Tibetan Buddhist Self-Healing
Adapted from The Healing Power of Mind, by Tulku Thondup (Shambhala, 1996).
Science has confirmed the power of the mind to help heal illness. Here is a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist technique from a master teacher that helps us to visualize healing with images of water, fire, air, and earth.
SIMPLE SOLUTION:
Water:
Imagine water as a nectar-like medicinal stream. From your source of power it descends through your head and flows through your body, soothing and cleansing every part of it, and in particular restoring the flow and harmony among the cells affected by sickness. Feel and believe that it is washing away dirt and detoxifying poisons. Your body becomes pure like a clean, clear bottle.
Fire:
Imagine that waves of fire come to you, enveloping every cell of your body. The flame radiates warmth health, and happiness. It burns and consumes all physical ailments related to coldness, lifelessness, or lack of energy.
Air:
Pure air sweeps away such ailments as circulatory and respiratory weakness, or congestions and toxins in the cells of your body. The blessed air purifies and amplifies the healthy qualities of your breathing and circulation, bringing health to every cell of your body. You could imagine that this wind is like beautiful music within you. If you have a CD or tape player by your sickbed, you could hear the actual sound of music as if it were within your body, granting relaxation and health.
Earth:
When sickness brings doubts, fears, or panic, we can remind ourselves not only of the intrinsic strength of our mind but also how resilient our body is. Feel your body as solid and strong, and take some time to rejoice in its fundamentally earth-like qualities. Visualize your whole body as being like the earth, unshakeable and self-renewing, despite the passing weaknesses or tremors of sickness. Bring as much detail to the exercise as you like. See your body’s bones, muscles, nerves, skin, and chemicals as strong. Imagine the earth within you, that your body or cells are as solid as mountains, healthy and regenerative as trees, beautiful as all of nature.