THE HEART OF HEALING
Embracing Your Mindbody as the Path to Spiritual Awakening
Humans tend to interpret uncomfortable body sensations as an obstacle that must be overcome-an approach that might be likened to attacking a competing army in battle.
In The Heart of Healing, Dr. Mary Ann Wallace reminds us that by engaging in this old paradigm, we cause our own suffering. She suggests that instead of waging war on our symptoms, we embrace a new approach to illness, disease, and emotional trauma. Dr. Wallace frames illness and disease as spiritual wake-up calls. She invites us to view all aspects of our life experience-including its most uncomfortable aspects-as an invitation to surrender into the deepest state of “what is.” She asks us to view our health challenges as a vibrant form of communication from the most fundamental aspect of who we are.
As a pioneer in bridging the gap between the old and new medical paradigms, Dr. Wallace suggests that by focusing awareness on our moment-to-moment physical experience, a reinterpretation of that experience will reveal itself. Eventually we wake up to the lifelong mental patterns that cause us to interpret our pathology as something to resist. When we redefine pathology as an invitation to surrender, suffering diminishes or disappears.
The Heart of Healing offers a new vocabulary, illuminating explanations, and suggested exercises that assist this reframing. It opens the door to a different perspective on health and wellness so that readers will view themselves and their health challenges fundamentally and profoundly differently.
See the Reviews page to read what others are saying about Heart of Healing.
What others are saying about The Heart of Healing …
“Wonderful book! Dr. Wallace courageously explores and outlines a refreshing approach to healing culled from her 30 years of experience as a healer/physician. It is a must-read for all interested in healing and wellness.”
— Nick Arrizza, B.A.Sc., M.D.,R.C.C., author
“Dr. Mary Ann Wallace is offering you a series of gifts in this book, which she draws from her medical training, her clinical experiences, her personal explorations and spiritual development, and her considerable inner wisdom. You will find that these gifts grow as you savor and absorb them. This book is warmly recommended for seekers on the paths of self-discovery and spiritual development.”
— Daniel J. Benor, M.D., A.B.H.M., author and editor
From the Book . . .
YOUR BODY AS THE ANCHOR
You forget that you are spirit. Pay attention. Look how temporary this life is that you call your physical life. Your body is the path that is given to you to facilitate your awakening to that remembering. Your physical experience is what is. Your body is not only the path, it also serves as the anchor-the reality base from which and with which you operate in the world. It continually demonstrates the inner reflections that are playing out in your life. If you ever have a question as to your inner workings, you can refer to the body’s reality for a “check-in”. In the spiritual trek, it is too easy to become disassociated and live in your head. But physical existence is nothing to escape – it is the path. Coming back to the body again and again anchors you in the here and now, in the real situations in which you find yourself. Every event, including and most particularly the events of your body such as disease or illness, are your path to awakening. Every phenomenon that occurs in your body is a wake-up call.
Recognize the gift of the present moment as exactly where you need to be. You are having a continual experience, and that experience is your body. The farther outside yourself you get, the more you remove yourself from the real issue. In psychology we use words like projection, in religion we call it blame-it does not matter what you call it – anything that has all your energy looking outward is missing the point. Instead of wiping the mirror, constantly trying to get the smudge off your face, stop. Feel your body, your experience, and rest in that. Many patients come to me with aggravation, saying things like, “Dr. Wallace, what can I do to get rid of this symptom? How can I get rid of my bellyache? What could be the problem here?” But it is not a problem, you see – it is an invitation.