Most of us are familiar with the idea of a healer — perhaps trained in shiatsu or reiki — soothing our troubles and aches away while we lie on a couch in a treatment room. But can it possibly work when the therapist who treats you isn’t actually in the same building, but is sitting at home a full 50 miles away instead?
My cynical self worries that this strange idea will not work for me.
Yet, this far into the pandemic, I’m also finding myself exhausted and full of anxiety. I’m constantly on edge and so easily overwhelmed, I rarely get an unbroken night’s sleep.
Abigail Caller (52), a remote healer is what I heard. I was skeptical, but I decided to book an appointment.
Claudia Connell (pictured), who lives in Brighton, revealed the outcome of a remote healing session with Abigail Caller, 52, from South-West London
Abigail is able to work without the need for physical contact. Instead, she operates by ‘tuning into her client’s energy’.
It means that while she treats many people in person, it’s also possible to work from a distance.
While a number of healers have always done remote healing — some say the practice (also known as distant healing intention therapy) is an ancient shamanic tradition — Abigail only started to work this way when the pandemic hit.
She explains: ‘We did remote healing as part of my training but I never used it. When lockdown occurred and clients couldn’t come to me in person, it was then that I realized the power of distant healing. Realising that the person didn’t need to be in the same room, somehow strengthened the spiritual connection. It’s in another realm.’
Some clients prefer to heal remotely, even though they can return in person.
As a shiatsu practitioner, Reiki and Spiritual Healing Practitioner, she assists those who are suffering from emotional or physical issues. In general, her clients feel there’s an emotional ‘block’ linked to what they’re experiencing physically. So a sore knee isn’t just a sore knee — there’s an emotional story behind the physical pain.
It’s a whole other world to me. She explains her process to me, but my doubts grow.
‘I’m aware very clearly of what’s happening energetically,’ she says. ‘In my mind’s eye I am shown lots of patterns of energy that I work with to strengthen areas of weakness and release areas of blockage. Every session will be different. I work intuitively with what I’m shown in the moment. The more I am able to channel and be an open channel for the healing energy, the more powerful the work.’
Abigail said that her method of working is to sense the energy patterns in the body and work with them (file image).
Really? And yet, if Abigail’s healing hands can help fix this feeling of being trapped in some permanent midlife meltdown, no matter that I won’t actually feel them, I’m willing to give it a go. The first thing we do is have a conversation via video. Abigail is wonderfully warm and friendly and doesn’t look how I’d imagined. And it was not what I expected. The background is free of pink hair and tie-dye.
I tell her about the emotional turmoil I’m in, plus ongoing issues I have with lower back pain and osteoarthritis in my hands.
As Abigail is based in South-West London and I’m in Brighton, it’s hard to picture how the healing will work.
‘I will work as if you are lying on the massage couch I have here in my home,’ she says. ‘The only difference is I normally start with a foot massage and, unfortunately, you won’t get the pleasure of that.’
I hate anyone touching my feet, so I’m rather relieved.
‘Next, I tune in and prepare myself. I work by sensing the energy patterns within the body and working with the energy field.’ When it comes to the person receiving the healing, their experiences vary. Others feel calm and relaxed while some experience an emotional reaction.
Abigail says: ‘Some people feel tons of stuff happening. Some people feel pressure, waves of energy, heat, or warmth. Some people are able to see colour. People have strange memories. And sometimes people just feel relaxed.’
In my head, Abigail could be, for all I know watching Countdown and eating a sandwich during our session. My friend could text me and I could paint my nails. After chatting for about half an hour, it felt like we had built a relationship and she was passionate about her work.
When we’re ready to start, Abigail tells me that the healing session will last around 40 minutes, and afterwards she will text to say she is ready for a second video chat to talk through what she encountered. Then, she suggests I switch off my cell phone and put it on silent.
Abigail told Claudia ‘above the lumbar it feels like there’s an area of real stuckness that wasn’t allowing the energy to flow’ (file image)
But, hang on, how will I know when she’s finished and is texting me for our post-healing chat?
‘It’s strange, but nearly everyone just intuitively knows when I’ve finished,’ Abigail assures me.
Now I switch off my light, lie down on my back and wait.
My bedroom has no radiators, but I feel a warmth in my feet after a while. Am I feeling Abigail’s healing energy in London, or is it just pins and needles? The same feeling is felt in my hands. The colour I see behind my eyes is a vivid purple, and while my mid-area feels cool, I’m aware of an intense warmth at the back of my neck and on my shoulders.
I thought I’d lie there like a lump of meat and nothing would happen. It’s hard to know if it’s my mind playing tricks on me or something more spiritual is happening.
My time quickly slips by. When I glance at my watch I see that I’ve been lying down for 45 minutes, and seconds later a message pops up from Abigail saying she is finished and ready to chat.
She tells me that she found our session to be a beautiful and peaceful experience that was also very liberating for her as she was able to make sounds to help with the healing — something she doesn’t tend to do in person. She makes what I think is a simple coffee percolator, bubbling over a fire. ‘Sounds mad, doesn’t it?’ she asks. You’re right.
‘There’s something interesting happening in your back,’ she adds. ‘Above the lumbar it feels like there’s an area of real stuckness that wasn’t allowing the energy to flow, which I worked with a lot. That’s the solar plexus chakra and that has to do with identity.’
Abigail wonders if the anxiety I’ve been feeling about my work and moving away from London means that I am struggling with my identity.
Elle continues to mention that she experienced powerful emotions when it came to my arthritis hands.
Claudia (pictured) said there is something very grounding and reassuring about somebody thinking of you and trying to fix you from miles away
‘There are some acupuncture points in the hands that are very calming and all the points around there seemed very strong in you. It’s an area known as the “palace of calm”. It is home to a heart protector meridian, and it felt very powerful. I pictured you with your palms up because I was so drawn to working with those meridians.’
For my part I do feel incredibly zoned out, like I’ve woken up from the best sleep ever.
Abigail says that, although one session can’t fix everything, she doesn’t like to recommend a set number of sessions. She thought that three sessions would help, when I pushed her.
I go to bed at 10pm, unheard of for me, and sleep through until 8am, having had the best night’s rest in a long time. It’s too early to say whether the healing has helped with my anxiety, but the next day I do have an uncharacteristic sense of serenity.
Is distance healing hokum? At £70 a session (as Abigail charges), some will say it is, and that any benefit is likely to be a placebo effect. There are approximately 30,000 UK healers (women over 50 are the largest users), and there have been some very positive studies.
A two-year, multidisciplinary study was done by University of Birmingham to examine 200 people with bowel conditions. The patients received healing therapy over the course of five weeks with the majority reporting an improved sense of well-being — something they continued to feel for the next five months.
While I’d still consider myself a sceptic, there is something very grounding and reassuring about somebody thinking of you and trying to fix you from miles away.
To my surprise, remote healing didn’t feel as remotely potty as it sounds.
abigailcaller.co.uk