Dr. Chad Sato
Hawai‘i Herald Columnist
Besides writing for The Hawai‘i Herald, I also write a monthly blog for the members of my practice on various topics and the most recent blog dealt with differentiating between being cured or being healed. It’s truly fascinating that in popular mainstream, the two terms appear to be interchangeable but that may be furthest from the truth. Besides my blog, I also do bimonthly Mind Body Talks on Zoom and in-person at my office where I have created a supportive atmosphere for attendees to share their experiences and hear what others do in regard to healing. I want to share what one attendee said about curing versus healing, which is that “curing is a farce, while healing comes from within and by taking full responsibility for any ailment or pain accelerates the healing process and helps one to heal.” In other words, any proposed medicine, supplement, machine, or supposed healer may claim to cure you, but you also have the power to help yourself as well.
Your Body’s Innate Healing Ability
After reading the last two sentences, some of you may be scratching your head or mentally exclaim, “huh?” This may seem foreign to grasp initially, but some of the power to heal comes from inside of you and how your immune system and body constitution is. One example is getting a cut on your arm. When you first get a cut, it begins to bleed and after a while it will stop unless it is super deep or you have a blood clotting issue. Soon within a day, a scab will form and after a week the scab will usually fall off if you don’t pick at it and the skin is healed. This is a simplified version of how your body innately heals, but healing is your birthright and anything that helps to accelerate the healing process – ointment, poultice, supplements, medicines, healers are great but also enhancers.
Shifting Your Perspective
The rub is that when someone you care about is suffering or if you are suffering as well, all you want is for that pain or health ailment to just be gone! You want it to just go away and never bother you again. This is where reframing in your mind that the healing of the ailment or pain is a process instead of a one-time, all pau cure. This approach is not very popular, but I have seen some moments when a person examines the suffering they are in, then tries his or her best to help ail it, which is when the healing process can occur. Shift your perspective and learn to recognize that a health ailment or disease is your body’s way to communicate that deep down inside of you, something doesn’t feel right. So, in essence a diagnosed dis-ease is a state where you literally are not at ease. I will share some ways to encourage this acceptance of healing versus “curing” in your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energetic bodies.
Physical Healing Versus Curing
Nowadays, there are so many reported miracle cures, crystals, methodologies, medicines that offer you a cure to your suffering. Body movement and breathwork tend to be the easiest methods to help you to start connecting with your body’s natural rhythms. A practice such as Tai Chi allows you to feel your chi or energy and yoga helps with feeling your body as you hold certain postures while learning to be more conscious with your breath. Meditation is another go-to recommendation that gets you to quiet your mind and become more present in the moment.
Mental Healing
This is where instead of looking for a cure, you can take ownership of your thoughts. It is by asking yourself the right questions and being willing to delve in deep. My suggestion is to not only look for experts to tell you what’s wrong, but also listen to your own internal dialogue and inner knowing to discover your answer. Know that you are strong and that your body is prompting you to find the reason behind your suffering.
Emotional Curing? Or Healing?
Fear of not knowing and the anxiety of whether or not this suffering will ever end or come back is what prompts most of us to seek experts to tell us what to do. Pain is real; however, fear can also come from what we are told and witnessing loved ones who have suffered in the past. Usually, it takes suffering from a bizarre health ailment or intense pain that motivates you to seek ease, a cure or to heal. There are so many different ways to potentially cure someone of a particular ailment, however just know that being cured is a temporary illusion. Temporary, because unless you get to the true reason that your body went through this ailment, it may come back. I’ve heard multiple stories in the past 24 years where people supposedly thought they were cured of cancer or some pain only for it to come back five, 10 or 20 years later.
Healing is a journey that you embark upon that leads you to self-awareness and ownership of your beliefs and ultimately yourself. The moment you become aware, can acknowledge, accept, adapt your life in a new way and then act in your situation is when healing begins.
Spiritual Healing
You can seek a higher power for a cure or to heal, but you also have the power to heal yourself. I’ve learned the three most powerful things you can recite to yourself that may help lead to healing: self-acceptance, self-love and gratitude. Reclaim your life and own the fact that you are truly powerful by accepting the light and dark elements of yourself. Accept who you are, and by appreciating and being grateful for what you have in your life leads to a powerful spiritual practice. These two actions lead to loving yourself. Self-love is not being selfish, but allows you to love and accept others fully, because you practice what you preach.
Conclusion
If you want to just be cured and have someone do the work for you, just know that the belief in that person, supplement, machine, procedure may help, but if there is still a worry or concern in the recesses of your mind that it may come back, then one day it might do so. Know that the power to heal can come from inside. Take the reins of your healing journey and select your support team wisely. They can give you their recommendations and a boost when you need it, but you are the one that has the power to choose and take ownership of what happens next. Go within to find the root cause of your ailment and know your truth!
Dr. Chad Sato graduated from UCLA in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and earned the Doctor of Chiropractic degree with honors from Life Chiropractic College West in 1998. Sato founded his practice, Aloha Chiropractic (drchadsato.com), in Mänoa valley, O‘ahu, on Oct. 1, 1999. He is a sought-after educator, speaker, author and mind-body specialist who helps people reach new levels of empowerment when it comes to their health and wellness by staying present with their body signs, making appropriate life choices and utilizing stress instead of managing it.
