Healing practices perform an important function for practitioners. Physical health situations can make our lives more stressful and difficult to manage. And we often ask the Rinpoches and lamas what spiritual practices we should do when we are having health problems. Here, in a video clip from a September 2018 teaching in Gomde, Denmark, Phakchok Rinpoche shared his advice.
First, Phakchok Rinpoche reminds us that if we are sick or suffering, we should also consult a doctor. And, as most of us know, to maintain our health, we need to get proper rest, engage in regular physical exercise, and eat healthy food. But in addition, we might also want to engage in spiritual practices for healing. These include the recitation of healing mantras as well as meditation practices.
Physical health can be improved through spiritual practices, but Rinpoche underlines the fact that this very much depends upon the person. Sometimes he has witnessed dramatic improvements, but in other cases, the changes may be slight. But Rinpoche himself says that he truly believes that these practices bring benefit.
Healing Practice Using Mantra
Guru Rinpoche himself taught the following mantra which is preserved in the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel (thugs sgrub bar chad kun sel) Volume I. We find this mantra included in the heart advice from 
Guru Rinpoche, the Sheldam Nyingjang (zhal gdams snying byang),
Om nir seng yer bed
When we recite this basic healing mantra we do not need to do any special visualization. Rinpoche suggests that we chant one mala of this mantra every day. In the video clip above, Rinpoche repeats the mantra several times to teach the proper pronunciation. Moreover, he shares a personal story on the benefits of chanting this mantra.
Physical Health: Healing Visualization Practice
Phakchok Rinpoche then introduces a healing meditation practice taught. Guru Rinpoche taught several versions of this visualization practice, one in the Lam Rim Yeshe Nyingpo, The Light of Wisdom. And he taught this practice to help dispel health obstacles.
We begin by visualizing the seed syllable hūṃ, dark blue in color, as in the photo here. 
So, picture this seed syllable in our own heart center–and understand that this syllable functions like a vacuum–meaning it can “suck up” any sickness or disease in our physical body.
Next, we can imagine this powerful hūṃ traveling around inside our body from top to bottom, sucking up all the disease. Once we are convinced that it has vacuumed up all the sickness, we move the syllable to our mouth and forcefully exhale the hūṃ out into space in front of us.
Guru Rinpoche taught three different versions of this practice, but the version Phakchok Rinpoche teaches here is simple for us to follow.
Responses
Dear Samye,
I have been doing the “Path of Meditation” level One.
I am just reaching my 76th birthday and have healing issues . I am seeing a physician but would very much wish to add the healing practices presented by Phakchok Rinpoche .
I find visualizing the “Hung” to be difficult but believe it can be done. However, my son, Michael Simon, is also doing his course. He is of the opinion that the Tibetan letter needs to be reversed mentally when visualized in the heart and thus face outwards. Something like mentally generating a “mirror image.” My spiritual background is with the London School of Economic Science and our philosophical core is with the Vedic Shankaracharya tradition. We never used mental visualization and meditated with eyes closed. Our goal was to abandon the eye sense as a major distraction to enlightenment or union with the ultimate perceiving “I” -Atman.
Now I do understand this “I” can never be found although it will always appear as a reflection in a mirror.
All this said, doing the visualization may be possible with work, but I worry about trying to reverse the image as well? Also, we have a young friend in her 20s who is suffering possible retina issues that are very serious. She is under specialist care. We believe her eyes are impacted by the stress being floated and she just maybe is making her MIND not wanting to see. Can we pass these practices on? We urgently request your reply as we fear for her eyesight, given the poor level of medical treatment afforded by conventional medicine’.