What is Energy Medicine?

VERMONT CENTER FOR ENERGY MEDICINE

Holistic, Energy-based Therapies for Body, Mind & Spirit

Benefits of Energy Medicine:

Decreases stress
Induces relaxation
Revitalizes energy
Enhances a sense of well-being
Facilitates the release of long-term issues and chronic pain patterns
Approaches healthcare holistically
Improves communication within the body
Gently enhances quality of life
Complements any existing healthcare system

Results are evident within all aspects of health…Body. Mind. Spirit!

Energy Medicine can Address:
Stress management
Preventative healthcare
Chronic pain & muscular-skeletal problems
Tiredness & fatigue
Emotional imbalances
Toxicity
Allergies
Environmental factors
Digestive problems
Eating disorders
Hormonal imbalances
Learning problems
Personal growth & soul-level healing
And much more...

WHAT IS ENERGY MEDICINE?
By Cindy Fulton, MA, NCTMB

Optimum health is your birthright. Your body has an innate drive to function at its highest possible state of health. When you have symptoms, it is your body telling you that something is not in balance.

Many things can be done to treat symptoms, and although they may help for the moment, treating symptoms will not take care of the original cause, but simply mask it. Most likely, the imbalance will continue and will show up at a later time, in some other fashion, requiring stronger and stronger forms of symptom relief.

What is really needed is for us to slow down enough to notice the imbalance and take steps to bring things back into optimum balance. It is my personal experience that once this state of balance is achieved, symptoms improve.

This is the gift of Energy Medicine… supporting our return to an optimum, healthy state of being.

In simple terms, Energy Medicine (also referred to as energy work, subtle energy healing, vibrational medicine, spiritual healing and energy-based therapies) is a broad label for various types of healthcare and healing work that provide treatment through balancing the human energy system. Energy Medicine techniques are used to work with the natural healing ability of the body.

Energy Medicine is also a complex science and an intuitive healing art, a unique blending of Western scientific understanding and Eastern cultural and spiritual tradition.

THE BODY ELECTRIC

Although Energy Medicine is an ancient healing art that has been around for thousands of years, Western research in the field is just beginning to gain momentum, and with promising results. Recent studies have shown that Energy Medicine may reduce symptoms associated with stress, speed up recovery time, help with chronic health issues, decrease pain, and enhance the immune system.

So, how does it work? According to physics, everything is simply energy. Over time, as scientists have studied matter at greater and greater depth, they have discovered that from cells to atoms to subatomic particles… at the center of it all is ENERGY. Everything is simply energy.

Energy has a gradient from lower to higher frequencies. Lower frequencies are denser so we can easily see them. This is the physical world that appears as matter: Solids are denser than liquids, and liquids are denser than gases.

This concept can be applied to the biology of the human body as well. For example, bone is denser than muscle, and muscle is denser than body fluids, such as blood. Going a step further to the mind level, thoughts and emotions are simply energy with less density than physical matter, but energy, still the same. We know our thoughts and emotions exist, but it takes a trained eye to begin to see where they are held in the physical body and in the energetic field.

The energy system, (chakras, meridians, subtle energy field, etc.) vibrates at a subtle level beyond where most can perceive it, but it too can be perceived with some practice. An energy worker uses finely tuned energy perception skills to assess and balance the subtle energy system.

According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. The focus of Energy Medicine is to access and guide the transformation of energy to serve the highest good of the client. The practitioner may focus on increasing or decreasing the amount of energy in a specific area. Or sometimes there are blocks within the subtle energy system that can be transformed by condensing, diffusing or removing energy.

EAST MEETS WEST

For as long as history has been recorded, cultures and spiritual traditions have recognized an animating life force that makes up who we are. Scientists and healers alike have acknowledged the existence of this energy and its important role in sustaining life and maintaining health.

As you know, our bodies are composed of various systems such as the nervous system, digestive system, and circulatory system. What many people do not realize is that our bodies also have a subtle energy system through which life force (sometimes called qi/chi, spirit or prana) flows. Energy medicine is the practice of balancing this subtle energy system in order to improve physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health and wellbeing. Energy work gets at the root cause by harmonizing imbalances at an energetic level before they completely solidify in the physical body.

How do you measure the life force that animates us, the vibration that is the difference between being dead or alive? This is an esoteric concept that is difficult to measure using the scientific method. However, as history has taught us, just because it cannot YET be measured through one way of thinking doesn’t mean it is not true.

We all have some sense of this animating force within us, but tend not to think about it. We go about daily living using this life force to carry out our activities. It isn’t until this life force becomes depleted or misused that we get a wake-up call of some kind that manifests as physical illness and/or mental-emotional imbalances.

A skilled Energy Medicine practitioner is trained to sense this animating life force. Are there areas in the body that have an excess or deficiency of this life force? Are there areas in the body where this life force is caught in a habitual way of moving or stagnating that is not healthy for the individual?

In Energy Medicine, the practitioner is balancing these various energies to create harmony and re-establish healthy communication within the body. Each organ, endocrine and body part has its own energy system and consciousness. This is true at the cellular level, as well.

Sophisticated communication exists within the various aspects of the subtle energy system. When life force energy is flowing freely to our organ systems, health and wellbeing is maintained. When life force energy is blocked and not flowing freely, our physiology and functioning is impaired. Energy imbalances may result in eventual illness and disease if not corrected.

ANATOMY OF THE SUBTLE ENERGY SYSTEM

According to the Vedic tradition from India, the energy system consists of chakras, nadis, marma points, and the subtle energy field (aura).

The seven main chakras (“wheels of light” in Sanskrit) are specialized energy centers that work as valves to regulate the flow of life force into the body. Each chakra has its own vibration, color and sound that resonate with particular organs, endocrines, life issues, and ways of knowing/sensing.

Life force, or prana, enters the body through the chakras and travels through the nadi system (the energy transport system within the body) to particular cells, organs and tissues that resonate with that chakra’s unique frequency. The nadis act like channels or rivers carrying our life force energy throughout the body.

Marma points, similar to acupuncture or acupressure points in Chinese medicine, are energy points with focused prana that can be used to balance the bodymind complex and treat specific health issues.

Finally, each person is surrounded by a multi-layered subtle energy field that mirrors, and helps us process, our life experience. There are varied systems for describing these layers, but it is generally accepted that there are physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual layers to this subtle energy field.

ENERGY WORK IN ACTION

The Energy Medicine practitioner can balance any aspect(s) of the energy system depending on the needs of the client. The following example has to do with balancing the chakra system since it may be most familiar to the reader.

When there is a blockage in a particular chakra, that specific vibration of energy is not available to nourish the related body systems and mental-emotional states. For example, if the solar plexus chakra (located in the soft area below the sternum or breastbone) is blocked, and there is a deficiency of this yellow, fiery energy, one is likely to have physical imbalances in the upper gastro-intestinal system and mental-emotional issues related to excess worry and lack of confidence. If this is a long-term problem, it may be seen physically as a collapse forward in the area of the lower ribs and diaphragm.

Or if there is excess energy in the solar plexus chakra, a person may also have digestion problems although more likely related to the liver, gall bladder and pancreas. With this imbalance there can be a tendency to anger easily and be overly aggressive in life. The same lack of confidence exists as seen with the deficient solar plexus chakra, it just manifests differently as outward aggression as a self-protective response.

Once the chakra is balanced, the related energy is free to flow through the nadi system to related locations throughout the body to nourish them with life force energy. Consequently, physical and mental-emotional symptoms improve. It is important to note that symptoms are NOT being treated. The symptom relief is simply a result of treating the root cause of the imbalance.

This is an over-simplified example, and treatment is much more complicated than shown here. When someone comes to me for an energy work session, I spend time talking with the client about particular health and life issues. Not to make any medical diagnosis, but simply to gather information that may point to particular imbalances. Next, I use finely tuned energy perception skills to assess the energy system and further identify strengths and imbalances. All of this information is put together to guide the balancing of the energy system.

Rather than using the same treatment for every person, I use specific techniques to carefully follow the innate wisdom of the client, as it knows exactly what needs to be balanced and in what order. This is a delicate process. Based on my assessments, I generally know where the imbalances are, and yet each person has a unique bodymind history that must be honored and healed in the sequence that is most appropriate for that person in order to provide for lasting change.

Energy Medicine is uniquely designed to support the transformational process towards optimum balance and greater consciousness. I would welcome the opportunity to share this work with you.

Cindy Fulton, M.A., NCTMB
802-985-9580
cindy@energymedicinevt.com