Today, for the very first post, let’s look at Healing Circles.
Now, I heard that collective groan rise unrestrained from your lips. Oh boy, you’re probably thinking… SuperForest has gone New Age hippie on me again (or at least, superforester Aaron has). Yes, it is true, healing circles have a bad, and also fairly accurate reputation as being practiced mainly by the liberal, dreadlocked rocking, drum circle stomping masses. But the idea itself: a gathering of people joining together to hold hands and harness a communal energy directed toward some greater positive good… is a practice that has been around for centuries.
It goes back to the ancient chinese martial arts of Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Or the Japanese practice of Reiki. All revolve around the power of focusing positive thought and movement into tangible waves of healing energy. Okay, so I know that sounds even more hippie, but bare with me. Let me tell you two stories to demonstrate my point.
The first story is about Curtis Vance. At the young age of 25, Curtis was struck down with a sudden and debilitating weakness in his legs. The month was August. By November he was using a walker. By December he was diagnosed with ALS, aka. Lou Gehrig’s disease — an incurable condition that would slowly destroy his muscles and leave him paralyzed. As time went on, the bad news kept coming — that ALS is a genetic disease and that Curtis descends from one of the longest (and perhaps most historically infamous) line of ALS victims. That many of his relatives have suffered and died at rather young, healthy ages from this terrible disease. And that as far as science and medicine go, he has zero hope of recovery or cure.
Now, instead of sliding into defeat, Curtis decided to seek solace in the only medicine that seems to have any effect… namely, a life lived to its fullest, spent among family and friends . And here is where the healing circles come in. Every week neighbors crowd around the Vance family living room between plates of brownies and banana bread. They form a circle. They hold hands. They share stories. They laugh. They pray. They send as much love and positive energy as they can toward Curtis, who sits in a recliner in the center of the circle.
Does it help? The muscles in Curtis’s body continue to atrophy. The disease doesn’t stop its steady paralysis. And yet, Curtis has found an inner peace and centeredness. His spirit soars. An overwhelming sea of love surrounds and supports him and he can’t help but feel blessed. Whether the circle itself has the power to heal is besides the point. It is the sheer act of gathering, the Great Love poured into the gesture that fills Curtis with power.
I myself have been fortunate enough to be at the center of such a powerful blessing. Last week the twin and I celebrated our 27th Birthday. A smattering of friends and loved ones gathered at the beach for a potluck party. And in the midst of the revelry, an impromptu circle was formed. Hands were clasped. And 30 people sent their warm pulse from palm to palm, and their collective wishes our way.
2 days later, our first script was sold. Whether this has anything to do with the the healing circle that had been formed is a question I leave to the wind and tide. All I know is that my closest friends came together to share their love and that I felt their energy surge through me like a wave. And that gathering, that joining of hands and hearts… hippie as it may be… was meaningful and poignant. It was a tremendous gift. The sale was just icing on the cake (but boy, that icing sure is sweet!)
So… call your friends. Find an excuse, any old lame reason, to get together. To share stories. To laugh. To hold hands. To heal each other in small, silly, little ways done with great love. And who knows, maybe with all that combined energy, you might just manifest your greatest goals, desires, or dreams. If nothing else, you got to hold somebody’s hand. And that can’t be bad.
Always merry and bright!
–Aaron
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