With two powerful words in the title, I have to start by defining what I mean by spirituality and healing. Let me define spirituality not with words, but with experiential situations. First, in spirituality something greater than your conditioned ego controls your heart. That means your thoughts and past conditioning don’t limit the expression of your heart. Just think of the quality of love shared in a spiritual moment. Your love for the people in your life exists without any mental resistance and puts you into a conscious moment. I call this the Wisdom of your Body. Your preconceived attitudes about things don’t influence the expression of your heart. Preferences and what you identify with don’t influence the simple unconditional love that spirituality provides. How you were taught to think doesn’t change the expression of the heart in silence, where you are deeply connected to the Wisdom of the Body.

Now imagine how your heart relates to different aspects of your life. In a spiritual moment, your heart is always loving and is ready to be received. When meeting a stranger, that expression of the heart is different from family, friends and the people you love. The Wisdom of the Body expresses love appropriately, which means the expression depends on how it is received and how it is pulled from your heart.

The same is true when you relate to yourself. In a Spiritual moment, loving yourself has love pulled from your heart determined by your relationship to the Wisdom of your Body. That means that something greater than your habitual ways of thinking relates to you with compassion and the utmost care. When people believe in God this naturally happens, but is limited by the way they habitually think. In Latin the word “believe” comes from “to allow”. If believing in God comes from love, you tend to allow that to be wisdom’s deepest expression. It doesn’t matter what religion you believe in, you allow wisdom’s love to be expressed. For many, this quality of love comes from past conditioning that was loving, from family or romantic situations.

Another main expression is connected to your work or what you “do”. What you do and specifically how you do it comes from the sub-conscious mind. Our spontaneous expressions happen without deep contemplation and totally express who we are. Where we have a spiritual connection, those expressions allow quality love to be expressed without even thinking about it.

Now think of having your heart controlled by a higher consciousness as you deal with health challenges. How you relate to your problem reflects that quality of love. That activates a strong will to live and empowers the Wisdom of the Body to assist in healing. Without a clear love, your thoughts and past conditioning can limit the healing process. Self judgment can cause anxiety, which inhibits the immune system and our natural way of healing. I feel a spiritual quality includes this pure simple love and it is available to everyone if they simply step out of the picture and accept the Wisdom of the Body. Illness and physical difficulties may still exist, but they are dealt with more consciously.

Another quality of spirituality is giving your life or consciousness to something greater than your conditioned way of thinking. Imagine taking consciousness from your habitual way of thinking and becoming more conscious of the Wisdom of the Body. That is like removing the power from thoughts that limit you and, in the process, activating the part that heals you. This can happen in a simple breath when your sub-conscious mind is consciously conditioned. With a conscious in-breath you active this deeper wisdom and with the out-breath you carry that consciousness to every expression. This quality of breathing doesn’t cure every illness; but as you deal with a health struggle you improve the quality of your life.

To many, spirituality makes them think too much. The spirituality I refer to happens as a natural expression, just as if you were breathing. Breathing holds the secret to how we face challenges. In Latin, the word “worry” comes from “choke”. When we worry, we cut our breath short and minimize our participation. Just think if it were as simple as breathing a conscious breath. We do have the power to control our inner environment, even in a health crisis. Of course it won’t cure every illness, but it will change the way you deal with your challenges. Breathing controls how you use consciousness. If you became conscious of what heals you and unconscious of limitations, you would truly be connected to the Wisdom of your Body.

Author's Bio: 

Marc Lerner has studied struggles for 28 years in himself and with people with chronic illness and disabilities. He says "the quality of life does not depend on the health of your body--It depends on your focus." Marc teaches Life Skills Seminars to empower people to develop habits of focusing on the Wisdom of Your Body. He has taught veterans with PTSD at the Los Angeles V A for 25 years, cancer and AIDS patients and the mentally ill homeless through Life Skills Institute. He is the founder and president of Life Skills Institute, a non-profit organization since 1982. He has compiled a lifelong work into 2 e-books, A Healthy Way to be Sick and A Light Shines Brighter in Darkness and gives tele-seminars to empower people who face a challenge they cannot control. Go to http://ahealthyway.org to download the e-books and enroll in a tele-seminar. Marc gives lectures and adapts the seminars to fit any organization. For more info., go to http://lifeskillsinc.com.