Praying for the healing of others heals you by default. By sending out light and loving thoughts to people in your life, you actually heal yourself. It came to me in a meditation recently that since all things are of this one universal energy (some people calls it God, some people calls it a kaiser blade…) and we are this energy in human form, then you heal yourself by healing with prayer, those that have appeared in your life. It’s the director metaphor again. Each of our individual realities is the projection of our own souls.
Five Sutras of the Aquarian Age – From Yogi Bhajan
1. Understand through compassion, otherwise, you will misunderstand the times.
2. Recognize the other person is you.
3. When the time is on you, start and the pressure will be off.
4. There is a way through every block.
5. Vibrate the cosmos and the cosmos shall clear the path.
You can look at your life as one big play or moreso a film and you’re the writer-director, the author. 
The people that appear in your life are all players there for your experience. So the number one thing is to remember that you’re the director and you can cast, or cut anyone or anything in this production. You can change the stage or the picture at any time. Then after that’s established with confidence and not the ego, then you can rest in your heart and appreciate the players in your life unconditionally and with love, which is a prayer in and of itself. However, if you actually consciously pray for those in your life you are by default lifting yourself up to that level of healing because all those in your life are essentially a mirror image, or a projection of you in disguise.
In another way it’s the law of attraction. Like attracts like. If you’re broadcasting healing, loving thoughts and wishing the best on everyone– even your enemies, then that same good stuff will be attracted into your life.