|
The Healing Effect of Energy
I sat in a straight-backed chair in intense pain curiously wondering what a "healer" would do. I had been to traditional medical practitioners and this was the first of what was to become many ventures into the unknown. It was back in the late 1970's, and I had been going from doctor to doctor trying to get rid of sharp abdominal pain and constriction, along with deep-set anxiety. The consensus of the doctors was that this was all in my head. According to all the medical tests there was nothing much the matter with me. I had been x-rayed from the top of my digestive track, with an upper G.I. series, to the lower part, with a barium enema x-ray. It all showed nothing of note, except perhaps an irritable bowel syndrome. A six-hour glucose tolerance test showed that my blood sugar was normal. All this was good and fine, but inside my body I hurt. At the time I worked as a Reporter/ Researcher at Fortune Magazine. When my anxiety and pain level grew so severe that I could no longer make it to work, I ended up on disability. The frightening pain would start with a terrible constriction in my abdomen. This would be followed by an intense feeling of tightness. Sometimes, particularly when I was under stress, the feeling would become tighter and tighter, and it felt like something inside would give. I would break out in a sweat, and thought I was having a heart attack. The medical doctors prescribed stomach tranquilizers, and regular tranquilizers. I also was swallowing large amounts of Mylanta. But I felt worse rather that better. When you are in intense pain and nothing is working, you look for alternatives. A friend mentioned that a healer was in town, so I made an appointment. I had nothing to loose. I sat in the chair across from the healer, Judith, as I told her my symptoms. She confirmed my feelings by saying, "I see a lot of blackness extending over your liver and your abdomen. It is very dark." I thought to myself, "but the doctors found nothing." She then said, "I am going to do a healing on you now. I will put my hands on your shoulders and run energy into you. All you just need to do is sit quietly there and let me work." I sat still as Judith came around and stood behind me and put her hands on both my shoulders. I kept my eyes closed as I felt a soothing energy and warmth flowing out of her hands into me. I felt my shoulders relax, and then the energy flowed down my back and as I saw different colors. I slowly experienced my abdomen relaxing and my discomfort being relieved. She stood there and worked for about forty-five minutes. At the end I opened my eyes and found that the excruciating pain I had been in was now almost gone. It was hard to believe. I had been in pain for so long. The pain did come back after several hours, but never to the extent I had been in. I was sold on energy healing and I soon found myself in Judith's classes, determined to learn how to do this wonderful healing work. I studied with her for several months, and then moved on to study Homeopathy. I continued my studies of energetic therapies, got my massage license, and in the late eighties I entered a longer more intensive program. "Can anyone learn to do the laying-on of hands healing?" I wondered to myself, as I registered for the four-year healing program at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. I had no abilities, just a pressing desire to learn. It was in my sophomore year that I learned that anyone could do this work, namely myself. Something very dramatic had indeed happened when I worked on a fellow student. One afternoon when it was time to do the healings in class, I had partnered up with Robin. I started by asking what her presenting complaint was. She told me that she had a urinary tract infection that she had had for two or three months. She had done everything to heal it and it had persisted in staying. She had first been to see a physician and taken medication. That had not alleviated the symptoms. Then she had gone to an alternative practitioner and taken herbal and homeopathic treatments. That, too, had not worked. I said my prayers, performed some exercises, and proceeded with the healing with no expectations. After about forty-five minutes, she told me that she had to get up and go to the bathroom. I thought myself a great failure, she must still be in pain. However, when she came back, she said that the pain was gone; the intense burning was gone. It was hard to believe, but it was true, the pain never came back. After that I knew that everyone has the ability to direct healing energies, for I was certainly just an ordinary person. Such was the beginning of my healing practice and my desire to help others with this drugless therapy, and also to teach others who want to learn. We all have the ability to affect someone in a healing manner when we touch someone or think of someone in loving way. Study after study confirms this innate ability that humans have to heal another. Healing through energy is becoming more and more recognized in the medical community. Dolores Kreiger, a nurse and professor at the New York University Graduate School of Nursing, founded Therapeutic Touch, has trained thousands of nurses in this technique. Therapeutic Touch is not just a simple touch such as in massage, but the movement of one's hands over the body with an intent to help or to heal. The addition of the positive thought or intent adds to the effectiveness of this energy work. It has been found that the intention of the practitioner to heal along with feelings of love and caring affects the recipient in a positive way. One study with Therapeutic Touch was done on 106 institutionalized elderly people. As reported in the March 2000 Alternative Medicine magazine, the result was that the "anxiety level of subjects who received therapeutic touch was found to be significantly lower than the anxiety levels of subjects who received a back rub without therapeutic touch." Another research study using Therapeutic Touch reported in the Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine Journal (Vol 1, No. 1) on surgical wound healing "showed that treated subjects experienced a significant acceleration in the rate of wound healing as compared to non-treated subjects". So scientific research is beginning to validate the healing capabilities of energetic and non-touch therapies in conjunction with traditional methodologies. In my own practice I have found that muscle aches and soreness respond very well to massage. However, when I add energetic work with an intent to heal, the body responds at a faster rate of healing. I remember one woman walking in on crutches with a terrible sprained ankle, and walking out carrying the crutches. I remember working with two hair stylists with sore arms and relieving them totally of their pain. I find the body mends faster and more effectively when I add the energetic component to my work. As for healing yourself, it always feels good to be held and touched by someone who loves us, and told, "Everything's going to be all right." There is a life energy that we feel when we are touched in a loving way, and when we in turn touch someone in a loving way. We need to learn how to love ourselves, to accept ourselves just as we are in the moment. We need to raise our awareness to connect with a loving Source, and allow that love to course through us enlivening everyone and everything around us. Phyllis Winslow is the Director of the Institute for Health and Healing, certified by the Barbara Brennan School of healing and a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT). She can be reached for private appointments and information on classes at (520) 909-3455 or (520)323-09325. |
