I have always been very sensitive and intuitive. I am a hairdresser and a manicurist, so in my line of work, I am constantly touching people. I have been doing this for the last year, and now, oddly enough, I have to wear a wig because my alopecia has gone crazy and I've lost 70% of my hair. If a customer has a pain, I will feel it for the next few days the same way they did. I was told I have healing hands, but instead of helping others, they seem to sicken me. How can I continue helping others without taking on their problems myself? Please help me.
Yasmeen
Susyn:
This is a very common experience of natural healers: we tend to become sponges for other people's problems, and take them on ourselves.
If you can work with gloves on, I recommend you wear them when you work on your clients. If that won't work for you, try using hand sanitizer after each appointment. Of course, we don't actually have to touch a person to absorb whatever is wrong with them, so taking the measures above should only be considered the first steps in protecting yourself.
The good news is that you can pass healing to other people without jeopardizing yourself. Ideally, you will want to use a ritual for spiritual protection before you go to work, one that will allow you to continue healing others but keep you from absorbing their energy. I like to visualize a clear, large bubble surrounding me before I work. This is similar to the one that Glinda, the good witch in The Wizard of Oz, traveled in.
I also recommend wearing protective stones and colors as you work on others. These are natural ways to keep others' energy from clinging to you. White, yellow and red are good colors to wear when you work on others. Earrings, rings or bracelets that have quartz crystals, amber stones or red gems such as rubies or garnets can also create a protective shield around you.
Next, you will need to practice higher awareness when dealing with clients who are in pain or emotional distress. Be aware that to heal them, you will be bringing their energy into your own body. Instead of holding on to their troubles, however, you will perform a ritual that removes these troubles from your own body or emotions as well as theirs.
Once you have finished with a client, take a few minutes to focus on the trouble they had and visualize it leaving your own body. This may take a little practice, but in time, you will be able to move the negative energy away from them, onto you, and then out into the atmosphere.
In regard to your alopecia, there are a few natural supplements that may help. Vitamin B-6 or silica can help eliminate the stress you feel as a result of your psychic sensitivity. (Most hair loss can be traced to stress.) You may also have a low-grade infection that is contributing to the problem; goldenseal and echinacia should be able to help with this problem.
I support your desire to continue practicing with your healing gift. Once you have set up these protective measures, you should experience less stress and pain as a result of your sensitivity.
*****
Mata Maya
What you describe is very common; in fact, I experienced something similar as a new healer. When I prayed about the matter, I was led to a wise teacher who enlightened me; as a result of her teaching, I've become a much more powerful healer and haven't had a problem since.
While it's clear that you would also benefit from some training, I'm a bit hesitant to recommend it since most of the energy healing methods being taught are in my opinion fundamentally flawed.
Energy healing is simple and is something anyone can do. You don't need any special knowledge, mystical symbols, expensive attunements or secret codes. What you do need is a heart full of divine love and unwavering faith.
Many traditional methods teach you to look for problems to solve; since what we focus upon grows bigger, this is their first mistake. Further, healers are encouraged to connect with people with great empathy and compassion. While it may seem like this is the kind thing to do, it actually just draws you into their problems instead of empowering you to uplift and empower them.
As an energy healer, your job is not to figure out what needs fixing and how to fix it. Instead, your job is to embody perfect well-being and draw others into that high vibration. If you truly believe that all is well and everyone is experiencing whatever they need to experience in order to learn what they need to learn, then you can remain calm and full of faith regardless of what people may be suffering through. If you know without a doubt that death is not an end but rather the next stage in an endless journey, then you will be able to maintain a high, peaceful, faithful vibration even if the person you're healing is struggling with a life threatening disease.
To put it another way, if someone is lost in darkness, you could go into the darkness with them and stumble around, trying to help them feel their way out of it, or you could simply turn on the light. To be able to turn on the light, you must be in a state of radiant health and well-being on all levels yourself. Though many may disagree with me, if you're not there yet, you would be wise to focus on healing yourself before you undertake healing others.
Whether you are trying to heal others or just cut their hair, it is important that you learn to set your own tone. This way what you create in your life will come from within you instead of from outside influences. To do this, I highly recommend you study and work with the law of attraction.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.