The Many Facets of Healing Prayer

Several of my classes the last couple of weeks have touched on healing and the power of using the stillness and raised vibrations from meditation towards healing oneself or others in need. Something to keep in mind when it comes to healing is we want to ask for healing in body, mind, and soul. You may be able to see from your perspective what appears to need healing in someone's life, but as you have a limited view of their total needs it's good to think of the greater picture when offering your healing prayers.

The wonderful healer Mary Kretzmann, author of A Healer's Handbook, uses the healing methods of Paramhansa Yogananda. She has explained that when it comes to life's challenges, so often we want to be carried over the obstacles so as to avoid them. Sometimes, though, we may have karma that needs to be equalized which requires us to go through the challenge. If we avoid the challenge, the karma remains and we will need to address it later. It doesn't go away; it gets pushed out. The best thing we can do to keep progressing spiritually is to go through the challenge. So, in that case, we don't want the karma to go away. We want to be given more strength to endure the challenge.

To illustrate this, let's take the case of cancer. You may have someone very dear to you who has been diagnosed, and you want to pray for healing. Healing prayers are very powerful and are an excellent way to serve the divine. However, rather than praying just for the cancer to go away, it is better to pray for healing in body, mind, and soul. If it is that soul's karma to go through the difficult challenge of cancer, praying for the mind and soul in addition to the body will help build up the strength, love, and protection the soul needs to get through that challenge. The point being, we don't have enough awareness to understand the greater purpose of every challenge. Much growth comes from the hardest of circumstances when they are combined with awareness and introspection. Those challenges can be difficult to go through and difficult to watch our loved ones go through, but we can find comfort in the fact that they give opportunity for real and meaningful spiritual development. The karmic debt is taken care of, and the soul can move forward with a lighter load.

So, keep this in mind when you are praying for healing. Again, healing prayers are very powerful. However, you may see that not every person for whom you pray for healing will physically get better. That does not mean your prayers aren't working. It can mean that that soul's journey requires more time in that challenge. What you may not be able to perceive is the healing happening at the mind and soul level, which is equally as important (if not more so) than the physical level. 

If you feel these words of Paramhansa Yogananda's healing prayer resonate within you, you may like to offer them as your healing prayer. If you have other words that are meaningful for you when praying for healing, use those. Whatever words you use, be sure to get your heart's open and loving energy behind your words. Picture the person(s) you want to pray for at the spiritual eye, and see them surrounded in divine light. But your hands palms together in front of your heart and say (inwardly or aloud):

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Divine Mother, Thou art omnipresent.
Thou art in all Thy children.
Thou art in [these/name(s)].
Manifest Thy healing presence in [their/his/her] bodies, minds, and soul.

Then rub the palms together vigorously, feeling the heart's energy travel down the arms into the hands. Put the hands out in front of the shoulders, palms out, and send the energy to the person. Chant three "om"s to help carry the energy to them.