Healing from the Inside Out

By Bunny Blair Rush

I am endlessly amazed by the tenacity and courage of so many of my clients and students in their pursuit of discovering their own being – who they truly are – and in that process, find themselves healing. I recently worked with a young woman who impressed me profoundly. She had spent her entire young life in her head – her intellect, if you will. It served her well. She was astute, did well in school, and she was always able to rationalize all the events and decisions in her life reasonably, without questioning her motives. But in the past couple of years she had begun to realize that she had no experience of her spirit. At some level she knew she was missing something very important – and she longed for it. But being in her body – feeling – simply terrified her. And the idea of exploring her fear was even more frightening. Yet there she was, sitting across from me with her shoulders drawn up and her body rigid with utter terror. She really worked during that session and decided to come back for more. How can I feel anything but respect and awe for her determination?

Some of you readers are aware of the Lionheart Institute, a now growing school of transpersonal energy healing here in San Antonio, which was co-founded by myself and Laura Fine, a wonderful teacher and healer in San Diego, California. When we were trying to decide on a name for the school, I knew I wanted something about Texas and something about the heart. I’m still not sure why, I just knew that’s what I wanted. In my research to find a name, I finally came across a native Texas plant called the “fall obedient plant,” also called the “lionheart.” The lionheart is so named for its incredible endurance. It is known as a favorite among gardeners with a “black thumb” because it’s so easy to grow, tolerates extremely difficult conditions and blooms all the way until frost. It also resembles the foxglove, the plant from which digitalis is made, a drug long used to stimulate the heart muscle in heart patients. The lionheart – what a perfect mirror for the courage and heart required to bring about deep healing within ourselves and others.

At the Lionheart Institute and as professional healers, we cannot impart to others what we have not faced and embraced within ourselves. In fact, one series of classes at Lionheart intensely explores the cellular traumas from early childhood stages of development that shape our energetic definition and expression – a process then facilitating the expression of the gift inherent in that defensive wound created in early childhood. It is only after we are capable of cultivating these and other spiritual qualities that we can begin to responsibly practice the art of subtle healing. So, in my experience, it is best to learn and practice healing from the inside out. After all, you can restructure chakras until the cows come home and it won’t have a permanent effect until you can get to the deeper root of the dis-ease. Learning this way not only enables our own healing and enhances our quality of life, but in the process of unfolding, hightens our subtle sense.

As a healer and teacher myself, I am all too aware of the mirrors between me and my clients and students. It’s a constant reminder to me that, if I experience resistance or judgment towards a client – towards anyone – it’s another opportunity for me to look more deeply within myself. It’s time for me to put my own ego aside and embrace my own limitations. It’s certainly no coincidence that whatever issues may be up for me at any given point in time, will inevitably show up as issues for my clients as well. While this process of self-exploration and discovery is no walk in the park, it is, without doubt, an invitation to freedom and, yes – even bliss.