An Introduction to Energy Healing

Energy healing is a practice that promotes positive change. It involves an exchange of subtle energy that enables change toward greater peace, harmony, health, and vibrancy. Energy healing is practiced in many forms; some are modern, while some are drawn from ancient practices reaching back to the earliest human history.

All forms of energy healing involve the use or manipulation of subtle energies. These energies are known under various names such as animal magnetism, bioenergy, biomagnetism, Chi, prana, and so on. This subtle energy is said to be intertwined into everything in the universe, and some claim that the material world is created from the subtle energies. The human aura is one depiction of the subtle energies. The halos drawn in paintings of holy people may be a depiction of the subtle energies. Master Yoda’s lecture to Luke Skywalker about the Force, despite it being in a movie, was a decent explanation of these subtle energies.

In energy healing practice, the healer takes some sort of action with the intent to affect the subtle energy of the client. Change in one’s subtle energy tend to positively affect physical or emotional well-being in a process related to the mind-body phenomenon. There may be a transmission of energy into the client, an extraction of energy from the client, a clearing of stuck or blocked energy, disentangling or repair of energy structures, discovery or extraction of subtle energy objects, and much more. The movie Karate Kid contained a depiction of transmission of energy to cause healing, and the movie The Green Mile contained a depiction of energy extraction.

The better known energy healing practices include acupuncture, Brennan healing science, core energetics, EMDR, EFT, healing touch, Jin Shin Jyutsu, pranic healing, Reiki, quantum touch, Shiatsu, therapeutic touch, Qigong, and yoga.

Characteristics of the subtle energies show up in normal daily conversation. Take the phrase quit yanking my chain. This is related to an energetic structure called a “cord.” Many energy healers recognize that human relationships create relationship cords. These cords carry subtle parts of the relationship using subtle energy exchanges that occur, usually, without conscious awareness. Ideally, cords are connected between the core essence of each person. Often they are not, and cords can be used in harmful ways. One way is a tugging on the cord, perhaps with the intent by one person to control the partner, leading to that yanking my chain phrase or other similar phrases. Another phrase is the heart connection and the way broken relationships can feel like tugs, yanks, or rips in the heart.

Another phrase in normal daily conversation is a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach. The third chakra, one of the structures in the human aura, is located in the solar plexus. When someone is worried or anxious, often the third chakra becomes twisted or tied up in knots. This, like other energetic disturbances, can feel like a physical sensation. One wonders how many people who think they have ulcers really have a twisted third chakra?

Another phrase in normal daily conversation is when one throws verbal darts at another. Many energy healers find astral objects embedded in their clients, and often they are attached to people via a verbal dart. Astral objects take many forms, such as spears, arrows, really almost any sort of object you can imagine. Astral objects may represent oaths or curses. A common treatment is to remove these objects via extraction, or the healer may transmute the object into pure essence.

You may be wondering, how does energy healing help someone? There are various explanations, depending on who you ask. One general principle is that a healthy person has freely flowing energy through his or her subtle bodies. A healthy flow of energies promotes physical or emotional health. The human energy field (aura) is made of both subtle energetic structures and a flow of subtle energy through those structures. In Chinese medicine, these are the acupuncture meridians. In Chinese medicine, they discuss several types of Chi, and imbalances of Chi can describe almost every illness. The word chakra comes from Hindu mysticism. The chakras are a part of a system of energy channels called nadis, which carry an energy called prana. These two systems probably describe the same energetic structures.

The energy channels can be blocked or tangled in several ways, impeding the flow of energy. Energy healing can release stuck energy or can repair and disentangle these channels. Either promotes a return to healthy flow of the subtle energies.

In any traumatic event, we generally experience only a portion of the event. This leaves the rest of the event hanging around as energetic residue that can feel like the heavy burden some people are said to carry. Most forms of energy healing can help one release such residue, which can truly feel like the lifting of a heavy weight from the body.

Some practices, especially Brennan healing science, have techniques to directly structure the chakras, organs, or other parts of the human energy field. The organs in the human body are seen to have related structures in the etheric body, and when an organ is diseased, often the etheric body will be tangled in the vicinity of the organ. Restructuring the energetic structure of the organ often positively improves the organ itself. Similarly, restructuring chakras or other parts of the aura often positively improves the person’s well-being.

Wilhelm Reich, the developer of Reichian psychology, was one of Freud’s students. Reich’s branch of psychology has developed into a wide range of therapies known as body psychology. He identified an energy he called “orgone,” widely recognized to be Chi, and ways that people held armoring that impeded the free flow of emotions and/or this orgone energy. His work inspired bioenergetics, core energetics, Brennan healing science, biodynamics, Hakomi, and other therapies. Often, the patient is asked to get into various postures, which help him release the stuck energies, thus helping him return to a free flow of life force. The word Reiki comes from the Chinese symbols rei and ki and is translated as “universal life force energy.” Reiki teachers say that Reiki energy is intelligent and knows where to go within the client and what to do to promote healing. The Reiki practitioner is asked to simply open himself to the flow of Reiki for the highest good of the client.

Prayer and laying on of hands is a religiously oriented form of energy healing. Most energy healers recognize that they are interacting with the divine, and they may recognize the presence of divine beings, or they may utilize prayer in their healing practices. The various energy healing practices draw from the whole gamut of spiritual practices from around the world, testifying to the core divine presence in all spiritual practices.

Energy healing is often a gentle practice performed through touch, though it may also be sent over long distances. The recipient may experience heat or cold, tingles, memories, emotions, or divine presences of relatives or ancestors, or the recipient may experience nothing. Recipients frequently fall asleep during the session, waking up at the end.

** This article is one of 101 great articles that were published in 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health. To get complete details on “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health”, visit http://selfgrowth.com/healthbook3.html