What is Spirituality All About Anyway?

What is Spirituality All About Anyway?

Spirituality is the fundamental part of all of our religious and philosophical systems. It is the core of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all other religions. It is also at the core of every thought system that we as humans have ever created:   modern physics, communism, atheism, humanitarianism, and all the others too! This is because we, as humans, all have the same basic needs and wants. Like it or not, we all wear trousers or skirts, and eat a meal or two (if we're really lucky) each day. So, spirituality is concerned with our deepest and most important desires for happiness, peace, and a bit of fun.

The spiritual part of our nature is subtle and ordinarily quite difficult to fully experience. It is usually so deep down inside of the heart that, most of the time, one can barely hear it. The many experiences and sensations of mind, body, and the external world also tend to drown it out. Thus, spiritual practice is all about learning to get in touch with our most precious part, our spiritual nature.

Spirituality builds upon personal psychology and well-being. But it is not the same thing.

For more information about the basic ideas underlying spirituality, you can read the next section.

Spiritual Teachings

Spiritual Healing

What is Spiritual Healing?

Any technique that uses subtle energies for healing.

Such energies are only now starting to be recognised by western medicine. Most eastern medical systems have acknowledged and used such forces for hundreds to thousands of years. "Chi" and "prana" are two of the better known names for these energies. They are related to, and can be directed by, a person's consciousness. Because of this, one can receive such healing forces either in the presence of, or at a distance from, the healer being worked with.

A Healing Meditation

Sometimes, if we are not completely swamped under, problems can indirectly bring about a deepening of our own wisdom and compassion for others. This can occur if we remember that life is a mixture of both good and bad circumstance, and that there are many others who have very similar--or worse--problems with just the same issues that we do.

One thing that you can do is to offer up your own pain for the benefit of others. A good technique derived from Tibetan Buddhist practices is as follows:

1) Acknowledge the problem and your pain; open to being with it; you don't have to approve of pain, but to best handle it, you need to experience it fully so that you are in a position to let go of it.

2) Realize that pain--along with pleasure--is a fundamental aspect of this world that we live in: it's a package deal--they come together.

3) Understand that lots and lots of folks have it as bad, if not much worse, than you do with exactly the same problem.

4) Muster up a little (or as much as you can) empathy for all those other folks; wish that somehow you could help them too.

5) Develop the wish to take on their sufferings with this problem through a kind of transference. Imagine that your very real pain now somehow includes a portion (if even only a tiny one) of their sufferings and thereby relieves them of some of their pain.

6) Visualize that, as well as taking on some of their suffering, you also give them some of your happiness to help them as well. You can imagine their problems coming into your heart as thick black smoke, and your goodwill streaming out to them as pleasant white light.

7) You should feel that the black smoke also helps to utterly destroy your own confusion and unhealthy relationships with your problem. This should lead to a feeling of joy.

8) If you would like, you can coordinate this visualisation and imagination with your breath. Breathe in their problems and breathe out your happiness. Breathe naturally throughout.

9) Continue with this for a while until you feel a sense of completion.

It is a wonderful practice and can help balance out the personality. And don't worry, it won't bite! It may seem practically ludicrous to go asking for more trouble on top of all that one already has, but due to the interconnected nature of the world at physical and metaphysical levels, this practice helps to open the heart and can literally contribute to physical and emotional recovery.

How to Get Free Spiritual Healing

Typically spiritual healing is used to shift subtle energy patterns that may be obstructing the healthy functioning of life in the ordinary world of mind, heart and body. Healing is usually directed to an individual but it can also be helpfully sent to practically any collection of beings or situations. In general the more specific the target for healing is, the more energy that is available to promote recovery and well-being.

Healing is not counselling! It can be used as an aid but most practitioners do not have access to sufficient power or good merit to literally shift the mental state of a client. The most practical approach for emotional and mental work is to supplement counselling with spiritual healing. The counselling helps slowly shift a person's thoughts and feelings, and the healing shifts energy patterns so that the overall change process is facilitated and quickened in a gentle way.

Methods that are commonly used for spiritual healing work include:

Prayer
Visualisation (understanding, caring, healing, protecting)
Channelling of spiritual energy (for instance: qi, prana, reiki)
Devices that transmit healing forces (for example: radionics)
Channeling of Spiritual Helpers and Guides
Personal spiritual realisation
Advanced levels of concentration
Psychic abilities
Bodhicitta (Universal Compassion)
There are some very good sites on the Internet that will help you to find the resources that are appropriate for you. For prayer support and metaphysical healing some phrases to search on include: "absent healing", "distant healing", "psychic healing", "prayer", "healing prayer", "reiki", "spiritual healing", "alternative medicine" and "complementary medicine". You will find that many churches and organisations provide free prayer support! Some links to help you get started include:

Healers
Science of Mind - Prayer Request
Distant Healing Network - Prayer Request
Silent Unity - Prayer Request
UK National Federation of Spiritual Healers - Distant Healing (contact by snail mail)
World Prayer Network - Prayer Request
Free Spiritual Healing - Choose a Session
The Reiki Page - Free Distance Healing
International Center for Reiki Training - Healing Request
World Light - Light Workers (some offer free distant healing )
The Harry Edwards Spiritual Healing Sanctuary - Request Absent Healing
   
UK Reiki Distant Healing Request Form
Free Spiritual Healing - UK Spiritual Healer
The Psychic School - Free Healing via Chat or Forum
   
Request Form for Absent or Distant Healing
Integrative Medicine Alliance - Links to Prayer and Distant Healing
   
Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Healing People - Alternative & Complementary Medicine    
Family Village - Alternative & Complementary Medicine
Holistic Online - Natural and Alternative Medicine
Alternative Medicine Introduction
World Light - Alternative Healers (some offer free distant healing)
The Alternative Medicine Homepage
Alternative Health Resources
Institute for Traditional Medicine
EarthMed - extensive listing of Alternative Practitioners
   
Yahoo - Alternative Medicine
Be Well Naturally
Kinesiology Net
Whole People
Good Health Page
Self Improvement Online
Qi Gong for Self-Healing
Yan Xin Nine-Step Qigong At a Glance
Yan Xin Qigong
Qigong Association
Yongnian Taiji
ChiLel Qigong
Qi Gong / Acupuncture Meridians
Qi Journal
   
Spiritual Counselling

What is Spiritual Counselling?

Advice and support for a person to more fully experience her or his spiritual nature.

This counselling usually only lightly touches upon areas that are normally dealt with in personal psychology (such as relations, self-image, self-worth, habits and behaviours). The major focus is upon aspects such as: faith, devotion, wisdom, compassion, spiritual techniques (eg. prayer and meditation), and spiritual experiences.

In general, counselling works best through respect. The person giving advice is at heart, really not that much different than the person asking for it! Only, the counsellor usually has had more experience about the topic being discussed. When that topic is spirituality, the aim is to empower a basically well-adjusted person to further his or her growth towards recognising and becoming part of the larger experience that we call life (or Life, depending on our way of thinking).

Spiritual Counselling FAQ

The Spiritual Path threads its way through our lives from beginning to end--whether we realise it or not. Because of this, it encompasses all levels of our gradually awakening consciousness. At first, spiritual issues revolve more around the personal level. But gradually we begin to address areas that become transpersonal and universal in scope. This is just the nature of the journey. The following link, Taking the Spiritual Path, provides some tips and ideas for working with the challenges that we occasionally encounter along our road to wholeness and well-being. You can also access free spiritual counselling via this page.

How to Get Free Spiritual Counselling

Many of the spiritual counsellors you will find via the web can help you with a broad range of topics related to spiritual and psychic life. The general areas covered usually include:
Counselling
Problems affecting spiritual practice
Personal
Relationship
Social
Personal growth
Understanding spirituality
Psychology
Personal / Humanistic
Transpersonal / Holistic
Philosophy / Science
Modern Western
Eastern Metaphysics
Techniques for spiritual growth
Transpersonal Psychotherapy
Opening the Heart
Love, Devotion, Surrender, Compassion, Contentment
Meditation
Mindfulness, Concentration, Visualisation, Energy Work
Service
One way to ask a question or request counselling is through working with your own inner resources. Parts of your being "inside" are wise, capable and do believe in you fully and whole-heartedly. The guided colour meditation available on the following page, Counselling Meditation,    will help you to honour this inner spirit and find a way to make space and quiet for it to share with you. You can actively meet with your inner heart and discover what all parts of your being have to share. Through this, both your whole and your hurt inner voices can have expression to cooperate and discover a fair solution for your entire self.

Other Places to Check for Free Spiritual Counselling

For spiritual guidance and support, some phrases to search on include: "spiritual counselling", "mental health", "spiritual teachers", "self-help", "psychotherapy", "humanistic", "transpersonal", "positive thinking", "psychosynthesis", "power of mind", "psychology" and "guidance". You will find there are many sites related to spiritual counselling, mental health, and guidance. Some links that you might want to check with include:

Guides and Counsellors
Spiritual Counselling (Buddhist perspective)
Connections Christian Counselling Services (lots of links to counselling)
   
Spiritual Emergency Resource Center (online forum for discussion)
Bulletin Boards on Spiritual Topics
Web Chat about Spirituality
Mailing Lists about Spirituality
US Association of Pastoral Counselors (check for a similar group in your country)
Imagination Forum (online forum and counseling)
   
Psychology and Psychotherapy
Mental Health Net
Internet Mental Health
   
Mental Health Internet Guide
Non-Mainstream Psychotherapy
Healing Arts (articles on somatic psychotherapy)
Bioenergetic Analysis (a style of somatic psychotherapy)
Biodynamic Psychotherapy (a style of somatic psychotherapy)
Hakomi and Hakomi Integrative Somatics
   
The Gestalt Therapy Page
C.G. Jung, Analytic Psychology and Culture
Dream Work
Keirsey Temperament Sorter - Jungian Personality Test
Psychosynthesis
International Network on Personal Meaning
Transpersonal Internet Links
   
Transpersonal Psychology Links
Commercial Sites Offering Spiritual Healing and Counselling

Why Not Free?  Well, ideally spiritual services such as counselling and healing should be free. It is a little like selling water by the riverside. Why would anyone want to sell water when the very essence of our existence is the river? Unfortunately, as you realise too, this world is often far removed from such understanding. Most of us choose to live within the bounds of civilisation and its rules. And this brings us back to the hustle of money and marketing and selling and buying.

Just use your ordinary common sense when doing your esoteric shopping and you should do fine. The same rules of business apply to these services as for any others. So, you will find a broad spectrum of people offering you counselling and healing. And the range is enormous. It spans from those wanting simply to make a living to those that are mainly intent on spiritual development but find themselves in need of an income. It is safe to say that most people you may choose to work with will fall somewhere in the middle of this range.

One thing you should be aware of is that psychic abilities or healing powers do not necessarily equate to spirituality. Thus, try to keep a clear boundary in your mind regarding what is on offer. Judge healers and counsellors in terms of their ability to heal and counsel. This will help keep you from being disappointed or disillusioned as many a very capable psychic healer may be very ordinary in other regards. As long as you get the service you require this will not matter too much. But be wary of assuming advanced spirituality where it may not be present. You can use your experiences in the presence of genuine and traditional teachers to evaluate what similar--if any--effects your healer or counsellor may bring to your heart.

Spiritual service as commercial enterprise is not all bad since an adequate income frees the professional to fully focus on providing the very best quality service. And because some people in this field are really more interested in spiritual development than making money, you can at times get excellent value for your investment. Shop around. As with all things, quality varies and often word of mouth is the best endorsement. Try to use your discrimination and trust your heart when choosing such services. If you have access to friends who are knowledgeable in these areas, you might like to check with them before you buy.

Commercial Sites

Spiritual Counselling
Transpersonal Psychotherapy (select the Spiritual Counselling link)  
Meditation Therapy
Spiritual Healing
Transpersonal Psychotherapy (select the Spiritual Healing link)  
Disclaimer: What Results Can You Expect?

Spiritual Healing can be tricky. Sometimes it can work, sometimes not. You can rest assured that the healers and counsellors available to you through the links on this page will do the best they can for you. But they can't promise you a complete cure. At the least, you will have some goodwill sent your way and perhaps your day will be a bit better. They wish that for you.

It is important for you to understand the strengths of the two major schools of healing practice and how they should be used. Standard (also called conventional or allopathic) medicine often provides direct and immediate relief for disease and illness. But it can be quite invasive and drastic in its approach, and often deals with the symptoms and not the causes of a problem. Still, at times, a conventional approach can be the treatment of choice. For instance, a course of antibiotics may be prescribed for a threatening bacterial infection.

Alternative (also called complementary or holistic) medicine tends to have a much broader view of health and human nature. Thus, treatments are mostly directed toward the underlying causes of sickness and discomfort rather than surface symptoms. As an example, a client presenting with stiffness in the neck and a headache might receive a conventional diagnosis of headache due to neck tension. In contrast, an acupuncturist might consider both the headache and neck tension as symptoms of an underlying imbalance in specific subtle energy flows. At times, alternative approaches can be as effective, or even more effective, than conventional methods. For instance, cranial osteopathy, acupuncture, homoeopathy, naturopathy and electronic medicine all have excellent results in particular applications. Because holistic medicine treats the whole being in a non-invasive way, it is preferable in many situations. Also, it is almost always useful as a supplement to conventional techniques.

Thus, there is a balance that needs to be made. Both conventional and alternative methods have a legitimate place in health care. Selection of an appropriate style of treatment depends on which approach offers the most effective, and least disrupting, way to regain health. At times, a combination of both approaches--allopathic and holistic--works best.

In contrast to healing work, spiritual counselling is more certain and manageable. That is, as with all psychotherapy, success in spiritual counselling can be predicted fairly accurately. The most important factor is your motivation! Studies have shown that, overwhelmingly, client motivation makes or breaks therapy. The second most important factor is the personal quality of the therapist. Look for someone whom you will feel comfortable being around. A good therapist will be empathic and caring. She or he will accept you as you are and encourage you in your growth. Nevertheless, it is good to remember that much of the result will come from your own efforts and steadfast perseverance. A counsellor can provide you a sounding board for your ideas and offer some advice, but it is your life, and in the end, only you can make things go the way you would like for them to.

Links to Spirituality

The web hosts a veritable ocean of material on spirit-related topics. Phrases to search on include: "spirituality, mysticism, psychic, spirit, soul, oversoul, higher self, consciousness, higher consciousness, cosmic consciousness, universal consciousness, subtle awareness, enlightenment, gnosis, transcendental experience, samadhi, satori, buddhahood, clear light, mahamudra, dzogchen, insight, mystical union, emptiness, cloud of unknowing, dark night of soul, infinite mind, bliss, ecstasy, compassion, wisdom, love, devotion, surrender, service, dharma, truth, eternal verities, reality, esoteric law, divine, celestial, heaven, pure land, causal dimension, angel, deva, dakini, dharma protector, spirit guide, inner guidance, ascended masters, God, Allah, Yahweh, Great Spirit, Vajradhara, Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, infinity, saint, prophet, world teacher, messiah, shaman, kahuna, guru, lama, rinpoche, sufi, fakir, monk, yogi, karma, afterlife, reincarnation, transmigration, past lives, vipassana, zen, yoga, faith, meditation, concentration, visualisation, mantra, prayer, rosary, inner work, toning, bhajan, kirtan, chant, tantra, energy medicine, complementary medicine, alternative medicine, holistic health, subtle energy, vital energy, radionics, aura, qigong, chi, qi, ki, prana, astral body, subtle body, chakra, timeless, dreamtime, transpersonal, humanistic, psychotherapy, cognitive psychology, collective unconscious, alaya, archetype, parapsychology, psi, modern philosophy, theology, mythology, new physics, neural network, associative, synchronicity, hologram, parallel universes, morphogenetic resonance, multidimensional, biofield, bioenergy, kirlian, mental health, positive thinking, self-help, self-actualised, power of mind, mental power, lucid dreaming, supernatural, occult, theosophy, spiritism, alchemy, kabbalah, mysteries, miracle, magic, atlantis, lemuria, pyramid, ufo, esp, extrasensory perception, extra-terrestrials, obe, out of body experience, astral travel, alternate reality, channelling, lightwork, clairvoyant, clairaudient, remote viewing, psychokinesis, telepathy, distant healing, absent healing, religion, paranormal, astrology, new age, gaia, one world, earth change, ascension, crystal, interconnectedness, inter-relatedness, holism, dimensional shift, higher octave, sacred, holy, blessed."

Some links that you might enjoy visiting include:


Spiritual Masters
Meher Baba
Sai Baba
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov
Paramahansa Yogananda
Ramana Maharshi
Tibetan Rinpoches
Saints of the World
   
Buddhism
Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library
DharmaNet International
Access to Insight
BuddhaNet - Buddhist Information Network
Tibetan Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library
Quiet Mountain - Tibetan Buddhism
Osel Shen Phen Ling - FPMT Center
Dhargyey Buddhist Centre
Tsurphu Foundation - Gyalwa Karmapa
Amdo - Tibetan Buddhist Resources
   
Other Spiritual Traditions
Sufi Resources
Ridhwan Organisation - Teachings of A.H. Almaas
   
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Spirituality, Monasticism and Mysticism (mostly Christian focus)
A Course in Miracles
Hindu Tantra
Transcendental Meditation
Subud
   
Rumi
Adi Da


Spiritual / New Age Directories
Spirit -WWW
The New Age Directory
NewAge On-Line Australia
New Age Web Works
SpiritSite
Beliefnet
Lightworks
Enlightened Planetary Civilisation
Religion WWW Virtual Library
World Wide Online Meditation Center
   
Spiritual, NewAge and Self-Help Magazines
ConsciousNet - Directory of Magazines
New Frontier
Tricycle Buddhist Review
Self-Help & Psychology
Society for Scientific Exploration
What is Enlightenment?
Religion
Miracles
Psychology of Religion
Comparative Religion
WWWVL - Religion
Table of Faiths
Metaphysics : Multiple Meanings
   
World Religions, Beliefs and Practices

Consciousness
PSYCHE Journal
Journal of Consciousness Studies
Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
University of Arizona : Consciousness Studies
Neuro-Psychoanalysis
   
Online Papers on Consciousness
Brain Mapping Sites
Neurosciences on the Internet
Mind Tools
Altered States
Tools For Exploration
Mind Machine Research
Tools & Techniques for Mental Fitness
InnerTalk - Progressive Awareness Subliminal Tapes
Brain Sync Tapes
The Monroe Institute
Patrick Flanagan - the Neurophone (more info via email at www.flantech.com)
Australian Bush Flower Essences
Radionics
   
Electro-Acupuncture - MORA Therapy
About This Web Page

The Spiritual Healing/Counselling and Spiritual Teachings web pages were conceived and developed in 1995 as a free service for all those who are interested in spiritual development and understanding. Their author works as an alternative practitioner of transpersonal counselling, kinesiology and osteopathy. He has blended these three streams into a unique approach that fosters personal growth within a context of spiritual awareness and healing. As well, the author still maintains these pages as an ongoing offering to the greater community.

If you would like further support after checking through the links on this and related pages, you might want to consider visiting the author's commercial web site Transpersonal Psychotherapy.    It provides access to online professional services including spiritually-oriented counselling and spiritual healing.


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