Louise Hay is one of the founders of the
self-help movement in the United States. Her book, Heal Your Body, published in 1976, discussed the connection between the mind and the body, and the power of the mind to heal the body. The book became a bestseller and was revised and republished in the 1980’s. It has been translated into twenty-five languages and became popular worldwide.
Louise Hay had a rough childhood, filled with poverty, neglect and abuse. In her teens, she ran away from home and went to New York City. She became a model and married a successful businessman, but after fourteen years of marriage they divorced.
In 1970, Louise started attending lectures at The Church of Religious Science in New York City, where she soon began training to be a minister. As a speaker at the church, she gained instant popularity and began counseling parishioners on ways to better their lives. She created a reference guide of mental problems that cause physical ailments and developed a system of positive thought patterns for reversing illness and increasing the chance for good health. She incorporated her ideas about healing techniques and her positive life philosophy into a book, Heal Your Body, and toured the United States giving lectures on her method.
During the 1980s, she was diagnosed with
cancer. Instead of opting for surgery or pharmaceutical drugs, she focused on affirmations, visualization, psychotherapy and nutritional therapy to fight the cancer. Within six months, she was cancer free.
Louise currently heads the Hays House publishing company, which primarily publishes works on
healing,
alternative medicine and self-help. She also heads The Hay’s Foundation and the Louise L. Hays Charitable Fund, two non-profit organizations that support AIDS research and help battered women and other people in need.
