Stoughton's Elizabeth Goodson says that her position as minister of Stoughton's Grace United Church and her partnership in her business, Arbon & Goodson, Energy Practitioners, allows her to explore, explain, and appreciate many aspects of spirituality and healing.
“I am a partner in a spirituality business with Hazel Arbon, who works in Regina and lives in Vibank. She is also a United Church minister. We are colleagues in the ministry and we started planning creative worship services together, when she was in Weyburn and I was in Kipling.”
The pair have almost 50 years combined ministry experience in the United Church of Canada and each have completed two years of specialized training to become spiritual directors. Both have completed Healing Pathways training to become Healing Touch practitioners, both are reiki masters, and both have completed a one-year program through Stonebridge College, UK to become certified Crystal Healer practitioners.
“We've done three seminar retreats here in Stoughton and two events in other locations,” she adds.
“Because the United Church is very accepting and very curious about all types of spirituality, I have been able to train as a reiki master and I am also qualified in healing touch, crystal healing, and tarot exploration. My interest in these areas has been growing for years. My grandmother was interested in all this stuff. People are eager to learn more, and I want to help them get spiritual nourishment.”
Individual treatments by Goodson take place in her Stoughton home and Arbon practices out of her home in Vibank. Goodson says a treatment typically takes 40 minutes for a first appointment and usually 20 minutes per visit thereafter, depending on the treatment.
“At a first appointment, I like to talk to the person about their concern before I work on them,” she says. “For all of the treatments, the person remains fully-clothed, with their shoes off, if they're comfortable taking their shoes off. They lie down on my massage table and in the case of healing touch, people have the choice of hands on or hands off.”
“I start on the bottoms of the feet and gradually move up-to the foot, ankle, knee and hip, one leg at a time. Then I balance the hips and then move on to the core: lower abdomen, upper abdomen, and heart. I balance the shoulders, and then move up to the heart, throat and forehead, up to the crown of the head.”
“I usually put my hands on the arms and legs, if the person is comfortable with me doing so and then, I usually have my hands two inches above the rest of their body.”
“They would usually feel various things, but the best way to describe it would be feeling almost as if a warm blanket was being pulled up over their body. They may feel a bit of tingling and some people may end up laughing or crying, depending on what they want to release.”
Goodson says that crystal healing involves a similar process, where crystals are placed on seven different energy centres (or chakras) on the body in an effort to balance the chakras and surround the body with healing energy.
“I tend to use healing touch the most,” she says. “I have helped people with phobias and physical ailments, like insomnia and pain.”
However, Goodson stresses; “I always tell people: 'I am a healer-I don't cure.' Healing treatments with me always go hand-in-hand with traditional medicine. To say otherwise is not ethical and totally against how we were trained and our code.”
“Healing is sometimes coming to a place of acceptance. One example is a woman whose family called me in. She was dying and was experiencing a great deal of pain. I went to the hospital and did healing touch on her and I was later told by her family members that her last three weeks were peaceful and without pain.”
“There is one specific healing touch practice, specifically designed for the dying; to provide peace for them and to help ease their spirit so it can pass peacefully.”
Goodson believes that anyone can perform healing touch. “It is my belief that it's not a gift. It's something anybody can learn to do.There are set hand positions that we are trained to do. It is like the tradition of 'the laying on of hands.' It's a way we can access divine energy and to call on our bodies to be a channel for that energy so we can help it flow into the person we are working on.”
“But it is important to remember that healing is an act of prayer; and the intention is asking for a person to receive their highest good.”
“We use tarot cards in the same way, says Goodson. “We do not use them for fortune-telling. Tarot cards do not tell the future in any way, and I would strongly suggest that people steer away from anyone who suggests that they can. We're not mind readers. Instead, we use them as a prayer to receive God's answer for what will help you in your life at this moment. For us, tarot cards are just another tool and I choose to use them as prayer tools.”
“We are all a combination of the sacred and the secular, the logical and the spiritual, and matter and energy. The body, mind, and spirit are not separate and distinct from one another; they are all working together to enhance our human experience.”
“That was our intention when we started this business-to help people access spiritual nourishment and to access their highest good.”
For more information about Arbon & Goodson Energy Practitioners, check out: 'Spirit, not religion' on Facebook or call Elizabeth Goodson at 457-3135.
