I hesitated for years before writing this book.
Not because I doubted the value of what I had learned, but because I questioned whether such a deeply experiential way of helping could ever be explained in words.
Whether we are therapists, coaches, ministers, body workers, Pathwork Helpers, or simply people committed to our own inner growth, we eventually discover the same truth: understanding ourselves is not the same as transforming ourselves. At some point, we begin asking a deeper question:
How does genuine healing actually happen?
And if we begin to understand that process, how can we help others heal themselves?
In my training to become a Helper, I was largely taught experientially. Friends, there is no better way to learn than that.
This book is not intended to train Helpers. Rather, it explains the principles behind a remarkable approach to inner healing.
I wish I had understood the whole process of self-transformation better when I was learning to become a Helper. I even wish I had understood the process better when I was new to this kind of self-development work.
Despite my hesitation, that’s why I finally felt called to write this book.
In my Helpership training, I was largely taught experientially. This means we did our own work and then the teacher broke it down to discover exactly how we had been helped. We could then see what tools and techniques had been so effective in guiding us gently into our work.
Friends, there is no better way to learn than that. But afterward, the reasoning mind has some work to do to piece together the framework that guides good helping.
What are the steps? What are the things to avoid? What are the most effective approaches to use with each type of Worker?
This book assumes some familiarity with the ideas presented in the earlier books.
While this book can be read on its own, it builds on ideas introduced in Spilling the Script: A Concise Guide to Self-Knowing and Bones: A Building-Block Collection of 19 Fundamental Spiritual Teachings. Readers familiar with those books will recognize many of the concepts explored here.
This book, then, is a quilt, of sorts, created by stitching together what I was taught with what I have since discovered in my own work as a Helper.
Every quilt is made from an assembly of smaller pieces. Each piece has its own color and texture. Yet only when they are stitched together does the larger pattern emerge.
It offers warmth and protection, along with comfort and beauty. It reflects both craft and careful attention.
This book has come together in a similar way.
No book can replace the wisdom that comes from doing this work, nor the guidance of an experienced Helper. This book is also not intended as a substitute for mental-health treatment, nor is Pathwork Helpership a replacement for psychotherapy.
My hope is simply that these pages help illuminate the path a little more clearly—for those who walk it themselves and for those who are called to walk beside others.
– Jill Loree, Pathwork Helper since 2011
Return to Healing the Hurt Contents
