Jaentra Green Gardener
Founder
Instructor and Supervisor of Co-Healers
St. Paul, Minnesota
651-222-4940
Jaentra's Story
In March of 1977, I was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis, an event
that changed my life like no other. I was numb from the neck down on
the left side of my body and I lost bladder control. Later, almost all
of my ligaments became loose, and I gained weight very quickly. The
ligaments being loose meant I lost teeth, and sprained my joints often.
Right away the doctor said, “Your disease will make you less and
less functional. You will lose ability to walk or to take care of yourself."
He had no solutions. No options. "I have nothing to offer you."
I never saw that doctor again. I knew he could do nothing for me. He
offered no hope. Before that, my main focus was pleasing others and
being as perfect as I could. Because of the death warrant I received,
I walked around in grief and depression for six weeks; then I decided
to do anything I could to heal even if I was not perfect.
I started a new job, and learned new therapeutic approaches to people.
I will do an experiment, I thought. On myself. I need to change. My
life depends on it. What if I imagine my body is trying to tell me something
is desperately wrong with the way I lived my life, looked at it, and
experienced my life? Then, I need to change. I will see if I can move
my symptoms from the physical level to the mental or emotional level.
Maybe I can take apart what is wrong without serious damage to my physical
body. If I change the emotions and beliefs that shape me, I hope that
changes the physical body I am. What if I can heal myself by my willingness
to face the disaster my illness creates in my life? I will try.
I discovered my body held within her all the memories of anything that
ever happened to me. Through the symptoms of my illness, these memories
were trying to surface. I did many therapies and kinds of bodywork.
Within each, I focused on what message my body tried to tell. And I
changed those messages by learning new ideas and beliefs.
Few people supported my experiment, or even understood. They thought,
“She’s sick. She doesn’t want to be. I don’t want
to have anything to do with these harebrained ideas.” My husband
divorced me. My family never understood me. I was alone.
Back then, alternative health options were not popular. Maybe they still
are not, but at least now more people know about them.
I tried everything. I did the “leave no stone unturned” approach
to bodywork and holistic health. Over 20 years I spent about $80,000
on my physical, emotional, and mental health. I learned from the best
professionals, and I experienced many mistakes and disappointments along
the way.
I do not have M.S. any more. No symptoms of any kind. Touch, interaction,
and caring healed me. Not just the professionals I paid, but I also
developed a loyal group of friends that few people can imagine. My friends,
my chosen family, helped me more than anyone I ever paid. The Creators
healed me and made me learn in the process. I learned from every skilled
healer and body worker I could, about how bodies change and grow, by
watching my body change and grow.
Three Heart Balancing™ is a combination of many of the approaches
I learned. It is faster. Best of all the person being healed does NOT
have to remember the memories of traumas in their life before they heal
of their physical symptoms.
I Believe:
Miracles are a participation by God in the healing interactions that
we share as people. Miracles are a deep experience of God's love. Not
all miracles occur through touch, although most of them do. The public
obsession with angels now is an acknowledgment and thirst for miracles.
We know miracles exist and we want to experience them.
I have participated in many miracles, most of them occurring within
the context of touch. In my life I received more good touch than bad
touch. And I made all the good touch more significant than the bad.
I had one goal in mind: to heal myself. I want to develop my potential
to the fullest possibility, and I will let nothing interfere with me.
Safe touch does exist and I will give many examples in which giving
and receiving touch is not only good, but allows the opportunity for
a miracle to occur. I called my book A Healers Voice because I believe
people who practice good touch need an opportunity to explain how touch
works. I want to give people hope that through touch their lives can
change for the better.
Positive touch is a connection between individuals that promotes deep
empathy. Empathy means another human being understands and shares my
pain and accepts my experience of life. Add warmth to empathy and a
person feels loved. Love is the catalyst, the force, that creates miracles.
Loving touch is so powerful that even when a person doesn’t intend
a miracle to happen, miracles do happen. I know miracles happen through
touch; I’ve experienced miracles over and over when I touch people
and when other skilled people touch me.
In my personal journey to live a healthier life, I felt the touch of
many caring professionals: therapists, healers, chiropractors, and body
workers. These people helped me change my body, full of disease, despair,
rage, fear, and hatred, to a body capable of enjoying life.
As a professional in the healing arts myself, I touch others. I hug,
massage, rock, hold, and comfort. In my hands pain is eased, heartaches
erased, and mobility restored. I love my work.
I am not so naive to say that most touching is good and safe. For sound
reasons most professionals in our society avoid touching the people
they serve. Lawsuits abound where well-meaning teachers, clergy, or
caseworkers’ touch is misunderstood and misinterpreted. People
claim to be violated in order to get money. Lies are told. I am acknowledging
the serious problems and challenges awaiting any professional who touches
people.
In my life I have experienced my share of “bad” touch. I’ve
been almost raped, violated, and beaten up by both family and friends.
I laid in an acupuncturist office over an hour with needles stuck all
over my body, when the average treatment is twenty minutes. I have been
told by a doctor I trusted that I was possessed by demons. In a reparenting
family I joined, the “new” parents lied and betrayed me. I
could have sued any of these people. I have been wronged, yet I don’t
know anyone who has not been wronged by someone.
Touching is not safe on either side in the workplace: giving or receiving.
Offenses, some highly publicized, occur by professionals abusing the
trust of people. Scout leaders, clergy, psychiatrists, and many others
take sexual advantage of people dependent on them. Professionals, using
their power position to gain sexual favors, or advantages, are perpetrators
of betrayal that make their clients more wounded than before the clients
came to see them. A person allowing a professional to touch them opens
the door for personal damage and hurt. I judge harshly any professional
who abuses this power.
While I acknowledge the dangers involved in touching others or allowing
oneself to be touched, I also believe that touch is an important and
necessary means to become healthier
I believe touch creates the possibility and the opportunity for miracles
to occur. If I trust another person to help me ease the pains in my
body, their healing touch can bring peace for both of us. So I am not
defending touch or advocating touch. It’s your personal decision
whether to participate with a professional who touches or not. The problems
I outlined above exist. I suggest you consider it. Even though I’ve
been betrayed, touch has worked for me. Touch healed me of the betrayals
I experienced and helped me go on to be happier than I imagined.
I will tell you stories about people who touched me and made a big positive
difference in my life. I will also tell you about people I have touched.
These stories are heartwarming, true, and, perhaps, impossible to believe.
I am proud to share them. The decision to give or receive touch is a
decision to participate in life. I choose to participate fully.
To find out information about Jaentra's book, click here.
Click here to see the stained glass windows that Jaentra has made on healing.