Holy Healing Article

This article appeared in a publication in Morrison County

MY GENERATION: A PUBLICATION FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART      
            ©2012 my generation is property of ECM Publications
            My Generation, 216 First Street S.E., Little Falls, MN 56345 320.632.2345

 November 2012 edition

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.

No comments: