3 Ways To Use Spirituality On Your Healing Journey, From A Mind-Body Medicine Doctor

We're only scratching the surface on how spirituality can affect your health, but the limited data we do have makes a clear connection: Individuals with some sense of spirituality have enhanced mental health, immune function, and longevity1. All that to say, it's worth it to strengthen your spiritual muscles. 

Setting an intention is crucial for your healing journey, says Rankin, but it's important not to fixate on the goal. "Be clear in your intention to heal, and surrender attachment to outcomes," she says. Of course, this is much harder than it sounds: If you're connected to your intention—especially if that intention has to do with your health—it's difficult to surrender your control. 

That's why Rankin recommends energy medicine expert William Bengston, Ph.D.'s "image cycling" practice: You mentally visualize many, many ongoing desires (one of which might be related to your health) and cycle through them so you're not placing all of your energy on one specific intention. "The whole purpose of cycling is to help you let go, to surrender, to get out of the way, and to busy your mind," she explains. "You set the intention, and then you move on to the next intention, and the next intention in the mind, so that you're not obsessing about the intention…obsessing about the intention does the opposite of healing." 

According to Rankin, it's crucial to have a community of care during your healing journey. "You can heal yourself, and you can't do it alone. That's a paradox of healing," she says. "We need each other so that the body can self-repair. We need other people to co-regulate our dysregulated nervous systems because being sick is scary, and the fear can make us [feel worse]." 

She recommends creating what she calls a "circle of healing," where you invite a community of people (perhaps your doctor, therapist, acupuncturist, yoga teacher, best friend, etc.) to help support you on your healing journey. If you're unable to create your own circle of healing, Rankin has also started a nonprofit called Heal at Last, where you can engage in small in-person healing groups and feel empowered.

You cannot use spirituality for healing without prioritizing the well-being of others—full stop. Says Rankin, "Any spirituality that doesn't include radical empathy for the suffering of others, without trying to explain it away, does not fit. If social justice is not part of your spirituality, get rid of it." 

It's a concept we discuss quite a bit here at mbg: We are a microcosm of a much larger microbiome, and our world at large needs to function optimally for us to truly thrive—that includes both the planet itself and the communities around us. That's why Rankin has made it her mission to make energy medicine as accessible as possible: "We're going to try to create circles of healing that are by donation only for anybody who identifies as being in recovery for illness, injury, or trauma," she says. "And we have a bunch of passionate social justice activists who want to make sure that it's available to have a community of healing."