| A Profile of Patricia Searing,
Wholistic Touch Therapist by Janet Lang Smith Some people know from a very young age what they are meant to do with their lives. A calling, or certain spiritual gift, becomes evident early enough that a path is set and the young person follows. For others, though, their purpose -- the divine mission prescribed to us by a greater power -- takes a bit longer to ascertain. And as Patricia Searing of Kansas City, Mo., will tell you...sometimes it takes a crisis to open our eyes. Patricia is a Wholistic Touch Therapist, and she holds a Ph.D. in Human Development Psychology. But her interest in alternative healing didn't begin until 1985, when she was 39 years old. "At the time," she says, "I was a single parent and wearing a suit to work every day in the corporate world. My teenage son was having difficulties but I didn't know exactly what was wrong. It was a terribly challenging time and I was distraught. I was raised a Catholic, but was not following the faith. I didn't pray, and although I was not cynical, I saw no evidence of God. I had no patience for that." On an evening following a particularly distressing argument with her son, Patricia took a walk in the dark in her neighborhood. "For some reason, I stopped at a church I had passed many times before, and sat on the steps," she says. "I found myself praying, 'God, if you're there -- my son is in grave danger. I don't know what the problem is or why his behavior is so terrible. I need help knowing what to do. If you will save his life, I'll help you. Please be there -- I need your help.' Then I cried my heart and eyes out." Three days later, the sign Patricia had asked God for appeared in the form of a silver hand. "I suddenly saw a silver hand floating in front of me, and I knew immediately that this was the answer from God," she says. "I knew that my son would know what the silver hand meant, but I didn't mention it to him." Soon after this vision, Patricia and her son were walking together, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver hand to show his mother. "It was a roach clip," Patricia says, "and it was then that I knew my son was using drugs. It took about a year and a half to turn his life around through counseling, but he did it." Several years after Patricia saw the silver hand, when her son was doing well, she recalled what she had told God that night on the church steps. "I suddenly remembered that I had told God I'd help God out if God would save my son's life. And since my son was recovering...I wanted to fulfill my end of the bargain. So I prayed my second prayer, saying, 'God, I made a deal with you. What can I do to help you? Please send me another sign, and make it plain so I can understand it!'" Soon after that, Pat had her second vision. "It was a three-dimensional, hologram of a wonderful old woman, full of wrinkles, a big nose, and disheveled grey hair. There was a ball of light surrounding her hands and wrists. She said one word to me: healing." Focusing on this image and its message, Patricia visited an alternative type of bookstore, owned by a friend. It was full of crystals, incense, and books and materials designed for the evolution and healing of the psyche. "This stuff was all totally new to me," Patricia says, "and I began walking through the books, looking at the titles. And then, a book fell off of a shelf right by me. I picked it up and it was on polarity therapy. Of course, I bought the book and began learning everything I could about human energy and this type of healing. I knew that I was on the right path." Patricia was living in Los Angeles at the time, and she learned about a seminary that taught healing by laying-on of hands. She decided to check it out. "And when I walked in the door," she says, "the first person I saw was the old woman who had come to me in the holographic vision. I knew I was supposed to be there." After graduating from the seminary after four years, Patricia developed her practice, and began teaching her own methods of energy healing at the seminary. She also became fascinated with the spirituality and healing of indigenous people in other countries. She has traveled to Tibet, Egypt, Wales and South America to study with native healers. "With indigenous people, there is no separation between the spiritual world and the everyday world," Patricia explains. "Everything -- bones, feathers -- is a tool to focus spirit. In South Africa, for example, the healers use various stones for divination. All natural objects become a way of reading spiritual flow. They may stay up all night, chanting and dancing to raise the spiritual energy for others. These people say that life is about healing, about the mysteries of nature, and about finding joy." In the early 1990s, Patricia decided to combine her interest in alternative medicine with a more traditional approach. She enrolled in a doctoral program at the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., and after six years in the program earned her doctorate degree in Human Development Psychology. "It was fascinating to have the opportunity to research some of the healing concepts I developed," she says. "I believe part of my spiritual mission was to research touch therapy and the faculty at Fielding was very interested in my dissertation on the subject." Patricia believes that all previous experiences are stored in the human body in holograms, and the focus of her healing is in bringing these to the surface in her clients. "We must access those areas within our bodies that are painful, because if not dealt with these negatively charged areas can start a disease process. Through retrieval, we can go back in time and discover ourselves at any age, or during another lifetime, or during the space between lifetimes -- even in utero. We can deal with anything that is there, and figure out what is holding us back in our lives. "My greatest pleasure in my practice," Patricia says, "is helping clients discover their right livelihood, and what brings joy to their lives. Seeing them reach spiritual fulfillment and the emotional and psychological clarity and physical stamina that goes along with it." Patricia says that "people heal inside a healing environment," and she certainly offers that in her warm and comfortable home in Kansas City, where her practice is located. "My clients are seeking to make spiritual connections, and I create a place where that can be done. Spiritual beings work in my room all the time!" In addition to her practice, Patricia is now on staff at the Midwest Institute of Natural Healing in Kansas City. She teaches classes in energy work and is writing the curriculum for the new Psychosomatic Therapy program that the school will launch in the near future. This curriculum will incorporate concepts in human development and will include classes on the dialogic process. "Dialogue is a purposeful way of taking a person into the world of their internal body space, where all the answers are," Patricia says. "Bodyworkers and other touch therapists who learn to use my dialogue method will know what to do and what to say to help their clients heal. I have studied Dr. David Bohm's dialogue technique, and based on that I have developed my own method of dialogue that is tied to the body's own wisdom. We all have the power to heal ourselves, if we tap into our own body wisdom." Early on in her studies with indigenous people, Patricia was in awe of the joy they seemed to derive simply from being alive and on earth. "At one point in my life, I was always searching for my ideal community," she says. "But now I know that my ideal community is wherever I am. I have loving relationships in my life with people who are kindred spirits. I know I can love people from my past. Joy can really be found everywhere." For more information about the Midwest Institute of Natural Healing contact the school at (816) 453-3577, or visit www.naturalhealingschool.org Janet Lang Smith lives in Kansas City and writes frequently on health-related topics. Her book, Ten Things to Help You Survive and Heal While Grieving, was published in 2002 by Forest of Peace Publishing in Leavenworth, Kan. Janet writes a column, "WellLink," which appears every other Wednesday in the Eastern Jackson County Examiner. She owns a public relations firm, Expansion Communications, and directs an organization that provides free dental care to children in need. Copyright © 2004 Janet Lang Smith |
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JUNE 2004 |
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