Energy Healing

A Shaman dances around a fire waiving a wand over an afflicted person and spitting sacrificial rum. He chants and spins with the beat. He wears face paint and elaborate costuming. He seems to go in and out of trances while on lookers chant and pray for the patient. Does this sound like what you envision when you hear the term energy healing? Well, you would be correct but it would only be the tip of the iceberg of the vast world of energy healing.

There is an entire world beyond the physical one that we know. Tapping in to these worlds beyond can lead us on a path to better spirituality and health for our self and others. There are several types of energy healing from instinctive healing to Shamanic healing to Reiki. In this chapter, we will explore just what is energy healing and what are some of the more popular different forms of healing. We will also discuss ethics as well practicing different techniques used to perform healing. Finally we will take a look at what path may be right for you and how you should go about learning a healing art and why exactly that art will work for you and others.

Energy works and exists on three levels, the physical, the emotional, and the spiritual plains. You can and probably have experienced "injuries" or obstacles that created a disruption in your life on at least one if not all of these plains. You may not have viewed it as an injury or obstacle as such, but at some point in our life, we have experienced physical pain. What about the emotional plain? Have you ever felt upset or sad? You may not view that as an injury, but it certainly has been an obstacle that can disrupt the natural flow of our daily life. How about the spiritual plain? Have you ever questioned your beliefs? Have you ever felt called to a different path? Have you ever felt abandoned by your beliefs? Have you wanted to feel more connected to your spirituality? If so, you have also experienced an obstacle on your spiritual plain of existence. Energy healing can help with any of these problems.

The River
Picture your body as a river. Imagine the energy that makes up who you are is the water in that river. When you are healthy, the water flows freely. You feel energized, refreshed, happy and calm. Your body is in harmony energetically speaking.

As with every river, particles flow down the river’s path. Sediment moves with the current collecting at the river’s basin. Larger things may also flow its course along the river. Rocks, tree branches or logs may journey the path at some point. When the river flows normally, those items will go their way and be discarded from the river.

Imagine for a moment that a tree branch became lodged within the river’s course. Because of this obstruction, other things begin to get caught within this area too since items cannot flow freely around the lodged log. Though seemingly harmless at first, the obstruction continues to build catching more stuff to further block the river’s flowing path. Eventually the obstruction becomes so great that the river needs to compensate for the obstruction and shifts courses for its flow. The obstruction will always be part of the river as a whole and continues to have particles sent towards it and it collects more, thereby expanding the blockage.

Let us now take this analogy of the river and apply it to our bodies. As stated earlier, energy flows along our body as water would along a river. When we are healthy, energy moves correctly and freely through out the body nourishing each area. When we are injured, it is harder for energy to flow to and through the afflicted area. Energetically, we have "stuff" like climbing stairs or problem solving that flows over our energy fields during our day like the sediment and rocks and tree branches, etc along the river. With a normal healthy flow, those energy obstacles will roll through our energy field and be discarded having been dealt with and easy enough for us to overcome.

If we already have an injury or if the injury is too great, it may be too difficult for other challenges to be dealt with, then discarded. At this point, it becomes an obstacle that can begin "collecting" other harmful energies just like other river debris getting caught in the original obstruction. If the injury is left for too long, it can build up to a point that it affects other areas not originally injured. This is due to the fact that since there is now such a major build up of bad energy, the body has to compensate its flow by shifting paths. This shift in paths put more strain on other healthy areas of the body because they now have to deal with a higher volume of energy challenges. Eventually this begins to break down the other areas of the body due to the excess strain.

The above is an example of an extreme case. This is not to say that if you stub your toe, you will have major problems because of it. The body has ways of healing itself and if given the proper amount of rest and if need be, medical attention, the body will heal itself to normal energy flow. Smaller problems are fairly easy to overcome and need minor attention. The body heals itself of small problems with very little intervention needed. Unfortunately, the body doesn’t always have minor problems.

But How Does It Work?
In conjunction with conventional medicine, energy healing can help to significantly improve the healing process. It can speed the healing process and can pick up where conventional medicine leaves off. Though energy healing should never replace conventional medicine, there are times when medicine has its limitations. Energy healing is there to go where regular medicine cannot. If there are ever any questions of a proper course of treatment, please consult your physician. If however your problem is not medically treatable, energy healing can be a wonderful glimmer of hope.

Energy healing works with your energy field or aura. Every living being emits energy and an aura is the term we use to describe the individual’s energy field. The aura is not only confined to the physical parameters of the body, a person’s energy field can extend inches away from the body; it can extend several feet from the body. The healthier and happier you are, the more likely your aura will extend further from your body. The more sad or sick the person is, the more likely the aura will extend limitedly beyond the physical boundaries of the body.

Also located on the body are major energy centers commonly referred to as chakras. These energy centers are main points where energy is taken in and let out. Remembering the example of the river, the river will discard items that have traveled the path but not needed, in to the river basin. Chakras are like basins where unwanted and unneeded energy is discarded. Though there are places all over the body that allow for this, chakras are the most active and the most recognized.

Energy healing works with the aura and chakras. It would be used to clean the injured area restoring health and proper energy flow to that part of the body. A person may need several healing sessions before he or she has proper flow restored. Types of energy healing gently scrape layers of the blocked energy away and are fairly non-invasive. These types take several times for the healing to be complete but are not as traumatic for the patient during the healing process. Other kinds attempt to totally remove the blockage in one session and are usually quite invasive. Patients of these types of healing may experience significant discomfort during or shortly after a healing session, however their affliction is shorter. They may need to go back for one or two follow ups to remove whatever may have been left behind in the first session. For example, when you slice a piece of bread for yourself to eat, there are crumbs that fall off get left behind. This may also be the case for the more invasive healing, pieces of the blockage may fall off during the removal and will need to be taken care of in a later healing. Your energy healer will be able to discuss proper treatment time and regiment as well as what to expect during and after your sessions together.

Let’s Get Ethical
Many energy healers can tell when there is someone near by who needs healing assistance. There are certain ques they can pick up on based on their method of healing expertise. Thankfully this does necessarily happen every time someone goes by in pain otherwise going to a mall or any crowded place would be shear torture for the healer.

Our first instinct is to help people in pain or hurting. We know we don’t like to be in pain ourselves and would want help if it presented itself, but as a healer; you cannot just waltz around healing people without their knowledge nor permission. To take something from some one, even something unwanted or harmful, without their permission is rude and unethical. Even with the best of intentions, if the person is in the state of mind to be able to understand what you propose to do, you absolutely need their permission before you heal them. If you do not verbally ask permission, you may send healing out with the intention that it is meant for healing a particular person. If however, the person would not be open to nor approve of having the healing performed, ask your spirit guides send it to someone else instead who would accept it and appreciate having it performed. If you do not heed this ethical warning, you can be faced with some major karmic implications.

It sounds funny that people would choose to keep their afflictions, but every day people make that choice. If we look at this idea in terms of psychology from their point of view it begins to makes sense whether or not we agree with their rationale. Some people may choose to keep a medical injury because they receive attention from it. The person may like the attention he or she receives and may not be ready to go back to being a normal person with out any special recognition.

Why would someone choose to continue a phobia and not seek treatment for it? Quite possibly the phobia exempts the person from performing an unpleasant action. By getting rid of the phobia, the person may have to perform the unpleasant action and may not be ready to deal with this new aspect of them self.

The truth is, many times we choose to be the person we are and though we know there are things we can do to improve our situations, we may not choose to follow through on them for whatever reason. This is of course not to say that a victim of a tornado chose to be lifted and flung across a field breaking several bones upon his or her landing, the key is the roll they play within their own healing process, the after the fact attitude. If the person doesn’t take a proactive roll in their healing process, there very well could be a reason for it. They may like the attention their disability brings; it may be against their religion and belief systems, one never knows. As healers, it is not up to us to decide what a patient is ready for, it is up to the patient to tell their healer what they are comfortable with.

If however, you are in an emergency situation and the person needing assistance is unable to decide for themselves if they want healing or not, find a companion they may have been with and ask their permission. If none are available, you can also go on the same "Good Samaritan" intention that emergency personnel abide by when presented with a new emergency situation. When permission cannot be obtained, you may perform healing with good intentions using the loophole stated earlier. Again, this is a very touchy topic so please be conscientious that even with the best of intentions, healing without permission can have karmic implications.

If you are having healing performed on you, here are a few things to think about before your first session. Energy healing is meant to help and if you are not confident in the healer or are not ready to trust a healer, you can always change your mind and say no to a session. As a word of caution, try to have your decision made before the session begins. Depending on the type of healing you are having performed, if you change your mind after the session has begun and want the session stopped, the healer may have to continue for a few extra moments to make sure you are properly sealed. You would never think about getting up in the middle of an operation and leave the table without being closed up properly, right? It is the same with energy healing. Some types are like operations and need to be properly sealed otherwise the energy may not flow properly causing even more severe problems down the road.

Be sure you research your healer well. Make sure you like them and that you get a general sense that they want to help. This will put you a little more at ease. When you at ease, the healing can take better effect because it doesn’t have much of a wall of fear of the unknown to jump over first. Believe it or not, your fear is an obstacle to a healing session. It may take the better half of the session just to help you work through your fear and accept the healing.

Your Aura’s Showing
Imagine a time when you had injured yourself. Like most people, if your injury allowed for it, you probably cupped your hand over the affected area whether medically necessary (i.e. stopping bleeding, supporting the wound, etc.) or not. In an indirect way, you were channeling energy to the injury to stimulate healing and growth.

As discussed earlier, every living thing emits an aura or an energy field. This aura does extend beyond the physical limitations of the body and with practice it can be extended even further from the body using techniques that will be explored later in this chapter.

The aura is a healing tool that conventional medicine does not usually employ. Doctors do not have a special tool that can cut out or clean an energy blockage, though they have plenty of tools to remove the physical one. When a doctor removes a physical blockage, there is a possibility it could leave energy residues behind. Think of it this way, when you prepare meat for a meal, you have heard over and over to clean the prep area thoroughly to kill any bacteria that may have been left behind. Can you see the bacteria? No, but we know it is there. Do we know that we have killed all of it? No, but we know our cleaning considerably cut our chances of becoming sick from it. In an energy blockage situation, you can’t see the energy residue, you may be able to feel it if you are very in tune, but how will you get rid of it?

We have all heard the term "Fight fire with fire!" In healing terms, we need to fight energy blockages with energy healing. It may just heal itself over time if treated properly or, it may stay and fester and eventually create a reoccurring blockage. Either way, energy healing can be a helpful tool in the healing process whether to speed the original healing or to fix a problem that could be trying to come back.

There are several methods used in healing. The first kind is called the "scrape" method. This method is generally used on a patient with very minor blockages or those who do not adjust well to major changes. Scraping removes layers of the blockage at a time. It works on the premise of an archaeological excavation. When an archaeologist explores a site, they take off a layer at a time being careful to not dig too quickly and destroy any thing that may be lying just beneath. They go slow so as not to disrupt the site further until it is time to explore the next layer. This may seem tedious and time consuming, however it is not as traumatic for the dig site.

The same is true for the patient being treated with this method. A patient being treated with the scrape method will most likely need several sessions depending on the severity of the injury. They will more than likely experience the ailment for a longer period of time as opposed to using some of the other methods that will later be discussed. So why would a person want to have this method performed? As stated earlier, this is non-invasive and not very traumatic for the patient. The body has more time to acclimate itself to the new energy flow of the recent healing. The body can slowly get use to the healing and the new path that the energy begins to regain, rather than an immediate shift that may cause some unwelcome stress.

The next method is the "push". In this method the healer would create a wall of energy that was magnetized to collect the blockage. The healer would push this wall of energy beginning on one side of the body and continuing through the other side of the body and out having collected the blocked energy along the way. Once the blockage has been pushed out, it is discarded in to the earth to be recycled. If we think of it in terms of a headache, we understand that this method would be more beneficial to the patient. If we scraped a few layers of the headache pain away, the patient would still be feeling discomfort and since this is a minor blockage, the energy flow does not have to go through many major adjustments once the blockage is removed. The patient does not experience the discomfort of immediate readjustment.

Another form of healing is the "ball" method. In this style, the healer creates an energy ball of white light. This ball is then inserted in to the patient’s afflicted area with the intension of collecting the unwanted energy and is used as a sponge to soak up the negative energy. As the harmful energy gets soaked in to this ball, it turns black. Once the energy ball has been filled with the blockage, it is removed from the body and discarded in to the earth for recycling. If more energy needs to be removed, more energy balls may be used until the healer intuitively feels the normal flow return or the patient feels they have reached their limit of removal.

The last popular type of healing is the "scoop" method. Just as a surgeon’s scalpel would be used to enter the body and cut out a physical blockage, the aura can be used to cut through the energy field and the body to remove the energy blockage. This style takes a bit of practice to master. Since the healer is using a very invasive method of healing, there is greater potential to seriously disrupt the body’s flow. Fixing the body’s flow is not as easy as rest or putting a band-aid on it. If certain areas of the body receive too much energy, it can become over worked and stressed by having to deal with more than the normal flow of energy items along the field. If certain areas receive too little flow, the area will not receive enough nourishing and cleansing energy.

If a surgeon makes a wrong cut or slips, he or she can cause major internal damage. A surgeon is intelligent enough to know their limitations and the implications if they were to make a mistake. If a healer makes a mistake, it can also be very harmful. As healers, we need to be cautious and considerate of the patient. A healer will not help anyone by being careless.

Crystal Vision
It would seem that lately society is becoming increasingly interested in crystals. Some may feel they are just pretty to look at but they still feel the compulsion to have them near. Others have discovered the healing energy that lies within.

As stated earlier, every living thing emits an energy field. Crystals are living beings. If we take a moment to explore basic physics, we begin to understand why all matter emits energy.

Scientifically speaking, matter is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons revolving around one another. With out the energy revolving around itself, material would not bond together and matter would not exist. Since energy has to be active in order to create this bond to form matter, we can safely say that all matter we can see, feel, and touch has active energy. Any thing that has active energy is technically living, though not necessarily living in the conventional sense that most of us think. It can’t get up and walk around and think independently. It is living because it is made of active energy and can emit this energy due to its active source. In this sense, we can realize that crystals and other inanimate objects actively give off energy.

Depending on what crystals are made up of determines at what rate they give off energy. This rate of giving off energy is called the vibration. Some crystals will vibrate at a fast rate, some very slow. Different crystals are good for different things. Like medications, you wouldn’t take a cough medicine for a headache; you also wouldn’t use one crystal with specific traits to heal things it does not possess the traits to heal. Crystals pull in energy, put it through their filter so to speak, which changes the energy to its specific traits.

There are many wonderful books that thoroughly break down almost every mineral known to man and what their specific traits are. There are also many very knowledgeable people that can help guide you in your search in the crystal world.

Chakra To The System
Earlier in the chapter, we discussed main energy centers located on the body called Chakras. These are places on the body where the majority of energy enters and exits our system. In a sense, chakras are like the pipe work that allows energy to come from the outside to go to the inside of the body and vice versa. There are seven major chakras placed along the vertical axis of the body, with many lesser ones placed through out the body. The order of the chakras usually begins from the ground up. The Earth is the energy source we have the most direct contact with and from where we tend to pull our energy. Because the energy is coming from the ground up in to our bodies, the lowest chakra is affected first so it is called the first chakra.

The first main chakra is the Root Chakra, sometimes also called the Sexual Chakra, and it is located in the genital region and represented generally by the color red. The second chakra is the Sacral Chakra, which is located just above the genitals to just below the belly button and is in tune with the color orange. The third chakra is the Solar Plexus Chakra located just above the belly button to just below the rib cage with yellow as its signature color. The Solar Plexus tends to be the most sensitive of the chakras. It is actually where the term "gut feeling" is derived from since most people sense danger or other intuitive actions through this energy center.

The fourth center is the Heart Chakra located in the same place as its name. The colors that are in tune to this chakra is mainly green, but recently, people have begun to associate pink wrapped in green as the excepted combination for this chakra. Going back to crystals for a moment, this color combination makes Watermelon Tourmaline an excellent crystal for the Heart Chakra. The fifth center is the throat chakra, again located in the same place as its name and is represented by the color blue. We’ve all heard that one should wear blue to a job interview; the reasoning behind it is that you are trying to communicate your skills and reasons why you want to be hired. Blue stimulates the Throat Chakra, which is the chakra of communication.

The sixth chakra is the Third Eye Chakra and is located slightly above and in between the eyes. The color that tunes this center is Indigo and is the chakra that psychic messages and abilities flow from. If you are psychic, you have a very active Third Eye. The seventh and final major chakra is the Crown Chakra. Located at the crown of the head, this center is in tune with the color violet. It is from this chakra that energy healers pull the universe’s life force energy in to their bodies.

We have probably heard different commercials for liquid pipe cleaners. They show you that over time that even with good practices particles can build up with in the pipes. If the problem isn’t treated, the pipe could get so clogged that it is impassable. We all know what happens with clogged pipes! Our chakras are just like pipes in the sense that energy flows in and out of these centers on a consistent basis. Because our system deals with so many issues through out the day, build up is likely to happen.

Even with good health practices, it’s still easy to have some build up over time. This build up doesn’t allow the energy to flow in and out as easy as it should. Things that we normally deal with quite easily, now take longer. We also may choose to hold things there. Everything that happens to us enters our aura in energy form. If we do not process them and let them go, they will stay and build up over time.

For example, a victim of a sexual assault, which will affect the Root/Sexual Chakra, has much to deal with. She or he has to deal with the physical pain and mental anguish the assault caused, the fear of it possibly happening again, the indignity they may feel because they have been violated, the concern of how family, friends and society will view her or him now that they have been assaulted, and the list continues. This is an example of an issue that will clog the chakra for a while so that the survivor of this crime can deal with and sort out their physical and emotional scars. This is an issue that can take and will most likely take a lifetime to come to grips with. Over the years, the emotional issues begin to fade to the back of the mind but can still continue to clog the chakra.

This is a perfect case for chakra cleansing. Though the person may not have finished dealing with all of the issues, a cleansing can help to remove parts that have been dealt with but still attached to the original issue and other non-related build-ups. This may help to free areas of the chakra and relieve the stress of the flow.

An untrained healer should never attempt chakra cleansing. Our energy centers are very fragile and complicated systems. They are as important as our physical organs in helping us to survive day to day. No cause of death has even been attributed to a clogged chakra, but suppose your Heart Chakra was mixed up due to an improper healing session. If not caught and cleansed properly, the blockage could contribute to clogging of the arteries and a whole slew of other heart related ailments. Just like a clogged pipe, a blocked chakra can cause energy on both sides of the energy center to back up not allowing bad "stuff" to exit and good "stuff" to enter. One would never think to go to a surgeon without proper training. With a scalpel in their hands, they could cause major damage even with the best of intentions. Since our chakras are just as vital to us, it is highly suggested for one to be properly trained and understand the mechanics of this type of cleansing before it is attempted. Your local New Age and Occult stores should have contacts with people properly trained in this technique and can pass along that training.

Interview With A Psychic Vampire
Normally when we use the term "vampire" we think of Dracula and other creatures that suck blood and kill their victims. A Psychic Vampire is a person that feeds off the energy of others. They crave other people’s energy but they do not kill their prey. They are not restricted to nighttime, nor can they turn any one else into a Psychic Vampire. Yes, a stake through the heart will kill them, but then again, whom wouldn’t it kill? Many of you may be wondering why Psychic Vampirism is being included as a healing art.

Up till now, we have been discussing energy, energy blockages and how to get rid of such blockages. A properly trained Psychic Vampire can take that blockage from you without disturbing other energies and ingest the blockage in to them self. This works as a double benefit; you are able to have the blockage removed; they can satisfy their craving for "foreign" energy.

Psychic Vampires are much more prevalent than one may think. You yourself could be one and not realize it. If you have ever been in contact with a person that afterward left you completely exhausted, you have probably experienced a Psychic Vampire. If you are some one that can talk with various people gaining more and more strength with each new person you meet, you could be a vampire who is unaware you are feeding on people’s energy.

For the people that experience a Psychic Vampire who either does not realize they are depleting people of their energy or are maliciously feeding off people knowing exactly what is occurring, it can be a very difficult thing. Most Psychic Vampires are aware of their trait and many understand and work to suppress this trait so as to not cause any discomfort for others around them.

When trained properly, they can make excellent healers. They also help to recycle the negative energy the Earth may have difficulty processing. Psychic Vampires have the ability to ingest just about any kind of energy in to their system. Energy that most of us hope to never come in contact with, they can "eat" and recycle. This ability makes them very valuable to Mother Earth and the people they help to heal.

Though healers in their own right, Psychic Vampires cannot channel energy to others. Their system is so accustomed to drawing energy in and they literally need this energy to survive, that they cannot give it back. Also, since Psychic Vampires are able to deal with all types of awful energy, you probably would not want the energy they utilize, it would probably make you all the more sick.

There are ways of protecting your self from vampiric attacks. You can envision a protective wall with several layers built up around you. This, however, does not guarantee that you won’t be attacked. Psychic Vampires are very powerful and can eventually break through the walls you put up if they wanted to work that hard on it. Usually they will realize you are going to be tough to penetrate and move on to an easier person.

Another form of protecting yourself is to channel some life force energy (not your own energy) to the Psychic Vampire. You will be able to maintain your energy as well as carry on your experience with the person while they are "feeding" on the universe’s energy. As with every body, they have limits. They do become full after a while and you won’t have to consciously send them energy.

It is not necessarily recommended that these healers be sought out. Many do not advertise the fact that this is what they do and many do not view it as a healing art. Also, many have not mastered the art of only taking what is bad. They have natural instincts that compel them to feed until they are full and it takes a lot of control to resist these urges. It is very possible for Psychic Vampires to overcome this urge but to date, it is not known whether there are any books or outspoken teachers discussing this topic.

Reiki the Masses
Reiki is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of healing today. It got its name from two Japanese words, Rei meaning spiritual guidance and Ki meaning life force energy. Together, Reiki literally translates to spiritually guided life force energy.

Reiki is actually said to be the healing art that the Buddha used thousands of years ago. A Buddhist monk named Dr. Mikao Usui is credited for rediscovering this system of healing and reawakening it from a long slumber.

Dr. Usui searched the old texts of Buddha and found symbols and mantras that the Buddha is said to have used. The symbols and mantras were not working for him so he meditated and fasted for twenty-one days on the holy mountain of Mount Kori-Yama. While meditating, Dr. Usui had a magical experience that attuned his body to the symbols and mantras making him a channel for this ancient form of healing.

Reiki works with removing layers of blocked energy from a client. A Reiki practitioner is only a channel. The practitioner does not take someone’s energy in to them selves and the practitioner gives of their own energy. Reiki practitioners are very humble in that they usually do not claim responsibility for the healing. Because the energy is channeled through the practitioner, to compliment the practitioner would be like complimenting the bowl for a great soup. Practitioners are just vehicles for the energy but still do require training to learn to properly channel it.

When one is attuned to Reiki, it is a process in which the practitioner is energetically "hollowed out" from the crown chakra through the palms. At this point, a channel is created to allow the energy to flow freely from the crown chakra to the palms for direction.

Practitioners experience this energy many ways. Some practitioners will feel heat, some a tingling sensation, some will feel cold coming out of their palms. There is no one correct way to feel the energy. There have been completely capable and accomplished Reiki practitioners who claim to feel nothing coming out, but patient after patient is healed with their help. Feeling how energy works in you and with you is individual.

Many practitioners will begin a session with a centering and then a "scrape" of the energy field. This scrape allows the practitioner to remove any energy that is loosely clinging to the person’s energy field. It will be easier to remove any thing easily at the beginning than trying to use extra energy to work through it during the real session. When "scraping" a patient, hands need to be held perpendicular to the body. Think of it like this. If a bulldozer wants to move dirt from one area to another, would its blade be parallel to the ground to pat the dirt down or would it be perpendicular to push it along? It is the same with scraping. The idea is to move the energy down the field, not pack it down in to the body for the practitioner to later deal with.

Next, practitioners will sometimes run their hands above the body to feel where energy seems to be blocking up. An intense feel to the energy field may be a detection of a block. The areas seeming to pull energy from the practitioner’s hands could also be signs of blockages. The practitioner’s hands are like energy barometers. They can feel pressure, energy, and intensity.

At this point in the session, the practitioner will begin the actual Reiki part of the healing. The practitioner channels energy to the patient and helps to wash away the harmful blockage. They replace the harmful block with positive, healing Reiki energy that will help to restore energy balance to the patient.