MY GENERATION: A PUBLICATION FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART
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generation is property of ECM PublicationsMy Generation, 216 First Street S.E., Little Falls, MN 56345 320.632.2345
HOLY HEALING: FRANCISCAN SISTER TOUCHES PEOPLE THROUGH
THERAPY
By David Hoadley
Sister
Carolyn Law has been with the Order of St. Francis for 32 years, working as a
therapist for people struggling with difficult issues in their lives. Through
those years, she found something she didn’t expect.
“Maybe I
was a little naive about therapy,” Law said as she sat in the Rose Room of the
Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls’ oldest building. “I expected people would
come to me for a year and then get better and move along. But people were coming back to me for several
years.”
A new kind
of therapy called Brain Integration Technique would change things.
Law had
taken what she termed a “gradual journey” to Little Falls from her home on a
farm near Yankton, S.D.
“As a small
child I had an awareness of God,” she remembered. “Especially being on a farm I
had an awareness of God in nature.”
She went to
the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and joined the Order of St. Francis
soon after. She had known that two great-aunts on her maternal grandmother’s
side were Franciscan sisters in Milwaukee, but when she arrived in Little
Falls, she found out that three other great-aunts, these on her maternal
grandfather’s side, had also been in the Franciscan community in Milwaukee.
“So maybe
it was in my blood,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s a
unique calling,” she said of her decision to join the order. “It’s a desire to
have a relationship with God and a desire to serve. There are many ways to
follow these desires and this is a way to do it.”
“I like the
Franciscan spirit of joyfulness,” she went on. “It’s very human, not such a
pious spirituality. It’s a down-to-earth, authentic spirituality.”
Law began
her ministry in Latin America, serving in Venezuela and Nicaragua. When she
returned to the United States, she wanted to do some more study.
“I knew I
was ready to go to graduate school and update myself for ministry,” she said.
That led
her to Loyola University in Chicago, where she received her master’s degree in
counseling, focusing on psychotherapy that incorporated the connection between
the body and the mind. After seeing some patients for what she thought was long
time, “That’s when I started doing things that had to do with the energy in the
body.”
That
brought her to Brain Integration Technique (BIT) and she received training in
the therapy in 2008 and 2009.
“The
technique not only worked better but worked faster,” Law said.
Additionally,
while originally designed to help people with learning disabilities like
dyslexia, she found that other emotional problems such as low self-esteem or
anxiety could be helped by using BIT.
Most of us
use our brain in certain ways, often limiting ourselves to one hemisphere of
the brain or the other. The main idea of BIT is to use our body’s energy to
bridge the gap between the hemispheres and allow people to use both sides of
the brain equally and think more freely.
“We’ve all
seen computers that you turn on and they’re fuzzy,” Law said. “BIT helps our
computer brain get up and running as well as possible.”
It also
unblocks the emotional center in the brain to further improve brain function.
It is non-invasive and can be done in a few visits.
Even the
best-adjusted of us have stresses and negative issues in our lives, and BIT
isn’t just for major problems.
“Even if
you’re doing well, whatever kind of challenge you have, we can tap into the
energy (in your brain) and optimize that energy. It can release energy to enjoy
life and enjoy work.”
The
results, which Law estimates to be about an 85 percent success rate, have been satisfying.
“It’s very
rewarding to me to be able to help people. There’s a thrill from that, helping
make their life better.” And she feels a definite connection between her work
and the vows she took as a Franciscan sister.
“The
connection is bringing healing to those who are in search of it. It’s God’s
goodness and love and healing. It’s really God’s work and I am an instrument of
that.”
Law
stressed that because of the mission of the Franciscan Sisters she can work
with potential clients with financial issues. She works on a sliding scale and
can make other concessions if money is a problem. “We have a society too much
based on money,” she said.
More
information on BIT, including a checklist of symptoms, and a link to the
therapy’s developer can be found on Law’s website, www.carolynlaw.com. Law can be reached
directly at claw@fslf.org or by phone at
(320) 260-1030.
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