A Sufi Healer Meets Menla
I first attended a Medicine Buddha workshop in 2001 in Victoria BC. I was attracted to the short version of the ritual which involves 3 or 7 repetitions of the mantra “Tayata Om Bekenzie Bekenzie … etc” while visualizing the sick person and also the Blue Buddha image. In my version the Blue Buddha emanates healing energy to the person.
My wife had just had major brain surgery and I was the caregiver. Doing the ritual gave me “something” I could do at a time when I was feeling helpless. It seemed as though she was significantly helped by doing the ritual several times a day. She also used the ritual on herself.
In my daily life I have been doing Trager bodywork healing for about 20 years. I started doing the Medicine Buddha for each and every client .. without telling them. They were there for healing so I figured why not add the MB ritual. I found it useful because I relaxed … knowing the Medicine Buddha was at work. As a result my healing sessions became more effective. The ritual kept me out of my head as far as planning the client’s therapy. This often allowed me to be present in my heart, which made the bodywork more intuitive and more effective.
I also found the Medicine Buddha ritual helpful for self-healing. Whenever I needed healing myself I would ride my bicycle and visualize the Blue Buddha shining healing energy down on me. In the end, for self-healing only, riding the bicycle I would look into the blue sky and let the blue sky BE the Medicine Buddha. The blue sky was blue healing energy coming down on me as I rode.
My healing practice has evolved over the years to incorporate the Medicine Buddha and Sufi Healing practices mixed into Trager bodywork with Matrix Energetics techniques added in. I now advertise that I will do a MB ritual for free upon request with each session. This happens right in the middle of the bodywork session when we come to the part of the body needing healing.
I have modified the practice by preceding it with a Sufi prayer that outlines the standard modes of healing that nature brings to us.
It goes …
“Beloved Universe
Divine Presence
Through the Rays of the Sun
Through the Waves of the Air
Throughout the all pervading Life in Space …
Purify and Revivify Us
and we pray …
Heal our Bodies, Hearts and Soul.”
The MB ritual blended with Sufi Healing has become the core spiritual practice of my bodywork healing work.
http://bodyworksvictoria.ca/ian
Ian Soutar
