Creating a Culture of Healing

Photo by Jamine Ackert

There are simple rituals that can be found in the roots of mindfulness traditions of Buddhism. Based on mindfulness principles, these rituals go back to the traditional teachings that support healing, recalling the teachings that we are embodied beings, in need of healing and support.

Ji Hyang, author of Living the Season: Zen Practice for Transformative Times, explains that there are rituals that utilize all of the senses and full range of emotions, which tend to reach people in the deepest possible way. She said that when we’re able to move into the deepest emotions, we can transform ourselves, and that’s where healing takes place.
She reminds us that healing happens through relationship with others – something that is often forgotten in our increasingly disconnected word.
I asked Jy Hyang if she could share a ritual that is an example of this type of healing practice. She shared with me a sample ritual based on traditional Tibetan practices from the Buddhist teacher, John Makransky, called, “Benefactors Practice.”

Benefactors Practice
Sitting in a quiet place, envision your benefactors – in this case a benefactor is someone who carried some wish of well-being or wish of love for you in your life; someone whose acts of kindness have made your life possible.
Imagine seeing your benefactors – your parents, grandparents, or brothers and sisters, someone who has wished you well in your life, then seeing their smiling faces radiating to you, and then receiving that wish of love. Imagine it as a tangible light, envisioning a golden light that fills your heart up, transforming it into a life-giving sun, and let that percolate through your whole body.

Do it for at least 15 minutes until you feel like you’ve got the flow. Then you can do it at least twice a day for 10 minutes, everyday. Ji Hyang said there’s no reason not to do it.

When I mentioned to Ji Hyang that it reminded me of metta meditation, she said it is like that, but rather than having the wishes of lovingkindness flow outward, the wishes come flowing inwards.

Ji Hyang is an ordained buddhist nun and a mesa carrier in the Andean tradition of shamanic healing. Ji Hyang also is a professional astrologer: her intuitive astrology illuminates the journey of the soul so that we can live our life to its fullest potential. Ji Hyang’s website, natural-wisdom.org, has more information about her and links to helpful resources.

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