Interview with Hilary Cooper

Tonight we are posting a great interview with kinesiologist and intuitive healer Hilary Cooper.  As well as being at the shows, she offers treatments, well being events and is an awesome blogger.  As always we want to say a big thank you to Hilary for taking the time to answer our questions.  She can be found online at www.simplyh.co.uk

To start with can you tell us a little bit about yourself.


Like a lot of people, I started out doing something completely different: I’ve been an English teacher for 20 years, but I always felt I was looking for something more – a deeper sense of purpose and fulfilment, perhaps. Then, a few years ago, I met a friend of a friend at a party, and she ended up treating me there and then! I had a huge reaction, and went home feeling fantastic. When I walked in the front door, my husband said, ‘What happened to you? You look different.’
Soon after, I started training doing a Touch for Health (Applied Kinesiology) course, and I’ve just kept on following my nose, taking courses and gaining experience as my journey has unfolded. They say, the more you learn, the more you realise how much you don’t know. That’s definitely true!


Tell us a bit more about kinesiology – is it more than muscle testing?


To be honest, muscle testing is just a tangible way of tapping into a person’s deeper consciousness. Our conscious minds really like to be in control, and sometimes they tell us stories that aren’t strictly true, which stops us getting to the bottom of the problem.
I am convinced that the body is our barometer of truth. We might think one particular thing is the issue, but sometimes our body can tell us a deeper truth - something our conscious mind doesn’t yet know. Muscle testing is one way that the body can lead us into a deeper understanding of the causes of our pain.
No two sessions are ever the same and I never know for sure what will happen until we get started. Sometimes I do a lot of physical work, rubbing points, rebalancing muscles. Other times I work in a more intuitive way, perhaps working with energy. I am always guided by what the client’s body wants; I really try not to impose my own ideas. In the deepest level of our being, each of us knows what we really need to get well, we just can’t always tune in to that information. That’s where I come in.


What’s involved in one of your Wellbeing events?


As women, we give so much: to our partners, our families, our work, and sometimes it’s hard to find time to nurture ourselves.
My friend and I just kept meeting all theses lovely women who were saying exactly that. We thought, “Why not create space for like-minded women to connect and spend a day boosting our own health and happiness?”
We focus on different things, from relaxation, to dealing with anxiety, to the power of laughter, but our aim is always to provide busy, selfless women with a bit of deep ‘soul-pampering’.


Which writer or thinker has influenced you the most?


Just one?? That’s a challenge!
The one writer who had the most obvious impact on me is John Barnes (the myofascial release expert, rather than the footballer!) His book Healing Ancient Wounds: The Renegade’s Wisdom’ utterly convinced me that our bodies store trauma, pain and stress which has to be released on a bodily level for us to heal. We can’t just ‘think ourselves better’.


What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given.


There are two, I’m afraid!
i. “You’re just one messed up human being trying to help another messed up human being feel a little better.” (A paraphrase of Eugene Gendlin) I tell myself that daily, because it’s all too easy to feel like you’re supposed to be all sorted if you want to help someone else.
ii. “Stay in your body!” I’ve learnt through bitter experience that healing will not work if we deal with our pain by escaping off into the universe. Being human means we are intended to embody all our spiritual truth and power here, in this flesh and blood body. That’s how we become agents for real change- even though it hurts more!


Six desert island books or films:


The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle: I’d need to remind myself to revel in what is, rather than regrets and what-might-have-beens.
Hands of Light, by Barbara Brennan: I might manage to absorb all that powerful wisdom and emerge a fully-fledged healer if I ever got off the island.
Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene (and the film): I love Maggie Smith’s portrayal of the ageing woman of the world who grabs life with both hands.
Life is Beautiful: a film that makes me laugh and cry, and reminds me that there can be light in the middle of the bleakest darkness.
My Anatomy and Physiology text book: If I was on a desert island I might find it easier to knuckle down to some serious study for my exam in the spring!