Most people familiar with holistic healing are aware of its capability to be performed over a distance with similar effectiveness as in person. In my own practice I have found that I need only envisage the subject, form the intention to transmit healing, and proceed with the appropriate healing modality while maintaining focus on my subject and intention.

At the simplest level, distant, or remote, healing often takes the form of prayer. Clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of praying for those in need, including those at a distance such as hospital patients. (In 1993 a respected American physician wrote an important book about this phenomenon, which he believed the scientific community should not continue to overlook or ignore: Larry Dossey, M.D., Healing Words, The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine.) At a more complex level, a distant healer can combine a variety of modalities, e.g., energy healing, medical intuition, Inner Child work, and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

My first experience in distant healing was in using the energy healing technique of Polarity Therapy for a relative in a hospital 3000 miles away. I did a head to toe session on myself as her surrogate just before her scheduled surgery, and she later reported feeling deep peace at that exact time. I also had success with a friend’s father who had gone into a coma in a distant hospital. I connected with his spirit with a view to facilitating his coming out of the coma (if that was meant to be), and my friend later reported that he did do so soon after. From the outset, my own experience in receiving distant healing from others, whether from human or animal healers, has been equally powerful.

Reiki Level II has a formal protocol for distant healing. The practitioner forms a mental picture of the subject, connects with his or her Third Eye using powerful healing symbols revealed to Reiki founder Dr. Usui, and then conducts a healing session using oneself or an object such as a stuffed animal as the surrogate. Reiki attunements can also be given surrogately from a distance. Distant Reiki sessions and attunements are especially useful with animals, who are apt to move around when they are in the practitioner’s presence.

Communication with animals over a distance is a powerful technique. In my practice, I form a mental picture of the animal and then use the same communication protocol I use for animals in my presence. At the outset, I send the animal a mental image of myself and I explain my reason for contacting him. With the animal’s permission, I will often proceed with Reiki Level II, either to provide a container of safety and centeredness for our dialogue or as the healing method of choice in that case. As in the cases of distant healing for people cited above, feedback about the effectiveness of distant communication and healing for animals is available—both from the animal and from the animal’s person. Please see Holistic Animal Communication & Healing for case studies; the case of a mare named Mary who had multiple afflictions, all but one of which I treated from a distance, is perhaps the most dramatic. In teaching distant communication with animals in my workshops, I ask the students to work with photographs of each other’s animals; they are then able to give each other validation of the results.

After immersing myself in the pioneering bodywork technique known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), I explored its potential for distant use with remarkable results. At the time, EFT was already notable for its effectiveness over the telephone. But I found that conducting surrogate distant healing sessions (combining EFT and other techniques such as Reiki and Medical Intuition) prior to the telephone interaction was even more effective, both in its healing outcomes and in the convenience it offered clients. One of my subjects found relief from twenty years of back and hip pain using this approach. Click here for her detailed testimonial, and here for an in-depth account of my distant EFT protocol.

My procedure for conducting distant or remote healings is a follows. The client provides a summary of the issues and concerns (either for himself or herself or for a loved one such as a child or an animal), along with a physical description and often a photo. After the distant healing session, we discuss the results over the phone or by email, and I proceed with further work if it is called for. At times the client will request a written account; this is especially useful in complex cases or in cases where the client prefers to process the information in private before we talk. Please call or email if you have any questions whatsoever about how this all works!