How does Energy Healing Work? (A humble attempt!)

Here’s an attempt to demystify how Energy healing modalities bring about changes in the physical body. 

Energy healing is an umbrella term for many therapies some of which are, Pranic healing, Reiki, Qi-gong, Distance healing, Sanjeevani healing etc. The common principle being the ability of the healer/practitioner to modulate or direct the energy flow in the body of the person seeking help or in their own bodies, to bring about a therapeutic effect.

Before I explain how this happens, let’s look into some concepts.

There's matter and there's energy, interconvertible according to Einstein's theory of relativity
(E = mc²). If the theory is to be believed (the one's who don't, needn't go through the rest of this blog) consider our physical body as frozen energy. Apparently this lump of matter, solidified energy can be diffused or converted into its formless, expansive, invisible state. To put it simply, the visible, palpable “matter” has the ability to vanish into thin air.

Have you ever wondered what happens when an extremely fat person reduces in size? The accumulated fat "burns" away, shrinking the physical body. The previously large body, more matter, gets converted into a smaller body, lesser matter. Where does the excessive matter, the fatty layer, vanish? Does it get diffused? If so, into what?

What happens when we eat food? The food gets digested, energy is released, chemical processes take place converting food into other simpler substances which get stored in the body. Glucose is stored as glycogen, and when we are required to run or fight (or during the sympathetic activation) the glycogen gets converted to glucose which provides the body with energy to perform. By these examples one can understand in a simple way, the interconvertibility of energy and matter.

The vital energy layer which surrounds our body is called "Prana". At a gross level Prana enters our body through our breath which is why Pranayama has immense therapeutic significance (My next blog will elaborate the working principle behind therapeutic benefits brought about by breath regulation). Prana is what makes us alive, what makes us conscious. In Chinese it is referred to as "Chi", in Japanese “Ki”; One can usually feel Prana in forms of nerve-impulse like tingling sensations, pulsation, muscular contractions, heat wave on paticular areas or some sort of a magnetic field. Prana shouldn’t be confused with a nerve impulse as that travels only in a particular direction. Prana isn’t bound by direction.Too much Prana or too little Prana makes its presence felt in our physical body. Inflammation, spasms, pain (too much)on the one hand; Weakness, paralysis, numbness (too little) on the other; The fraternity of energy healers try to bring about a balance in the Pranic sheath to bring about equilibrium/homeostasis in the body.

Let's now look into the properties of energy in general. Energy is neither created, nor destroyed, it is only converted from one form into another. Potential to kinetic, electrical to mechanical, so on and so forth. Energy transformation takes place constantly in our body as well. It is easy to relate to this kind of transformation while we eat or move about. When we are stationary, externally we possess potential energy although internally our body processes are being carried out through energy conversions.

How does one explain the "thought-process" via the energy nomenclature? What kind of transformation could be possible? How does too much thinking induce a headache or a heart-attack?

Thoughts are usually understood as the potential possibilities or potential energy, however there's most definitely some sort of kinesis that they induce in one's own body.
For example, a good-luck wish, a compliment or a genuine smile from another elevates our mood. Another's attitude towards us affects our mood as well. So, another person's thought-energy can influence our own with or without our acknowledgement.

One of the working principles behind any kind of distance healing is similar (not exactly the same though). The healer channelizes the thoughts towards the healee. With the help of concentration and visualizations the healer manages to induce changes in another's body. Infact it is possible for one to heal oneself with the help of certain breathing techniques and visualizations. Also, with a bit of observation and practice one can develop the sensitivity towards pranic manifestations like tingling, pulsation, heat wave, vaccum sensation etc.

It’s thrilling to see the reactions and responses of the participants when I conduct workshops on Pranayama and Pranic energization.

One has to suppress the limited logical mind for a while for the para-rational to work (Let’s not call this a matter of faith, call it open-mindedness). Once you experience, you don't deny. Believe it only when you experience it, when you experience, try to explain. It isn’t always possible to verbalize what one feels, but if you can it might help many others who know you well to understand the same. Testimony from a trusted one goes a long way. Mine did!

Click on this link to know my first experience with energy healing-
http://www.pragatioswal.com/Story.html

That’s all folks!
(For those who find this sign-off lame, know that I loved the road runner show. LOL)

What I do and how I do it (NO PUN INTENDED!)

I was little more that slightly shocked to find out that many of my friends had at-best only a vague idea regarding what I do. 

Post the “upturned baby” blog, on a more personal note, I received questions like “Since when have you been doing this kind of stuff?”, “but weren’t you into yoga and all?”, “Did you turn the baby the same way you twirled a spoon?” (Yes! I’ll be uploading a spoon twirling video sometime soon). For once I had to apply my own therapy and breathe in a certain way to keep my anger down – Yes! I get angry, just that I don’t hold it for long.

So, this blog is dedicated to the best question of all -
“What do you do and how do you do it? No pun intended!” (As worded by a dear friend)

I practice complementary and alternative medicine. These therapies focus on individualizing the treatment and treating the body in its entirety.Also, the disease is understood from an alternative point of view, in the case of the therapies I practice, through the mind.

I have specialized in:

1) Yoga: It includes asanas/physical postures, pranayama/breath regulation, relaxation techniques and guided meditation. This is a long-term holistic treatment which constantly heals the body and the mind leading to an auto-correction of all that has gone amiss. Consequently, regular practice induces a sense of well-being in general.

2) Acupressure and Sujok: Treatment is done by applying pressure or magnets to certain points which work like a remote control. One experiences instant relief especially in conditions like neck-back pain, general musculoskeletal pains and headaches. I don’t practice acupuncture.

3) Acu-Yoga: It treats symptoms instantly and works on reversing them invariably through a combination of Acupressure and Yogic practices.

4) Mind–Body therapy and Energy Healing: Emotional baggage of some sort or the other is usually responsible for many chronic diseases and painful conditions. Along with the bodily symptoms, the mind needs to be skilfully tricked so that it stops producing certain reactions in the body. Energy healing is an umbrella term for many techniques that involve healing of the metaphysical aspects. I’ll write about how energy healing works another time.

Now I’ll try to describe how I do what I do, i.e. how I go about the treatment.

I treat the disease at multiple levels simultaneously-

1) Physical:The physical aspects of the disease like pain (ranging from musculoskeletal pain to pain due to fractures), stiffness, digestive troubles etc. are managed through acupressure and yogasanas. My patients learn 5, 10, 15 and 30 minute Acu-Yoga routines to delay (invariably) the recurrence of symptoms.

2) Etheric: Application of the magnets (sujok)regulates the electro-magnetic field of the body.One alsolearns to regulate the breath (Pranayama), which induces changes in the etheric layer or the layer of bio-chemical energy, Chi or Prana.

3) Mental/ Emotional: Guided meditation and other experiential mind-body techniques help trick the mind into relaxationresulting inmaximization of the self-healing capacity of the body. This aims at reversal of the disease altogether.

4) Intellectual: Counselling and guidance regarding the Do’s and the Don’ts; I call this intellectual because these sessions are more than just informative, they make one introspect and reflect on themselves.

Apart from doing individual therapy, I design a wide-variety of health oriented “experiential” workshops/training sessions tailor-made to suit the needs of various groups. These groups include, professionals with work related disorders, groups of people with lifestyle ailments such as back pain and similar musculoskeletal problems, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, stress disorders etc. These workshops simultaneously aim at inducing a sense of wellness so that one feels more functional and “at –ease”.

Click on this link to see a list of my popular workshops
http://pragatioswal.com/workshop.html

Now that you know what I do and how I do it (no pun intended!), my “well-informed” friends, let me say I love you, almost unconditionally.

That’s all folks!