Types of Energy Healing
The ABCs of Energy
Healing lists basic principles of energy healing which are common to all
types of energy healing. On this page, we discuss how systems differ.
How Systems Differ
Many forms of
energy healing therapies already exist, and more are being developed all the
time. The field of energy healing or “energy work” has a very wide range
of programs and focuses. This is partly due to the fact that healers have
a wide variety of backgrounds and natural gifts. Everyone has a different
"energetic makeup", and healing will be expressed differently through different
people. When a healer starts to teach others, different techniques,
structures and methods of teaching emerge.
training: APPRENTICESHIP VS. STANDARDIZED
PROGRAM
Traditionally, healing was learned in an apprenticeship. Many people
today still learn healing through an apprenticeship with an experienced healer.
There are now, however, many programs which have been developed with a
standardized kind of method or curriculum, so that the training does not
necessarily occur with the originator of the program. Each way of learning
has its value.
Standardized
programs allow for large numbers of people to be trained in a particular style,
which can create a pool of healers using the same technique for the sake of
research. With a large group of people involved, organizations can be
formed for development of standards of practice, study and certification of
healers. A successful program can lead to public recognition and education
about energy therapy. Those trained in a particular method are brought
into association with others who speak a common language.
There are advantages also to learning as an apprentice. Study
in an apprenticeship involves a one-to-one relationship with the teacher
allowing for a depth of learning that may not be possible in a standardized
curriculum. The learning can be tailored to the apprentice's specific
strengths and weaknesses, and can take into account the apprentice's unique
gifts. This can create a greater opportunity for intuitive development. An apprenticeship
also allows the student to come into more intimate contact with and knowledge of
the healer/teacher's work.
Scientific vs. Spiritual
Underpinnings
Some
energy healing programs emerged from a more spiritual tradition, and some were
born from a more scientific approach. Often they have more in common than they
differ, despite the theoretical underpinnings. Even those which evolved within
the nursing profession with a strong scientific base, such as Healing Touch and
Therapeutic Touch, include reference to the spiritual levels of life. Most
programs recognize “spiritual layers” of the energy field. Energy healing
actually provides an arena where science and spirituality clearly meet.
Some
energy healing systems have been created by healers with backgrounds in
conventional medicine. These programs have a structure and language which
makes them easy to integrate into the conventional medical system. There
are also energy healing programs which have little to do with the conventional
medical system, and may even have a very different focus, such as a focus on
spiritual development or planetary healing.
Techniques used
A very obvious difference between programs is the actual techniques which are
used. Many programs use similar techniques, while some are quite unique.
The ABCs of Energy Healing describes the essential
principles of how energy healing works and what the techniques do, but the
mechanics and form of the techniques themselves can differ considerably.
Techniques which involve the use of the hands are the most easy to recognize and
describe as they involve actual positions and movements which can be seen.
Energy healing can be accomplished through many avenues, however, and often
involves the actual interaction of the energy field of the healer and healee.
In a sense, techniques are the most superficial aspect of an energy healing
training. The development of consciousness and qualities of presence of
the healer, as well as the healer's energy field as an instrument of healing, is
more essential and cannot be captured in the description of a technique.
Energy healing programs will usually include specific techniques, but also
training which develops the basic capacities of the healer.
Attunements
Some programs include “attunements”. Reiki, which is probably the most
common form of energy healing, has attunements as part of its training.
Attunements are meant to open the student to healing energies, increase
alignment with the "universal mind" and make touch more potent.
While
some people feel receiving attunements has been a vital part of developing the
capacity to heal, many people achieve equally satisfactory results without ever
receiving any kind of formal attunement. The majority of programs do not
involve attunements, but there will be some sort of process in the training
which helps a person to increase sensitivity to energies and open up to greater
energetic flow and higher energetic “vibrations”. This may simply happen as one
automatically “resonates” with the energy field of the teacher, or it may be
facilitated by meditative processes which enable one to enter a more centered
and receptive state. Learning in a group setting amplifies the energy of
individuals, and there a innumerable other ways that the expansion of healing
capacity can occur.
Types
of Energy Utilized
Most programs make reference to some sort of universal life energy
which has been recognized in various cultures and traditions throughout time as
“chi”, “prana”, shakti, etc. “Reiki”, in fact, is often translated as “universal
life energy”. Energy healing commonly involves increasing the flow and quantity of
energy. Although this is an important part of energy healing, it is only one
aspect. What occurs is actually a lot more complex, and hasn’t been fully
understood or described by anyone at this time.
What can be said is that energy healing does not involve just one kind of energy
or energetic frequency, and it is not just a matter of increasing quantity and
flow of energy. The writings of Alice Bailey describe a number of energies
which comprise the energy field, and two major categories of healing –
“magnetic” in which "prana" (defined as "vital planetary fluid) is channeled
through the hands and “radiatory” which involves a radiation of “soul energy”.
This is only one example of the many kinds of energy which may be involved in
healing. Different programs may involve both different energetic
"qualities" or "frequencies" as well as varying techniques for using them in the
service of healing.
Variations in Models of Energy Field
Programs may have completely different models of the energy field with which
they work. Many programs use depictions of the energy field which have had
a long history, such as the chakra system. Others descriptions of the
energy field have evolved more recently. Barbara Brennan’s elaborate description of the human energy field
in Hands of Light has been adopted by many healers. Her model
combines ancient understandings with her own observations.
There are many other descriptions which are highly unique and it is possible
some represent structures of the field which are newly coming into being as a
result of evolution or which are simply not observed by most people due to the
limitations of their perceptions. (It requires development of the observer's energy
field to form a basis for what is observed!) Peggy DuBro, founder of EMF balancing, for example,
describes a grid of energies which is unique.
Although not formally an energy healing program, the work of Sanaya Roman and
Duane Packer (in the Awakening Your Lightbody course), works with “vibrational
energy body” and “lightbody” centers which are described as being more subtle
than, and in a sense underlying, the functioning of the chakras. Working with these centers does evoke a higher vibratory quality and
seems to create coherence in the field more readily than working with the
chakras. Some programs make reference to higher, newer frequencies that are
becoming revealed or structured in the human energy field as well as that of the
planet itself.
The qualities of
the energy field of the healer will add a lot of variation to the actual effect
of any particular healing, as there is much that is not accounted for by the
models described in different healing programs.
Aspects of Energy Field Addressed
Modalities
and programs vary in terms of which aspects of the energy field are
addressed. Different techniques may be directed to different aspects of the
energy anatomy, for example, meridians, chakras, various layers of the field.
The healing may work with any of the following.
-
Meridians
-
Chakras -- major and minor, as
traditionally described
-
Chakras -- those which are
"newly emerging" or being discovered
-
"Etheric" (often said to be the
first layer of the field, like an energetic blueprint)
-
Emotional energy body
-
Mental energy body
-
Astral layer (defined
differently by various healers)
-
Causal body
-
Spiritual layers of energy field
-- specifically the following 3 named by Barbara Brennan in Hands of Light:
5th layer - "etheric template"
6th layer - "celestial"
7th layer - "ketheric template"
-
Lightbody and vibrational energy
bodies as described by Packer and Roman
-
Universal calibration lattice as
described by Dubro
-
Various other models
associated with diverse techniques
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