If you want to heal your body, remember, healing starts in the mind. It starts with the thoughts and mental pictures you have about your circumstance. It is important to have positive thoughts about your ability to heal. Let go of the victim mentality. You have the power within you to change your circumstance. Let go of the story you keep telling yourself. The stories you tell yourself can feed your situation, giving more energy to the situation you don’t want. You have the power of choice. You can choose a new story. You can change the thought patterns that keep you stuck in your situation. As described by Dr. Wayne Dyer in his book “10 Secrets To Success and Inner Peace”, one of his secrets is “Give up your personal history”. He explains that if you give up your personal history, then you don’t have to live up to it. This personal history is the story you are telling yourself and others.

Qigong teaches us to bring our conscious waking awareness to our situation. Through Qigong, we not only learn to be conscious of our situation but learn to live in the present. It teaches us to let go of the negative thoughts and imagery about what might be, what always was, why it won’t work, why I can’t heal. These stories are not beneficial to our healing. So you may be asking, What can I do to change my situation? How can I do it? You can do it, starting with the choices you make. Choose to have positive and loving thoughts and mental pictures of yourself. Open your heart and forgive yourself for getting into the situation. Stop blaming others. Accept your situation as it is, even if it isn’t your fault. If you resist healing, it will only give more power to your lack of healing. Once you accept your situation and see the truth about where you are right now, then you can focus your thoughts and pictures on what you do want.

So now that you have opened your heart and let go of your story and negative thoughts, what’s next. First, you must believe and trust that you have the capacity for healing. Everyone does. If you cut yourself, the body instantly begins the process of healing the wound. This is true about all aspects of your life, once you know and trust in your ability to heal. Once you trust in your ability to heal, you let go of the stress of healing and your body begins to relax. This is an important key to the success of Qigong. Qigong teaches us to relax.

Here’s another important key to healing. Your mind can’t heal your body if it isn’t in your body. So you must focus your mind on the areas of your body that are in need of healing. The mind is most powerful when you activate your power of visualization. You may have heard the phrase, “Words have power”. Well, your mind’s pictures, real or imaginary, are even more powerful than your words. You can visualize the healing you want. You can visualize the energy flowing in the area. You can visualize the perfect condition as if the healing has already happened. If you have a pain in your knee, then visualize the energy going to the knee and surrounding the knee, penetrating deep into every cell of the knee. Imagine the feeling that the healing will bring; strength, warmth, tingling, relaxed. You can imagine the energy as either a white light or a golden light. As explained by my Qigong teacher, Qigong Grandmaster Tianyou Hao, “The mind leads the Qi, the Qi follows the mind.” This is a very important lesson that we learn from Qigong. But it only works if you focus your mind’s attention in the body. It also requires consistent practice and patience.

Another way to focus your mind in the body is to send a loving smile into the affected area. Send love to the area that needs healing. This also works for mental/emotional issues (not clinical conditions). Visualize the smile bringing love to the area of your life that is bothering you. If you are struggling with a loved one, visualize yourself smiling at them, even if you can’t do it in person. This will have a profound effect on the healing of the relationship. Trust in your ability to heal.

And finally, know that we are all connected. So when you heal yourself, you also contribute to the collective healing of everyone. Some people sacrifice themselves, their health, their time, and their dreams to help others. But this is a very selfish idea. No one benefits. If you really want to help others, then you must heal yourself first. So the next time someone you love needs healing, dedicate your Qigong practice and healing to that person. Better yet, ask them to join your practice. Practice together.

It is best to practice being positive, visualizing and sending a smile and love to yourself when there is no reason and no issues. Practice this every day. Then, if something happens, like an injury or illness, or another life struggle, then you already know what to do. Put your mind’s attention on the situation or area, smile to the area, send love to the area. Visualize the gold white light surrounding the area, nourishing the area, and loving the area (could also be a person or situation, the same visualization can be used). Remember that you can heal. Healing starts in the mind.

Check out a related article Mind Power for Healing.