Article first appeared in August issue of Prediction Magazine,entitled “Positive Thoughts- With Caroline Myss”, page 26.

Nurturing Yourself in the Midst of Service-Who Heals The Healer?

Towards the end of March, a friend of mine sent an urgent email alerting me to Caroline Myss’s (see www.myss.com) workshop in London on Sunday, the 18th of April. The message was insistent that I should do my best to attend this workshop. My own energy levels have been down a little recently perhaps due to my work — or change of season- and I thought this would be a timely. The chance of meeting Caroline Myss; perhaps conducting an interview would be fortuitous.

I have known of Caroline Myss (pronounced m-a-c-e) for years, since I first read The Anatomy of Spirit while studying healing. The organisers, Hay house (see www.hayhouse.co.uk), were quick to point out that Ms Myss would be ‘very busy and is on a tight schedule this trip, and would therefore not be available for interviews’.

However, my ticket was promptly arranged and waiting for me at the door. A high-resolution photograph of Caroline Myss was quickly emailed to accompany this review when published. I took a close look at the carefully staged publicity portrait of Ms Myss hoping to pick up some heartening ‘vibes’:

A seemingly strained thin-lipped, however, soft smile, wearing expensive looking soft black satin blouse, with her arms confidently resting on a desk top against a clinically cool and sober greyish/white background. I had previously heard from students of how forthcoming and forceful Caroline Myss can be, but little did I know what I was in for!

The Workshop

The workshop took place from 10am-4pm, at Friends House on Euston Road in London; which accommodates about 600 people (excluding upper galleries), ticket priced at Â£85. Happily, my seat turned out to be to in close proximity to the left of the stage, in the ‘VIP corner’ were other press members were seated, along with guest students of Caroline Myss. Eavesdropping, I understood that her current students staunchly follow her around the globe, where they attended workshops for free. Words such as ‘she’s a guru’ – and ‘I did not dare waist her time’ were frequently repeated. Clearly, at least they were in awe – or terrified!

People started filling the auditorium fairly quickly, looking bright and fresh (for a Sunday morning); mostly women wearing colourful pashminas, and holding trendy handbags, who generally arrived in groups or pairs, greeted others, kissed, hugged, and chatted as they took their seats. There was huge fresh flower vase was placed on the floor, centre-stage.

Disclaimer notices were boldly posted on each entrance/exit door reassuringly stating that: “demonstrations here today are for the entertainment purposes only… Not suitable for people who are epileptic or clinically depressed. Views do not reflect that of Hay House”. Ushers in branded uniforms and securely positioned at each corner- no cameras or taping devises were allowed. Were these all signs of an upmarket ‘New Age cult’?

About Caroline Myss

Our speaker for the day, Caroline Myss PhD, (and you are quickly reminded at events, in her printed material, her web site and books that she has a PhD.) grew up in the Chicago area, with her parents, two siblings, and close extended family.

Raised a Catholic, and pursued a career in journalism. As a freelance writer, she attended a seminar of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and was thrown into a “crisis of meaning.” Inspired, she attended Mundelein College and received a Masters Degree in theology.

Heading east, she started the Stillpoint Publishing Company in New Hampshire, where she acknowledged her medical intuitive abilities for the first time. “I had all the ambition in the world to be a publisher,” she says, “and all the talent to be a medical intuitive.”

She started working with holistic doctors, co-authored The Creation of Health with Dr. Norman Shealy, began creating audiotapes, and lectured around the world, and had three New York Times best sellers since including Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, and Sacred Contracts. She is currently at work on a new book about the Sacred Contract of the United States. She no longer conducts personal readings, but focuses her energy on teaching.

A representative was announcing Caroline Myss in celebrity style; I noticed another lady dressed casually in jeans, rearranging the stage, shifting the vase to the side as we waited in anticipation. As the announcer stepped down, the audience applauded warmly, and to my surprise, the unassuming lady in jeans went on stage. She was Caroline Myss!

“Disease occurs because you are out of time”

A fluid and captivating speaker, Caroline Myss, looked the audience ‘in the eye’ asking: How many of you call themselves healers? How can you heal on the extent of your own injury? Gradually, and consistently she debunked the myth of ‘the wounded make the best healers’. She explained why “your wounds do not qualify you to be a healer” pointing out that “nurses and doctors did not choose to be so because they were wounded”.

To be effective, the healer has to be in ‘present’. She asked: “ where are you other than here?” She explained energy patterns, and how circuitry depletes when we are ‘plugged elsewhere; by thinking or animating past traumas or injuries: “disease occurs because you are out of time”.

What does it mean to be a healer now?

She stressed one has to first “get a back bone”: have courage to be free from the past- and not offer one’s past injuries as fodder for patients. When a male participant justified that the past helps in understanding, Myss was quick to point out “ there is no value in staying wounded”: a healer would not have the ‘high voltage’ needed to ‘down load’ the required energy to manipulate time. With wit she added: Being 20 helped me being 30 but I do not bring it up!”

I understood the difference between one- time treating and healing. Healing required a systematic ability to be truthful to oneself on the outset, and to train in having self-esteem, which she believes defines the human experience. She asked: “would you compromise yourself because you feel compromised? Fall in love with who you are. How can you help some one go back in time if you are still there?” Only then would healers become a ‘mature vessel of light and time’.

Metaphysical Laws: Energy, Matter and Time

Myss explained alchemy, mysticism, healing, and how time is manipulated for healing to occur. She explained time is the most precious commodity, and how light is faster than time and how energy is lighter than matter, and how thought translates into matter that takes form. Where healers (and mystics- the subject of her doctorate) are concerned, she says, “Timelessness is calibrated by the physical body’s ability to move through time”. “You are burning your connections to your history, thus healing”.

She also explained why life slows down, and how we block our selves from fulfilling our destinies- our sacred contract; “ Why do you fear your enlightenment? If you can pull back your spirit from someone you hate- that is calling the light”. She offered tools and concepts for self-empowerment. She expanded on how judgement, criticism, and gossip creates conflict- or ‘cosmic drama — war’. She probed: “ where do you fit in global healing? What is your obligation if you claim to be part of the light?”

Just before the workshop ended, I managed to attract her attention and she answered one of my questions on destiny vs. free will and how it relates to or contradicts with ‘sacred contract’. Hay house promised to email me the answer to the second question if Myss was free to attend to it. Myss pointed out that the laws of attraction dictated a process couldn’t be down loaded unless one has decided about whom they are and what they wanted to do. If we were not aligned with our ‘sacred contract of the soul’ obstacles would be met – giving us the opportunity to re-align with our purpose.

Engrossed, audience and speaker seemed reluctant to take an overdue lunch break. At the end of the workshop, an enthusiastically applauding ‘enlightened fan’ rushed to approach Myss, and was immediately stopped. Caroline was whisked off stage and out of the building- in celebrity style too- in time to catch her flight to Ireland- a personal visit with her brother, before heading back to USA.

So, does the world need another guru? No. In my view, this would only create a bigger herd. While some may criticise Myss’s style and approach, I saw a dedicated inspiring person whose time is precious, has refreshing ideas, gives her best and challenges her audience to bring out our their best.

The world does need, however, to be reminded of the ancient truth, wisdom and alchemy that are put forward in a contemporary sincere manner through Caroline Myss- Although serious about her ‘sacred contract’, seems now to be humble enough not to take herself seriously.

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