There is a point when a malady reaches it’s nadir that the Shift to Healing can begin. It’s a point that fascinates me and learning to identify that moment can be an important part of recovery and healing.

If you’ve ever gone surfing, you know the feeling of power and ease of standing on the ocean. It’s all so simple, everything is just going your way…. then you fall off, and it all goes straight to shit.

Falling of a surf board is a watery discombobulation that is hard to describe. It’s scary, and difficult to know what way is up. Poking your head above water in time to catch another another wave crashed down.

Exhausted and disoriented, you’ve got to find a way to get back afloat, catch your breath and get pointed in the right direction.

First you stabilize, take a breath and get back on the board. You’ve got to get pointed toward home, toward the shore. This time a wave comes as a friend. Feel the push of the water behind you, the smoothness of it, the stability of it. Jump to standing and… that’s it. It’s all so easy everything just falls into place. Good health is riding that wave, you hardly notice how easy it is.

I’ve used surfing as a metaphor for health over the years because that moment of falling off the board, being underwater with another wave about to hit similar to what happens with pain and other health issues. Pain can be exhausting and disorienting. It can be a long difficult slog, and you’ve got to fight to keep afloat. In that moment, you’ve got to breath, find stability where you can and see yourself safe back on shore, and see yourself riding on the wave of healing.

I’m not the most important part of any session, but if I can hold the surfboard steady and point it toward shore, the magic (and it really is magic) of healing starts. The great healing smile has begun, just try to stop a smile once it starts. Look at you, your doing it right now :) it’s that way with healing, once it begins it has a power and magic that can’t be stopped.