Energy Healing is surrounded by so many conflicting ideas. So, let me clear up some of the confusion. The more you understand about this exciting age-old practise that is becoming more and more common place. The more you will be able to make informed choices about your personal health and wellbeing. Energy healing facilitates wellness via the subtle unseen energies that underpin all of life. It’s a behind the scenes process if you like. This subtle energy is often categorized as the mental, emotional and spiritual influences, however it is much more than this.
What Is Allopathic Medicine’s View Point
In the past allopathic or modern medicine has only focused on the physical symptoms and rarely connecting the dots between mental and emotional states and physical diseases. This in part, is because medical science’s original mandate was to explore the nature of the manifest world and leave the world of subtle energy to religion. However, now modern medicine is saying that your mental and emotional state impacts upon your health. Generally, Energy Healing endeavours to get to the foundational cause rather than just focus on the physical symptoms. Our physical sysmptoms are generally not the cause they appear at the end of a chain reaction. Both energy medicine and modern medicine have a part to play in keeping you well. By exploring the myths of Energy Medicine I hope to level the playing field.
10 Myths Concerning Energy Healing
1. I have to Believe in Energy Healing for it to Work for Me!
Before I address this myth lets first look at a definition of the word belief. A belief is an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists, something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction. Obviously if you have a firmly held opinion of something you are likely to defend the opinion that you hold as true. However, your defensive stance does not guarantee truth. Many individuals once believed the world was flat. Believing in something certainly means that you are more open to experiencing and witnessing it in your life. The reverse is also true, if you do not believe that something exists you tend to deny its existence. However, just because you don’t believe in something does not mean that it is not true. Here are some everyday examples that suggest that even though you may not believe in something it still can have an effect in your life.
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- It is common for people who win Lotto to say that they never believed that they would ever win, and yet they did!
- The very first time you were given a pain relief medicine as a child you did not believe one way or the other concerning its effectiveness. Yet presumably it still had a positive effect.
- In Australia, the vast majority of the medical profession do not believe that homoeopathy has any effect. Yet this medicine is widely used in Europe and there are hundreds of scientific peer reviewed research papers that prove that it does have an effect. In fact, in some cases equal to many drugs, so it is very likely that if you took a homeopathic medicine it would have effect regardless of your belief.
2. There is No Scientific Evidence to Support Energy Healing.
Many years ago this statement would have been true. In fact, before 1905, scientists believed that energy and matter were two totally separate things until Albert Einstein showed that mass and energy are two sides of the same coin. Physics tells us that all atoms and molecules generate some form of energy. They all send and receive some form of electromagnetic waves. The world around us is far more than the compact mass we see with our naked eyes. Today a search on Google will yield vast amounts of research that supports the effectiveness of Energy healing. There are also some very good books written by reputable scientists that offer theories of how and why energy healing works. You may wish to explore authors such as Lynne McTaggart or Bruce Lipton.
3. The Effects of Energy Healing Will Not Last
Whether Energy Healing lasts or not is very dependent upon the nature of the problem and the type of energy being utilized. In the case of Reiki, which is very good at providing relaxation, naturally these relaxation effects are not going to last. I might add in here also, the effects of many medications do not last indefinitely. Likewise, you will not get deep long-term healing from a simple temporary increase in energy. It must also be taken into consideration that there are some types of Energy Healing practise that are really good a clearing away the symptoms, but not the root cause. No different than many medical drugs and procedures. However, there are other healing systems that take care of the symptoms as well as resolve the root cause.
4. Real Physical Healing is not Possible with Energy Healing
Not all, but the vast majority of Energy Healing systems practised in the western world are top down healing systems. By this, I mean they primarily deal with the subtle energetic causes of illness and life circumstances first. This subtle energy is not as dense as our physical bodies. Energy Healing facilitates change on the more subtle energies behind or above the physical body. For example, if you are depressed a skilled healer will help you deal with your mental and emotional patterns to bring about relief from the depression. Of course, these patterns cannot be seen, what can be seen is their effect – depression. Once the patterns have been resolved the depression will lift.
Most Energy Healing works from the subtle top down energies, so they affect the unmanifest physical expression first. A medical drug uses a physical substance to bring about a more direct physical effect. That being said, there are traditional healers in many traditional cultures who are able to demonstrate the ability to mend bones and other amazing feats. These healers directly affect the physical energy. For this type of healing to occur there is usually the involvement of a strong faith in the possibility of physical healing on behalf of the healer the healee as well as the community. In this situation energy healing is a fundamental feature of their culture and everyday life much the same way as modern medicine is for western societies.
The western mind is usually far too closed and pragmatic to allow for the possibility of spontaneous healing of a say a broken bone. Partly, because, many sectors of science and modern medicine have spent an enormous amount of time discrediting the possibility of spontaneous physical healing. It simply does not fit with their scientific world view. So you can see that it would be hard for this type of healing to regularly and consistently occur in mainstream western society. However, it does still happen occasionally, and I am sure various members of other less westernized cultures still exercise this ability regularly.
5. Energy Healing is only for the Weak Minded
When someone is labelled as weak minded there is usually a judgement made that their thinking processes are irrational or perhaps simplistic. However, in reality a highly skilled healer must have a very rigorous mind. Just as, a physician is well versed in the anatomy of the body a metaphysician or energy healer is well versed in the anatomy of the human energy system. Professional healers are often very educated in their field of expertise as well as the world of science. Their minds must be open and tenacious in searching for the energy patterns that hold the key to their client’s ailments. From a client’s point of view, they must also be of sound mind coupled with the courage to face their own inner heartaches.
6. Energy Healing is just a Very Fancy Placebo
A placebo is harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect. A placebo pill is often used in drug trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the new medication. The reason for this is – on many occasions people often experience significant improvement when they take a pill they have been told will make them feel better. This is the case irrespective of whether the pill contains any therapeutic substance. So, if, you think about it all drugs are being tested to see if they are stronger than mind over matter. If they are then they get a tick of approval despite the unwanted side effects. What if we turn this argument on its head. What if a proportion of the effect Energy Healing was in fact placebo? – i.e. An Energy healing facilitates the mind of the person being healed to self heal. Would that not be okay, which would you rather? A drug or procedure that is designed to overpower your own mind? Or a procedure which facilitates your own empowerment?
7. All Energy Healing is the Same
In recent times, the word Reiki is often bantered around as being synonymous with energy healing. However, Reiki is just one system of energy healing. Reiki originally came from Japan. All cultures have systems of energy healing. China probably has the most extensively developed energy healing systems. Some well know energy healing systems that have originated from China are:
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- Accupuncture
- Qi Gong
- Tai Chi
It is worthwhile noting that these systems of healing are thousands of years old. Many religions also have systems of energy healing such as prayer and the laying on of hands. Not all energy healing systems are designed to do the same thing. Likewise, the skill and knowledge of the person engaged in energy healing process greatly influences the outcome of the healing. This is no different really than not all doctors have the same skill or specialization in their training and practice.
8. Everyone can Offer Energy Healing
That’s like saying that just because you can apply a bandaid or that you have studied first aid that you are qualified the same as a doctor. It is true that we are all energy. However, if you were to transfer your personal energy into another for their healing you would seriously deplete yourself and more than likely become sick yourself. The 1985 movie titled Cocoon was an excellent demonstration of energy transference and the life-threatening effects for those who gave too much.
On a more personal level I am sure that you may already know what it is like to be around someone who seems to miraculously drain you of your energy. However, it is also true that a mother’s touch or the touch of a loved one can be very healing. A mother’s touch is weighted on the side of the power of love. A specialist energy healer is empowered by love as well as skill and knowledge. Everyone can learn to plug an electrical appliance into a power source. Responsibility for operating the appliance and managing the cost of the energy source is another thing entirely.
9. Energy Healing can Only Come from God
This very old belief is based in Society’s past understanding of the cosmos or universal energies that surround us. In all cultures healers have connected with a source of energy outside of themselves to perform in their healing work. In many cases, this energy was called the god or the goddess. Unfortunately gaining favour from the gods or goddess often came as the cost of some type of sacrifice. It is necessary for most healers to connect into an outside energy source to ensure that they do not deplete their own vitality. In some traditions, is taught how to directly generate electrical energy within their own body. However, this source does not need to be owned or limited by any particular religious doctrine and understanding.
10. Only the Superstitious get Involved in Energy Healing
Let me start with a definition of superstitious: an irrational belief – i.e. One held in spite of evidence to the contrary – usually involving supernatural forces and associated with rituals. On the basis of this definition, Australian doctors could be labelled as superstitious in that they hold an irrational belief that homoeopathy doesn’t work despite the fact there is rational scientific evidence to the contrary. In any case, there is an increasing amount of scientific evident to support Energy Healing.
Seriously though, superstition is often dismissed as old wives tales or beliefs generated from uneducated or primitive cultures of people. Again it must be remembered that absence of proof is not evidence of absence. Science until recently has never explored the world of energy, it was not their focus.
As our minds open up more to new ideas and concepts it is being discovered that many things that were previously dismissed as superstitious are in fact real. The difference between something that is “supernatural” and natural is – one can be explained by a scientific theory the other cannot. Interestingly, we all experience a seeming supernatural force when we fall in love or when we have the ability to do amazing things to save a loved one.
I hope the Top 10 Myths about Energy Healing have cleared up some misconceptions you may have had about energy healing.
