Nourishing the Energy Body
by Jule Klotter
Although many doctors and researchers have noted
that emotion and belief systems play a part, perhaps a major part, in
health and illness, Western medicine is just beginning to consider such
non-physiological factors in the treatment of disease. Emotion, beliefs,
and other non-physical qualities, such as creativity, intuition, and
wisdom, originate in the dynamic chaos of the energy field, the aura,
the vital life energy that surrounds and permeates each physical body.
Each energy field constantly interacts with the fields of other living
beings and with stimuli in the environment. Everything that affects
the body must first pass through this field. Some of the information
contained in the field enters our awareness via our senses, thoughts,
or intuition. Much of the information, however, remains hidden, affecting
the choices we make and our physiology. In her study of the human energy
field, Dr. Valerie Hunt recorded brain waves, blood pressure changes,
galvanic skin responses, heartbeat, and muscle contractions of subjects
while aura readers observed changes in the energy field. Hunt states
that changes occurred in the field before any of the other systems changes.
(See Review, TLfDP #150, p. 124-26).
At the core of all matter lies energy, and the human
body is no different. The energy body is a template for the physical
body. Emotional energy resonates with life experiences, personal and
professional relationships, and belief systems and becomes literally
encoded in cell tissue. According to neurobiologist Candace Pert, emotionally-charged
thoughts and experiences cause the body to manufacture different neuropeptides,
chemicals triggered by emotions. Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath
(Boulder, Colorado) found that heartful emotions (even emotions associated
with memories) raise DHEA and IgA levels while negative emotions lower
both. However we use our life energy, whether we use it to promote bitterness
and fear or joy and love, manifests in our biology. Prolonged dissonance
or weakness in the field leads to physical symptoms and, sometimes,
to illness. Cure, without remission, depends upon relieving the disturbed
energetics that underlie the physical condition. How does one address
energetic factors that cannot be weighed, viewed under a microscope,
or predicted? In this article, I hope to provide some guidelines or,
at least, to stimulate an expanded view of health.
Many natural health techniques benefit the energy
body as well as the physical one. Whole foods are rich with electromagnetic
energy. Exercise, deep breathing, Qigong, Tai Chi, yoga, gardening,
walking barefoot on earth, and prayer and meditation strengthen the
energy field. Acupuncture, homeopathy, flower essences, deep muscle
massage like Rolfing, Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, sound therapy, and other
forms of energy medicine strive to address imbalances and blocks at
the energy level of the body. These energy therapies can nudge an incoherent
field into normalcy. Love, compassion, forgiveness are also powerful
healing forces. Many doctors are aware that spiritual, mental, and emotional
factors play a major role in illness and health; but, their training
has emphasized the physical, and they often feel at a loss as to how
to address the spirit.
Medical intuitive Caroline Myss (pronounced Mace),
who has worked for many years with C. Norman Shealy, MD, teaches about
non-physical factors that affect health and spirit. In her book Anatomy
of the Spirit and in taped lectures, Myss discusses a framework for
addressing spiritual needs and lessons that affect well-being. As I
reviewed her work, I found guidelines for maintaining health of the
energy body, just as natural medicine has basic principles for physical
health.
Caroline Myss became a medical intuitive in January
1982, after a spontaneous out-of-body experience. She had never desired
healing powers; this new ability was very much an unwelcome, although
intriguing, gift that she preferred to keep hidden. Grand Design had
other plans. When she moved to New Hampshire to start Stillpoint Publishing
with two partners, word spread about the insights that popped into her
head whenever she heard about someone who was ill. People began to ask
her to use her intuition to assess their health. Myss was extremely
uncomfortable with her new therapeutic role; she did not like the responsibility
that accompanied it, and she worried about the reliability of this talent.
"In those early days the impressions I received," she explains
in Anatomy of the Spirit, "were mainly of a person's immediate
physical health and the related emotional or psychological stress. But
I could also see the energy surrounding that person's body. I saw it
filled with information about that person's history."
In May 1984, C. Norman Shealy, MD, neurosurgeon,
developer of TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device
for pain relief), and founder of the American Holistic Medical Association,
decided to test her. He called with a patient's name and age. Myss responded
with images since she did not know physiology. Over the next year, Shealy
called for more evaluations and helped her learn anatomy so that she
could describe her perceptions with greater precision. Her years as
an "apprentice intuitive" (1983-1989) and then as a professional
intuitive, who worked with fifteen different physicians including Shealy
and Christiane Northrup, taught her that no illness develops randomly.
Myss reviewed the intuitive assessments she had
made over the years (primarily for adults), looking for emotional and
psychological patterns among the various illnesses. Eventually, Myss
presented these patterns in The Creation of Health (Stillpoint 1988),
a book that she co-authored with Shealy (Reviewed inTLfDP #89, p.817+
& #125, p. 1260-62). These patterns give practitioners a place to
start when trying to figure out the energetics of a patient's condition.
For example, Myss says that chronic fatigue syndrome, energetically
a disorder of the first chakra, affects people who feel very vulnerable
and insecure. These people try to be all things to all people, and they
connect to more people and projects than they have energy for. They
finance too many people and/or projects with their energy, and the immune
system weakens. The energetic component of cancer consists of unfinished
or incomplete business. People with cancer tend to be more connected
to the past than to the present. When energy is used to keep one's past
alive instead of in the present where it is needed to maintain cell
tissue, malignancy develops.
Wherever thought goes, energy and life force follow.
Many of us are aware of energy circuits in the form of emotional ties
and bonding to other human beings and to pets. We are less aware of
how much energy we spend on past injuries, regrets, and losses. The
thoughts that occupy one's mind indicate where energy is flowing. When
thoughts contain an underlying fear of loss or over-identification with
an object or person, energy is being lost. Being "hooked"
on people or objects in a way that causes one to lose power means that
"energy circuits are so thoroughly connected to the target that
they no longer have the use of their own reasoning ability." (See
Figure 1)
How do we disconnect our energy circuits from people
or objects that sap energy? The first step is awareness. Check in often
and notice where your thoughts are. Are they with you in the present,
or have they drifted off to the past, the future, or with some person
or object? Next, mentally cut the connection and literally call your
spirit back. Calling one's spirit back is not a one-time event; it's
a practice. (I speak from experience.) Counseling can be helpful for
those struggling to let go of harmful attachments. Benefit from counseling
can be enhanced by using flower essences, which work at the energy level
to bring emotions and mental patterns to conscious awareness so that
they can be released. "From an energy point of view, every choice
that enhances our spirits strengthens our energy field; and the stronger
our energy field, the fewer our connections to negative people and experiences,"
writes Myss. How do we know what enhances our spirits? Follow whatever
intuitively feels good, has good "vibes," stirs up enthusiasm,
and sends the soul, as Bernie Siegel says, "live messages."
Illness can develop because a person is too negative - dwells on resentments,
guilt, or burdensome thoughts to an extent that the negativity harms
his/her biological well-being. Unless negative emotions, thoughts, beliefs,
and/or negative use of one's personal power are released, energy dysfunction
will continue; and, illness and physical symptoms are likely to recur.
Not everyone who becomes sick is responding to too much negativity in
his/her field. For some, illness signifies the beginning of a spiritual
journey. It presents a challenge that will encourage them to develop
and grow in spirit.
Although people often blame themselves for becoming
ill, Myss does not believe that such blame is accurate or fair. Myss
says we are beginning to get a vision of co-creating our reality; but,
except for holy people like Sai Baba, we are not capable of that kind
of control. Although we cannot control what happens to us, we can affect
the quality of our response. Rather than blame oneself or dwell on "why
me," both of which drain energy, the focus can be on what can be
learned through this experience. How can I lighten my emotional life
and enliven my soul? Many people who ultimately die from a disease find
the journey to death a tremendously healing experience because of their
attitude and the many opportunities to forgive, make amends, and release
old patterns. Blame, even self-blame, depletes one's energy field. Forgiveness
restores it.
Anatomy of the Spirit
Few pay as much attention to their energy as they
do to physical needs and pains. Myss wrote her book Anatomy of the Spirit
to encourage people to think of themselves as energy beings as well
as physical ones. The energy body, or spirit, is primarily expressed
through seven important chakras, energy centers, located near the central
nervous system. Eastern medicine has long recognized the existence of
chakras, which are located in joints, nerve ganglion, and endocrine
glands, and of meridians, energy pathways that run along the body's
surface.
Eastern spiritual tradition identifies each of the
seven chakras with specific challenges that arise during the quest for
spiritual consciousness. The first chakra, at the base of the spine,
relates to the material world. The second chakra, just below the belly
button, deals with creation energy, sexuality, work, and physical desire.
The third chakra, at the solar plexus, holds lessons concerning the
ego, personality, and self-esteem. The fourth chakra lies at the heart
and contains lessons about forgiveness, compassion, and love. The fifth
chakra, at the base of the throat, relates to the use of will and self-expression.
The sixth chakra, or "third eye" in the center of the forehead,
deals with wisdom, insight, and intuition. The lessons of the crown
chakra at the top of the head concern spirituality.
After several years of conducting intuitive evaluations,
Myss realized that she was unconsciously focusing on the seven main
chakras. For some time, she puzzled over the chakras and Eastern spiritual
tradition. If this path held truth for all humans, why didn't Western
spiritual tradition have an equivalent? One day she wrote the seven
chakras on a board for a workshop that she was teaching. Before her
eyes, Myss saw the seven sacraments of the Catholic church float into
place, corresponding to the seven chakras, soon joined by the ten sefirot
of the Jewish Kabbalah or Tree of Life. These ten qualities have traditionally
been organized into seven levels. Myss' unfamiliarity with the Islam
tradition prevented her from including it in her book. Myss notes that
"[w]hereas the sacraments and the chakras begin with the base as
the number one and count upward, the ten sefirot begin with the number
one at the top...and flows downwardÉthe qualities attributed to each
of the seven levels are virtually identical." Learning to embody
these qualities while facing life's challenges is the essence of the
spiritual journey. Viewing illness and crises as a chance to exercise
these spiritual truths brings a level of meaning to the experience that
accelerates healing.
Myss says that, energetically, disease begins in
the lower three chakras, the ones that deal with external power. Unresolved
conflicts with one's family and/or tribe (any group to which one belongs
that provides a feeling of security), feelings of vulnerability about
survival and access to life necessities, and being ruled by what "they"
say instead of remaining true to one's path, create discord in the first
chakra. Anatomically, the first chakra relates to physical body support,
the base of the spine, legs, bones, feet, rectum, and the immune system.
The people developing the autoimmune disease AIDS, says Myss, are those
who feel victimized by their society (homosexuals and drug addicts)
or who have feelings of vulnerability about survival (the poor of Africa).
Self-respect, a sense of personal honor, feeds strong positive energy
to the root chakra, bones, legs, and immune system. The first chakra,
also, asks us to honor the tribe/family we were born into - even if
life's journey has pushed us to move on.
The second chakra gets disrupted by stifled creative
energy, money and sexual conflicts, power struggles, life energy directed
into dead-end relationships or jobs, and control tactics that do not
follow the rule to "Honor One Another." This chakra holds
instances of prostitution, rape, and incest, both the literal traumas
and the more common energetic occurrences. Many men and women become
aware, at some point in their lives, of remaining in a disempowering
situation for money or physical security, prostituting their energy.
We are less aware of the energetic equivalents of rape and incest that
come in the form of verbal abuse and destructive, disempowering attitudes
that we direct towards others or vice versa. "Rape and incest of
an energy field," writes Myss, "are motivated by the desire
to cripple a person's ability to be independent and thrive outside the
control of another person."
Physical organs most affected by second chakra issues
include sexual organs, large intestine, lower vertebrae, pelvis, appendix,
bladder, and hip area. Fear of losing control and fear of power can
eventually manifest as ailments such as chronic pain in the lower back
and pelvic area, arthritis, prostate or ovarian cancer, impotency, and
bladder problems. Learning to honor others, instead of trying to control
or dominate them, eases much of the struggle held in the second chakra.
"The spiritual challenge of the second chakra," says Myss,
"is to learn to interact consciously with others: to form unions
with people who support our development and to release relationships
that handicap our growth."
The lesson of the third chakra is about self-responsibility
and self-respect. This chakra houses both survival intuition, which
warns of danger and negative action or energy coming from others, and
self-esteem, without which intuitive guidance is ignored and discounted.
Myss has found that depression often originates when people lose self-respect
because they have broken a promise to themselves. Issues concerning
self-responsibility, caring for oneself and others, self-esteem, fear
of rejection, and an over-sensitivity to criticism eventually manifest
as ailments in the abdomen, stomach, upper intestines, liver, gallbladder,
kidney, pancreas, adrenal glands, spleen, and middle spine. Myss has
also found that arthritis, anorexia, and bulimia often relate to third
chakra issues. The third chakra demands that we honor ourselves and
that we respect the everyday survival information we receive from our
intuition.
Valerie Hunt refers to the third chakra as the emotional
body, the area through which emotions located in the aura, such as fear
and anger, enter the body. One of my many, favorite stories in Myss'
Anatomy of the Spirit illustrates fear and the third chakra. When Myss
met Ruth, the 75 year-old, Jewish woman was confined to a wheelchair
because of arthritis. Ruth was 38 when her husband died, leaving her
with two daughters to raise. Afraid of being alone and being responsible
for herself, Ruth said that she did everything she could "to keep
my daughters near me so I would never have to take care of myself."
When her older daughter joined a Buddhist community at age 22, Ruth
kept asking "After all I've given up for you, how could you do
this to me?" Finally, in one such conversation, the daughter admitted,
in response to Ruth's accusation, that she had tried drugs. On impulse,
Ruth asked her daughter to get her some.
At age 55, Ruth took LSD and had an out-of-body
experience, in which she met "a lovely being who said she was my
angel. She complained to me, 'Ruthie, Ruthie, do you know how difficult
it is to be your angel?'" Ruth saw a replica of herself bound with
thousands of rubber bands; and, the angel told her that each rubber
band was a fear that was controlling her: "You have so many fears
that you can never hear me trying to talk to you, to tell you that I've
got everything under control." The angel handed Ruth a pair of
scissors and suggested that she free herself - which Ruth did with great
delight. Before Ruth returned to her body, the angel let Ruth see the
future in which she would be crippled with arthritis. "She couldn't
tell me why I would have to endure this condition, just that I would
have to. But she said she would be with me every step of the way,"
Ruth told Myss. "[A]fter that experience I never felt afraid again.
I believe that my physical condition [which began about 10 years after
the out-of-body experience] is a way to remind me never to have fear."
In giving her condition meaning, Ruth turned a handicap into a source
of inspiration.
The fourth chakra, the heart chakra, contains lessons
about love, commitment, compassion, forgiveness and about hatred, resentment,
bitterness, grief, anger, loneliness, and self-centerness. Holding onto
the negative emotions, whether they are directed towards oneself or
others, or intentionally causing pain for other people saps life energy
from body and soul. Fear, also, drains and disrupts heart energy. Fear
of loneliness, commitment, betrayal, fear of the inability to protect
oneself emotionally, and of 'following one's heart' contribute to dysfunctions
involving the heart and circulatory system, lungs, upper back, shoulders
and arms, ribs, breasts, diaphragm, thymus gland. Tapping into the energy
of love reduces fear. Love is a potent healing force for body and spirit,
as many doctors recognize.
While heart energy resides at the fourth chakra,
the mind and intellect come through the sixth chakra, located at the
center of the forehead. Feelings of inadequacy, unwillingness to self-examine
one's fears and shadows, and fear of truth contribute to physical dysfunctions
involving the brain, nervous system, eyes, ears, nose, pineal gland,
and pituitary gland. Myss says: "The energy pulsating from this
chakra continually directs us to evaluate the truth and integrity of
our beliefs. As we instinctively know from birth, to have faith in anything
or in anyone that lacks integrity contaminates our spirits and our bodies."
The fifth chakra, positioned at the base of the
throat, acts as a focal point for the heart energy of the fourth chakra
and the mind energy of the sixth chakra. Its energy relates to willpower
and the power of choice, the most basic manifestation of self-expression.
Every area of our lives, including health and illness, is directly affected
by the choices we make and how we make them. Clear decisions and true
authority, as epitomized by King Solomon, come when the truth and wisdom
of the sixth chakra is supported and in agreement with the emotional
power of the heart chakra.
Before we make a choice, we often experience a contest,
a struggle, between the emotional and mental sides of ourselves. That
struggle disrupts the throat chakra. Prolonged disruption can manifest
as physical dysfunctions that involve the throat, thyroid, trachea,
neck vertebrae, mouth, teeth and gums, esophagus, parathyroid, and hypothalamus.
Such disruptions also play a role in addiction. Without the balance
and joined power of head and heart, the will lacks a leader to follow;
so, it goes out in search of something to pledge its energy to, taking
the form of an addiction. In her book, Myss writes: "The symbolic
challenge of the Willpower chakra is to progress through the maturation
of will: from the tribal perception that everyone and everything around
you has authority over you; through the perception that you alone have
authority over you; to the final perception, that true authority comes
from aligning yourself to God's will."
The seventh chakra, at the crown of the head, relates
to values, courage, humanitarianism, and the ability to see a larger
pattern. It is the chakra of inspiration, spirituality and devotion,
and the ability to trust life. Its lessons aim to teach us how to live
in the present moment. According to Myss, energy therapies, such as
reflexology, acupuncture, and homeopathy are treatments of present time.
People whose energy is tied to the past do not receive much benefit
from these therapies. They must first call their energy into the present
by releasing the past through forgiveness of others, oneself, or an
experience. Extreme sensitivities to light, sound, and other environmental
factors, chronic exhaustion that is not linked to a physical disorder,
and mystical depression that comes when one feels spiritually bereft
signify disruptions in the crown chakra.
Caroline Myss' discussion of these seven chakras
gives practitioners a thought-provoking format for working with non-physical
issues that affect health. Integrity, honor, love, forgiveness, and
right use of power fuel the energetic and physical body of all human
beings, whether or not they respond to Eastern, Jewish, or Christian
spirituality.
Intuition
After years of doing energetic readings for others,
Caroline Myss is now teaching individuals to use intuition to evaluate
their own health. Intuition is not a special talent or gift. Everyone
has gut-level, third chakra intuition, says Myss; it is a survival skill.
Intuition is a spontaneous knowing that tells us to trust or distrust
someone, to be cautious in a given situation or to "go for it!"
Intuition is the means through which we know if we are happy or unhappy
about something and if our energy is being fed, or if it is being drained.
Accepting intuitive information and acting on it requires self-esteem
and courage. Self- esteem, like intuition, corresponds to the third
chakra. Honoring intuitive urgings in the smallest matters strengthens
self-esteem and one's trust in the information, making it possible to
follow intuitive guidance in more stressful situations.
Many factors can block intuition or distort its
accuracy. People often discount intuitive guidance, burying the information
beneath rationalization, disbelief, and fear. The information feels
threatening when it conflicts with a person's belief system, tribal
loyalties, or desire for a safe and happy future. Private agendas -
the desire to see things in a certain way - interfere with the reception
of energy information. Myss says that one of the biggest problems that
people have in using intuition is the expectation that intuitive guidance
comes loud and clear, as if some angel, standing next to a burning bush,
will shout instructions to them. In reality, intuition comes as simple
impulses and urgings: I like this, I don't like this, Yes, No. As agendas
and desires for life to proceed in a desired, controllable way are released,
perception and interpretation of intuitive hunches become clearer and
more accurate.
Intuition often urges us to take a frightening leap
of faith into the unknown. Fear and a desire for safe, non-threatening
information keep many people from paying attention to valuable hunches.
Intuitive advice does not guarantee a mistake-free, prosperous, love-filled,
happily-ever-after life. It does, however, offer a means of learning
what is true for you as an individual. Energy does not lie, but interpreting
it accurately requires detachment from fear. Myss says: "Most people
who come to me for an evaluation have already intuited themselves that
something is wrong.... Their abilities are as accurate as mine; these
people know they are ill. But since I do not share their fear, my intuitions
can interpret their data better than they themselves can." Myss
credits this quality of objectivity as being a primary reason behind
Shealy's finding that her diagnoses were correct 93% of the time.
Medical self-diagnosis involves becoming familiar
with a skill we already have. Medical intuition interprets how electromagnetic
information contained in the energy field that surrounds the body is
affecting a person's physical reality, including health. To check one's
own energy field, Myss suggests focusing on each chakra with the question
"Am I losing energy here?" If the answer is affirmative, the
next question is "Why am I losing power?" Grab any image,
thought, or impression that occurs. The trick is to examine these responses,
rather than disregard them out of fear or because they don't fit a preconceived
notion. Myss advises her students to regard themselves as information
transmitting and receiving stations, reminding them that when it comes
to energy, there are no secrets.
Why People Don't Heal
Myss' work as a medical intuitive has given her
a unique perspective on the energetics of why people do not heal. Myss
says that she used to think that everyone wanted to be healed. She no
longer believes that: "Healing is very unattractive." Impediments
to healing include living in the past, refusal to give up being a victim
("woundology"), and fear of change. Directing thought and
energy to the past diverts vital life force from existing cells and
organs that need that energy to function and heal. Healing requires
living in the present, taking one's energy back from past traumas and
hurts. Myss says that the only reason to nurture the past and keep it
alive is because of bitterness about what happened. Refusing to forgive
a past event or person leaks energy from the body. Forgiveness heals
that leak. Myss says that forgiveness has little to do with no longer
blaming others for the wounds that they caused. It has more to do with
"releasing the control that the perception of victimhood has over
our psyches." When we can see a hurtful act as part of life process,
as a message or challenge instead of a personal betrayal, vital energy
flows back into the physical body's energy circuits.
People don't heal, often, because they have not
released the illusion of being a victim. Too often people hold onto
wounds and grief longer than is healthy. Myss points to the many support
groups, such as incest support groups, in our society. Ideally, support
groups help the injured make the transition toward wholeness by providing
witnesses who understand their legitimate pain. Staying in such groups,
however, commits one's energy to the wound, to the past. Too often,
people give power to their wounds because they have found that it calls
forth support from others, which is interpreted as nurturing. The wounds
become a means of manipulating and controlling others. Leaving wounds
behind and with them all the support and power that they provide is
frightening because, these days, people tend to relate and bond with
others by sharing wounds rather than through strength and love. To walk
into the present without "wound currency" is to walk into
an unknown world.
Healing often requires making changes in one's lifestyle,
environment, and relationships. Change can be frightening. In her book,
Myss writes: "It is easy to keep oneself in a holding pattern,
claiming that one does not know what to do next. But that is rarely
true. When we are in a holding pattern, it is because we know exactly
what we should do next, but we are terrified to act on it...change is
frightening, and waiting for that feeling of safety to come along before
one makes a move only results in more internal torment because the only
way to acquire that feeling of security is to enter the whirlwind of
change and come out the other end, feeling alive again." Healing
demands action. Eating properly, daily exercise, taking appropriate
medicine are actions that support the physical body. Releasing the past,
leaving stressful jobs or relationships, honoring one's own individual
truth and gifts, and meditation/spiritual practice are actions that
support the energy body. What supports the one supports the other because
the physical and energetic are inextricably linked. Even the process
of dying, which we all face, can become a very healing act as old wounds
are released and unfinished business with loved ones is resolved.
We can splice genetic material and track the tiniest
proteins, but we have just begun to learn the anatomy of the human energy
field. I urge each practitioner and reader to consider the spiritual
needs - love, forgiveness, integrity, right use of power - that are
as important as the food we eat and vitamins we take. At least, recognize
that positive and negative energies are real forces that affect physiology
and that living with gratitude in a way that respects individual spiritual
integrity enlivens body and soul. Philosopher Jacob Needleman in his
book The Way of the Physician wrote: "Since it is knowledge plus
vital energy that heals another, the more knowledge [a practitioner]
obtains at the expense of acquiring access to the higher energies within
himself, the worse his life and practice become."
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