The pandemic has me confined in my little cocoon. Days seem to be stagnant and mundane.
On some days, I feel fantastic whereas, on others, a Pantura truck has run over me. Something about the pandemic has made me subconsciously self-reflect on my past, present, and future. Revelations of my undealt traumas and underlying negative patterns leading to my current physical and emotional health state have me eager to embark on my self-healing journey.
Quoting from Psychology Today, self-healing is an effort by oneself to heal oneself from inner or mental wounds caused by various attributes. The inner wound itself can appear in the form of deep sadness, feelings of failure, anxiety, etc.
Self-healing allows a deeper understanding of oneself; accepting imperfections, and forming positive thoughts on this rollercoaster ride called life. In fact, a study says that everyone is capable of healing themselves with a success rate reaching 18-75 percent. Holistic health and self-healing teacher and practitioner Reza Gunawan concurs – at least 70 percent of our health issues can be resolved by ourselves with knowledge, skills, methods, and practices while the remaining 30 percent is best assisted by relevant healthcare professionals.
“I think we can’t completely succumb our health and wellbeing to other professionals because there’s a huge imbalance between those who can help and those who need help,” he clarifies. “This is why I try to present self-healing in my own version so that the public can determine whether this method is suitable for them and be served as a tool to take care of their wellbeing.”
Various methods and techniques are categorized into four elements: breath, movement, touch, and silence. Any practice using one or more of these elements to keep our health and wellbeing, as well as to heal our issues and illnesses, is considered self-healing. In Reza’s words, “it’s a series of practices that can be done independently to preserve our health and wellbeing, both physically and psychologically.”
Reza is one of the few holistic practitioners in Indonesia sharing his wisdom and helping others achieve optimal health and wellbeing. Holistic medicine in Indonesia, apparently, is still rather uncommon.
“I’ve always been interested in natural healing and health since I was 12. I studied yoga and became a vegetarian at 15, then studied different practices in breathing, reflexology, hypnotherapy, meditation, acupressure, and
“It’s my lifelong passion, interest, and hobby but became my full-blown profession in 2003 when I first founded my healing center called True Nature Holistic Healing,” he recalled.
Raised in a family where most of his aunts and uncles are medical doctors, Reza always felt a missing element in the conventional medical system, which he views as too specific. A specialist doctor for each part of the body is available. But often, Reza said, health and wellbeing require an overall view of the body while also taking into account a person’s psychological wellbeing and social, spiritual, and energetic lives.
Reza finds conventional medicine incomplete, despite having many benefits, yet he believes both conventional and holistic systems can go hand-in-hand. “I found that complete view in holistic medicine. Many ancient, at least thousands-year-old system medicines like traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, view humans as a complete whole. I really like that approach,” he said.
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After further exploring various forms of healing, Reza currently mainly uses TAT as his main method of healing. TAT, or Tapas Acupressure Technique, is a method combining acupuncture and contemplative healing developed in 1983 by acupuncturist Tapas Fleming in California, USA. This method has a person touching three acupuncture points on the head in a certain hand pose while contemplating a fixed series of statements after they decide what problem they’d like to work on. According to Reza, “TAT fulfills a very important set of criteria; it’s simple, effective, independent, and versatile.”
Combining those acupuncture points and the contemplations creates this profound healing, not only for the mind and emotions but also for the body. TAT is for all kinds of stress, difficult emotions, trauma, limiting beliefs, relationship issues, and negative habits. It helps physical issues like psychosomatic issues, allergies, and even chronic health issues. It’s also good for parenting, natural pregnancy, and childbirth.
TAT can be done alone, by a professional TAT practitioner giving guidance in each session, or as a group healing modality as a way to heal a group of people at once with the same process. Reza claims that learning how to do TAT for ourselves is the best option. He has a monthly, four-hour TAT beginner class taught over Zoom. “Once people dedicate time to study for four hours, just once, they’ll be able to do TAT for the rest of their lives.”
“If you’ve already learned how to do TAT, first you choose what problem you’d like to heal and then touch those points and contemplate nine statements. These statements cannot be elaborated as it is proprietary to the method, but they relate to recognizing reality, cleaning the mind and body, healing the root, forgiveness, and making a new choice for the processed problem,” he explained.
One practice usually takes 15 minutes long, but Reza declared time to completely heal depends on the issue. For example, “a person proficient in TAT would usually take one to three practices for a single trauma,” he explained. “Anxiety comes in many different forms and root causes. But generally speaking, when I teach my TAT class for beginners, I usually receive very good reports after between one and three months of regular practice.”
In most cases, the problems continued Reza, evaporate away. However, some are a bit more stubborn thus repeating the practice on the subsequent days until whenever the problem crosses the mind and doesn’t hurt anymore is key.
“You can only do TAT once you’ve properly learned it so I can’t give any simple tips as it would be irresponsible and dangerous,” he said. TAT per se is therapy, either done solely or with the guidance of a professional. Even so, Reza believes “TAT is very empowering and needed by many, especially this pandemic where the world is turning upside down. We need to keep our sanity and health.”
Treat yourself in a kind, gentle, and supportive way; just as you would support a loved one in need. Self-healing isn’t a selfish act. My brother considers one week straight of gaming as self-healing, whereas a friend said self-healing is “lonely”.
As Reza pointed out, “if we’re the main character determining our health and wellbeing, it should be logical to accept that we are the one most responsible for keeping it well based on our choices, lifestyles, how we work, and navigating through relationships.”
True Nature Holistic Healing offers Japanese acupuncture, moxibustion, and a form of counseling complimenting the TAT called Zen counseling. The next TAT beginners’ class is on 4th September 2021.
Reach Reza Gunawan on Instagram and Twitter @rezagunawan.