What is Energy Medicine

There are two kinds of energy fields:

1. Veritable: vibrational energy like sound and electromagnetic like visible light, magnetism and lasers.

2. Putative: currently there are no ways to measure this type.

Veritable energy can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, such as laser eye surgery, pacemakers, radiation therapy and UV light therapies.  Magnets can be used to reduce pain.  Sound therapy uses tuning forks to make sound frequencies that can promote healing.  Listening to music has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce pain and stress.

The term, "energy medicine" frequently refers to putative energy types.  Practitioners of this type of energy work claim they can sense it with their hands, bodies or see it with their eyes.  Putative energy is based upon physical beings (like a body) and psychological processes like thoughts, emotions, beliefs and attitudes are all expressions of energy.  Those who practice energy medicine believe that all things contain a subtle life force or energy.  Traditional Chinese medicine call this qi (sounds like CHEE), Christians call it spirit, Ayurvedic medicine refer to it as "doshas", etc.

In acupuncture and acupressure, health is determined by the flow and balance of a persons energy or life force.  Imbalances in a person energy can result in diseases and illness.  Acupuncture and acupressure correct imbalances in the flow of of energy along energy channels known as chakras and meridians.

There are energy therapies such as Reiki and prayer (yes prayer) where a practitioner transmits universal life energy to the recipient to restore health and balance.

Common Energy Medicine:

Acupuncture:
Originated within the Chinese.  This involves almost painless insertion of needles into the skin at certain areas on a body.  Acupuncture has been proven to be effective in pain relief.

QiGong / Tai Chi:
These are also originated within traditional Chinese medicine.  Both involve meditation, breathing techniques to keep energy balanced.  Anyone can participate in QiGong and Tai Chi.  Both improve circulation, immune function, and help relaxation.  These are used in Eastern Medicine to help treat cancer, heart disease and digestive issues.

Reiki and other Therapeutic Touch Therapies:

Saw this on-line and thought it was awesome
and decided I needed to share this with the world!

All involve techniques of a practitioners movement of hands over and sometimes on a clients body.  A practitioner can sense imbalances of energy and will correct or re balance energy flow to promote healing.  These therapies are extremely helpful with pain, high blood pressure and stress relief.

Both Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine believe in treating the body, mind and spirit equally.  Ayurveda is medicine that has been practiced in India for thousands of years.  Like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Tibetan Medicine, Ayurveda has the basic belief the everything is composed of five basic elements: space, air, fire, water and earth.  These elements can be combined into three different metabolic and energy types called doshas.  Treatments are given based upon your dosha type and can include treatments with diet, exercise, meditation, herbs, massage, exposure to sun and breathing exercises.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is truly on the oldest medical systems and is the pioneer of holistic medicine.  It's system is based on the proper balance and flow of a persons vital life force energy.  Life force energy flows in the body along channels called chakras and meridians.  The wellness of the mind and emotion is critical to balancing life force energy and one's general health.  Chinese medicine uses herbal medicine, diet, acupuncture, yoga and massage in many combinations to enhance the flow of life force energy.

Regardless of what type of energy medicine a person uses, you will have benefits to your health and general well-being.

Learn more about these modalities:

OK, I've been kind of obsessed with articles on the Prevention web-site.  I think I'm going to start getting that magazine because of all of the tid-bits of information.  I love this article about Spirituality.

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How to Find Spirituality

Zen on the Hudson

For years, this writer tried to find spirituality through meditation, yoga, and other classes. Here's how she wound up learning to feel calm, content, and at peace.

By Susan Crandell

Call me spiritually challenged. For years, I've yearned for the pure, uncluttered mind of those who meditate, and I've tried to achieve it in a whole host of ways--to no avail. When I walked a labyrinth with a group of spiritual seekers one summer evening, I found it to be a lovely experience, with candles flickering and women using mallets to coax eerie sounds from crystal bowls. Others may have found inner peace, but I did not. Enjoyment, yes; epiphany, no.

I adore my yoga classes and go at least 3 times a week. The physical release of lying in Savasana, or Corpse Pose--the final position, meant to help you experience nothingness--is nice enough, but I can't empty my mind as I'm supposed to. Visions of grocery lists dance in my head, or I worry about bills or car repairs or...or...whatever.

I tried a class in Reiki, a system of energy healing facilitated by the laying on of hands. I even got certified as a Level One Practitioner, but I felt like a fraud. If any energy flowed from my partner's hands to mine, it went right through me.

Finally, after starting down every spiritual path I could find, I gave myself up for lost. I accepted that I'm too ground-bound to glimpse the magical high-flying moments that yogis and shamans celebrate.

Then I moved to a new house, a lemon-yellow Cape Cod on New York's Hudson River. The first morning, I stood at the window looking out at the broad sweep of water crowned by endless sky, and I felt calmed, contented, at peace. The river expected no epiphanies and required no revelations. It just did what it had done for centuries--it flowed. And in its presence I could let go of life's pressures and just be. Now the daily dramas that once cluttered my brain--an overdue assignment, worries about my mother in Florida--flow right along with it. I deal with them more easily, without succumbing to emotion. When I was packing to move here, I never thought this blue-on-blue horizon would help me realize I didn't have to force my spiritual side; I only needed to be open to whatever spoke to it. The river is constant and calm. And so am I.

SUSAN CRANDELL is the author of Thinking about Tomorrow: Reinventing Yourself at Midlife.

For years I tried to find ways to quiet my mind. Who knew a yellow house with a river view would finally do the trick?

Published November 2011, Prevention | Updated November 2011

http://www.prevention.com/health/emotional-health/how-find-spirituality