Energy healing has been around, in many forms throughout all of history and through many different cultures and is slowly but surely moving into the mainstream in western societies and cultures.
I feel this is partly due to two factors.
One being that yoga and meditation have become popularised in western society especially in the last 20 years or so since neuroscientists, doctors, medical research and more advanced technologies have been able to verify and prove the results and benefits – and in the western world, we place a lot of trust and power in what people in white coats have to say.
Prior to this new acceptance and appreciation of these practices, one who practiced yoga was considered “hippy dippy” or into that “woo woo stuff”.
So, with the validation of people in white coats, together with direct experience showing us it simply makes us feel good, many more people are adopting these practices which were fundamental to ancient health, healing & wellbeing philosophies and practices that have been advocated for by many sages, practitioners and teachers throughout history.
One thing that yoga & meditation does, is it helps someone get in touch with and process their emotions. It helps them achieve metacognition and even become aware of their subtle energy systems such as the chakra system. It also facilitates mystical experiences that are inexplicable by a materialist world view.
And as people become more sensitive to these subtle energy systems, energy healing and rebalancing becomes more relevant and appreciated by westerners.
The other contributing factor for energy healing moving into the mainstream, is that people are becoming more open with friends, family and their broader communities (sometimes even global communities, via YouTube and other alternative media and communication technologies) with sharing their experiences, their feelings, traumas and how they survived them and supporting one another more openly.
In our history (and even still to this day, to some extent) there was an undertone of judgement or shame against one who would display emotion and the attitude was “don’t show any weakness” and “just get on with it”. A lot of sweeping under the rug was taking place. Now, we seem to be spring cleaning our emotional selves of unwanted dust bunnies lurking under the metaphoric rug.
Nowadays, people are acknowledging and owning the fact that we humans are emotional creatures and to show emotion is indeed not a sign of weakness. To suppress it leads to illness and dis-ease in the individual person as well as in the society.
Although, when someone cries in front of another, the first word to come out of their mouth is usually “sorry”- because a level of emotion displayed below that of a monotone middle range was often thought to be a loss of power or control and to appear weak. But we have come a long way in becoming more compassionate and connected to ourselves and others.
The lesson commonly taught to tearful male children was “Boys don’t cry- boys are tough!” and now people (in white coats) have confirmed this is indeed very damaging.
It has become acceptable (Dare I say, even trendy!) to say that you see a councillor, therapist or a healer. Also, partly thanks to brave celebrities that speak about utilising therapy as well as energy healing, crystals and other alternative practices to manage their wellbeing and emotional challenges. This has given permission for others to do the same because we tend to place celebrities almost as high, if not higher than the white coat folks I mentioned earlier.
So, by people being more in touch with their emotions while also feeling it is less taboo to speak about receiving support from therapists and practitioners in dealing with what life throws at you, it makes energy healing more accessible, appealing and needed.
It also makes it easier for others to do the same without the fear of seeming “different” and therefore a target for judgement.
So, what is Energy healing? Energy healing is an umbrella term for any treatment that enhances, optimises and restores flow of vital, life force energy through the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. And through all the subtle energy systems of the body.
It is based on the principal that chi, life force, universal energy, bio energy, vital energy flows through all living things, providing life and wellbeing.
This flow becomes inhibited, restricted, stagnant or blocked due to things like stress, emotional impact or trauma, physical trauma, unhealthy diet, alcohol, electromagnetic pollution and more.
Prior to the late 1700’s and the French revolution, vitalism was a very commonly accepted belief.
Vitalism is the belief that the origin and phenomena of life are dependent on a force or principle distinct from purely chemical or physical forces. That there is an essential life force energy running though all things, animating life. And when this life force is restricted or blocked, illness and dis-ease ensue.
The concept of a life force is not a new one, it is found in most of the ancient cultures of the world. In India, it is called prana. In China, chi, in Japan, ki. For Native Americans, the Great Spirit. For these cultures and many others as well, the idea of life force is or was central to their forms of medicine and healing.
However, in recent times, our technology has become more advanced and sensitive to be able to not only detect some of this life force energy flow but to digitally graph it, used for the purpose of wellbeing and preventative health measures.
This advancement in technology is helping to bring energy healing into the mainstream in the western world.
Energy healing of course can not change any external circumstance in your world (for example, if you are going through a time of grief, loss, heartache, hardship etc) but it can indeed ease the emotional impact and build up caused by it, which helps restore calm, focus and ability to cope with the situation at hand, with an attitude fuller of optimism and faith.
And when you find this calmer state, it changes your inner world to a more peaceful landscape. Energy healing decreases stress and its negative impacts on the body and clients always report feeling “lighter” after a session. This series of transformations causes you to perceive the world in a more optimistic way. This does then gradually lead to changes in your outer world because you are perceiving it differently. Like Wayne Dyer said; “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.
Energy healing is moving more into the mainstream, which is wonderful because people need it! It is a somewhat untapped resource of wellness, balance, calm and happiness that only a relatively small number of people are utilising, despite its proven and demonstrated ability to effectively reduce stress, anxiety, depression and physical and emotional pain which is so prevalent in our society today!
It is affordable and accessible in almost all cities and towns around the world and is gentle, non-invasive and simple.
Sometimes we get caught up thinking if something is not difficult or expensive or challenging than it must not really work. We make things harder sometimes than they need to be.
An Energy healing practitioner (in this context I refer to people that use various hand on or hands off healing modalities such as Reiki, Therapeutic touch, Healing touch, Accessing consciousness, Theta healing and so on) is attuned, trained and practiced at holding more chi, vital energy, universal energy (whatever word you like to use for it) and to channel, filter and funnel it through to a recipient.
However, it is my firm belief we all have this ability naturally- trained or untrained (that sentenced may upset some highly qualified and practiced energy healers, but I feel its true!).
That is why when a loved one or even a stranger is upset, we intuitively reach our hand out and place it either at the back of their heart (powerful emotional centre) on their shoulder (where we place a lot of energetic or metaphoric pressure on ourselves. “Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders”) or elsewhere on their body to make physical contact to provide comfort.
With clever machines, we can now detect that the hands of a human omit light in all the colour spectrum and more! It has been documented that if you are not healthy, your hands won’t produce the full spectrum of light. If you are a healthy person, your hands produce the full spectrum of light from infrared through to ultraviolet, all the time!
If we were more sensitive to a wider range of light through our five senses, we would see rainbow light omitting from people’s hands! Indeed, some clairvoyants and energy healers do see the world in this way, as they have extremely heightened sensitivity to energy – after all, it’s their area of expertise!
Mainstream medical doctors and chiropractors now use Low level laser light therapy to treat things such as pain, inflammation, oedema, acute injuries, chronic diseases, wound healing and skin healing and more!
But us humans also have this technology, built in! Because your hands omit low level light that has been shown to be equally effective as the technology used to achieve the same result. But it’s for free. And you are using it when you comfort a loved one by touching them when they are sad, upset or stressed. You see mothers instinctively reach out their hands to gently cup the injured area of their child. When you have a tummy ache or head ache, you are inclined to place your hands on the area.
As I say, energy healing practitioners have been professionally trained and usually dedicate their lives to a lifestyle that is conducive to being able to continually hold more light as well as maintain a higher vibration. It’s like a higher wattage light bulb, if you will, to then be able to channel the extra energy or light through to others.
They maintain this any number of ways. Including but not limited to,
- Eating right for what their body needs
- Drinking plenty of water
- Yoga & meditation, usually daily
- Regular professional healing and daily self-healing –to clear the emotional body
- Eating protein for grounding
- Connecting with nature – hopefully daily
- Chanting, singing, activating the throat chakra to balance the energy body
- Saging self and their space regularly
- Burning incense with intention of space clearing and emotional cleansing
- Following their inner guidance – even when it makes no sense
- Salt water submerging – ocean, foot bath, bath or salt scrub in shower
These are all things you can do daily as well, for preventative and optimum health, to raise your vibration, be a clearer channel and conductor of spiritual energy, light and chi, for yourself and others around you and to look after your emotional, mental and spiritual bodies, as well as the physical body. A professional healer can give you a deeper “tune up” but home care is also crucial.
Like how daily brushing & flossing of the teeth is important but regular dentist appointments are still necessary and vital for good oral health.
Like how you maintain your car with oil, water and fuel but a regular service is necessary.
Thanks to the rise in popularity of yoga and meditation, and the powerful benefits they offer, it afford the opportunity for Energy Healing to move into the mainstream as the next piece of the puzzle to living a healthy, joyful and peaceful life.