Everyone has the potential to be a healer – some are more aware of this than others. From sharing a kind word with the teller at the bank to feeding an empty parking meter to prevent a stranger from getting a ticket, life presents many opportunities to offer a healing role in another person’s life.
In this story, the healer is an unnamed motorcyclist who rode his or her bike at just the right time on just the right day on just the right street to support a woman visiting my office.
A couple of weeks ago, a woman I have been seeing for several years for cranio-sacral treatments came to the office struggling with changes in her family dynamic and the surfacing of old emotions from her past. Cranio-sacral therapy (CST) is a modality I have greatly enjoyed practicing for over 9 years because the healing releases that occur from such gentle touch and encouragement are often tremendous.
During this woman’s time on the treatment table, I became aware of a loud motorcycle passing by on the main street outside. Since my office is cornered by traffic lights, loud trucks and cars often idle for a moment outside the window until the light turns green. This motorcycle with is loud rumbling sat idle much longer than I expected and started to distract my attention away from the woman on the table – until I noticed and felt a physical change in her body. She was beginning to tremble and shake with tears streaming down her cheeks. While my attention quickly shifted back to supporting her – in what is referred to in CST as a somato-emotional release – I noticed that the motorcycle was still lingering outside the window. My intuition suspected that there was a connection between that sound and what this woman was experiencing.
The healing release appeared to be cleansing and eventually the motorcyclist did drive away. By the end of the treatment, the woman was grounded and more relaxed. As she transitioned off the table and sat down to put on her shoes, I asked her about her experience on the table. “The motorcycle…” she began and proceeded to share a story from her past. In the place where she grew up, motorcycles often rode down her street and hearing the sound brought her back to her childhood home where memories of fear and sadness were quite strong. Those feelings surfaced on the treatment table and were able to move and clear through her in a way that had not been safe during her childhood.
That motorcyclist may never know what a powerful role his or her presence brought to this woman, but it was special reminder of how intricately connected we all are to one another’s healing.
The title of this article is adapted from a beloved book by Bernie Seigel, MD called Love, Medicine, and Miracles.
