[Some innovative ways of overcoming obstacles to “becoming.”]

Some people will pay any price and go anywhere to be transformed or to move closer to light, life and love. Others avoid the experience at all cost. The opportunity is always before us whatever we are doing. It need not cost anything. We can use all the opportunities that are always present for us to find our heart. The problem for many people is that they do not know how to transform themselves with what life presents to them. “A Guide to Handling Life and Finding Love” was not taught in school. I was a school nurse and health educator for the children of military families in Europe. They let me teach about life to the children.

I see people who don’t know they are changing. A woman recently said to me after her first treatment for vertigo, “When can I expect to see results?” I replied, “Are you having vertigo right now?” She said “No.” I said, “What you can expect is what you get.” It seems like a very difficult thing to accept, but that is the way healing works. We don’t control it. It guides us. Drugs are an attempt to control... which ultimately controls us.

A big part of healing is to be willing to go where life takes you. If we learn from life, it makes things work at a level that brings deep satisfaction. Life is a roller coaster ride with dips, thrills, twist and turns. Yet much of what holds our transformation back is the need to control where the ride takes us. One day my husband and I were heading to a new dance class. We were not sure we would like the instructor, as he seemed very demanding on the phone. We did like the subject he was teaching. We were driving to get there on time, yet were stopped by every red light on the way. I commented, “Looks like we aren’t supposed to get there.” We arrived late and it was brutally not right for us. On the way home, all the stoplights were green. I think life gives us what we need; the opportunity is always there.

Most often when the obstacles are removed, the transformation and healing occur automatically. In the patients I see, I can immediately tell where the blocks are by using Kinesiology and intuition. When the blocks are released, my clients feel a little shocked that they feel so much better. You see, we get used to blocks and want to hold on to them; they become like friends. Recognizing and facilitating removal of blocks wherever they are is my true gift Ð the gift for transforming lives. I think we all have many blocks and can always move forward. I release mine daily.

When the obstacles to our “becoming” are gone, it is easier to live, have dreams come true, be on our path, and enjoy life. I worked with a young European woman who had been mourning the absence of her family for years. Giving up the sorrow was hard because it was all she had left of them. She was surprised to find that releasing the sorrow actually allowed her to experience the great love they had for one other. Through family constellation therapy, she is now able to move beyond that stuck point. A few days later a man came into her life. She said, “He is the first possibly ideal man for me after two marriages.” She could now open to love. Life holds the opportunity to move beyond stuck points. It is a choice. The possibilities it reveals are endless.

I have always felt that there was great value in moving through things, and that diseases like cancer were the result of not moving through the issues. It seems that when we don’t deal with them they become stuck in the tissues and cells of the body. The accumulation of obstacles takes away our desire to live. When they are removed, we have to get used to receiving life.

The deepest level of healing I have come to experience myself and that I offer to others is “generational healing” with family constellation work. What I have come to recognize is that we can struggle all our lives to change but if the block is at the generational level, it most often does not move until that work is done. I have seen a psychotic person shift out of psychosis as a result of identifying an issue that occurred many generations before. Since then, she has come forward with amazing gifts. This work, which I experience as the most deeply transforming, is done with actual people representing our relatives or with colored mats. The work allows the souls of those involved to reveal their distresses and unfinished work. As we stand in acceptance of it with unconditional love, their corrections and revelations are made as the soul does the work.

I conducted this procedure on a poodle named Teddy. The human parents had spent thousands of dollars on holistic vets all over the country. When I dealt with Teddy’s generational issues, he transformed from a very disturbed, vomiting, chewing-his-paws, choking puppy to a happy guy. If Teddy could do it, you can too.

One of the things about healing is that it is transforming. Many people are not eager for insight and self-awareness. People call and ask me if acupuncture will get rid of their pain. I tell them I have seen it happen many times. In fact, a woman with an eating disorder recognized, after her first treatment with acupuncture, that her eating stemmed from being left by her parents in an orphanage for two years when she was a child. That insight and release shifted her to dramatic improvement.

Still, there are times when more insight is necessary or the removal of causative agents such as viruses, toxins, or issues is required for complete improvement. In this culture, we are still in the process of learning and accepting the relationships between psychological, emotional, physical, and behavioral choices. We think only disturbed people go to therapy. We are all here for learning; it’s called being human.

The part that is rather hard to accept is the personal responsibility that goes with accepting the relationship of the physical to the other parts. My experience is that all diseases are in some way psychosomatic. There is something the body is trying to teach us with each symptom. If the symptoms are still present, there is more work to be done. With drugs, there may be suppression of symptoms, which helps us avoid the opportunity for insight. Insight is a delight. If we allow it, we move on and we are transformed.

[Paula Koger, R.N., M.A. is an acupuncture physician andowner of Wealth of Health Institute in Brandon. (813) 661-7010. www.wealthofhealthinstitute.com]