Introduction
What is Hands-on Energy Healing?
Throughout history, many cultures have practiced
“laying on hands” to heal. Now, several modern healing techniques have
developed for directing healing intentions through gentle touch. These
techniques involve a view of the human being as a living energy system, and the
belief that practitioners are working with the human energy field to lead to
physical, emotional, and/or spiritual healing.
Hands-on energy healing is a process
where the healer places her hands either directly on or very near the body of
the person being treated. The healer will then scan or assess the ‘patient’ to
determine what imbalances need to be healed, or what energy blocks need to be
released. The healer then focuses her mind on healing intentions, and amplifies
her own energy through breathing techniques, meditation, prayer, or connecting
to a feeling of unconditional love. Then, depending on the specific healing
techniques, she either sends energy to her patient, “jump-starting” his energy,
or her energy serves as a resonating pattern which helps to guide his system
back into a healthy, balanced state. Energy healing can be used to treat
specific physical illnesses, or specific emotional concerns, but its effects
tend to be broad-based, with benefits to physical systems beyond the targeted
“diseased” area, release of long-held emotions, and spiritual growth. The
process is not usually instantaneous, as it is in "faith healing."
(Faith is not a factor in the healing process.) Treatment sessions may take
from 20 minutes to an hour or more; a series of sessions is often needed to
complete treatment of some disorders.
Techniques Studied
Over the past year, I have studied various systems
of energy healing, and that research is summarized here. I included techniques
that use only light touch (or hand motions “touching” just off the surface of
the body) and healing intentions to unblock or re-balance the human energy
field. I did not include any system that uses: physical pressure (e.g. massage
or acupressure), any effort to work with physical systems like the muscles or
the lymph system (e.g. kinesiology, Touch for Health, and Donna Eden’s Energy
Medicine) any attempt to re-align parts of the body (e.g. cranio-sacral or
Rolfing), or any physical substance or tool (e.g. homeopathy, flower essences,
gemstones). Certainly, each of these could be defined as energy work, and may
have significant effects on a client’s subtle energy field; however, I wanted
to limit myself to techniques with no potential causative agents other than
energy and intention.
Note that some recent research into Quantum
Physics, Distance Healing, and the non-local consciousness aspects of Era III
Medicine, as Larry Dossey describes it, indicate that intention alone (beliefs
and consciousness) may have far greater healing effects than we might have
imagined. I have not controlled for this in my work here, as I have not made any
attempt to determine whether beneficial effects are due to the hand placements
alone, or to the healing intention alone, or to a combination of the two.
Healing around the World
Traditional Healing. In the
techniques section, I include several examples of traditional healing
techniques from around the world, all of which focus on laying-on hands, energy
fields, and healing with intention. Techniques include: Qi Gong healing from
China, Kahuna healing from the Polynesian islands, Native American healing, Ju|’hoansi
healing dance from the Kalahari desert in Africa, Hucha Mikhuy from the
mountains of Peru, and a brief description of healing with Intent in aboriginal
Australia.
One of the things I find most
intriguing about energy healing concepts is their universality, the degree to
which similar concepts have appeared in such geographically diverse areas. Some
significant concepts are that anyone can learn to heal, that there is an
unlimited supply of healing energy available to us, and that the process of healing
is helping the ‘patient’ to release energy blockages which prevent his energy
from being balanced and harmonious. Details of the healing practices vary, but
there are intriguing overlaps, such as the clockwise and counterclockwise
circling in Qi Gong and in Cherokee medicine. Another ‘coincidence’ is that the
primary center for energy in the body is in the lower abdomen, around the
navel, in the traditional healing systems in
Modern Techniques: The
techniques section also reviews several modern healing techniques that have
been developed. Some developed independently but were later influenced by other
techniques, some are closely related to each other, or are even direct
descendants of each other. However, aspects of each technique have developed
independently, primarily based on the author’s own direct experiences with energy
healing, whether it’s Brennan’s High Sense Perception, Pavek’s experiences with
systematically mapping out the human energy flows, or Joy’s sensing energy
fields from his patients in his internal medicine practice.
Again, the intriguing aspect to me is
not the differences between the techniques, but instead the rather striking
similarities amongst them.
Current Status of Healing in Modern
Cultures.
“In
Statement of author bias:
Since this collection is primarily a
compendium of available literature, I have generally allowed the authors to
speak for themselves, attempting to minimize my bias on the work. However,
clearly, my choices of what to include reflect my own stance on the issues.
Therefore, I feel that it is important to state up-front what my bias is.
Frankly, I do not know whether I
“believe” in energy medicine. But I do feel it is not something that should be
ignored or dismissed without due consideration.
When I began this research, my
educated side led me to be cynical about the efficacy of these techniques. The
idea that focusing on your breathing, laying hands on someone, and holding
healing intentions could actually make any difference seemed dubious.
However, my initial examination of
all the different techniques left me wondering. Realizing that so many people
in so many different parts of the world believed in energy medicine and
practiced energy medicine made me begin to wonder if there might be something
to it after all. Many scholars have done cross-comparisons of the world’s
religions, searching for the common threads, under the theory that the
universal truths about God must lie somewhere in those threads. Perhaps,
likewise, some universal truths about illness and about healing may be found by
examining these various techniques, and seeking to understand their
commonalities.
As I began to read more and take
workshops, I began experimenting with energy medicine to see what I could learn
through hands-on experience. I used healing on a dog bite on my husband’s face,
on his mild asthma, on impending ear infections and various bumps and bruises
on my kids, on my dog’s bronchitis, and on a friend’s on-going respiratory
infections. In most cases, though not all, the healing seemed to have a
beneficial effect, and things seemed to improve sooner than they might
otherwise have improved. Though, of course, it was impossible to be certain,
having no control subjects to compare anyone to.
Now, in the most recent stage of my
research, I looked at some of the writing on the scientific basis for energy
healing, and the results from studies of the efficacy of healing on various
illnesses (including many controlled studies). Studies generally support the
positive effects of healing practices, generally indicating measurable positive
effects from the healing which can not be dismissed as mere placebo effects.
As I said above, I am not certain
whether I could say I am a true believer in energy medicine. But here’s what I
can say for sure: Energy medicine is a non-invasive, non-drug form of healing,
with virtually no apparent negative side effects, and virtually no
contraindications. It can be combined with any form of mainstream or
alternative medicine with no apparent concerns about adverse interactions. It
appears to have a beneficial effect on a wide variety of physical injuries and
illnesses, and may also lead to emotional healing and spiritual growth in the
process. It can apparently be taught to anyone, and then can be performed
whenever needed at no cost, with no medical supplies needed.
The risks are apparently very low,
and if healing can only provide a fraction of the benefits attributed to it,
then the reward-to-risk ratio is large enough to be well worthy of further
examination. If the benefits of healing are as great and as diverse as the
practitioners and theorists claim, then it would be foolish to dismiss an idea
that could revolutionize health care.
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