August 26

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Good to Great: 5 Keys to Being an Outstanding Healer

By Christina Ammerman

August 26, 2013

healers, lightworkers, self-care

You’ve probably known a few great healers and tons of others who were simply good. The ones who impressed you and the ones who were just…meh. What makes the first group stand out?

At the heart of the answer is great customer service. After all, isn’t that what our work is about – serving our customers? What does outstanding customer service look like in the healing world?

Here are five keys to anchoring yourself in service to your clients and standing out as one of the great ones.

(And as a client, look for these keys in the healers you’re considering working with.)

1- Remembering why you’re a healer

If you run your own healing practice then you know how much time and energy is required to keep the practice going – usually more than you feel like you have to give. Managing the administrivia and marketing of your business can require so much of your personal resources that you just might find yourself thinking that clients simply get in the way of your business. THAT is a huge red flag that you’ve forgotten your why.

Remember your why

When this happens, or even better to keep this from happening, it’s time to put everything aside and reconnect. Actively remember why you’re doing this work. Reconnect with the Divine Mission that has brought you here. Reminisce about clients that you’ve served well and the results that they’ve gotten. Pin a picture of one above your desk, or perhaps a favorite quote that exemplifies why you do what you do, so that you always have a reminder.

Another bit of advice is to segment your time: Portion off “no client” time in each week in which you can take care of working on your business, so that the rest of the time you can work in your business. This will allow you to be fully present with your clients when they call or visit, because you’ll know that you’ve blocked out time to focus on the other things that need your attention.

2 – Healthy detachment

Healers are natural empaths, which makes this key vitally important. As an empath it is so easy to get sucked into your client’s story, but don’t do it. When they’re telling you the emotional story of the pain and challenges that have brought them to you, you can’t ride the emotional rollercoaster with them. If you end up a blubbering mess or joining them in their raging tantrum, it serves no one.

Compassion - one person holding another's hand

Instead, cultivate a practice of what we call “holding space”: actively listen and validate their experiences without jumping into the story with them. Treat it like watching a movie: You can be aware of the emotions they’re experiencing without having to feel those emotions yourself. If you struggle with this, it might indicate a subconscious belief that in order to serve others you have to take on their burdens.

Also, you might be reflexively using your empathic gift to move their energy – except that if you’re taking the energy into yourself (as evidenced by your emotional reaction), you’re going to burn yourself out.

You can elevate your ability to serve by a) exploring and releasing any subconscious beliefs that create attachment, and b) learn ways of moving energy that do not require you to take it into yourself.

The key thing to remember here is that it is absolutely possible to have compassion for someone’s struggles without experiencing those struggles yourself.

4 – Leadership

extending hand back to leadWhen you’re able to practice healthy detachment and be a source of strength for your clients, you are essentially being a leader for them. First and foremost, you are leading them out of their current situation and into new ease. You know the path that’s going to get them there – lead them!

This often shows up in small, tactical ways. Before stepping into being a leader, often we;re so caught up in wanting to honor our clients’ desires and free will that we forget how little they actually understand about the work that we do. We leave so many things up to them – what service to choose, what a good intention for a session might be, when to come back again – that the lack of clear direction causes them to drift away.

The alternative of being a leader in your business is a great service to your client. It’s in their benefit for you to take charge in each interaction you have with them. Not being rigid or bullying, simply showing the way. This could mean asking them questions instead of waiting for them to speak; asking guiding questions instead of open-ended ones is also beneficial. It also means giving them clear, simple choices – “A or B?” instead of “what would you like to do now?”

Giving clear instruction is also a great service; my long-time clients laugh because I still tell them every time what’s going to happen during the session. It’s part of the patter that I’ve developed so that I never have to question whether the client knows what’s expected of her; I automatically do it every time.

3 – Awareness

If you want to develop a lasting relationship with your client, let them know that they matter to you. One great way to do this is by paying attention to them.

Person holds hand near ear and listening to something

When I’m teaching IET, one instruction I give my students is to keep their eyes open while they work. As the healer, you should be present in the session with all of your senses, so that you can see the tear sliding down a client’s cheek and offer a reassuring word, or offer a tissue when she’s sniffling, or notice that her feet keep wriggling and ask if you need to adjust the blanket. These are the tiny details that will not only serve your clients in the moment but earn you the reputation of being a great healer.

Expanding your intuition so that you’re more easily in-tune with your client’s needs – inside or beyond the healing room – will also make you stand out as a great healer.

5 – Self-care

You might know the saying: “You can’t give from an empty well.” There may be no field of work in which that applies more than in energy healing, because you are literally passing energy through yourself to the client, so you have to have energy to pass.

In Integrated Energy Therapy we call this spiritual selfishness – the spiritual calling to be a little selfish because of how it ultimately serves others. It applies specifically within the context of an IET session, where practitioners are instructed to bring in energy through their heartlink to the angels, fill their own hearts, and then direct the overflow to the client. This ensures that the practitioner is always giving from an infinite source of energy rather than their finite, human energy.

woman on a yoga bolster

Spiritual selfishness also applies on a larger, ongoing scale: Taking care of yourself on a daily basis is imperative to your work as a healer (no matter what modality you practice). It enables you to perform each of the other four keys above; if you’re too worn out, you won’t be as aware or intuitive or have the stamina to be a leader for your clients. Get enough rest and free time to rejuvenate your energy, so that you can be alert and fully present with your clients.

Also, do your own healing work. Compassionate detachment, for example, is easier when your client’s words aren’t triggering your own issues. The less of your own stuff you’re dealing with, the less you’ll inadvertently project onto them. If you struggle to adhere to the discipline this requires, allow yourself to be the client for a change and hire another healer to provide the accountability you require and the service you deserve. This is an investment in yourself and the future of your business.

 

Your turn to share!Your turn

What do you think makes someone a great healer?

Have you ever received exemplary service for a healer? What make her/him stand out?

If you are a healer, what are some of the things you consciously do to elevate your level of service to your clients?

 

About the author

Christina Ammerman is a Master Core Wound Healer + Medical Intuitive who helps smart, spiritual women heal their chronic health conditions. She deploys her skills as an intuitive and former engineer to systematically identify every single root cause, leading to complete and permanent healing.

Her quest to create a successful method for permanent healing led her to learn about the Core Wounds and bring forth new insights into how they were created and how they keep us from fully embodying Source energy in our human experiences.

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