxiety, loss and grief, even excitement and positive change, can impact our immune systems and create emotional and physical symptoms. When my father died, when I left my marriage and when my mother died, I developed cysts in my left breast during each loss. I had to have sonograms and biopsies and the cysts were quite painful. I wrote a poem in 1994 that reflects how my emotions showed up in my body. A few lines are shared here:

    I found a lump in my left breast
    after my father died;
    just couldn't let him go
    held him in my tissue
    in a small smooth marble
    near my heart.
    Now I carry a stone
    in the same breast;
    it holds
    the ending of a marriage
    leaving of two children
    the losing of my home.
      From "Forgiveness"
      in Breathing Room

How I healed myself after my mother's death and have been free of cysts ever since, will be presented in Part III. What I'm illustrating here is that we store our emotions somewhere in our bodies if we're not expressing or dealing with them. Instead of talking about my loss more, I held my anger, sadness and powerlessness in my breast. I held people and events in my body that I grieved and couldn't seem to release. Part I will help you to notice any unresolved life experiences and feelings that could be compromising your health. You will learn how to release people, events and issues from your past, and how to move forward in the healing process. You already may be seeing a connection between your life experiences and your health just from reading the above words.

When my clients make the phone call and the appointment to see me, they've already begun to heal. Without even realizing it at times, they are setting an intention to feel better again. We are consciously and unconsciously expressing intentions all the time just by our words and actions, and these intentions set the stage for receiving and achieving what we want. In essence, we are taking the first step towards improved wellbeing and a more fulfilling life. In buying this book, you've followed your intuition, and may feel curious, interested and perhaps already committed to your own or others' healing.

Here in Part I, I'm asking you to prepare for self-healing by looking at your willingness and readiness. I'm asking you to let go of the past and of any negativity or resistance, so you can believe completely in your ability to heal yourself. Similarly, Dr. Bernie Siegel asks his patients to accept some of the responsibility for their illness, for if they have taken part in getting sick, they can also take part in getting well. And so can you.

As mentioned earlier, Part I will focus on how past experiences and emotions may have contributed to your illness or injury, and how you can release these issues and choose to be well. Parts I and II are the preparation sections, as their content and exercises will prepare you to achieve self-healing in Part III. As a reminder, the healing formula you will be using in Part III is: 1) Relax deeply, turn inward and visualize, 2) Explore and dialogue with what you find, 3) Remove or let go of any intrusion, and 4) Restore balance and normalcy with light and color imagery.

Before taking the Four Action Steps described above, you have the opportunity in Part I to explore and correct anything blocking your healing. By answering a series of questions, you can discover and resolve any issues related to your health. For instance, you may find certain events, people or feelings are connected to your illness, or you may discover that you are attached to your illness for some reason; perhaps it is giving you attention or a dividend that you may not realize consciously. If your answers do reveal any residual issues, you will be shown how to process and release them. Then you will be free to proceed, and able to believe more fully in the process of healing yourself.

Please answer the following questions honestly by writing your first intuitive response. Then add any comments or details that seem vital to the process. The more specific you can be the better. Give yourself plenty of time, sit in a calm environment and unplug the phone so you won't be disturbed. You can make a copy of the following questionnaire and answer the questions there, or write your responses in your journal.

Life-Issues Questionnaire

1. What have been your most challenging life experiences? (These experiences could have occurred from early childhood to the present). Star the ones that still feel unresolved or painful.

2. Did something significant happen near the onset of your illness, injury or emotional issue? If yes, describe this event, loss or change.

3. Are there aspects of your personality, your core beliefs or lifelong behavior patterns that may be contributing to your illness, injury or issue? If so, describe them here. (Examples might be: having low self-esteem, focusing on others' needs, not feeling loved, being resentful/unforgiving, disappointed, angry, guilty or sad).

4. After referring to the above answers, what are the main connections between your life experiences and your current illness, injury or emotional distress?

Now go back and review what you have written and add anything more that is surfacing. The more you reflect on the above issues and write your deepest heartfelt responses, the sooner you will be ready to heal the past and any connection to your distress.

An Exercise of Letting Go

If you found a connection between an issue, event, emotion or person and your current health situation, then it would be good to release this link before moving on. What this means is first acknowledging the connection, processing what happened to you, and then being willing to let it go. You may feel like writing even more detail in your journal in order to process your realizations, and be sure to give yourself time to think about your discoveries and feel your feelings.

When you feel ready, you can release each life experience in writing or you can use visual and vocal techniques or a combination. If continuing to write in your journal, choose each person, issue or event you wish to release and write, "I now let go of ____________________ and am ready to move on." You can write this same line as many times as necessary until you feel neutral about the issue and are truly able to let it go. Also, you can visualize releasing whatever or whomever it is by placing the issue, event, feeling or person in a balloon and imagining it/them floating away. You can add your voice, by saying aloud, "I now let go of ____________________ and am ready to move on." Do this exercise for each situation that you are ready to release.

You may be feeling emotional as you complete this process; you are letting go of patterns that have been with you for years, sometimes since childhood. Just be gentle with yourself and allow yourself to feel what is coming up. Most of us try to avoid our feelings especially if they are painful ones. Just know that the reward for doing this deep work will outweigh the difficulty. For once you understand the past and its effect on you and have released its hold, you can move forward into a life of abundant health, lighter and freer than ever before.

Client Cases

I've included the following client-cases to help you further understand the relationship between life events and physical and emotional problems. In my work, it's clear that those who are ill or injured often have unresolved emotional issues underlying their physical symptoms. In my experience, what this means is that those who become sick or injured often are depressed or have lost hope in some way before the onset of the disease or accident. In terms of an illness, it isn't actually the disease that infects someone; it is the inability of a weakened immune system to protect the person from the invasion, as Jeanne Achterberg states: "The so called primary external causes of major illness-viruses, bacteria, and other invisible elements in the environment-are a threat to health only when a person's natural protective mantle develops a weakness."

Hank Wesselman, Ph.D. explains this weakness more specifically when he writes, "There are three classic causes of illness, and interestingly they're not microbes or bacteria or viruses. Rather, they're internal states that appear within us in response to negative or traumatic life experiences." Alberto Villoldo Ph.D. similarly believes that "negative thoughts and beliefs ... keep us from our personal power and wreak havoc on our immune system." The above statements clearly support my own observations of ill or injured individuals whose life experiences and emotions have contributed to their situations.

In terms of my clients, often those who are sick or injured have experienced loss, which could be losing a loved one to death or divorce, losing a job, home, friendship, religious faith, financial security, or any other issue. In addition, some individuals become sick because they have lost the connection to their intuition and are not living the life they want. At times, then, this grief is completely internal, involving a feeling of shame or low self worth, a feeling of uselessness or a lack of purpose. At other times, people may blame someone else for what has happened to them, and they become angry, resentful, unforgiving and bitter. When the immune system is affected by such negative energy, it becomes compromised, and often an illness finds the opportunity to enter. Norman Cousins, Ph.D. agrees when he states, "Under circumstances of depression, anxiety or panic, for example, the function of the immune system may be impaired, as indeed are other bodily systems."

This can be illustrated by one of my clients, Charlene, who experienced five successive bouts of pneumonia after a painful divorce. She felt the loss of her husband, home, financial stability, trust in men, dream of marriage and will to live. Over several months, she became depressed, found herself holding on to the anger and grief in her chest, and became seriously ill. Carl Simonton, M.D. sees illness as a "negative feedback system ... telling us what we need to stop doing. It helps us align ourselves. It forces us to reach out for help." This was true of Charlene who came to me after her last stint with pneumonia and after doctors had seen scarring in her lungs. She came because a small part of her wanted to get well, not every part, but enough to make the phone call and come in. After just one session, as she practiced the steps of Empowered Healing, she discovered that she felt terribly cold physically and emotionally and needed more warmth in her life. After faithfully using these techniques for several months, Charlene is now healthy and involved in an organization that has helped her to meet friends and a new partner. She has had no bouts of pneumonia for two years, and her doctor has acknowledged her recovery and improved health. Charlene has truly become her own Empowered Healer.

Like Charlene, in order to get well, it is important to look at the possible reasons you have become ill, be committed to getting better, and be willing to trust the recovery process presented in this book. Then, you will have faced and released the past and can move forward with confidence, believing 100 percent in your ability to heal yourself.

This is exactly what Lindsey did. My former client realized that she had been holding guilt and shame, as well as grief, ever since she made a decision to have her tubes tied, preventing her from having children. At the time, she was in an abusive marriage and didn't want to bring a child into this situation. However, after divorcing her husband and moving to another city, she felt depressed but couldn't discover why.

A few years later, during her yearly exam, her physician told Lindsey she had cervical cancer. It was then that we began to work together using the techniques of Empowered Healing and energy medicine. When Lindsey visualized her uterus and cervix, she began to cry, as she realized she was creating a tumor to replace the child she would never have.

Using the Four Steps presented in Part III, she forgave herself, expressed her sadness, and released the growth beginning inside her. When she returned to her physician for a biopsy, the doctor could find no evidence of cancer, and further tests supported this diagnosis. Lindsey has moved closer to family, has become a social worker, loves her life, and has been healthy for the past twelve years. She still uses the Empowered Healer Method to scan her body, focusing on anything that needs releasing, and keeping herself healthy and illness-free.

David came to me initially because of his inability to move on in his life. He said he felt stuck living at home with his mother just watching TV and smoking. His diet was terrible and he felt unable to change any of his patterns. His depression began after a terrible accident in which he nearly lost his left foot, and after months of painful rehabilitation. When I had him visualize his foot and ask for its message using the Four Steps, he received powerful insights about his former and current life. He was told that the accident was actually a gift because he was unhappy in his job, was a workaholic who never took time to slow down and live life fully. Because he wasn't listening to his intuition when it said to quit his job, the accident did this for him.

During one session, Dave was also told that all he needed to do was make peace with the past, contact people he needed to talk to that were involved in the accident or his friends at that time. He also realized that his foot injury has allowed him to stop, deal with his emotions, especially his anger and tendency to blame, before he can walk his true path. The pain in his foot is gone now, except when he doesn't listen to its needs, or doesn't listen to his inner needs. David has now contacted everyone he needs to forgive and everyone he hopes will forgive him. He is planning a trip back to the site of the accident in order to fully release all that happened in a ritual he has planned. The depression is gone and he is smiling again.

Finally, Lawrence worked with me for several years while recovering from Hepatitis C and throat cancer. He made a full recovery by using a combination of Empowered Healing and western medicine, only to contract leukemia from the chemotherapy used for his throat cancer. To treat the leukemia he began visualizing his bone marrow and replacing the dead, gray cells with healthy bright ones. He also worked on the psychological issues related to his illnesses that had plagued him for years. During one session, Lawrence realized that his lack of forgiveness for himself, his shame and low self-esteem had helped to cause his health issues. During an Empowered Healing session, an angelic spirit told him that he needed to forgive himself and others before he could feel relief. Lawrence did as he was asked, allowing love and compassion to fill his heart, and perhaps for the first time ever, he felt a sense of quiet joy and newfound peace.

From these client cases, it is clear that in each situation an issue from the past was tied to the illness or injury, and the discovery of this link was crucial to the person's self-healing. Hopefully, you have used the above questions and discussion to realize and release what is unresolved in your own life. Now you, too, can begin to feel a greater sense of wellbeing.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Empowered Healerby Susan Allison Copyright © 2011 by Susan Allison, Ph.D.. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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