At the roots of most chronic physical, mental, and emotional illnesses is a basic wound: a lurking spiritual malady.
The basic philosophy that accompanies most spiritual healing traditions is that when we are disconnected from the Divine, we are severed from true well-being.
Since the Divine is the source of our energy (our life force), when we are alienated from it, we experience numerous illnesses that manifest in endless forms.
The purpose of these illnesses is to help us reconnect with our Divine inner Center – to point the way back to Wholeness.
This is where spiritual healing comes into the picture:
It’s a path of healing; of reuniting us with our true Spiritual Nature.
However, not all approaches to spiritual healing are healthy. In fact, it’s wise to practice discernment and caution here.
We need to look out for ourselves because we may be used by so-called spiritual healers and preyed upon by false ideas.
As a person who has a lot of experience with spiritual healing, who works in the spiritual field, and who has published numerous spiritual books on the topic of healing (for spiritual seekers, empaths, and old souls), I’ll share key advice in this article.
Table of contents
What is Spiritual Healing?
Spiritual healing is the practice (and experience) of restoring, harmonizing, and balancing our Spirit or Soul.
Spiritual healing is also seen as a transcendental experience of reconnecting with our true nature. As author and teacher, Shakti Gawain writes:
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Spiritual healing occurs as we begin to consciously reconnect with our essential being – the wise, loving, powerful, creative entity that we are at our core.
Spiritual Healing and Spiritual Awakening
For many people, spiritual healing is a crucial part of the spiritual wanderer’s journey of awakening.
By revealing and soothing the wounds that other modalities (such as psychology or nutrition) fail to heal, a doorway is opened to deeper inner spiritual alchemy. In other words, spiritual healing can offer us the chance to grow and transform in a way that no other path can.
Many sensitive and receptive beings, such as empaths, intuitives, and old souls, are drawn to spiritual healing. Some even become spiritual healers themselves. For many spiritual wanderers, spiritual healing becomes a regular part of their spiritual awakening path.
5 Types of Spiritual Healing
There are many different approaches to spiritual healing.
For example, some new-age healing practitioners focus only on bringing balance to the etheric or non-physical energy field of the human body. Shamanic healers focus on restoring the spirit and curing soul loss. And other holistic healers focus on unifying the body, heart, mind, and spirit.
Even psychologists and therapists are starting to incorporate spiritual healing into their work such as those operating in the depth and transpersonal fields of psychology.
So in summary, there are five different types of spiritual healing:
- Physical healing (of the body)
- Emotional healing (of the heart)
- Mental healing (of the mind)
- Spiritual healing (of the spirit or soul)
- Holistic healing (of the body, heart, mind, and spirit)
The type of spiritual healing that you’ll need will depend on the following questions:
- What is your main struggle in life right now?
- Do you have more than one pressing issue?
Depending on your answers, you’ll be able to determine what type of spiritual healing modality you need. For instance, if you suffer from chronic pain (for which no other methods work) and also depression, you would need physical and mental healing – ideally, some kind of holistic healer would benefit you the most.
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If, on the other hand, you have one issue, like an unshakable sense of grief from a lost relationship, seek out a healer who specializes in emotional healing.
Common types of spiritual healing include chakra healing, crystal/herbal remedies, breathwork, reiki, traditional medicine (ayurveda, Chinese medicine), aromatherapy, meditation/visualization techniques, and so on.
But what about soul healing?
What does that mean? And does it apply to you?
(By the way, here’s a video we made on the topic of spiritual healing a while ago – it provides some unique food for thought!)
How Can I Heal My Soul?
If you’re interested in spiritual healing, you likely feel that something fundamental is missing from your life.
Some people are able to verbalize this feeling, while others just feel a stark, bone-chilling absence of something vital. When a person is able to pinpoint what’s wrong, usually they discover that it’s rooted in the soul.
“I’m a lost soul,” they might think, or, “My soul is broken.”
But this is a fundamental misunderstanding. Yes, something is certainly wrong, but it’s not that the soul is broken (which is impossible from an objective standpoint), it’s that they’ve lost touch with their soul.
In other words, they are living in a lifeless, colorless world that lacks the joy and succulence that the soul brings.
So the question isn’t how to “heal” your soul (because the soul is Divine and incapable of being fractured – you can experience this while meditating), but how to find your soul.
Mature spiritual healers (i.e., those who understand the nature of the soul) and spiritual healing resources out there (such as this website) will recommend a host of different methods. Some of them include:
- Self-love and self-care practices
- Inner child work
- Shadow work
- Soul retrieval
- Solitude and introspection
- Meditation and mindfulness exercises
- Connecting with spirit animals and spirit guides
- Spending time in nature (ecotherapy)
Click on any of the above links to get further guidance if you’d like a place to start with your spiritual healing.
I also highly recommend that you check out our article on Soul Work, which goes into great depth on ways of reconnecting with the soul.
It’s important to be educated and use spiritual discernment here. Not all spiritual healing modalities are equal. Not all healers or teachers are in it for your best interest. And sometimes, our motivations for spiritual healing are wrong. I’ll explain why next.
The Dark Side of Spiritual Healing That No One Talks About
There’s a reason why no one talks about the dark side of spiritual healing.
First, most people aren’t even aware that there’s a dark side. Second, if they are aware, they’re uncomfortable facing or confronting it, typically out of fear or a sense of embarrassment.
Here’s where I come in: your friendly neighborhood shadow worker. I will help to outline exactly how seeking spiritual healing can be self-destructive and why.
Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? Well here’s the thing: it is! Spiritual healing can feel like an enigma wrapped in a riddle, and I’ll explain why.
To be as short and succinct as possible, there are two dark twins of spiritual healing:
Issue 1: Spiritualized Resistance
The first dark twin is what I call spiritualized resistance.
What does spiritualized resistance mean? Basically, it means that sometimes we can use spiritual healing as an excuse to “get rid of” certain feelings, memories, and experiences that we’ve had.
What’s wrong with trying to banish or get rid of what we go through? It’s a form of resistance. And resistance leads to tremendous suffering. I’m talking about anxiety, depression, anger, resentment, bitterness, the whole shebang.
I believe that everyone in the spiritual community needs to understand that trying to “heal” is not always about healing. In fact, often, healing is used as an excuse to deny, suppress, disown, or reject what we’re going through.
It is completely understandable to want to try to get rid of our suffering – particularly if we’re exhausted and deeply wounded.
But here’s the thing: desperately trying to heal can actually exacerbate your unhappiness and deepen your resistance to what’s happening, thereby preventing you from actually healing!
I will repeat that sentence again (read it slowly): desperately trying to heal can intensify your unhappiness and deepen your resistance to what’s happening, thereby preventing you from actually healing!
It is important for us to understand that true spiritual healing is about facing, acknowledging, exploring, and integrating what we are going through. It’s not about trying to escape our reality!
Issue 2: Dark Spiritual Teachers
The second dark twin is perpetrated by spiritual “healers” and practitioners who are aware – either on a conscious or unconscious level – of the first dark twin of spiritual healing.
These teachers are aware of the addictive quality of the push-and-pull game of eternal self-improvement and they use it for their own self-gain.
I see this literally everywhere. It’s a sad thing to behold. It’s prevalent in people who believe they must pay big bucks to “manifest their desires,” keep their vibration high, and basically accumulate more and be more (as if who they are and what they have isn’t already enough).
But when does this getting and being more actually end? It’s an eternal cycle that leads to suffering (which I wrote about in my thought-provoking self-improvement article).
Then, of course, you have the more sinister breed of spiritual teachers who appear divine and enlightened on the surface but are raging megalomaniacs underneath.
A true spiritual teacher will always give your power back to you, but a false spiritual teacher will not only parade around wearing your codependency like a crown but will also actively encourage it.
They will purport to have the power to “heal” all your issues and provide you with the “one true path” towards enlightenment, illumination, self-realization, or Oneness.
And if you believe them, you’ll be ensnared in a dangerous web of believing that someone outside of you can offer you salvation. (Read more about dodgy spiritual guidance.)
What is Authentic Spiritual Healing?
Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.
– Akshay Dubey
I hope that during the course of this article, I have communicated myself clearly. Spiritual healing itself isn’t to blame; it is our mental approach to spiritual healing that’s the issue.
When spiritual healing is used as a way to avoid, deny, suppress, and disown our issues through “spiritualized resistance” we are abusing its potential. And when spiritual healing is used as a dangling carrot by unethical and unwise spiritual teachers, then it is being desecrated.
So what is authentic spiritual healing?
True spiritual healing is about facing, acknowledging, exploring, and integrating what we are going through. It’s not about trying to escape our reality! It’s really as simple as that.
Just think of it this way: if you had a blistering sore oozing blood and puss … would you really achieve much by covering your eyes and pretending to ignore it or “manifesting” it into oblivion? No. The pain and infection would still be there.
Would you really heal by pretending that sore wasn’t yours or by making it someone else’s responsibility to look after? No. You’d still carry that sore with you everywhere. It wouldn’t go away any time soon.
The only way to heal that blistering sore is to face it, accept it, and find ways of alleviating your suffering – not as a way of trying to escape your reality – but as a form of self-love. This, to me, is true spiritual healing.
So when it comes to spiritual healing, please be mindful of these traps and practice healthy caution. Critical thinking skills and radical self-honesty are so vital in this day and age.
What I’ve Learned
I’ve been guilty of using spiritual healing as a way to try and escape my suffering before.
As a person who has wrestled with anxiety for years, I have often fallen into the trap of trying to spiritually bypass my suffering through fluffy feel-good thinking or methods that promise to instantly “get rid” of anxiety.
But folks, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t work. Trying to put a band-aid on a festering sore will only make it worse.
Resisting your reality, even in a “spiritual” way, will only serve to deepen your suffering. The only way out is through. You need to go to the core and roots of your issues in order to heal them.
Please reflect on what I have written in this article because it might save you years of pointless struggle.
Love and peace to all.
Further reading and helpful resources:
- Are You Addicted to Spiritual Escapism?
- Traps & Pitfalls on the Spiritual Wanderer’s Path
- Spiritual Awakening Bundle (for down-to-earth spiritual support)
What does spiritual healing mean to you? What struggles have you faced or “dark spiritual healers” have you come across? Tell me below!
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I thoroughly enjoyed this article. I have some dear friends who are involved in an organization called Global Information Network and it appears that much of your description tells me this organization is not healthy. I’ve been on a healing journey for 4 years now since “waking up” and I’ve seen a big change in them since meeting them a year ago. It seems as if they are wanting the “high life” with money, mansions, crypto, etc. They seem very judgemental of everyone and it’s just not my thing. Healing takes truth and awareness and can be lonely sometimes and wondering what am I here for if healthy connections and like hearted people are few in my realm. I’ve done so much healing and awareness that I’m ready to have fun hoping it leads me to my passion of service to others and empowering them to heal also, healrhy and pure loving connections.
Yes! Its a trap! And its easy to fall for that trap. Its easy or, maybe they make it easy to believe…. that there is so much more wrong with you and you need their help. I have been falling for that a few times. It gives you this heavy, icky, dark, soul sucking feeling. I do feel that people who offer this type of help through YouTube channels, or creating their own coaching business are falling out of the sky faster then mushrooms grow out of the forest floor in fall. Even the hormonal and gut health professionals are EVERYWHERE nowadays. The moment you realize it’s all bogus, Your growth will re appear on its own. Sometimes guidance is beneficial. But in the end it’s YOUR journey. YOU need to do that yourself. Someone else just can’t fix anything. It’s about YOU learning through… the chaos, pain, wounds….. etc. Otherwise it will not be your journey and your lessons to learn. I have had this phase earlier this year where my progress was slow I thought some programm or workshop would be beneficial. It caused me some money, luckily not a ridiculous amount cause it didn’t do what was… Read more »
I recently had the experience of getting my first Covid infection with 10 days in quarantine. I went to my Holistic healing practices which included spiritual practices you have brought up. This did help me deal with a miserable situation in a more meaningful way. Before when I was younger I used to physically just suffer during an illness. Loner wolf really does help reduce suffering to people in difficult times. A person would be wise to follow your healing methods and mindset. You are a positive force in this world. Keep up the good work.
Very vital article. Most spiritual enlightenment paths I’ve taken have left me burnt and damaged, sans for the ones such as this blog that share resources and let me do the job myself. I thank you for emphasising the importance of the individual in finding the right path, as not all guides are safe.
Also you are very right, I too faced people trying to force me to heal fast; as well as trying to force it on myself too. It’s impossible, I think… it feels like many were trying to pretend my trauma never happened.
I’ve learnt that some guides and paths are not safe.
This very much resonates for me, as one who has suffered intense anxiety. I spent my whole life as a self-improvement project and spiritual seeker, desperately trying to find ways to fix myself. I have learned that the difficult feelings are there to tell us something and so trying to avoid them just piles on more suffering because now there is the message I am refusing to hear and some new messed up behaviours (hello compulsive eating, distraction, spiritual seeking, spending etc) with more painful messages to alert me that I am harming myself. Turning within is so difficult, as is forgiving myself, but that’s where the real healing has been.
this is beautifully written, thank you. very important things to remember.
on a side note, it might be interesting to write about sort of ‘broader unseen harms’ outside of the practitioner of different ‘spiritual healing’ methods. like with crystal healing, people should be aware of — if they even get the crystal they think they’re getting — that it often comes from mining operations and such that are quite destructive.
or the exploitation of animals, including many endangered ones, used in chinese medicine.
(we could say the same things about a lot of other things that we use, but it is just as relevant here, and moreso I would say, due to the dodgy evidence surrounding these things, and because people associate these things with something inherently wholesome and might not even be aware)
I was recommended to your website and followed you for several years now. I agreed wholeheartedly with the way you address healing. Many years ago I had a wonderful counselor who taught me the same path towards “healing” that you address here… that basically healing is not meant to “erase” the reality of our wounds. Healing is to learn what tools to use to cope with my wounds and care for those wounds lovingly, accepting them into my reality… “LettingGo” has not been the answer. It has only reinforced that I am not OK, that “cutting the reality away” has served no purpose except to increase my pain and suffering. I, of late, have experienced Disconnect, due to health, emotional, spiritual pain. Thank you for this week’s article and the assistance to guide my angst back onto a peaceful track of resolution with my reality.
Yes!!! AlSO I have been approached by the fake healers you speak of… they left me feeling filthy and horrified. Running screaming was my initial reesponse… although I remained calm enough to exit the situation diplomatically.
Thank you for your kindness… Kathy A
Love your writing – completely agree!! Many thanks for sharing. (I’m a Ma’at Sekhem practitioner/artist/writer)
as a nurse practitioner and halfway decent nashville methodist trying to love my neighbor and even my enemy as i love my self and as — in my experience — God/Jesus/Holy Spirit loves us or similar:
this guidance on types of healing is so right, accurate and useful
most of my patients have suffered greatly and come out the other side, or working hard to do so, as people in touch with deep peace and genuine joy, despite the facts and hardships and losses which their lives may still include
such patients (and friends / family) are in my experience quick to acknowledge the role that connection with divine creative Love has played in their lives
i appreciate as a nurse your attention to the holistic nature of true healing
kindest regards & many thx
lisa delille bolton rn fnp