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Energy work is often used to describe
alternative healing modalities that are based on beliefs that health depends
on energy fields that can be affected by the thoughts or actions of
other people.
Author's Note: this article will include
a brief overview of some popular forms of energy work.
No sacred cows are barbecued in this article.
Energy Work
I am sometimes asked what energies
I use to supplement and support the rapid, powerful results that I enjoy in
my coaching. People sometimes say that they feel or see an
energy flow between me and the people I coach. Yesterday, those same questions
motivated me to start writing this article.
I believe that I know what this
energy flow is, but when I try to describe it, I feel a bit lost. So, to
write about my energy work, I need to first write about what other people say
that they do, as background. If the following seems basic to you, please relax,
many people have no idea what the words chakra, Reiki or
orgone imply. Many people have never heard of Bioenergy or Shiatsu.
What is Energy Work?
Depression, fatigue, anxiety or unhappiness are common
reactions to relationship issues. Many people who feel depressed, fatigued,
anxious or unhappy seek inner peace, without medication or drugs. Then,
balancing body energies may seem like an excellent idea!
Energy work certainly seems easier than analyzing and changing
complex relationships. And someone else will do it for you? All you have to do is
relax and breathe deeply? How wonderful!
Many energy work practitioners say that balancing body energies
can empower people to harmonize their minds, bodies and souls. It takes time to
wade through all the
descriptions, but most energy work practitioners claim to help people stimulate,
release, clear or unblock body energies. (Some people may offer
to fluff your aura, while others, predictably, advise against this).
Descriptions of energies that
can affect the human body can be found in older medical and spiritual systems.
Such energies have been called prana in India, mana in
Hawaii, qi in China, ki in Japan, orgone
in Germany and animal magnetism in Britain and America.
Common Forms of Energy Work
The first step in each modality is that a practitioner become calm.
It is usually required that a receiver believe that the modality is effective.
The desired goal of energy work is usually a sense of wellbeing.
Acupuncture was developed in ancient China. Practitioners
may say that everything is governed by the energies of water, wood, fire, earth and
metal, and that they can affect the flow of body energy by inserting
needles into the skin to balance the flow of a universal energy called Qi.
Animal magnetism need not mean sex appeal! The
term referred to the application of a universal magnetic fluid that
practitioners (mesmerists) could control. Research into
animal magnetism was fundamental to the origins of clinical hypnosis and
psychotherapy.
Bioenergy practitioners seek to unblock body energies
restricted by suppressed emotions, which manifest as tension, pain and illness.
Bioenergy practitioners may use psychotherapy, exercises and breathing to allow a
universal energy called orgone to flow through a body.
Christian healing practitioners may say that
some special people can ask a universal Holy Spirit to enter other
people's bodies to promote transformation, forgiveness and health ... if those
other people believe or have enough faith that this is possible.
Ho'omanamana is Hawaiian for making great energy.
Practitioners may say that they use the elements of nature, generated by breathing or
given by an aumakua (ancestral spirit) to replace or balance human
mana (life energy), and to kick out malignant energies left by other people.
Polarity therapy practitioners may say that nature
has positive and negative energies that must be in balance to prevent illness.
Practitioners claim to balance human energy fields to restore the mind and body,
using massage, dietary and nutritional counseling, yoga and positive thinking.
Prana is a Sanskrit word meaning invisible
vital energy. Practitioners may say that they can use prana to
balance, harmonize and transform body energies, to accelerate healing by
increasing the life force or vital energy on the affected part of the body.
Reflexology practitioners apply pressure to the
foot, holding that the foot represents a microcosm of the body and that parts
of the foot correspond to
other body parts. By pressing on certain parts, practitioners may claim to help
alleviate body problems by clearing congested energies.
Reiki is Japanese for universal energy and
uses touch and visualization to access a universal energy that can restore health.
Practitioners may claim to transfer this universal energy by placing their hands
on chakras, and body organs, to balance the energies of the mind, body
and spirit.
Shiatsu means finger pressure and
includes a massage rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. Shiatsu appears
to follow the principles of acupuncture, replacing needles with finger pressure
(acupressure).
Therapeutic touch practitioners may say that they can
affect body health by intuitively assessing a person's energy field, clearing it,
and transferring their own energy to the person by holding their hands close to the
person's body.
Witchcraft healing practitioners may say that
everything has auras in which adepts can see illness as cloudy or discolored
areas which they can use to diagnose illness, and then transfer a universal
light to those areas, often with the aid of gems, incense, candles or
magical items.
How many universal energies are there? I
asked many practitioners about their methods ... and about the methods of
their competition. These examples indicate that many people believe that
they can manipulate energy to ease emotional distress and promote health
and wellbeing.
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Energy Work and Happiness
Happiness is a profound and lasting experience
of well-being that can survive and even grow during difficult times. For me,
happiness includes sharing high values and life purpose with people we love.
Yet if I claim that I love a person, I
walk on thin ice. The word love has so many meanings and implications.
Important questions arise ... Am I truthful? What type of love am I
talking about? How do I want to express my love? and
What do I expect you to do with this?
To love someone is, I feel, different to falling in love. (Our brain chemistry seems to change when
we fall in love - which can have similar effects to psychoactive drugs
and other emotional disturbances).
I feel emotionally whole when I care about the happiness of other people;
especially when I have evidence that those people care about
me. If I encourage someone's happiness and accept their life path, we
may both feel connected, and perhaps included, in each other's lives.
Yet love is often used to describe unhealthy behavior.
When I coach unhappy couples, I may ask, "Why do you want to stay
together?" Often their answers are, "because I love him/her.
" If I delve deeper, I may find darker answers ... fear
of being alone, fear of not supporting oneself, fear of never again enjoying
sex, fear of not finding another partner, also anger, sadness and guilt.
People who feel unloved, unlovable or incapable of loving, may
try to distract themselves from unpleasant emotions with television, alcohol, sex,
toys, food or gambling. In the absence of love-that-connects, they may instead seek
people or things that can distract them from lives that lack sense.
And then, with that sad background, peaceful energy work
from a calm practitioner makes sense. The energy work that I experienced usually
involved gentle words, deep breathing and a soft touch, in a room of pastel
colors with scented candles or incense, and herb tea. I felt better ... so it worked ... didn't it?
Love as Energy Work
For me, real love can be active or passive, and is
always appropriate to the relationship. Some adults are confused between love for
parents and love for partners. Some therapists are confused between unconditional
acceptance and romantic affairs. Some parents are confused between loving
children and pets. For some people, "I love you" seems to
mean "I want access to your resources".
For me, active love is encouragement ... but I can only
encourage people with integrity if I know and support their values and goals, or
else I risk playing word games. For me, passive love is acceptance ...
but I can only accept people with integrity if I know their past and present
circumstances, or else I risk fooling myself. And I am quite careful to
clarify relationship types. A client is not a close friend, not a child, not a potential
lover ... and so on.
It seems that people primarily communicate their love, or lack of
it, non-verbally. Body language - posture, gestures, congruence, voice tone and tempo
- can be louder than words. Most people perceive body language unconsciously -
although they may consciously feel the effects in their bodies. Then men
may talk about their gut feelings, and women about their female intuitions.
Then they may ask me, What energies are you sending?
and How can I do that too?
And so, my most profound energy work is probably
my intention to fully accept and enthusiastically encourage people who
have goals that I can heartfully support. Then my work makes sense!
Click HERE to make an appointment!
Love can succeed if it is built on a foundation
of shared values and shared sense of life.
Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Martyn Carruthers 2009-2010 All rights reserved. |
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