Last year I was invited to participate in a workshop given by a friend of a friend who was training to become a certified Soul Mind Body Natural Healer (I think the correct term may be “Universal Servant”, but I am not certain). I was told that the workshop would be about enlightenment and meditation. Intrigued about the workshop and coincidentally at the time, trying to learn more about meditation, it seemed like a very timely invite.
I really had no idea what to expect. The workshop was spread over 6 afternoon /evening sessions, involved a mix of theory and practice and there were about ten participants. The practice focuses on the spiritual and physical realm and offers enormous healing and strengthening benefits, so I was eager to find out more. To continue reading this post, click here…
Soul Mind Body is a type of medicine and healing method conceived and promoted by Dr. Sha, a middle aged native of China, who claims to be a channel for Divine (God in most people’s parlance). The practice embodies elements of Dong Yi Gong, Tai Chi, Qigong, I Ching, Kung Fu, and Feng Shui and teaches that everything physical and conceptual has a soul, including, animals, parts of the body, cells, businesses, and relationships. The soul has the power to heal, with power over the mind and body. The soul must be healed first to heal the mind and body or for any other kind of healing.
A real neat part of the practice are the chanting mantras which are used to heal the soul, and can be used for self-healing, healing others, group healing, and even healing remotely. When these chants are performed in a group the vibration can be quite intense and I really enjoyed these parts of the workshop. If you picture a group of people sitting or standing in a room chanting a phrase or word, such as love or light, over and over loudly for five or ten minutes, you can imagine the energy in the room by the end of the practice.
Each of the practices is intended to engage four modalities including: soul power, mind power, body power and sound power. Gratitude in the form of recognition and and good intentions, such as a desire to heal or strengthen (soul) are expressed at the start of a chanting mantra. During the mantra you actively visualize energy (mind), focused on a physical part or another person (body) and the chants generate energy and power through vibration (sound). Pretty unconventional stuff for most people.
Several times during the sessions I experienced the euphoria and enlightenment that I have regularly experienced from deep meditation except it occurred much faster. This is a key part of the practice for me. The mantras allowed me to achieve what I call the calm inner state within a few minutes. Up until that point in it had always taken me half an hour to an hour to reach the same level of inner calm.
Another part of the teachings I really enjoyed was learning more about karma, Akashic records and impact of service to humanity.
I hadn’t actually heard of Dr. Sha before attending the workshop, but he is obviously well known. He is renowned for holding massive gatherings where thousands of people attend and pay to receive healings, soul treatments and karma cleansings. On his website, there thousands of stories from those who say he and his teachers have healed. He is not without his detractors though and there are also plenty of stories on the Internet about how he charges thousands of dollars for treatments that don’t work.
If the treatments work for people and they feel good about spending their money to feel better then I have no problems with Dr. Sha charging. There are plenty of other practitioners from surgeons to counselors that charge for their own healing services, but Dr. Sha is different in that he charges very high fees to perform duties on behalf of the Divine. Making enough to keep a temple open or spread the word is one thing, but somehow I don’t see the Divine asking anyone to provide healings on his behalf and take people’s life savings in exchange. It doesn’t smell right to me although I must admit that I have not researched it closely enough to make a hard judgment on whether the whole thing is a truly genuine movement of selfless compassion or an elaborate and well orchestrated pyramid marketing scheme. The line may be blurry even for Dr. Sha himself, since money can be extremely intoxicating.
I participated in the workshop with an open mind and still am open to learning the merits of Soul Mind Body medicine, but I have to admit the more I learned about Dr. Sha, the less interested I was about getting more deeply involved either in the big gatherings or becoming a natural healer myself. When I was invited to a large gathering in Hawaii this winter, I declined, but this hasn’t impacted my enjoyment of the practice in any way.
Now to put this all in perspective of being happier and living a more rewarding life. I am not saying that Soul Mind Body healing doesn’t work. In fact I think the chanting is terrific and I have made them part of my daily meditation routine ever since the workshop began. To me, Dr. Sha is more like an unconventional doctor than a spiritual leader, so I take his advice in stride. A lot of his teachings about holistic living make practical sense and if you are open to the notion of karma and a higher spiritual power you will enjoy what he has to say about healing methods. Even if just for the chanting meditations alone, I recommend participating if anyone who has the opportunity to participate in one of his workshops.
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