Q: What does it mean to be on a spiritual path and how does that relate to health and healing?

A: I see many patients who believe they are on a spiritual path. They go to church or synagogue, or they may do yoga or meditate faithfully every day. I ask them if they are “in” a spiritual journey or “on” one. What’s the difference? There’s actually a big difference. This belief helps me open up a new angle for them to recognize that their health issues come from a much deeper level of their being.

I ask my patients how much time they spend doing spiritual things. How long do they practice yoga or Taiji, pray, or meditate? They usually answer one or maybe two hours per day. So what about the other 22 to 23 hours? When happens in the time you are not practicing, meditating, praying, chanting, or doing other spiritual things? In those hours, do you still live in a way that honors your beautiful Spirit?

When you’re on a spiritual journey, it can feel like a destination—something you’re moving toward or hoping to arrive at someday. But when you’re in a spiritual journey, it’s lived, embodied, and happening right now. The journey isn’t separate from your daily life; it is your daily life. Being on the path asks, “How do I get there?” Being in the journey asks, “How do I live my daily life?”

Spirit in Healing

One of the most difficult things to grasp is the role of Spirit in the healing process. When we are not facing major life decisions or are not involved in big issues that try our souls, many of us do consider ourselves to be spiritual people. However, when we are facing the chaos of life, experiencing tragedies or serious health issues, or are simply overwhelmed by daily tasks, we have to turn inward and reflect on a few questions:

• How much of my Spirit am I connected to in my darkest moments?
• How deeply do I allow my Spirit to touch and support me in these trying times?
• How deep is my faith, trust, and belief that events are being guided by my Spirit?

Though many people are interested in spirituality, most are focused on things in the material world. It’s very difficult to escape even for a little while to hear what our Heart has to say and become peaceful enough to connect to something beyond our five senses.

Tuning In

Think about how many messages you receive every day about what’s on sale, what car you should drive, and how you can “ask your doctor” about taking medications for certain conditions. Unfortunately, most of the time, the culture is stronger than you are. The invisible is more powerful than the visible. But if you never focus on the invisible—or “turn on the right channel”, so the culture has less impact on your whole self—how can you really grow and change?

My suggestion is to slow down a little bit. Take time to watch yourself. See how you use your mind to process information and create beliefs. Changing beliefs is a shortcut to real healing. It’s difficult to fully receive messages from your inner self, your intuition, or even your dreams, when every thought is taken up with why, how, when, or how much. Once you ask why, there’s always another why. Like a three-year-old, our minds want to know more and more, and cannot stop asking why, but do we do anything with the information? In fact, once questions begin, there’s no end of questioning. All religions try to guide us to understand real questions must come from the Heart. Otherwise, they come from a desire to feed the mind. This is one reason I recommend my patients develop a regular meditation practice.

Even if your intention is to receive information from a higher source, it is not easy because the mind’s functioning can limit you. If you are willing to continue our quantum journey then you have to prepare for it. The nature of this preparation is different than the kind we undertake in the material world. Let’s use this simple example. Naturally, it makes a difference whether or not you plan to camp on the beach or ski in the mountains. You would prepare differently for each trip. You can’t bring a GPS or your knowledge or intellect. There is no fixed path. In spiritual reality, everything is possible. Here, living occurs from moment to moment. There are no plans.

There aren’t any tour guides either. Can you really understand the complexity and richness of New York City just by reading a guide book or listening to a tour guide? Probably not. You have to experience the city’s magic for yourself. Likewise, you have to experience the spiritual world for yourself. Faith, trust, and belief are essential for this journey. What should we have faith in? Each of us has a different idea of what the invisible world of Spirit is like and how to interpret it. Each of us also has our own understanding of love—what it is, what it can do, and how it relates to life.

Three Main Concepts

There are three main spiritual concepts for improving metabolism function and health. They are:

1. The energetic frequency of the unconditional love of the Universe, or God, gives our world and all living things vitality and creativity.
2. Ultimately, there is only Oneness.
3. There are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason.

Join us next week to learn more about these three spiritual concepts.