Louise Hay's affirmations for healing

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Louise Hay · 1976 · New York, USA

What it is

A self-help healing movement, not a psychotherapy. Louise Hay (died 30 August 2017, aged 90) came to this work through Church of Religious Science (New Thought) meetings and ministerial training in New York from 1970, then counselled clients and ran workshops. She founded the publisher Hay House…

Format

• Hay's method has no clinical phases or session protocol. Two published structures exist.
• A. You Can Heal Your Life, Part II "A Session with Louise" (chapter sequence, paraphrased from the contents): naming the problem; asking where it comes from; asking whether the underlying belief is true; deciding what to do now; meeting resistance to change; how to change; building the new; daily…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. A self-help healing movement, not a psychotherapy. Louise Hay (died 30 August 2017, aged 90) came to this work through Church of Religious Science (New Thought) meetings and ministerial training in New York from 1970, then counselled clients and ran workshops. She founded the publisher Hay House (Hay House dates it to 1987; trade press says "mid-1980s"). Hay House says You Can Heal Your Life has sold…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Consolidation. Goal: an evidence-informed self-talk practice the client chooses, plus family and grief work where needed.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• groups that discourage medical care. Working: less isolation, care continues.
• scapegoating, complicated grief. Working: blame softens and the family can cooperate.
• debt, cure promises, isolation from doctors. Working: spending and reliance match the client's own values.
• turning values into performance demands. Working: less defensiveness, steadier engagement with hard information.
• a child believing they made themselves ill. Working: medical care continues; the child is not burdened with blame.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.