Various forms of natural healing have existed for centuries; however, they have only recently begun to receive wide acceptance in the Western World in the past few decades. And, as more people seek out alternative therapies to complement the modern medical regimes handed down to them from their doctors, acceptance of natural healing practices is bound to continue to grow.
In Southeast Saskatchewan alone, the number of natural healers has grown exponentially in the past decade, and it continues to grow, as more people become certified or move into the area.
Marilyn Harder of Carnduff is one of those natural healers in this area who just recently began offering her services as a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner, after relocating from British Columbia more than a year ago.
"I'm a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner (CHTP)," Harder explained. "The Healing Touch is a program teaching practitioners how to work with the subtle energies of the body - the chakras, the energy field, the aura - and balancing the energies. We learn a number of techniques in the program, and what this does is [it promotes] deep relaxation, which is really the basis of self-healing."
Harder works with clients out of an office in her Carnduff home, and out of The Healing Tree Natural Wellness Studio in Oxbow. She spends most of her time in Carnduff, while traveling into Oxbow every Thursday.
There are many different techniques Harder and other Healing Touch Practitioners can utilize to assist clients. The techniques used with a client vary depending on the client's needs.
"A lot of them are hands on and some of them are hands off," Harder explained. "It might be [with] the hands above the person's body, moving energy, clearing it, and balancing it. Other techniques are hands on the area, balancing, possibly, two areas together, and getting flow between them [before] moving onto another two areas."
The Healing Touch is useful for relieving pain, speeding recover from surgery or illness, and promoting deep relaxation. It is used on people who suffer from chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis or cancer to help relieve pain. A recent study conducted by British researchers suggests energy therapies such as the Healing Touch do indeed have a value to cancer patients.
Though Harder has been certified as a practitioner for the past 15 years, it's only recently that she has been able to pursue it as a primary business.
"Previously my husband and I had a business that took up a lot of our time, so I was [just] working on friends and relatives, and people who would hear about and come and ask to have treatments," Harder explained.
Since they sold their business in B.C. and moved to Carnduff, Harder has been working hard to pursue natural healing on a full-time basis. But, as the story goes for many new ventures, it is taking time for her to build a clientele.
"It's the kind of thing that I think depends on word-of-mouth more than anything else and it's slowly increasing," said Harder.
Harder became interested in The Healing Touch about 18 years ago when a friend encouraged her to attend an information session about the natural form of healing.
"I was living B.C. in Prince George at the time, and I had a friend who approached me and said there was a Healing Touch level one workshop and [wondered] if I would be interested," said Harder. "So, on a spur-of-the-moment, I went."
After the initial workshop in 1993, her interest level grew, and in 1996 she became a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner.
"It's an international certification process," Harder explained. "Every five years a practitioner is required to re-certify and submit a certification package through this process."
Besides working with people, Harder is certified to work on animals as well.
"I also do Healing Touch for animals," said Harder. "With animals I will go out to see them. It's very much the same techniques; it's balancing the energy to work with behaviour issues, injuries, illness [and] pain."
Healing Touch for Animals takes a holistic approach to health and well-being of our furry friends. A practitioner, like Harder, uses her hands to guide, clear and balance the energy system, allowing the animal's body to self-heal.
It is beneficial for animals in many ways, as it can assist with behavioural problems, build upon the animal-human bond, reduce stress and anxiety, assist in healing due to injuries, illnesses, or physical and emotional trauma or abuse.
Education is an ongoing process for Harder, who, in addition to adhering to recertification every five years, is always learning more about the various natural healing techniques.
"There are advanced Healing Touch classes," said Harder. "I have done those as well as other energy-related classes. I incorporate sound therapy with tuning forks into my practice, so that is another avenue I have gone."
Harder believes in the natural healing techniques and therefore, is always educating herself on therapies she discovers.
"I do Psych-K," said Harder. "This is something that is usually with somebody that, I after I have done a few Healing Touch sessions with, if I feel that they need sub-conscious reprogramming - if they are running negative ideas in their head - I will also suggest we do a Psych-K session."
"A Psych-K takes your sub-conscious thoughts and pinpoints what they are and goes in and changes them to be more positive [thoughts]," Harder continued. "For example, a thought might be, 'I never succeed at anything I do.' This is just programmed and it sabotages everything. If somebody comes in and it seems they have some negative thoughts going on, then we can sit down and, using muscle testing and a specific process, find out what their specific programming is and we can go in and change it. Then we check up after to see if anything had changed."
Harder's sessions usually run about an hour in length. The frequency at which a client sees Harder is completely up to the client and depends on what is being treated.
"If they're working on an injury that is acute, they might come once a week," Harder explained. "If they're [experiencing] a more chronic condition, once a month will maybe do it. If it's an accident that just happened, sometimes a session most days is beneficial at first. It really depends on how long they can hold their energy system open. Sometimes I'll see somebody once a week, and then when I see each time they come to me their energy system is still quite balanced, I will extend the time between visits. But it's totally up to the person who is coming."
In order to determine what sort of techniques she should use to work on a client, she conducts an interview before beginning a treatment. This allows the client to voice their concerns.
"Then I do an energy assessment to see what their energy is doing," said Harder. "When I'm working, I can feel what their energy is doing. So sometimes an area will feel, possibly, hotter, colder, prickly, heavy, dense, or it might feel empty. I'll know there is something going on there. I don't know particularly what, but [I know] the energy needs to be balanced. So I work with the energy."
Harder said pretty much anyone can benefit from Healing Touch, because at the least it promotes relaxation, and everyone can use some relaxation in their lives.
"Everyone can benefit," said Harder. "While generally an injury or an illness is what will drive a person to seek something like this, it will really benefit anyone to have energy balancing for mental, spiritual, and physical wellness."
"Stress relief is a big element," continued Harder. "Just about everyone has stress in their life. They may not be having a particular rough [time], but this is a very quiet, relaxed place where they can just let their mind go quiet. Sometimes they'll find answers and be able to return to that [relaxed place] having experienced it, to relieve the stress for themselves."
In addition to the benefits already listed of Harder's techniques, The Healing Touch is also non-toxic, non-invasive and inexpensive.
As she works to pursue this as a career, Harder hopes to see that people continue to gain a more general awareness of what is available in the form of natural therapies, and that she can help.
"There is a definite change in public perception of natural [healing]," said Harder. "People are looking for alternatives to surgeries, medications or things that will help along with them to recharge."
