Watson's conceptual model of a caring-healing transpersonal understanding of nursing was used to underpin a hermeneutic phenomenological study of the extraordinary and transformational experiences of nurse healers. The 5 essential themes uncovered from the analysis of interviews with 11 nurse healers--Belonging & Connecting, Opening to Spirit, Summoning, Wounding & Healing Journey, and Living as a Healer--are set out, along with the overarching theme "Walking Two Worlds." Foundational understandings of Watson's model as they relate to the findings, and theoretical aspects, are discussed, and potential contributions of this study to the ongoing evolution of Watson's conceptual model are articulated.

This article reports on a hermeneutic phenomenological investigation of the transformational and extraordinary experiences, or sacred journeys, of 11 nurse healers. The study was guided by Watson's conceptual model. An overarching theme, "walking two worlds," was identified, along with five essential themes: belonging and connecting, opening to spirit, summoning, wounding and healing journey, and living as a healer. The importance of these phenomenologically uncovered holistic understandings to the teaching, practice, administration, knowledge development, and theoretical evolvement of nursing is argued.

Stories of healing gathered during a recent interpretive research study into the lived experience of nurse healers are revealed in this article to give health professionals strong pictures of how nurse healers experience being "channels for" healing. The philosophical precepts underpinning interpretive science are outlined to support the use of storytelling as a valid and compelling research method in health care practices. It is therefore asserted that nurse healers' stories can offer inspiration to nurses and other health professionals who may be wishing to expand into the healing realms of caring practice. Further, the authors believe nurse healers can also contribute to an accepting climate in the profession where they may openly celebrate their stories.