Physician Heal Thyself: Who’s Healing Who?

How do you take 100% responsibility for your healing?

There was a time when I thought humans only healed by medicines and surgery. It’s a common belief nowadays. A belief most people will absorb from their family systems. Ancient wisdom, personal experience, and emerging paradigms all suggest there is far more to healing than our society may realize. It’s time to heed this wisdom and bring life back into balance, or else we may be in trouble. The work begins where everything begins — within yourself.

I wasn’t always an integrative and holistic medicine physician. During my four-year residency and for the first six years of my practice, I managed patients using only medications and high-tech procedures, including implantable pumps that delivered medication to the fluid around the spinal cord. This practice continued until I received the call to heal myself and subsequently moved into a practice style that balanced intuitional information (feminine) and rational/logical thinking (masculine). For me, the call to change was not subtle but more of an extremely rude awakening — a tale for another time.

In retrospect, the intensity of the rude awakening was not wholly unexpected. The intensity was in line with how out of balance my life was at that time. I also consciously overrode prior calls to change; therefore, the call for self-healing became progressively louder until it was impossible to ignore.

The phrase, physician heal thyself, comes from a passage in the Bible. In the gospel of Saint Luke 4:23, Jesus voiced the wisdom-packed phrase. It does not appear that this was a new idea that Jesus was speaking. Evidence suggests that “physician heal thyself” was a common saying during biblical times.

So, what is Jesus asking us to do? Does this concept apply only to physicians, or does it speak to a broader audience (i.e., all of us)?

The story of Dr. Hew Len, a native Hawaiian therapist, gives a potent clue to some of the deeper meanings of the phrase. He is most famous for using the Hawaiian Ho’Oponopono prayer (I’m sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you) and his work in the Hawaii State Hospital. He worked in a ward for the criminally insane. When he first began working there, most of the patients were shackled and sedated in an attempt to prevent violence. Dr. Hew Len applied the principle that all the patients and staff represented or mirrored aspects of himself. He accepted 100% responsibility for healing them as an aspect of himself.

The most amazing thing?

He never gave the inmates traditional therapy, and by accounts, he primarily did not interact much with staff. He spent most of his time utilizing the Ho’Oponopono prayer and maintaining peace and serenity. Sometimes, he would use the prayer while holding charts. Over time, both the patients and staff began to heal. Fights between staff and patients, common when he arrived, began to lessen and eventually stop. Sick calls from staff decreased. Loved ones could safely visit. Ultimately, inmates began healing from their challenges and returning to the community. Four years into his work there, so few inmates were left in the hospital that it shut down.

Dr. Hew Len took 100% responsibility for healing himself, and I call the results remarkable, if not miraculous. If you are serious about healing yourself and assisting others to heal, it will take this same realization. No external deity or entity will do the work for you.

Metaphysically, why did this approach work? The reason is that we create 100% of our reality. It’s not 50/50 where you create the good stuff and the devil creates the rest.

So, what do you do if you find yourself working in a hospital for the criminally insane? Introspection and self-examination are essential. The inmates, staff, and everyone you meet reflect your inner states and ideas.

I use Dr. Hew Len as an example, and I’m not advocating locking yourself in your office unless that’s your thing. Interactions with patients and those I serve have resulted in some of my most valuable lessons on healing myself. I’ve discovered that physicians who truly and holistically heal themselves deliver care that unites the head, gut, and heart.

Holistic techniques directed at healing yourself change the healing paradigm in several ways.

• Holistic techniques are experiential — the healer and patient can simultaneously experience the method and benefit.
• Unlike drugs and surgery, the healer can practice the technique for their healing. This self-practice allows them to share from the deep well of experience and create deeper connections.
• Energies interact, even if not experienced consciously. A physician or healers working towards healing themselves will learn how to shift the energy of their space, impacting those around them.

It does not take Sherlock Holmes to see that our health system is based on entirely backward ideas regarding “physician heal thyself.” For many folks, the physician acts as a pseudo-all-knowing god who can fix anything simply by having an incredible intellect. The patient transfers any responsibility for healing onto the physician and, therefore, becomes dependent on the physician’s knowledge. This co-dependency is what I believe to be behind the incredibly high levels of burnout right now among healthcare workers.

The phrase “physician heal thyself” should not only apply to physicians. I believe “human heal thyself” is a more accurate phrase. Ultimately, each person must accept 100% responsibility for their healing. Physicians, community support, and other healers can play a role in that process, not as a pseudo-god but as a guide or reflection of the patient’s inner healing knowledge processes. In the heal thyself model, physicians would serve as conduits to facilitate access to the patient’s inner wisdom and knowledge. Establishing this approach will create cycles of self-empowerment rather than co-dependency that is weighing down our system.

Have you ever tried to fix someone else? I have tried enough times to learn that it doesn’t work. Even with any temporary gains, the situation eventually returns to how it was. What has worked for me and my practice is transforming myself, learning to manage my moods, developing a serene disposition, releasing judgment, and cultivating compassion. What I saw in the mirror of life changed when I did that. Instead of seeing broken people that need to be fixed, I now see opportunities for growth and transformation previously hidden behind my ignorance, which required my self-healing.

The call has come to take 100% responsibility for what is showing up in our lives. Take a few steps in this direction and see how you feel. You won’t just heal yourself by accepting this responsibility. You will begin to spread the healing spirit naturally and organically throughout your community. THE universe is not all about you, but YOUR universe is. Heal thyself and open your eyes to see the difference.

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Dr. Dan