Healing, Self‑Healing, and Bio‑Feedback
Beloved Lord, Almighty God,
Through the rays of the sun,
Through the waves of the air,
Through the all‑pervading life in space.
Purify and revivify me,
And I pray,
Heal my body, heart and soul.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
The human healing power remains paradoxical and intriguing. All creatures of nature are endowed with prodigious powers of recuperation to promote survival. Many of these appear to have been lost in the course of the evolutionary process. In fact they have been replaced by more sophisticated ones. The integrity of an atom is safeguarded by rigorous rules. Electrons will restructure themselves in clearly defined patterns to survive collisions. Certain plants learn how to survive in hostile environments. Lizards are able to regenerate an amputated tail or leg.
Every atom of the universe, conscious of its illness,
devises whether through the outside or the inside,
a means of curing itself.
Every atom of the universe,
conscious of its illness,
devises whether through the outside
or the inside,
a means of curing itself.
Some regenerative faculties are latent, but recessive in the human being. Wounds will heal if protected, bones will restore themselves in stress‑free circumstances, even nerve tissue. The electro‑magnetic field of the body in the afflicted area acts as a template, determining which genes should be turned on and which switched off in the replication of the cells in the area. Whereas the more primitive species will produce their own appropriate field to heal a wound, in the case of humans, it takes sometimes the application of an artificial field, unless we humans relearn how to call this faculty into operation by our powers of concentration.
Interestingly, in addition to the intensity. it is the extremely intricate frequency of this field that is critical. Thus the clue to the effectiveness of this forcefield is a complex rhythmic pattern of frequencies probably similar to a symphony reflecting the many‑splendoured themes and melodies and rhythmic patterns of just a fragment of what one might look upon as a cosmic harmony, undoubtedly more intricate and intelligent than we are able to decipher or ever imagine.
What we call music is only a miniature
which our intelligence has grasped
from that music or harmony of the whole universe
which is working behind everything...
Every person has his own note in the cosmic symphony.
What we call music is only a miniature
which our intelligence has grasped
from that music or harmony
of the whole universe
which is working behind everything...
Every person has his own note
in the cosmic symphony.
Incidently the diversity of frequencies, illustrated by the high pitch or low pitch notes of our music could also compare with the difference between a high voltage/low wattage electric current as compared with a low voltage/high wattage one. One might say that energy may vary in quality in addition to quantity; and I believe it is this fine high voltage/low wattage kind which is meant by the word spirit.
Healers do administer magnetism to the body of the patient, transferring it from their own magnetic field, through touch and breath with various degrees of effectiveness. But in rare cases, a cure seems to have sparked a traumatic and sudden change, quite miraculously. These arc attributed to the action of the Holy Spirit: this type of energy is of the high frequency kind as illustrated by lightning.
We must bear in mind that our beings are complex, not just mind and body, but we need to account for various levels of subtle matter. Therefore limiting healing to working with the magnetism of the body is not sufficient. To operate a change in the subtle bodies, it is this more subtle form of energy which we call spirit that is operative.
Matter is anaction of the spirit
that has materialized itself.
Healing requires realization, also some practical knowledge. Should we know what the specific signature tune is for each organ, conceivably for each cell, we could dialogue with the cells of our body and possibly gain some handle in controlling their functions.
At present research is being conducted to catalogue optimal frequencies for specific cells, presaging wonderful breakthroughs for the future, not just of medical science, but of self‑healing! It has now been ascertained in laboratory experiments that this forcefield can be enhanced and modulated by the will and appropriate concentration, which evidences a mind over body ascendency.
By becoming aware of one's magnetism, one develops it.... Activity develops magnetism,
but mastery consists in retaining it;
otherwise it is like gaining money on one hand
and spending it to the same extent,
so that one is always without money...
The presence of illumined souls is itself magnetism.
By becoming aware of one's magnetism,
one develops it....
Activity develops magnetism,
but mastery consists in retaining it;
otherwise it is like gaining money on one hand
and spending it to the same extent,
so that one is always without money...
The presence of illumined souls
is itself magnetism.
It looks as though healers do also modulate the frequency of the field they radiate without probably knowing exactly how they do this. All living matter is endowed with some sort of feedback circuitry whereby one metes out activity according to the nature of the prevailing circumstances. When this functions automatically, we call it instinct. When higher functions are involved, we call it intuition.
A typical case of instrumented feedback in our civilized societies is a bio‑feedback instrument which gives one a graded assessment of functions of which most people are not normally aware: for example heart beat, muscular tension, blood tension, skin resistance, brain‑wave frequencies, etc.
A sensitive person learns to match the way they feel with the data of the machine and can then dispense with the machine. Therefore the ultimate information component of our built‑in feedback circuit is our own self‑awareness, which is one of the things that we learn in meditation. If we train our sensitivity, we should be able to dispense with the machine.
As for the active component of the feedback circuit, from the machine we learn that the more one tries to correct the inappropriate function by one's will, the worse it gets. Thus we learn passive volition, which is really calling upon a more universal, less personal dimension of our will in all its compass. Traditionally this is called the Divine Will. But we must not envision God with an exaggerated sense of 'otherness’, nor imagine this Will to contrast or conflict with ours: they are the two poles, infinite and finite, of a same reality. But it is reliance upon this Super‑Will rather than limiting ourselves to our commonplace personal will that is the key to healing and self‑healing. This is what one means by faith: reliance upon the congruence of the programming of the universe and the limitless energy thereof.
With the machine, one learns to use visualization, or audition, not only to pick up the information provided by the monitor, but one visualizes the needle
It looks as though healers do also modulate the frequency of the field they radiate without probably knowing exactly how they do this. All living matter is endowed with some sort of feedback circuitry whereby one metes out activity according to the nature of the prevailing circumstances. When this functions automatically, we call it instinct. When higher functions are involved, we call it intuition.
A typical case of instrumented feedback in our civilized societies is a bio‑feedback instrument which gives one a graded assessment of functions of which most people are not normally aware: for example heart beat, muscular tension, blood tension, skin resistance, brain‑wave frequencies, etc.
A sensitive person learns to match the way they feel with the data of the machine and can then dispense with the machine. Therefore the ultimate information component of our built‑in feedback circuit is our own self‑awareness, which is one of the things that we learn in meditation. If we train our sensitivity, we should be able to dispense with the machine.
As for the active component of the feedback circuit, from the machine we learn that the more one tries to correct the inappropriate function by one's will, the worse it gets. Thus we learn passive volition, which is really calling upon a more universal, less personal dimension of our will in all its compass. Traditionally this is called the Divine Will. But we must not envision God with an exaggerated sense of 'otherness’, nor imagine this Will to contrast or conflict with ours: they are the two poles, infinite and finite, of a same reality.
But it is reliance upon this Super‑Will rather than limiting ourselves to our commonplace personal will that is the key to healing and self‑healing. This is what one means by faith: reliance upon the congruence of the programming of the universe and the limitless energy thereof.
With the machine, one learns to use visualization, or audition, not only to pick up the information provided by the monitor, but one visualizes the needle on the gauge, or one imagines the sound of the click the way one would prefer it ts be, and this has an immediate effect upon the body function. This evidences the role of imagination as a key to sparking transformation.
Every imagination that arises in us, whether by day or by night, has an effect upon our lives and that of others.
Eventually, one learns how to desire that the body function be altered (which is not the same thing as willing it), and it happens.
on the gauge, or one imagines the sound of the click the way one would prefer it to be, and this has an immediate effect upon the body function. This evidences the role of imagination as a key tos sparking transformation.
Every imagination that arises in us, whether by day or by night, has an effect upon our lives and that of others.
Eventually, one learns how to desire that the body function be altered (which is not the same thing as willing it), and it happens.
May Thy Will become my desire.
One needs however also to take into consideration the way one accommodates oneself to the environment or the prevailing circumstances. There are situations which one cannot change, therefore one needs to learn to live with them.
Mastery sometimes consists in learning how to find a way of harmony with some‑thing that is opposite to one's nature: this is the very principle of inoculation.
For example, one can desire that the body be relaxed, and lo and behold: the muscles do distend! But there may be situations where one needs to maintain a certain mental alertness and body tonus while being relaxed. The same for the mind. In a crisis situation, one may not believe that one can bring one's blood pressure down, but by reducing the muscular tension which is a function of mental anxiety, the blood pressure will be reduced within a certain range, limited by prevailing physical malfunctions. However, sportsmen could not accomplish the feats they do if it were not for their ability to spur the body to a high catabolic level, the blood pressure rising to the occasion. This principle could be extended to numerous ailments. We arc told of unexplained remissions of cancer by dint of positive thinking. One could conceive of a feedback loop for cancer patients, involving mental functions, in which patients were made familiar with the way T‑cells and the immune system in general meet the challenge of the carcinogenic chemicals in the body and curb the growth of the malignant cells.
Here the feedback reaches right into the internal mechanism of the DNA. The RNA does normally make occasional mistakes in replication, just like one might make typing errors. Nature provides an intricate wherewithal to correct these errors, vehicled by the appropriate RNA enzymes. Under radiation or the impact of a foreign element, these enzymes are overworked. The body is endowed with a middle range recovery mechanism. Beyond this range, the automated capacities programmed in the body do not suffice. But since, in the human being, there is a means of exercising a higher control by the mind over body axis, if one could be thoroughly informed of the mechanism that is malfunctioning, one could visualize the way one would like the cells to be. For example, one could enhance the efficiency of the immune system by fostering an abundance of T‑cells. A complementary method would be to enhance the activity of the thymus gland together with its allies in the bone marrow and lymph glands. Or again one could work upon the endocrine glands.
Our scientific knowledge of the interaction of endocrine glands is yet in its infancy. We would need to know more about their interactions to be able to influence these. But since the chakras do represent the magnetic counterpart of these, many of the yoga techniques should prove helpful.
Nowadays, therapists are emphasizing the importance of the role of pent-up, unexpressed emotion in cancer ‑ a frustrated feeling of resentment, of having been wronged, or victimized or being unfulfilled. Here it is a combination of meditation and psychotherapy that may prove effective.
The resolution of the mental or psychological condition consists often in accepting an undesirable situation, making the best use of it. This will have an impact on the endocrine and immune systems.
The clue is outwitting despair and finding ecstasy by awakening to grasp the programming behind the apparent situation – turning a psychological defeat into a spritual victory.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Sections in quotes are taken from the writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and are to be found in The Sufi Message Vols I to XII, published service, Holland.
This article was first published in Caduceus Journal issue number 1, Summer 1987. http://www.caduceus.info
Beloved Lord, Almighty God,
Through the rays of the sun,
Through the waves of the air,
Through the all‑pervading life in space.
Purify and revivify me,
And I pray,
Heal my body, heart and soul.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
The human healing power remains paradoxical and intriguing. All creatures of nature are endowed with prodigious powers of recuperation to promote survival. Many of these appear to have been lost in the course of the evolutionary process. In fact they have been replaced by more sophisticated ones. The integrity of an atom is safeguarded by rigorous rules. Electrons will restructure themselves in clearly defined patterns to survive collisions. Certain plants learn how to survive in hostile environments. Lizards are able to regenerate an amputated tail or leg.
Every atom of the universe,
conscious of its illness,
devises whether through
the outside or the inside,
a means of curing itself.
Some regenerative faculties are latent, but recessive in the human being. Wounds will heal if protected, bones will restore themselves in stress‑free circumstances, even nerve tissue. The electro‑magnetic field of the body in the afflicted area acts as a template, determining which genes should be turned on and which switched off in the replication of the cells in the area. Whereas the more primitive species will produce their own appropriate field to heal a wound, in the case of humans, it takes sometimes the application of an artificial field, unless we humans relearn how to call this faculty into operation by our powers of concentration.
Interestingly, in addition to the intensity. it is the extremely intricate frequency of this field that is critical. Thus the clue to the effectiveness of this forcefield is a complex rhythmic pattern of frequencies probably similar to a symphony reflecting the many‑splendoured themes and melodies and rhythmic patterns of just a fragment of what one might look upon as a cosmic harmony, undoubtedly more intricate and intelligent than we are able to decipher or ever imagine.
What we call music
is only a miniature
which our intelligence has grasped
from that music or harmony
of the whole universe
which is working behind everything...
Every person has his own note
in the cosmic symphony.
Incidently the diversity of frequencies, illustrated by the high pitch or low pitch notes of our music could also compare with the difference between a high voltage/low wattage electric current as compared with a low voltage/high wattage one. One might say that energy may vary in quality in addition to quantity; and I believe it is this fine high voltage/low wattage kind which is meant by the word spirit.
Healers do administer magnetism to the body of the patient, transferring it from their own magnetic field, through touch and breath with various degrees of effectiveness. But in rare cases, a cure seems to have sparked a traumatic and sudden change, quite miraculously. These arc attributed to the action of the Holy Spirit: this type of energy is of the high frequency kind as illustrated by lightning.
We must bear in mind that our beings are complex, not just mind and body, but we need to account for various levels of subtle matter. Therefore limiting healing to working with the magnetism of the body is not sufficient. To operate a change in the subtle bodies, it is this more subtle form of energy which we call spirit that is operative.
Matter is anaction of the spirit
that has materialized itself.
Healing requires realization, also some practical knowledge. Should we know what the specific signature tune is for each organ, conceivably for each cell, we could dialogue with the cells of our body and possibly gain some handle in controlling their functions.
At present research is being conducted to catalogue optimal frequencies for specific cells, presaging wonderful breakthroughs for the future, not just of medical science, but of self‑healing! It has now been ascertained in laboratory experiments that this forcefield can be enhanced and modulated by the will and appropriate concentration, which evidences a mind over body ascendency.
By becoming aware
of one's magnetism,
one develops it....
Activity develops magnetism,
but mastery consists
in retaining it;
otherwise it is like gaining
money on one hand
and spending it
to the same extent,
so that one is always
without money...
The presence of illumined souls
is itself magnetism.
It looks as though healers do also modulate the frequency of the field they radiate without probably knowing exactly how they do this. All living matter is endowed with some sort of feedback circuitry whereby one metes out activity according to the nature of the prevailing circumstances. When this functions automatically, we call it instinct. When higher functions are involved, we call it intuition.
A typical case of instrumented feedback in our civilized societies is a bio‑feedback instrument which gives one a graded assessment of functions of which most people are not normally aware: for example heart beat, muscular tension, blood tension, skin resistance, brain‑wave frequencies, etc.
A sensitive person learns to match the way they feel with the data of the machine and can then dispense with the machine. Therefore the ultimate information component of our built‑in feedback circuit is our own self‑awareness, which is one of the things that we learn in meditation. If we train our sensitivity, we should be able to dispense with the machine.
As for the active component of the feedback circuit, from the machine we learn that the more one tries to correct the inappropriate function by one's will, the worse it gets. Thus we learn passive volition, which is really calling upon a more universal, less personal dimension of our will in all its compass. Traditionally this is called the Divine Will. But we must not envision God with an exaggerated sense of 'otherness’, nor imagine this Will to contrast or conflict with ours: they are the two poles, infinite and finite, of a same reality. But it is reliance upon this Super‑Will rather than limiting ourselves to our commonplace personal will that is the key to healing and self‑healing. This is what one means by faith: reliance upon the congruence of the programming of the universe and the limitless energy thereof.
With the machine, one learns to use visualization, or audition, not only to pick up the information provided by the monitor, but one visualizes the needle on the gauge, or one imagines the sound of the click the way one would prefer it to be, and this has an immediate effect upon the body function. This evidences the role of imagination as a key to sparking transformation.
Every imagination that arises in us, whether by day or by night, has an effect upon our lives and that of others.
Eventually, one learns how to desire that the body function be altered (which is not the same thing as willing it), and it happens.
May Thy Will become my desire.
One needs however also to take into consideration the way one accommodates oneself to the environment or the prevailing circumstances. There are situations which one cannot change, therefore one needs to learn to live with them.
Mastery sometimes
consists in learning
how to find a way of harmony
with some‑thing that is opposite
to one's nature:
this is the very principle
of inoculation.
For example, one can desire that the body be relaxed, and lo and behold: the muscles do distend! But there may be situations where one needs to maintain a certain mental alertness and body tonus while being relaxed. The same for the mind. In a crisis situation, one may not believe that one can bring one's blood pressure down, but by reducing the muscular tension which is a function of mental anxiety, the blood pressure will be reduced within a certain range, limited by prevailing physical malfunctions. However, sportsmen could not accomplish the feats they do if it were not for their ability to spur the body to a high catabolic level, the blood pressure rising to the occasion. This principle could be extended to numerous ailments. We arc told of unexplained remissions of cancer by dint of positive thinking. One could conceive of a feedback loop for cancer patients, involving mental functions, in which patients were made familiar with the way T‑cells and the immune system in general meet the challenge of the carcinogenic chemicals in the body and curb the growth of the malignant cells.
Here the feedback reaches right into the internal mechanism of the DNA. The RNA does normally make occasional mistakes in replication, just like one might make typing errors. Nature provides an intricate wherewithal to correct these errors, vehicled by the appropriate RNA enzymes. Under radiation or the impact of a foreign element, these enzymes are overworked. The body is endowed with a middle range recovery mechanism. Beyond this range, the automated capacities programmed in the body do not suffice. But since, in the human being, there is a means of exercising a higher control by the mind over body axis, if one could be thoroughly informed of the mechanism that is malfunctioning, one could visualize the way one would like the cells to be. For example, one could enhance the efficiency of the immune system by fostering an abundance of T‑cells. A complementary method would be to enhance the activity of the thymus gland together with its allies in the bone marrow and lymph glands. Or again one could work upon the endocrine glands.
Our scientific knowledge of the interaction of endocrine glands is yet in its infancy. We would need to know more about their interactions to be able to influence these. But since the chakras do represent the magnetic counterpart of these, many of the yoga techniques should prove helpful.
Nowadays, therapists are emphasizing the importance of the role of pent-up, unexpressed emotion in cancer ‑ a frustrated feeling of resentment, of having been wronged, or victimized or being unfulfilled. Here it is a combination of meditation and psychotherapy that may prove effective.
The resolution of the mental or psychological condition consists often in accepting an undesirable situation, making the best use of it. This will have an impact on the endocrine and immune systems.
The clue is outwitting despair and finding ecstasy by awakening to grasp the programming behind the apparent situation – turning a psychological defeat into a spritual victory.
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Sections in quotes are taken from the writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan and are to be found in The Sufi Message Vols I to XII, published service, Holland.
This article was first published in Caduceus Journal issue number 1, Summer 1987. http://www.caduceus.info