'THE SONG OF SELF-HEALING' - John Shane - READ, WATCH & LISTEN to a poem with music
My gift to you at the turning of the year is this song that summons the elemental powers of the universe to invoke the healing of broken bodies, broken hearts, broken minds & repair a broken world..
LET THE HEALING FORCES OF THE SUN THE MOON THE STARS AND THE PLANETS IN THEIR COURSES FLOW THROUGH ME…FLOW THROUGH ME…
John Shane at the time when ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ arose in his mind as he focussed his attention on recovering from a serious injury he suffered when he was involved in a car accident.
CLICK HERE to see & hear a video trailer of John Shane reading a brief excerpt of ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ that states the central theme of the poem…
CLICK HERE to listen to John Shane reading the full text of ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ recorded with a repeating rhythmic cycle of melodic trance music he composed to accompany the poem…
Photo: Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and John Shane in Venice, Italy, at the 1st International Conference on Tibetan Medicine organised in 1983 by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu with the Dzogchen Community and the Shang Shung Institute for Tibetan Culture that he founded and of which he was the President.
Below you can read the full text of ‘The Song of Self Healing’ which - of all the poems of mine that he read - was the favourite of my late teacher, the great Dzogchen Master Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, and I am publishing it here in his honour, maintaining, as he always did, the wish to benefit all sentient beings.
Soon after I wrote the poem, it was published as a small poster, and I mailed a copy of it to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu at his home in Formia, Italy.
When I later visited him and his family there for the first time, I was surprised to discover that he had the poster-poem hanging on the wall of the bedroom of his private apartment.
The poem has since also been published as the preface to several books on the healing arts, sometimes without my knowing about the publication until a friend saw the book and wrote to tell me about it.
How do these words and images appear on the screen of the device in front of you..?
Aren’t they appearing as a display due to the pixels of the screen lighting up in response to continuous digital pulses of energy with the value of either zero or one, off / on..?
What is your experience right now, in this moment..?
Look and listen…
Isn’t everything in this so-solid-seeming world - including your own body - appearing to you as a display of light and sound in your awareness…?
Isn’t this awareness - your essential being, this knowing - the only thing you can ever really know..?
Where is your body right now..?
Look for yourself and see if the body is an appearance in the display of awareness..
THE POWER OF SUGGESTION AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT:
We know that healing can take place when a pill that contains no medication is given to a patient. This is called the ‘placebo effect’.
The power of suggestion is very strong.
Since we know that the mind and body are not separate, let’s assume that the mind can send an ‘instruction’ to the body to invoke its natural healing capacity.
Let’s imagine that prayers like ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ can act as such ‘instructions’..
Body can influence mind…mind can influence body…
Try reciting the words of ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ for yourself…take it into your heart…
Or make a song of healing of your own and share it with others, as I am sharing mine with you…
Body and mind are one single organism that has a natural capacity to heal itself.
Bringing to mind the words of a poem or prayer like ‘The Song of Self-Healing’ is a way to focus one’s energy on invoking the body’s natural healing capacity for one’s own benefit and the benefit of others.
The language of the poem recalls the fact that the body-mind and it's surrounding environment are ‘not-two’…
Mind, body, and surrounding environment are, at all levels, large and small, near and far, intricately entwined, intimately woven together in the seamless web of ‘what is’….
Em A Ho…!! How Marvellous…!
Wishing you
Long Life,
Peace, Prosperity,
Health, & Happiness…!!
The Song of Self-Healing
John Shane
Let the healing forces
of the sun, the moon
the stars
And the planets
in their courses
flow through me
flow through me
flow through me
And, as a river
filled by the rains
returns its waters
to the sea
May I give back
to all who lack
the knowledge of the way
to understand
within themselves
the unity of the energy
that dances in all form
from the smallest atom
to the greatest galaxy
And in the splitting
of a second
May I see the unfolding
of infinity
within me
And so be free
And so be free
Let the healing
power of air
which all must breathe
Show how we share
Show how we share
And how, with each
and every breath
We balance
life and death
We balance
life and death
Let the healing
power of water
Make me grow
Make me grow
So that I may learn
to let go
and live each moment
in the flow
Let the healing
power of earth
Give me new birth
Give me new birth
So that I may see
the equal worth
of all the many
forms of life
and so, within myself
Make an end of strife
Make an end of strife
Let the healing
power of fire
kindle my heart's
true desire
Draw me higher
Draw me higher
Let the healing
power of light
Make my vision bright
Make my vision bright
So that in me all
seeming opposites
may unite
And I may go beyond
both wrong and right
No longer seeing life
in terms of black
and white
No longer seeing life
in terms of black
and white
Let the healing
power of sound
flow through my voice
to all around
and tune my ear
to all I hear
so that my mind
may grow clear
and I may be
free from hope
and fear
In centreless silence
let me see
the healing grace
of brilliant luminous
empty space
to be the essence
of my own mind
And thus may I go beyond
all limited conceptions
of birth and death
and transcend
false views of time
By the healing power
summoned in this song
May I and all who suffer
now grow strong
And may all hearts know
that peace
for which they long
Let the healing forces
of the sun, the moon,
the stars
And the planets
in their courses
flow through me
flow through me
flow through me
this is beautiful!
Such a beautiful invocation/evocation…. It would be wonderful to have this as a broadside to put on the wall as a gentle, powerful call to remember, to just be… ❤️