Testimonials - ihaofutah

Testimonials

Below are the experiences of a few of our students or their family members. The book The Bright Red Bow contains many more

stories from those who have attended our school or experienced emotional processing. We are grateful to those who have been willing to share their stories so others might hear how processing can change lives.

I’m so excited to share my journey to forgiveness, hope, and healing! I love the process. It has changed my life!

I suffered for years with clinical depression and sought out help through traditional therapy. Whenever I would go in for a session, it would take at least 30 of the 50 minutes I had just to get to the emotions underneath the problem. A lot of times the sessions would focus on the not-so-great conditions of my childhood. Then the therapist would offer a few words of encouragement and schedule a session for the next week.

Frustrated, I would exit the building in tears, feeling as if I had just gone through the experiences and the emotions all over again. In the few minutes I had before I was to be back at work or home, I managed to get it together so my children wouldn’t worry and my job wouldn’t be affected. I was left hanging. That’s the way I looked at it.

The process is so different. We do talk about the stuff that contributes to our ongoing everyday challenges. But when we talk about these experiences, we release the underlying emotions connected to them. We learn what we did to avoid the pain so we could continue to function. Usually these are not the options we want to continue to live with. We look for the truth in the situation; maybe we just had a perception of something that wasn’t really the reality of it at all. However, until we let our inner child hear “the truth,” we are sure to continue the pattern.

I come with experience and insight from both sides. I can tell you I felt an immediate release and enlightenment the instant the process was complete. It will change your life.

—Candy

Processing has opened a door to possibilities I never thought could happen in this lifetime. Previously I lived in a state where I never felt good about myself and always felt unsatisfied with my life. I struggled with a severe eating disorder, depression, self-harm, alcohol and drug addictions and was haunted by childhood memories of abuse. I constantly planned to “live” in the future, keeping myself busy, but missing out on the greatest gift: the present. I believed that life was hard and you just had to push through it. No matter what I tried, I was never good enough for work, peers, friends, and (most importantly) myself.

Because of processing, I have now broken these negative patterns and beliefs that I thought would never leave me. I don’t struggle anymore with harmful addictions or an eating disorder. I live a different life, better than I ever thought possible, and I will never go back to the life I had before. I now live in a world full of all my wildest dreams! My life is not stagnant, hopeless, or dying. It is full of growth, change, and so much energy! Life has new meaning for me, and it is full of hope and light. Processing is the start of the path of getting in touch with your true authentic self. It opens the door for those willing to dig deep into their soul. I will be forever grateful for finding it.

—Alexis

The process has opened me up to a greater awareness of my true self and my real feelings and thoughts. I have noticed more and more that my feelings are valid. To process emotions in a healthy, aware way opens me up to an increased feeling of control and personal power. I am able to share and receive love easier and trust in the flow of life. I am less afraid of the unknown, and I witness greater harmony and coincidence coming together on my path for my good and others. Clearing old emotional confusion and exercising positive emotional health has also served to increase my intuitive senses and talents.

In this chaotic changing world, it is wonderful to be able to tap into an internal harmony and witness its influence in my life experience.

—Jennifer

I was given a copy of The Bright Red Bow by an acquaintance who knew—better than I—that I needed to learn and experience the emotional healing described in the book. While reading it, I found myself crying unexpectedly as I read how one woman found a healing path for her emotional aches and pains. I wondered at the time if something was wrong with me, and only later realized that the crying was a signal instead that something was right with me—I was beginning to open my heart to a fuller way of doing life. I continued, took a risk, stepped out of my comfort zone, and opened the package wrapped up in The Bright Red Bow. In the process, I found my own gifts and have been grateful ever since for my friend reaching out to me.

—Andy

Before attending the Institute of Healing Arts, I was in the elementary education (EL ED) program at a local university. I had a really hard time focusing in class and always felt like the dumb one with all of these other straight A students. I felt my self-esteem go lower and lower each day I attended class. Then, after a year and a half of having the impression that I needed to attend the Institute of Healing Arts, I finally listened and took a year off from EL ED. Now I am back in the EL ED program and can hardly believe the difference. No longer am I constantly disconnecting and falling asleep in class, and no longer do I feel like the dumb one. I have learned and progressed more in one semester than I did previously in all four years at the university. I feel like a different person! My mind is clear and I can now see myself meeting my goals. Even one of my professors has told me there is a huge difference in my performance in her English classes. I might even have straight A's this semester! I went from wanting to give up totally to feeling the greatest joy in my achievements and progress. This is but one of my many transformations—thanks to the Institute of Healing Arts and the miracle of processing!

—Kellie

I’ve been processing over the past few months about a few issues. I needed to heal after a relationship that had broken my heart. What would have taken I believe a full year to recover from only took six months, after only four processes. I now feel full peace about that relationship. There is no bitterness in my heart, and I can say that I wish him all the joy in the world. I couldn’t have reached this kind of forgiveness on my own.

In the last month I’ve been taking a different approach in my relationships. I’m asking for what I want. I feel more powerful; I believe for the first time that I can have my needs met, and I’m excited to see what that might look like. I never really knew how closed I’ve always been. Fear has been something I’ve clung to. But my facilitator has helped me see that I can trust, and breathe, and know that perhaps it doesn’t take that much work to get my needs met after all. I’m certain that this is the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

I noticed quite a few differences in myself. I previously had social anxiety, but by the end of the course, it had almost disappeared. I really haven’t struggled with any kind of clinical anxiety since. I believe it is because I let go of so many limiting and stressful beliefs. I feel lighter. And have more energy to put towards positive pursuits.

I’m not sure if it is due to the type of people the Institute attracts or if it is the environment that creates it, but it is one of the most accepting places I’ve ever associated with. I think it is because processing asks that we all be honest. More than just refraining from telling lies, we’re asked to really go down deep and confront the demons we’ve been running from our entire lives. For me, processing has been a mirror reflecting back my darkest, but also brightest moments. I confront, every time, the best and worst of myself.

But perhaps the most rewarding part of processing is the new perspective it brings. I’m no longer afraid that things that have been broken can’t be mended. I believe I can and will mend. It is a concept I learned in church but didn’t understand emotionally until I began to process. Mostly, I’m learning how beautiful life can be—and how to embrace it. I’m letting love in. And that is something to celebrate.

—Keri

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