WHAT IS HEALING?

Back in 2018/19, when we were living relatively ‘care free’ within the social norms accepted as given, before pandemic-mania began…I was giving monthly talks with the over-all title of ‘Natural Health & Wholeness’ and then a changing sub-title such as; natural skin care; the benefits of essential oils; creativity for health, and so on - at Jersey Library. The most well attended was titled ‘What Is Healing?’ – and it went something like this…by Juanita Shield-Laignel MFHT

First of all I asked those present to raise their hand if they were a ‘healer’. One lady stuck her hand straight in the air and another tentatively half put her hand up.

I then asked if there was anyone in the audience who thought they were a healer but weren’t sure or anyone who knew they were but, with no judgment in the room, had been too embarrassed to admit as much, or if there was anyone who would like to be a healer, but just didn’t know where to start. A few more raised their hands – so in a room of near-on two dozen, maybe a third had owned a personal interest in what they consider to be healing.

I then went on to ask, “But what do I mean by the term ‘healing’?”

Well I don’t mean the fabled laying on of hands, biblebelt, halleluiah brothers ‘I was blind and now I see’ or ‘I was in a wheelchair and now I can walk’, type of healing which is often what people think of when the word is mentioned. I am also not saying that this is not a thing, for those who indulge in such practices it is very real and I am not here to either corroborate nor decry those individual experiences. I am however, talking about something much more subtle, much more every day, much more innate.

Let’s start by examining the English word according to the Oxford dictionary:

Healing (noun) ‘the process of becoming or making someone or something healthy again; the process of getting better…’

So let’s think about that for a minute. If you visit a loved one in hospital, or indeed are the patient yourself, and let’s say you have a laceration of some kind to your leg, the surgeon may come in and examine the wound he so painstakingly stitched in theatre and sucking his teeth might say “Hmmm….that’s healing nicely, keep up the good work.” Now he doesn’t mean he touched it and bam it’s miraculously better and off you can go, he means, as the dictionary states, the wound is in the ‘process’ of getting better, of becoming healthy again. Although one might argue the very nature of how our bodies can knit tissue together again, of how our blood will coagulate to minimise bleeding at a wound site, is in its very nature, miraculous!

we say things like ‘it takes time to heal’ we are of course talking about the emotional process of grieving which we now understand has at least four very distinct stages and all psychological healing is accepted as being a process and taking time.

Physical, like emotional healing takes time too and is also a process.

And there are of course many tools that can aid in healing. And today we are going to discuss the physicality of ‘laying on of hands’ but not quite in the sense as mentioned above.

Assuming that human touch is an aid to ‘getting better’ – what does it feel like?

It does indeed have a very distinct ‘feeling’ or you may prefer the idiom ‘vibration’…the best way I can describe my own experience of administering healing is – you know that feeling you get when you hold a new-born baby or maybe even a pet, you may have experienced that sense of overwhelming calm and unconditional love? It’s almost as if the whole universe slows down and you are totally in sync with that other beating heart, your breathing become slower and deeper and you feel at peace, albeit eetingly sometimes. It is like a very deep meditation lled with intention; and in the case of touch for healing, intention ‘to make better’.

My own journey with this type of healing started when I was very young. Many hours spent roaming the daisy lled elds behind our home gave me pause for getting in touch with the natural world around me and an extension of this seemed to be a nurturing of every living thing, so I would rescue toads that had fallen into my father’s water tank, setting them upright next to stones nestled in a patch of grass, watch and appreciate slowworms and spiders and marvel at the industriousness of ants, ensuring father’s watering didn’t disturb their trails and so on. I was always rescuing something or other even when they didn’t need rescuing.

I can tell many stories of times at even a very young age I would go above and beyond to try and help other children in one way or another.

Teenage years were a little confusing – my desire to help others became overwhelmed with teenage hormones –this made for interesting times but moving forward a little and I once again became aware of wanting to help others heal. self-education path of learning about the body and natural ways we can help ourselves and others and started a course in anatomy and physiology and massage. Immediately the people I practiced on would say things like. ‘Oh…your hands are really hot’ or ‘oh my –you’ve got healing hands’ or another one was ‘wow –you’ve got magic hands’. I was embarrassed by this for the longest time.

After many more years of study and practice and adding to my repertoire, including Aromatherapy, Re exology and Indian Head Massage I nally decided to explore and formalise this natural phenomenon and decided to do a course in Reiki as it is understood and popular.

The rst thing that studying Reiki did was rmly imprint the adage ‘healer, heal thyself’. It was a year or more between completing Reiki I and embarking on Reiki II – I needed that time for my own ‘getting better’ process and then it was a full 10 years before I was ready for Reiki III.

You see that’s the thing. Healing to my mind is a lifelong continuum – we are never nished, and we are all on a healing journey whether we realise it or not.

There are those among us who prefer to destroy, deliberately, calculating their every destructive move, then there are those people who seek to heal, heal themselves, heal relationships, heal others, heal their homes, their jobs and their lives.

And if healing is simply the process of ‘getting better’, of ‘making healthy’ maybe a healer – is nothing more than a ‘getting better facilitator’. So I put it to you – we are all healers – or at least have the potential to be.

We all have the option to decide to be healers, we can for instance choose to use healing words when we talk to others, using uplifting phrases rather than words that tare down or destroy, we can constantly carry the intention of healing in everything we do whether it be interacting with a shop assistant or talking on the phone or sharing on social media, or just about anything else we can think of. Emitting an energy of compassion and light, an energy of healing, surely will have a positive impact in the long term, not just on us as individuals but on everyone we meet, and if in healing our own hearts and minds we can help others, eventually maybe we can all heal mother earth too!

After 40 mins, my talk at the library coming to end I asked once more for a show of hands of who in the room felt they were a healer.

HOLDING A CRYSTAL BALL TO ELDERLY CARE…

By Helen O’Meara We’ve all been exposed to recent media coverage re staff shortages in the elderly care sector, concerns about infection spread in residential homes and so on. None of which Jersey has escaped.

But how are care industry leaders viewing the future of care? Is it all doom and gloom or is there some light on the horizon? Happily the latter according to many whose visions for the future of care include: -

Increased use of technology – ranging from use of “behind the scenes” scheduling software of which most clients are completely unaware to electronic fall monitors and more, “the opportunity to improve caregiving and lives is massive” agree many CEOs. This is less about the elderly needing to use technology and more about the Carers being able to do so which also requires…

“Professionalising caregiving” I see Carers as professionals (hence the use of a capital C for Carer!) but to date this has not been a particularly widely held view. Yet during the pandemic we relied on Carers to keep some of the most vulnerable in society safe. And been concerned when a lack of Carers caused “bed-blocking” in the hospital. In Jersey regulation, as well as desire, has prompted Carers to become increasingly quali ed and this emphasis on increased skill, recognition and pay levels is what will make the care sector more attractive. However it also risks casing affordability issues for the individual and the States. Therefore…

Meaningful care planning by individuals and families is another feature on the care horizon. There are few positives to come out of the pandemic, but it has prompted many families to think and talk earlier and more seriously about elderly care and who is going to pay for it. Residential or at home? Should we postpone downsizing so that we can accommodate a Live-in Carer? What are the cost comparisons? How much does the state contribute? Important questions that are increasingly, and wisely, being asked well in advance of rather than at the point of need. Increased emphasis on care at home and a rise in the demand for Live-in care are other trends. Media coverage of residents denied visitors and concerns around infection are prompting many families to consider Live-in care – often cost comparable with residential care but one-on-one and in the client’s own home. Not only is the risk of infection lower but even during periods of travel restriction, families have still been able to keep in touch as a Live-in Carer has more time to help out with virtual and telephone catch-ups. As an added bonus for Jersey, Live-in care also helps increase the pool of available Carers without increasing the population size as most Live-ins are resident off-island. For the elderly client this can add a new and interesting perspective to conversation – and cuisine!

Whatever the future holds the increasing need for elderly care is not going away. At a state and personal level we are all going to have to do some future planning. And ideally, we’ll be doing so in consultation with more than a crystal ball!

Simply call Nicola or Emma on 01534 883 886 for further information or to arrange a no obligation informal chat. Live-in care specialists Hourly home care enquiries welcomed Overnight and respite care also available Registered with the

Jersey Care Commission Flexible, consistent and friendly care