Somatic Healing is a new dimension in hypnosis therapies for the treatment of injury, pain and disease. This article will describe each technique used in Somatic Healing, followed by real life examples of how these techniques produced miracles of healing, sometimes in a single session. Developed by David Quigley and Nick Ardagh, Somatic Healing is always used as an adjunct to, never a substitute for, proper medical treatment. Somatic Healing practitioners always work where possible under medical supervision. Somatic Healing consists of four powerful processes: The Golden Sun Process, Hypnotic Movement, Color Healing, and Psychic Surgery performed by the Inner Healer.

Golden Sun Process

The Golden Sun Process is an energy channeling technique which helps us concentrate and channel the energy of the universe into places of pain and illness in our own bodies, and those of our clients. This process can add new power to other proven techniques of laying on of hands healing, such as Reiki or Therapeutic Touch. The Golden Sun Process is not subtle. Both practitioners and clients who experience this work describe the energy being channeled as intensely hot, electrical, tingling. This process utilizes visualization of various colors and images through which the body becomes a transformer of Universal energy. Grounding cords are placed into the earth from the feet and the base of the spine which bring earth energy up into the body. The Golden Sun of the Higher Self brings golden energy down into the body. Both energies are merged in the heart, then channeled into the practitioner's hands. I have used this technique to eliminate headaches, the common cold, and other ailments. It requires, however, tremendous concentration and very open psychic channels in the practitioner in order to be effective alone. It works better as one component of the Somatic Healing process.

Hypnotic Movement

Hypnotic Movement is a technique in which the muscles of the body are instructed to move themselves without conscious direction or control in order to release old traumas, restore flexibility, eliminate pain, and promote healing. Once a client experiences these unique and powerful movement patterns in their body, they can learn to perform these simple exercises on their own in order to exponentially increase the healing power of these movements. Hypnotic movement techniques are based on the ancient principle that our bodies already know how to heal themselves. All we must do is persuade the conscious mind to step aside and let the body do it. That's why all these movements require a light hypnotic trance in order to by-pass normal conscious controls. These movements may involve some supportive touch. That is, the therapist may hold the client's body in a twisted position that the body has assumed on it's own, to help the client relax in that position. They may involve therapeutic touch, in which the therapist directly channels healing energy to the client's body. Although therapeutic touch and supportive touch are helpful to somatic healing, they are not usually essential to its success.

Healing Accident Injuries

The first type of hypnotic movement useful primarily for accident victims is running traumas in the body. This is essentially a kind of hypnotic regression in which the client returns to the scene of a violent accident, and the muscles and connective tissue & internal organs of the body re-live and move through the original trauma. But this time the client goes through the experience very slowly, and completely free of pain. Then, when the client's body reaches the moment of actual injury (referred to as Maximum Scrunch) the client is instructed to hold this position. As awkward-indeed impossibly uncomfortable-as the position may appear to an observer, the client in this position feels pain free. In fact, the client may feel incredibly relaxed and experience waves of blissful tingling or pulsing as the body accepts this position as safe and stress-free. At this point the therapist may wish to support the body so that the muscles can relax in this position. Afterwards the body may move to another position of "Maximum Scrunch" (i.e. point of injury) for a few more minutes. Slowly the body finishes "unwinding" its way through the entire accident, then relaxes into a prone position again. I ask the body to signal to the client when it's "done", and the client relays this signal to me by nodding their head. This process is frequently, but not always, accompanied by vivid recollection of the accident scene, emotional reactions such as groans or tears, or by intense sensations of tingling and warmth in the affected body parts. The one sensation rarely reported to me is pain.

Example: Wes Carpenter, a 52-year old businessman from Sacramento broke his leg at the knee joint during an airplane crash in 1983. Even after 3 reconstructive surgeries, he walked for 14 years with a noticeable limp. His right leg was permanently twisted outward, and he went to bed every night with pain in his hip and leg. He was also unable to bend his leg more than 45 degrees, and had difficulty standing up or sitting down as a result. During a somatic healing session, he re-lived very slowly in trance the entire accident. He was able to recall every detail of the accident for the first time. (Prior to the session, he suffered complete amnesia for the experience). His body contorted in absolutely bizarre ways, stopping at one point in a particularly contorted position with his right leg twisted behind his body, where I supported his leg in that position for about 2 minutes. When his body straightened back out his leg was, for the first time since the accident, completely straight, totally flexible and free of pain. He squatted for the first time in 14 years 5 minutes after the procedure. Four months later, he continues to walk normally and experiences total freedom from pain. He describes his experience as comparable to having a brand new leg. The entire procedure took 45 minutes.

Repetitive Strain Injuries and Joint Pain

Another type of hypnotic movement is useful for repetitive strain injuries, like the infamous carpal tunnel syndrome. Because these injuries are the result of holding or moving the body in awkward positions for years rather than the results of a single trauma, the movement involved in healing is different. A variation of this technique can also be applied to any kind of joint pain- arthritis, rheumatism, etc. I first suggest that the clients body move into the position in which it first became "frozen." For carpel tunnel, I may have the client's wrist poise over an imaginary computer keyboard in just the way the stress injury was created. Then I hold the wrist stable in that position with my hands so the wrist can simply relax into that position. Intense crying may begin as the job-related stress is released. (One client reported: "I suddenly felt supported for the first time in that horrible job!") Or the wrist may start pulsing, trembling, or turning very warm. All of these are positive signs that the somatic healing process is working. I'll continue to hold the wrist in this position until all symptoms have subsided. Then I instruct the client's wrist to stretch and twist out the pain in its own unique way. This circular stretching may involve muscles from the shoulder down to individual fingers. The therapist's instructions must be general enough to allow the client's body to move freely without limitations imposed by the therapist's or the client's preconceived notions of how it should look. Sometimes this vigorous stage of the stretch can include the expression of anger (often work-related) that is stored in the affected joint(s). Again, the body signals to the client when the process is complete.

Example: Jean Cantrell was forced to leave a stressful job after years of repetitive overuse of her neck combined with verbal abuse from a supervisor. Her neck became inflamed and stiff, with excruciating shooting pains down her arms. After two years of significant healing by other modalities, restricted movement, residual pain, and the disempowering emotional component of the injury were still present. I first asked her neck to assume the position it had held at work. As her head and neck assumed an awkward, rigid position. I then supported them. Tears flowed as her body, mind, and spirit experienced the 'support' so blatantly lacking in her former work environment. Then I instructed her neck to release the anger it held through movement. Her entire neck and head began butting against a pillow and she was able to painlessly experience and vocalize her justifiable rage.After this single session, Jean reported more freedom of movement and considerable pain reduction. Most important is the freedom she now experiences in being strong, firm, and appropriate with expressing her needs and unwillingness to stay in unhealthy environments or relationships.

For Immobilized Injuries

The third type of hypnotic movement is microscopic movement.. When muscles or joints are immobilized by severe pain or injury (including those in a cast) microscopic movement may be the best choice of movement therapies. While microscopic movement is invisible to the therapist, the client will (upon returning from trance) often report that they felt a warm, twitching, tingling sensation in the area, usually quite pleasant, which signals a return of healing circulation to the area. Example: Bob R. had been painfully crippled for 3 years with a degenerative spinal condition complicated by a herniated disc, with sciatic pain down both legs and numbness in his feet. In repeated suggestions for hypnotic movement, no movement was visible to me. But he reported pleasant and rejuvenating sensations of twitching movement at the base of his spine, which were very valuable and soon led to other reconstructive movements, including the "cat stretch" movement. His condition is now greatly improved after four months of regular therapy and (against all medical expectations) his posture and movement have been restored to nearly normal.

Color Healing

Color Healing is the next technique of Somatic Healing. I give the client instructions in trance that the area of pain, illness or swelling is filled with a unique color, the color of that illness or pain. Then I suggest that their body will identify an exit point through which the color will leave the body. This point may be adjacent to the illness or injury or may be a long way from the area of pain. Option: the therapist may wish to touch the exit point or instruct the client to do so. Then I have the client imagine this "sick" color draining out of the client's body through the exit point. For example, in draining the pain from rheumatism in my left shoulder in 1980, I found the exit point in the center of my left palm. I touched this point, doing hypnotic movement while the color drained out, to restore full flexibility and eliminate pain in about 15 minutes. It may take anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes to drain this color out of the client's body. The next step is to suggest that the body knows (note: not the client's knowledge) a healing color that is to be channeled into the injured or diseased area. I ask the client to imagine this color as a river of cleansing, building, and healing energy that washes away any remaining pain, debris, or toxins from the body. This river enters through an "entrance point" adjacent to the illness/injury and goes out through the same exit points as drained the sick color. Both of these color healing processes are often accompanied by hypnotic movement (i.e., "Now your body knows how to move to facilitate the draining of this dark color.") Example: Glenna Quigley (my wife) was suffering a severe allergic reaction to goldenrod in a meadow filled with these beautiful late summer flowers. I instructed her in trance to identify the "sick" color in her sinuses and instructed her body to open up exit points (two of them, were identified, one in each temple) and drain this color. It took about 15 minutes, but seemed much longer. In trance, time distortion is common. Afterwards, we filled the area with a healing color that protected her sinuses from the goldenrod. When her body indicated that this process was complete, I took her to the center of the goldenrod patch and placed a fresh-cut flower under her nose, instructing her to breathe deeply. No response. No allergic reaction. Permanent elimination of the allergy was achieved in less than 20 minutes.

Psychic Surgery from the Inner Healer

Psychic Surgery, performed by the inner healer, is the next stage of somatic healing. The phenomenal power of this psychic surgery is very difficult to describe, and impossible to explain in medical terms. Nevertheless, it works. I have seen the hands of the inner healer literally moving inside the body of the client. I have seen miracles that defy scientific explanation. The instructions are simple. We first enter an internal "temple of healing, " in which the client is instructed to discover (not create) the inner healer. We usually ask the client (as we do with other inner guide work) to describe the inner healer and learn the name of this guide. Clients who have difficulty visualizing can skip these steps, although to do so risks the client missing the capacity to contact this healer on their own. Once the inner healer is established, it is suggested that the inner healer will perform surgery by moving into the clients body with their hands at an "entrance point" near the area of pain or illness. The process is initiated and controlled entirely by the inner healer, with minimum, mostly invitational instructions from the therapist (ex. "perhaps now your inner healer is going to enter...") The therapist's role is largely that of keeping the momentum of the session going, soothing the client's experiences of fear, discomfort, or confusion, and encouraging the client to surrender to what is, by all accounts, a bizarre experience. The therapist frequently suggests that the experience is free of pain. If the use of surgical tools or other instruments is suggested by the therapist, it is done in a strictly invitational fashion--example: "perhaps your inner healer will use super glue to close and heal this herniation. Or perhaps a needle and thread. Or something else...your inner healer knows how to do this in their own way..." The processes of color healing and hypnotic movement are seamlessly interwoven by the therapist into the sychic surgery procedure. (Ex: "Now, as this dark color drains out, your inner healer's hands reach in to remove any obstacles to the draining of this energy...and now your body may wish to move, in its own way, to assist this process..etc"). The truth is that psychic surgery actually includes all of the elements of somatic healing in itself. In the same way that the human body is not simply a collection of organs, but a smoothly interacting system of organs working together, so somatic healing is the seamless unity of all its inclusive techniques into a single coherent process...an art form of subtle simplicity.

An example: Vicki Markin has suffered malignant and metastasized tumors in her intestines and abdominal cavity for years. In November of 1997 she experienced a "psychic surgery" from her inner healer. This particular surgery had a number of unique features. First, as the surgery progressed, she felt her inner healer's hands pulling loose and dissolving tumors, releasing their poisons into her intestines and blood stream. As she did this, numerous memories of childhood abuse and incest flashed before her, along with rapid pulses of the emotions associated with these memories. It was as if these memories were being released along with the physical toxins from these tumors. The inner healer also moved through her liver, spleen and kidneys, to remove the toxins associated with the chemotherapy and pain-killing drugs that Vicki had been using in the medical treatment of the condition. During the session we gave instructions for hypnotic movement. Her entire midriff and upper body went through intense stretches reminiscent of yoga postures (she has no conscious knowledge of yoga). Immediately after this surgery was completed, she ran for the bathroom, where an intense elimination process took much of her time that afternoon. Interestingly, right after her process she palpated her abdomen and noticed it had noticeably softened and relaxed. Old, hard lumps had disappeared. 

Exploring the Meaning of the Illness

The final process in Somatic Healing involves exploring the meaning and purpose of the disease in the client's life. At the end of the Somatic Healing process, we ask the inner healer to provide the client with these three understandings:

1. A message about the purpose of this injury or illness.
2. A symbolic gift that can help the client address this underlying purpose through daily meditation.
3. Advice about how the client can address the challenge presented by the illness or injury for their lives.

What does it mean to, "explore the meaning" of an illness? This exploration in trance may involve almost any aspect of life: A dysfunctional marriage, the residues of an abusive childhood, even a call to a higher spiritual destiny. This exploration is explored more fully in the article entitled, "The Alchemy of Healing".

I'll give just one of hundreds of possible examples:

An example: Vita Lawson had been in pain for a year with a herniated disc, taking up to 5 heavy painkillers a day and unable to sit down without pain. She lay in class for 4 days...then during an in-class demonstration Vita entered the herniated disc to find out why it had entered her life. She returned to a past life as an Indian in which she was killed along with all of her tribe. She was killed with a blow on her back...right on the disc. At the instant of this recollection, her back literally jumped into the air while she screamed with agony. We rescued her past life personality from this trauma, after releasing intense grief and rage that had been trapped in her lower back. After one session her pain pill consumption dropped 90% and sitting and movement became much easier. She sat comfortably through the rest of the 12-day program.

A Word of Caution: In order to help clients fully explore the meaning of an illness or injury, a practitioner needs considerable familiarity with childhood regression, past life regression, emotional release, and subpersonality therapy, as all of these may be involved in a single illness or injury. For more information, please refer to my article The Alchemy of Healing, which outlines the multiple strategies that an Alchemist uses in addressing this most important question.

Discover Somatic Healing for Yourself

Somatic Healing is a single process composed of all the elements described above, working seamlessly together. We also offer self-hypnosis tapes on Entering and Healing the Body (Alchemical Journey #3) and Contacting the Inner Healer (Alchemical Journey #5) to help the beginner to explore the possibilities of somatic healing for themselves. As with any new, experimental technology of healing, our Institute can offer no guarantees of success for participants in this program. Results vary, and you may not achieve the same results as the participants described in this literature.

Also Read: The Alchemy of Healing

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