Positive Health Online

The accumulated experience of many different approaches to healing has led to the certain view that the healing process comes from a place deep within a person, a place which we may call 'Source', as in this book, or 'Soul', or 'Healer Within'. Obviously, it is difficult to use words for the intangible. The impediments to the healing process are disturbing emotions, limiting beliefs and unresolved trauma which we all carry as a result of life experience. Of course, other factors also play a part in healing, e.g. nutrition, which is included in this book.

Awareness of the emotional, belief and traumatic factors which impede the healing process has given rise to many therapeutic processes which facilitate the liberation of the body from the disturbing influences of the mind, which Dave Markowitz calls Mind-Body Medicine. The title of this book focuses our attention on Source as the real agent of healing: The so-called 'Healer' is but a facilitator. This book is full of information of how the mind affects the body, with an emphasis on the need to become fully aware of the emotions and thoughts within us. There are sections on energy, intention, the law of attraction, unconditional love and fear, relationships, the ego and the 'true' self,  musculo-skeletal problems, addictions, AIDS and other common complaints.

The core of Dave Markowitz's approach are "The Five Steps to Health." These steps are:

1. Awareness
2. Acceptance
3. Opportunity
4. Gratitude
5. Forgiveness 

Awareness means appreciating and comprehending all the influences which give rise to our experience, for example, of anger. There is a whole chapter on "Tools to raise awareness" which refers to the quiet and unshakeable "felt sense" of Absolute Truth. Readers of this book may wish to know that "felt-sense" is the term coined by Eugene Gendlin in his book Focusing to describe the feeling in the body which expresses our state at a particular moment.

Discussing acceptance (Step 2) the author explains that "When you accept what is, as it is, when it is, you are creating room for something new." Other authors have stressed the importance of acceptance, most notably Byron Katie in her book Loving What Is.

The opportunity step involves "seeing things as an opportunity and not as a burden" and can lead to gratitude, Step 4. As the author points out: "gratitude creates space" and he is right to stress its importance. I have known clients who were genuinely grateful for their cancer as the catalyst for life-change and inner transformation.

For the author, forgiveness (Step 5) is "one of the most powerful healing forces in the universe." Advice is given as to how forgiveness may be achieved, including becoming aware of the other person's state, and exercising compassion. Those wishing to deepen their understanding of the process of forgiveness would do well to read Brandon Bay's book The Journey.

In the examples of healing given throughout the book, the client becomes aware of the underlying cause of their complaint by means of inner enquiry and the support of the therapist. Often, simple acknowledgement of the cause is sufficient for Source to be able to act and resolve the problem.(Stephen Rose's Reference Point Therapy is very clear as to the power of acknowledgement in the healing process.) In a case history concerned with 'sciatica', the client became aware of the underlying cause. The session was concluded with "some Healing with Source energy work." It is not clear what approach to energy work is used here. However, the central point is that whatever the therapist 'does', it is Source that is the cause of any change. The primacy of Source as healer is an understanding stressed throughout this book.

The symbol on the front cover of the book, called "God's Love is all", is very powerful, and instructions are given for using it for self healing or the healing of others.

It is worthwhile noting that the healing power of Source is well recognized by many other mind-body therapies, though the language may be different. For example, in Theta Healing, the "Creator of All that Is" is invoked in healing, while in Reference Point Therapy, it is the presence of "Beingness" that is the agent for change. In Polarity Therapy, it is "The Healer Within" that harnesses the practitioner's touch for Healing,[1] while  Causal healing acknowledges the "Soul Level"  as the guiding presence in Healing.[2]

This book brings together the many strands which comprise our current understanding of mind-body therapy, and provides a valuable focus on Source as the ultimate agent of healing. Those who have studied and practiced within the field of mind-body therapy will be aware of all or most of the content of Healing with Source. Those who have just started out on their journey of discovery will find much in this book to enlarge their understanding. However, they will miss reference to therapies which embrace the same ethos as the author. For this reason, I have provided a few references in this review to therapies which acknowledge Source. These are based on my own direct experience. Many others could be cited. A bibliography would also have been useful to guide the reader to further areas of  exploration.

Additional References (not given in the text):

1.  Anthony Deavin. Integrating Approaches to Bodywork: The Polarity Experience.  Positive Health PH Online. Issue 158. May 2009.
2.  Anthony Deavin. Causal Healing: Freedom from the Bondage of Trauma, Beliefs and Emotions. Positive Health PH Online. Issue 170. May 2010.