When I first got into the industry and observed how other professionals handled clients, one mentor of mine stands out – Albert Saparoff. Albert was the innovator of the Get High on Life Program and would go into the inner city to teach self-esteem to high school students. Albert had been retired for 20 years when I met him, and we had interesting conversations about alternative methods of healing. When I got a good job at a local treatment facility, I thought it would be a good match for Albert to help me out, and he accepted my invitation to assist with my group. Albert had unique training in non-touch healing, and I was fortunate to see him in action for over a year. At the end of each group, he would ask people if they wanted a healing, and while he worked on them, he did what he called “channeling in the healing energy of the universe.” One of those healings blew us all away.

A man came to the front of the room and sat on the provided chair, and told Albert he had a liver ailment and awaited a liver transplant. Albert got into his position to the side of the man, waved his hands slowly down from the top of his head all the way to his feet, taking opportunities to pull something dark out and toss it away (as he said), and when he finished, people would report an amazing experience. This man said the same thing, but when he returned a week later, he told the group that this was the first time his doctor said his condition remained the same and did not rapidly decline as it had, and wondered what on earth he did. Albert told the man this was what he had trained for and was grateful to be of help. Today these words hit me as I worked with a client who had been troubled by his childhood for decades, and in the session he found amazing relief. My first thought was, this is what I have been trained to do, then I chuckled. Had I turned into Albert?

What makes Spiritual Psychology so different is the healing strategy: “When Love is applied to Hurt, we Heal.” It may sound interesting, but what does this really mean?

Clinically, when a person goes through a shock, there is a portion of them that gets stuck there. This is according to Fritz Perls of Gestalt therapy. We may physically grow, but under stress the mind will regress, or basically revert back to an earlier developmental stage and get stuck there—according to Sigmund Freud. When you find yourself unable to think clearly after going through a shock, this describes regression to a tee. Spiritual Psychology believes that when you apply love to that part of you that originally got wounded, you heal! This is unique, inspiring, revolutionary, and there is nothing like it in the industry. I’ve tested this in thousands of client sessions, it has worked on healing my own wounds, and I am grateful that I have been trained to pass along this information.

There are many psychological approaches in the industry, and Spiritual Psychology mixes and matches them to get to the root in order to heal it out. In doing so, every similar issue in our life also heals. It is as if a problem shows up originally, gains momentum throughout our life, but nipping it in the bud takes all of that away. But how is this done?

It begins with treating the younger part inside of us with love. It really is that simple. Therefore, as a therapist, the main task is to assist others in what we call reparenting themselves, in order to free their minds from difficulties that may be as old as they are.

My favorites to do this type of work are Opposite Hand Writing and Gestalt Empty Chair work. Both of these entail communicating with the younger part inside of ourselves that went through the problem. One uses an empty chair, and the other entails writing out a conversation, allowing your opposite hand to represent the younger you and the dominant hand to represent the current you. In both cases, it is important for the adult part of you to apply love to the younger you. Does it work? Well, today it sure did. Plus, it has done wonders in my life and in the lives of countless others. In a sense, this type of work allows you to heal yourself, and often this healing work involves play! Did you realize that you can heal and have fun at the same time? Well, then I encourage you to give this a try.

How do I advertise this? It has boggled my mind for 8 years. Logic doesn’t describe the amount of release you experience when you have a conversation with the wounded part of you that has been hiding for so long. Once this connection is made and you’ve created a loving connection with your younger self, then it is time to go after the bad guy or gal who took advantage of you. And just imagine if you were able to talk to that abuser, in a format where no harm could come to you, and you could say anything to them that you wanted. Sound freeing? You bet it is.

This is the flair of psychodrama. According to science, if we imagine something or if we actually do that same thing, it registers the same in the brain. This is why athletes imagine being successful. When we spend time hanging out with our younger self, talking with them, and even playing with them, our imagination makes it feel real. Hey, when I was a kid, I had no father to play catch with, so as an adult, when I was working on myself, I’d take a tennis ball, toss it against the garage with one hand and catch it with the other and vice versa—all the while praising the younger self for being the greatest baseball player in the world! Now, is this logical? Of course not. This is emotional in nature and feels wonderful. What I always craved, I got to recreate on my own—no middleman—and my mood instantly lifted. This was when I went through my tree-climbing phase. People gave me odd looks as I climbed trees as an adult, but to be honest, it was more important to heal than to impress my neighbors.

This is new. This is incredibly healing. This worked on me, and I gratefully share it with others. I write about it in my published books and in these articles, and I want everyone to share it with the people they care about. This should not be a secret, shunned, or belittled. When I started my own healing journey, the common consensus was that psychotherapy was for weak people. I’ve shared this approach with people who had incredible mental health, and they even said that they got a lot out of it. Look, everybody has something that is gnawing at them, and this is the easiest and most enjoyable approach in my arsenal.

What is important to understand is that our relationship with ourselves is mirrored in the relationships we have with others. If you are upset and angry, how do you interact with others? Pretty much, it is in that same way. Therefore, in order to change your relationships, you need to change yourself.

Once the healing bond is established within, then the road trip begins. One by one, the bullies of the past will need to be dealt with using the empty chair or opposite hand writing, and please put pen to paper—I am old school and feel it is important for the opposite hand to have its say. After going after my father in the empty chair for numerous sessions, I then took the time to confront him in person. And I hadn’t seen him for over a decade! After doing so, a tremendous amount of peace came, and we became friends.

It is important to go slowly as you work on core wounds. My first priority is establishing a good bond with the younger self. I have had a few people whose trauma didn’t start in childhood, but maybe with a divorce or car accident, so in this case, it was important to do bonding exercises with that part of them that went through the difficulty. Either way—young or old—when love is applied to hurt, we heal.

My friend Albert was 94 years old when he passed away. I still miss his geeky ways. This was one man who never grew up—well, refused to anyway. I was there when he had open-heart surgery and was not allowed into the recovery room, but his daughter and granddaughter were allowed to see him after the procedure and, because they also were trained in non-touch healing, they proceeded to use it on him at that time. The staff were amazed as his daughter and granddaughter removed the blankets that packed his body, which were there to warm back up his cooled heart, but as they did the healing, incredible heat was present. The staff just watched in astonishment. They told us a week later that people throughout that unit were healing at incredible rates. Non-touch healing is no joke, and there is scientific proof that it actually heals somebody 30% faster.

Thanks for touching my life, Albert. Your work continues through me, and I have learned from you to remain young to the end.