Part III

In the 1970's and 1980's there was a surge in "New Age" healing therapies, from "pyramid power," music and sound tones, to crystal therapy, all claiming miraculous cures.   Some of them may have had validity, but the New York skeptic in me needed a high level of proof, to be incorporated into my practice.  Additionally, at that time, the majority of people in my Scarsdale community-based practice would have considered those practices, "voodoo" weird and not entertain their use.  However, when I had learned that a healing technique using the energy fields of the body to facilitate healing, was being taught at New York University, it caught my attention.

Dolores "Dee" Krieger Ph.D., a senior Professor of Nursing, had initiated a course at New York University as part of the nursing curriculum called, Therapeutic Touch.  A workshop was offered for healthcare professionals.  I applied and was accepted as part of a group of eighteen other professionals.  Dr. Krieger was a down-to-earth, no-nonsense science-based teacher.  Her respected credentials allowed her to develop and teach Therapeutic Touch in an academic setting at a prestigious university.  It was exactly what I was looking for in my quest to better understand how "energy" worked.

She explained that a person does not stop at his or her skin.  An energy field surrounds the body like a magnetic field surrounds a magnet.  Dr. Krieger held two magnets stuck together, then she turned one around so that the polarities were the same, causing them to repel each other. The closer they were together, the greater the repelling force.  We learned how to feel a similar, subtler repelling force between the palms of our hands by repetitively putting them together and pulling them apart in an accordion-like fashion. She said that the chakras in the hands had been used in healing since ancient times.  In my 1970's ignorance, I asked, "What is a Chakra?" (Pronounced shock-rah)

According to many eastern philosophies (such as Yoga), chakras are a system of energy vortexes. There are seven major Chakras considered as important as major organs in the body. They start from the crown of the head, go to the base of the spine, and correspond to the seven colors of the rainbow.*
After learning how to feel the "energy" between our hands, we moved on to the assessment.  Each of us alternately sat in a chair, fully clothed, as others passed their hands simultaneously over the right and left sides of the person seated.  When I passed my hands over a female director of a psychiatric hospital, I felt a "repelling" feeling over her right breast.  I repeated the procedure and felt in again.  After others in the seminar also confirmed the right versus left side difference, the woman said that she had recently been diagnosed with a cyst in her right breast.  That impressed me.  I could not diagnose what specific ailment she had, but I could locate an anatomical area that had a disruption in the "force".  In practice, this discovery would warrant further clinical testing to rule out any disease processes.

I also learned how to balance disruptions in the "force" by adding energy to an area that felt weak and to draw excessive energy away from hot, hyperactive areas.  The goal was to create balance in the Biofields between both sides of the body or to treat specific areas such as burns or wounds to give relief.  I was also invited to attend additional workshops at the Pumpkin Hollow retreat in upstate New York and was further instructed by Dora Kunz (a co-developer of Therapeutic Touch).  She was a gifted clairvoyant who was able to see the bioenergy fields and added further insight to my abilities and understanding of how healing energy works.

Now that I have used and taught different types of healing energy therapies for over 30 years, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to answer the question, "How does the energy work?", is to experience it!  When you learn how to actually feel it, that is when you will know that it exists and can be worked with.  That is when you will begin your privileged journey to helping others and to understand how healing energies work, by your personal experience of it. I am grateful to the many teachers who have taught me, and thankful that I am able to teach others how to use "The Force" for healing.

In the classic movie, Star Wars, Luke Skywalker asks Obi-Wan Kenobi, "What is The Force?" Obi-Wan replies that it is an energy field that surrounds and connects all things.  Therapeutic Touch is one way for you to connect with and use The Force to enhance healing processes and for the greater good of mankind.

This may sound like science fiction, however, on the National Institutes of Health website, http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/, a study listed under "Energy Medicine: Physical Properties of Energy Fields" wherein: "…when individuals touch, one person's electrocardiograph (heart) signal is registered in the other person's electroencephalogram  (brain) EEG and elsewhere on the other person's body. In addition, one individual's cardiac signal can be registered in another person's EEG recording when two people sit quietly opposite one another." This demonstrates that one person's energy field will connect, interact and affect another person's bioelectric readings, even without touching. Consciously or unconsciously, The Force is always interacting and effecting people.

To me, this example embodies the concept of The Force and that people attuned to healing can indeed learn to transmit to, and affect energy, beneficially to and in others.  For instance, the chakras in the hands and soles of the feet take in and give out energy.  The vortex chakras in the hands have been traditionally used for "laying on of hands" and are ideal for channeling energy to a receiver.

In my practice and teachings, I have told my patients and students that it is unethical to promise cures for any diseases.  As a practitioner of healing energies, I feel that one can never know the full effects of how the energy will work in advance.  However there are undeniable benefits and results that have been clinically verified and duplicated.

The therapeutictouch.org website states that uses of Therapeutic Touch that have a high reliability (very effective) are:

• Decreasing anxiety, stress and pain
• Evoking the relaxing response
• Promoting wound healing

These factors are certainly an aid in promoting the healing process in a safe effective manner.  Natural methods for relief of pain and creating comfort are an admirable accomplishment and should be propagated more widely in the healing professions.  Dr. Krieger has stated that her nurses have achieved these results effectively in hospitals with children suffering pain from cancer and severe burns.  In the care of burns, where children cannot be touched or massaged, because Therapeutic Touch is always applied over the skin in the bioenergy fields rather than in direct contact with the skin, it is an effective soothing way to decrease anxiety, stress. pain, and promote wound healing.  (Dolores Krieger has authored seven books listed on Amazon.com)

In our present world of scientific advances, it is also incumbent for us to utilize these ancient technologies to relieve pain and create comfort in people suffering from any disease process.  I get enormous personal satisfaction when I see the wonder and delight when someone first experiences "feeling" the energy.

 I hope that sharing my experiences in this section has given you greater insight and entices you to explore, experience, and indeed learn, "how healing energy works". 

May The Force be with you

* Eastern diagrams show that the Chakras funnel energy into the spinal cord and nerve system and on to the major physical organs and to the cells.  Spinal Mobilization techniques, chiropractic and yoga poses that stretch the spine help to open up the major and minor pathways that channel energy to the body and have the potential to enhance a person's healing capabilities.

Each acupuncture point is also a small vortex of energy.  The acupuncture meridian pathways of energy string the points together like a cord of Christmas lights, but the lights act like little electric transformers. Stimulating the points with pins or other means helps to balance and energize the meridian energy lines that in turn vitalizes the concomitant organ systems.  This has not been scientifically documented in every aspect, however it has been and can readily be proved that each acupuncture point (over 350 covering the body) that was transcribed in the Yellow Emperor's Book over 5000 years ago elicits a significant spike/change in voltage when compared to the surrounding skin areas.  That's pretty remarkable.