The 5 Levels of Healing is a systematic model of healing developed by Dietrich Klinghardt ("k-ling-hart") in the 1980s. Klinghardt noticed a worrying overemphasis and over-reliance on the value of nutrition, most specifically of nutritional supplements. He identified 5 levels of importance that support all levels of a person's existence; a way we can shift how we move through the world on a deep level in order to manage, or possibly even recover from chronic illness. Let's take a look...
The 5 Levels
1. The Physical Body
The lowest, or more accurately, the densest level. Klinghardt notes that it is not at the bottom because it is less valuable. Instead, the physical body is the foundation upon which everything else rests. The physical body is what we perceive with our 5 senses, it ends at the skin. Much of what we see discussed in the media and in politics regarding health is in respect to the physical level, and as such, there is much ongoing discussion as of how to approach the 1st level.
Here are some examples of how to establish a healthy foundation:
- Nutritional therapy
- Movement and physical exercise
- Nutritional supplements
2. The Energy Body
This level is defined by Klinghardt as the result of all electric and magnetic events caused by the neuronal activity of the nervous system. In short - our autonomic nervous system (the part of the nervous system that regulates involuntary processes like heart rate, breathing, and digestion) creates a magnetic field around us. It is also thought that memory can possibly be stored here in level 2.
Here are some examples of how to maintain energetic hygiene:
- Qigong - This practice is described as a moving meditation, coordinating slow-flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a calm meditative state of mind.
- Spend time in nature
- Cleaning up "electro-smog" in your home: switch off any electrics in your bedroom and no TV or computer work at night. Keep bedroom as dark and quiet as possible.
3. The Mental Body
This level is formed of our beliefs (including limiting beliefs), attitudes and thoughts. We each have our own individual mental fields, but there also exists a consensus field known as consensus reality (referring to the agreed-upon concepts of reality which people in the world believe and treat as real). We are all surrounded by our own mental field, which in turn interrelates with the field of our human species.
Klinghardt explains that every emotion (2nd level) is preceded by a perception and a thought or chain of thoughts. Thoughts trigger emotions and other energy body changes, which in turn trigger change in the physical body. Can you see how they start to interrelate?
For example, if we have a diagnosed illness, the diagnosis acts like a curse: we may subconsciously start to think, act and feel as "a person with such illness". In medicine this is called the “nocebo” effect. It is important therefore to consider how we may choose to disconnect from the mental consensus field of an illness.
Finally, our mental field can have wounds just like the physical body. A mental field can be healthy and can be sick. Klinghardt suggests that these illnesses require different kinds of interventions then illnesses on the physical level. Working with this levels involves supporting trauma, and understanding limiting beliefs and replacing with liberating beliefs.
Ideas of how to support the mental body:
- Compassionate Inquiry
- Mindfulness and Self-Compassion
- Biofeedback guided counselling (PsychoKinesiology)
4. The Intuitive Body
This level is beyond the mind and beyond language. It comprises things such as past-lives, archetypes, and the expression of unresolved trans-generational family issues. Klinghardt calls this level the “dream body or intuitive body”.
Here are some examples of how to support the intuitive body:
- Family Systems Therapy
- Compassionate Inquiry
- Mindfulness and Compassion
- Vibrational therapies and movement medicine
5. Spirit Level
This is the level of self-healing. Spirit level is concerned with your own personal journey and is not a level that any practitioner can intervene in. It involves awakening the spirit within us - a part of us that wants to learn and experience the physical world through growing and developing.
How to support the 5th level:
- Any exploration of this level is left to you.
To Conclude
Klinghardt summarises that healing supports created with a practitioner on a higher level can penetrate downwards, but not upwards. For example Vitamin C (level 1) cannot change a post traumatic stress disorder (level 3). A healing intervention must therefore be either on the level where the illness was created or on one of the levels above.
Each level can have blockages which prevent healing impulses from the higher levels to reach the physical world. Each phenomenon that we observe in the physical realm seems to also occur simultaneously on the other 4 levels.
In fact, the physical body is designed like a computer screen that makes visible and tangible that which happens in the new spirit (the 5th level). However, you can have problems in the higher levels, which have not yet penetrated down to the lower levels. This is why preventative care is an important tool to understand early warning signs before symptoms occur on the 1st level.
When I came to understand The 5 Levels of Healing, I also understood that it was imperative to educate myself with tools across higher levels if I really wanted to help support my client's transformation.
Here's an excerpt of what my client Emma says about my approach:
"My health; physical, emotional and mental has benefitted beyond words as has that of my relationships and my family. It’s been a transformational process."
In my clinic I offer Nutritional Therapy to help support your foundation, but I also offer Compassionate Inquiry and Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Training within this service to help achieve long-lasting transformation, as well as in-person body and energy work with Womb & Fertility Massage Therapy, to support the higher levels of healing.
Next Steps
Hi I'm Molly, I'm a UK-based Nutritional Therapist (DipION, mBANT, CNHC) and Self-Compassion Coach (MSc) serving my community in Harpenden and online. Here in my little online home, you'll discover the benefits of nutritional therapy and complementary therapies for autoimmune disease and chronic illness.
Want to understand more about nutrition for autoimmune diseases? Download my free recipe book and discover 12 Nutritionist-Certified Recipes to Help Alleviate the Symptoms of Autoimmunity & Chronic Illness.
If you’re ready to take the next step and get back to feeling amazing again, please book a FREE 1:1 call, in which I’d love to talk to you about your individual diet and lifestyle, share with you some personalised advice, and answer any questions you might have.
#autoimmunity #autoimmunehealth #autoimmunenutrition #autoimmunedisease #functionalmedicine #nutritionaltherapy #nutritionaltherapyharpenden #nutritionaltherapist #nutritionaltherapistharpenden #healthylifestyle #harpendennutritionist #harpendennutritionaltherapist #harpendennutrition #compassionateinquiry #klinghardt #klinghardt5levelsofhealing #klinghardt5levels