Healing Conversations
Conversations With
Ian Watson & Rachel Singleton
What is healing?
What does it require of us?
How do we move with it and through it rather than fight against it?
Healing is not always what we think or indeed fear that it will be. When we undertake the journey of Healing - either because our body calls us to this or because our spirit does - the person we are at the start is not the same person we will be at the end. Healing takes us through a rite of passage. By the end of this we will mature, we will deepen, we will open, we will become more fully our Self. And we will drop the burden of all that is no longer relevant to us. Healing takes us on a journey into and through ourselves; by the time we reach the end, we have landed on a new shore.
Rachel and Ian see this journey of evolution and growth, this journey back to wellbeing, in our sessions with clients and in our work mentoring and training practitioners.
In these Healing Conversations we explore this journey in-depth:
What is health, what are signs of returning wellbeing, what blocks healing, how can the therapeutic space best facilitate this, how can the client empower themselves, and so much more.
These are conversations rich with insight. We offer them to you here with wonder and gratitude: these insights form the core of the work we each do, and they refresh and revitalise our commitment daily. Sharing this with each other and with you feels a true gift.
May these insights help make the journey of healing feel possible, even exciting for you, as you move forward.
Find out more about Rachel Singleton at: www.rachelsingleton.com
Healing Conversation 1 - What Is Healing?
Here, Ian and Rachel discuss their thoughts on what healing is and begin to set the scene for the conversations to come.
Healing Conversation 2 - Personal Authority
This is a topic that touches us whether we are a client or a practitioner. It is concerned with how we can claim our right to our own healing journey, to our own personal empowerment and sovereignty regarding our healing choices and path. Together, Ian and Rachel explore what this means and take a look at three key areas where we can give ourselves greater permission: with our boundaries, with speaking our truth, and with practising self-care.
Healing Conversation 3 - The Inward Journey
At some point on the healing journey, we must go within to face, accept and transcend those areas of deepest resistance. It is only when we journey through such areas that we find the gold at the other side: what initially appeared to be frightening, overwhelming or negative to us, once embraced, becomes a source of potency. The other side of depression is joy. The other side of anger is kindness and tenderness. The other side of tension is softness. In this conversation, we begin to explore this in more detail, including within this Joseph Campbell's idea of 'the hero’s journey'. This is deeply empowering information that can transform how we view any illness and challenge in our lives.
Healing Conversation 4 - Getting A Diagnosis
Rachel and Ian discuss what exactly a diagnosis is. It can be incredibly useful - and reassuring - to have our symptoms understood, recognised and 'named'. However, a diagnosis from one system of medicine can be very different from that of another - as can the prognosis. How much choice do we have once we receive a diagnosis? Is this 'the end point'? And what are the deeper implications of any diagnosis?
Healing Conversation 5 - Signs Of Wellbeing
When we are on the healing path, sometimes, the issue we have come to have treated is not the first thing to improve. In fact, it can often be the last. However, there are a number of profound shifts that we will start to experience that show us that we are on the right path. Many people don't know to look for these and their practitioner may not discuss them. They are often happening out of awareness. In this conversation, Ian and Rachel look in detail at some of the key signs of returning wellbeing.
Healing Conversation 6 - The Power Of Insight
This is the conversation that will clarify much of what we have already discussed so far and pave the way for discussions to come. In this Healing Conversation, we go behind daily reality to look at the nature of consciousness itself. We look at the power of thought, and more specifically insight, to start to get clear about how our daily reality is created. There is much more to say on this topic, so look out for more conversations to come . . . .
Healing Conversation 7 - Practising With Ease
How do some therapists, coaches and healers have an experience of lightness and joy in their work, and prove to be both effective and sought after, whilst others feel uncertain, unsure and even burdened by their work? In this conversation we explore the difference between an approach to practicing that seems to involve a lot of struggle and effort, and one that is lighter and - actually - far more effective.
When we practice from our ease and our joy, doesn't it follow that we are better able to serve those who come to us?
Healing Conversation 8 -Creating Health
How can we move in the direction of health, no matter where we're starting from or how long we've been struggling? It begins with a shift in understanding and an opening to a possibility we hadn't seen before. We can learn to discern what supports us in becoming healthier and what doesn't. We can begin to trust our own body-wisdom and the feedback it is giving us. We can learn how to nourish ourselves from the inside out.
Healing Conversation 9 - When Healing Doesn’t Look Like Healing
Sometimes healing is happening under the radar of our conscious awareness, and it is only with the gift of hindsight that we can appreciate what was taking place. Just being awake to this possibility is helpful, and strengthens our trust in the deeper healing possibilities that often lie hidden in life's difficult and challenging times.
Healing Conversation 10 - Being Okay with Being Unwell
We all get visited by illness or suffering in one form or another, and it's tempting to see it as an interruption or distraction from what we think we 'should' be doing. But what if the suffering is exactly what's required to put us in touch with something essential for our growth at that moment in our life? When we consider illness as an initiatory rite of passage rather than merely an inconvenience, we can engage with it in a more meaningful way, and find ourselves transformed by the experience in deep and powerful ways.
Healing Conversation 11 - Reflections on Chronic Illness or Incapacity
Not all wounds can be fully healed. Sometimes we are required to come terms to life with a chronic illness or some other kind of ongoing challenge that isn't going away. How can we approach these situations with compassion and understanding, such that another kind of healing or transformation is still possible? Could it be that this very challenge contains the ‘gold in the dark’ that brings deeper meaning and purpose to our life…..