The term energy healing is used to describe a variety of holistic healing techniques that use the natural mind-body connection to promote emotional and physical wellbeing. By accessing, channeling, balancing, and manipulating the body’s natural energy centers, energy healing processes may help support health. Energy healing is based on connecting the subconscious and conscious, engaging the whole person to promote health and wellbeing. Unlike the prescription medications and invasive surgeries of conventional medical practices, energy healing combines powerful physical, mental, and spiritual aspects to enable the body’s natural healing ability.

 

The Origins of Energy Healing

Traditional Chinese Medicine introduced ancient energy practitioners to the body’s energy meridian system and the 7 chakras. The 7 chakras are said to be the energy centers of the body, with each chakra influencing a different part of who you are and how you feel. Over the last century or so, modern scientists and physicists have discovered that these ancient people were onto something — in fact, everything is made of energy! Many medical practitioners are beginning to see and use the benefits of energy healing in their own practices. Hundreds of hospitals in the United States are now making Reiki available (one of the basic forms of energy healing).

 

The concept of energy healing can also be traced back several thousand years to an ancient Indian spiritual tradition of universal energy called Prana. Prana, or the breath of life, is based on the idea that universal energy is the basic component and source of every life form. In the third millennium B.C., the ancient Chinese people founded the belief that all matter is pulsing with vital energy they called ch’i. This universal energy is composed of two opposing forces — yin and yang — that when balanced, promote optimal physical and mental health. The common holistic practice of acupuncture, for example, is designed to help balance the yin and yang energies in the body. Today, energy healing practitioners continue to use these and other similar ideologies to help people access conscious and subconscious energies that may promote prime physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

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Everything is Energy

People who practice energy healing embrace the fact that everything is made of energy, including our bodies, emotions, and thoughts. As energy beings, our bodies are connected to the earth and the rest of the universe in unseen ways. The energy of your body connects to the energy of everything around you, and one can influence the other. Without this unseen force, we wouldn’t have life. We need this constant flow of energy to keep our bodies, minds, and spirits alive and whole.

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Energy healers would probably tell you that this energy flow is what makes physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual recovery possible. While we see and think of our bodies as flesh and bone, our physical bodies are only a small part of what we’re made of. While energy healing practices vary in methods and techniques, each is based on the idea that every aspect of the body is intimately connected to the others and to the universe.