“Energy is in everything,” says the Energy Information Administration. “We use energy to do everything we do.” This is true of all the energy sources that exist outside of us, including gasoline to power our cars, electricity to power our homes and businesses, and other forms of energy such as solar, natural gas, and nuclear.
There is also energy inside us, however. We are working systems ourselves, after all, and we require power to live, work, and play. We take in food and inspiration to fuel that energy, then expel it in our daily activities. It’s no accident that when we’re feeling lethargic, we say we “have no energy,” or that when we feel worn down, we want to take time off to “recharge.”
Certain types of medicine seek to direct the energy inside us to help us heal ourselves. “Energy medicine” is one of the five domains of alternative medicine explored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), and includes practices such as Reiki, acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, yoga, Qi gong, healing touch, and intercessory prayer-all of which involve “channeling” inner energy resources toward a particular goal. Some call that inner energy “vital force,” “aura,” or in Chinese medicine, “chi.” Modern western science often refers to it as the “bioenergetic field.”
“You can heal the body by activating its natural healing energies,” says energymed.org. “You can also heal the body by restoring energies that have become weak, disturbed, or out of balance.”
One of our own experts, Jean Lazar, practices energy medicine through therapeutic touch and Reiki. “We have energy fields inside, around and through our physical bodies,” she says. “When we are balanced and in harmony with our energies, we will defuse illness and disease…. Energy medicine is the art and science of working with these energies to live healthier and happier lives.”
How does energy medicine work? In essence, it’s based on the idea that flowing, strong energy results in a strong, healthy body, whereas weak, blocked energy results in pain and illness. You understand how a car can lose energy if it has poor-quality fuel, or if a blockage develops in an injector. Similarly, you can imagine your body and mind as working systems that can also experience energy blockages because of toxin buildup, muscle tightness, prolonged stress, bottled emotions, or other interferences. Flow and balance can be restored through massage, sound therapy, nutrition, exercises designed for energetic effects, focused use of the mind, movement of the hand along specific energy pathways, or by surrounding an area with healing energies (or healing people).
Dr. K. Scott-Mumby, author of Virtual Medicine, writes, “Science is proving that we exist as regulated and informed energy. Disease can now be redefined as a disruption, cessation or distortion in the information and energy fields. Its time for medical practitioners to join the party.”
To find energy medicine practitioners in your area, try searching the energy medicine directory. To learn more, pick up a copy of Donna Eden’s book, Energy Medicine, which shows you how to work with the body’s energy fields to heal yourself and experience more daily energy.
Have you experienced the positive effects of energy medicine? Please share your experiences.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Mark via Flickr.com.
