Louise Hay Biography

Intro

Louise Hay is a metaphysical teacher who has been discussing the connection between the mind and the body since 1976, back when the subject was greatly uncommon. She has influenced many people with her work and in thirty years, has sold more than 50 million books around the world. Of these, her first was Heal Your Body which was later revised and expanded in year 1988. Another of her most celebrated works is You Can Heal Your Life of year 1984 which has been translated to more than 25 languages for ease of understanding in more than 33 countries.

Because of her beliefs that one can heal one's own self and with her influential lectures about how man possesses the ability of self growth, she has been regarded as "the closest thing to a living saint" in the words of Australian television. The Oprah Winfrey Show has, along with many other television and radio programs around the world, had the honor of hosting her as a guest. Louise Hay is also the founder of the Hay House as an effort to keep in continuation her teachings.

Louise Hay Life Infographic

Early life struggles

Louise did not have an easy childhood in Los Angeles. Financially intolerable circumstances at one hand, she and her mother were also subjected to physically violent treatment by her stepfather as well. Hay also narrates the story of how she was raped by a neighbor at the mere age of five. She dropped out of high school at 15 and at 16, gave birth to a baby girl who she gave up for adoption and moved on to Chicago. The city did not serve her well and she could hardly make a living for herself. Her next stop was New York in year 1950 where she became a fashion model under a new name. This yielded her success and she worked for Bill Blass, Pauline Trigere and Oleg Cassini.

Andrew Hay was an English businessman who married her in 1954 but left her emotionally shattered after fourteen years of their marriage when he took off with another woman, leaving her absolutely alone. This pattern of insecurity and maltreatment throughout her life was obviously the source of her beliefs which later gained her so much love and respect around the world.

Transitioning to new life

The works of people like Earnest Holmes and Scovel Shinn became the inspiration for Hay's epiphany about how she could change her life with the power of thought. The First Church of Religious Sciences on 48th street was where she got the life altering opportunity to study New Thought. She thus learned that she could heal herself by keeping a positive mental stadium.

She then became a practitioner of Religious Science in the early years of the 1970s. She gained appeal as a workshop leader by helping people by speaking the truth that she had discovered. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Maharishi International University of Iowa taught her Transcendental Meditation.

Louise conducted an extensive research which led her to affirm her beliefs that you could cure yourself of any illness simply by thinking positively and loving yourself. This same ideology was one she preached in all her workshops. That which had originally been a mere pamphlet then developed into a complete book called You Can Heal Your Life which, when published in 1984 amazed a great many people who then started implementing her ideas into their lives.

Beating cancer

If you believe that Hay had a tough enough life, you'd be surprised to learn that she also had to battle cervical cancer back in the late 1970s. It seems very fitting as well, considering that cancer is one of the most extreme cases of all that one can battle in life and the fact that she was actually successful in fighting it just reaffirms her beliefs about self healing and sets her as a monumental example of her own work.

She narrates that alongside therapy and nutrition and also the extensive reflexology; occasionally paired with colonic enemas, she cured herself with the power of forgiveness after refusing all medical treatments. She believed that her distress over her past life had contributed to the disease and thus the only way to eliminate it would be to cleanse herself of such. Although no doctor has been located who could be able to confirm this story, the sole evidence of its occurrence is her word.

First book - Heal Your Body

Among other similar ones, Hay authored a small pamphlet while related a number of physical illnesses to the metaphysical state of mind in her point of view. In 1976, this pamphlet transformed in her first book which got the title "Heal Your Body" and inspired many millions of people into the belief that physical illnesses could arise from mental distress and helped them acquire a more loving attitude towards life.

"Hay Rides" were a few groups of people detected with HIV and consequently AIDS whom she set about to curing by making them reflect their inner selves and then cure that which was wrong. Although at first these people were very few in number, gradually the group of people that wanted to meet her had expanded into hundreds who were gathered in West Hollywood inside a particularly large hall.

The New York Times listed You Can Heal Your Life, another one of her books, as a best seller and this title stayed on board for more than thirteen weeks after it sold more than 50 million copies around the world and also made an appearance under the 50 Best Self-Help Classics' shelf. In 1988, Louise Hay was invited to The Oprah Winfrey Show on account of the eminence she gained from the HIV stunt. Following that episode of the TV show, You Can Heal Your Life was again on the New York Times bestseller list, a phenomenal event that had never happened before.

Affirmations

Louise speaks the truth about that which she believes in. She is of the opinion that man is capable of healing and expanding his own inner self regardless of the medical world or anything else in the world for that matter. Her tragic life story has been the inspiration behind her notions and she has been trying to convince other people to follow suit of that which she has for thirty years.

She has recorded numerous audio books and has made literary publications about this idea of hers as well. She set to assisting others in self improvement by guiding them to boost their confidence and self esteem. She has remained highly passionate in her efforts to instilling these values into the minds of people.

Healing voice

Louise Hay has indeed a beautiful mind. Her wonderfully gentle and positive attitude is very obvious in all of her works. This creates a great deal of inspiration and influence on all those who come across her. Her voice is said to heal; it helps one recognize the darkness within and consequently combat it and become a better man. She exemplifies her own self and how she battled cancer with the act of forgiving herself for the resentment she held over her bitter life.

Louise is said to magically treat people of physical ailments by providing them verbal consolation with a strong convincing power. Her words seem to impart willingness inside a person and to gift them with the ability to strive for transformation for the better. This has gained her much love and respect over the years.

Hay House publishing

In 1984, the Hay House was founded. The site was a publishing firm with the objective of marketing Hay's work including both literature and audio books. Reid Tracy who is now 45 years of age is a man who joined as an accountant and four years later, became fellowship partner. Hay Foundation was established the following year as a charitable organization to provide food, shelter, counsel and hospital care to people along with help to those who suffered from AIDS.

In 1987, the Hay House became a place where Louise not only published her own work but also marketed the works of other self help authors and lecturers. Many infamous pieces of literature which include motivational speech, metaphysics, intuition, positivity and water therapy have laid basis at this site. Hay has also sponsored the works of writers on New Thought and Mind/Body/Spirit.

The Hay House has hosted some of the world's very best writers including Doreen Virtue, Dr Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Suze Orman and Sylvia Brownie. Esther Hicks successfully published the teachings of "Abraham" through this site. In 2014, The Hay House generated revenue of a hundred million dollars after selling 6.3 million products of which 8% went into profit.

Summary

Louise Hay serves as an example of one of those people who continue to suffer throughout their lives until a certain point of impact when their life takes the upward spiral. All of these people have greatly influential life stories but that of Louise has regarded her as "close to a saint".

She faced many struggles until she gained a religious experience which led her to believe that she could heal her own self. Once she affirmed this belief, she began helping people cure themselves of physical illnesses using the same methodology which she had applied onto her own self.

In establishing a relationship between the body and the mind, she wrote numerous pieces and gained much fame and popularity. She inspired millions of people and later opened The Hay House as a publishing site for all those who wanted to write about metaphysics and self improvement.

A year later, she also started The Hay Foundation as a charitable organization for all those in need of help and still lies to this day as a hierogram of hope for a great number of people struggling to make better their lives.