Posted By Becky Cochran on February 27, 2009

The body, whether it is human, animal or plant, contains an energy system. This system consists of energy centers located within the body, and an electromagnetic Bio-field (aura), which surrounds the body. The electromagnetic energy of the body is what is measured in an EEG, EKG, or MRI.

The energy system can become closed or out of balance as a result of an accident, surgery, or even from emotional or mental upsets. When the Bio-field (aura) or the energy centers are allowed to remain out of balance, or even closed for a period of time, the body starts to exhibit symptoms. These symptoms may be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. For optimal health and healing the energy system needs to be at its optimum.

Healing Touch uses gentle hand techniques thought to help re-pattern the patient’s energy field and accelerate healing of the body, mind, and spirit and assists the body in achieving what it was designed to do – self-heal. This self-healing occurs in many ways on a daily basis. Cuts, bruises, even broken bones all self-heal. From a physical perspective, the physician may assist the body by setting a broken bone, but ultimately, it is the body that heals the break. Healing Touch assists the body in reaching optimal health from an energetic perspective rather than a physical one.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), this category of complementary therapies involves the use of various types of energy fields. In general, the goal of energy therapies is to bring energy into the patient or balance the energy within a patient.

There are many kinds of energy therapies, some which use treatments such as light, sound, and magnets. These treatments are relatively easy to measure. Other kinds of energy therapies, such as Healing Touch, Reiki, Qigong, and therapeutic touch, are “intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body.” These therapies cannot be as easily measured or researched.

Healing Touch is an “energy therapy” that complements other healing techniques a patient may already be using, including conventional medical practice in hospitals, clinics and in-home care, or other body-mind oriented therapies such as massage, guided imagery, music therapy, acupressure, biofeedback, and psychotherapy. It is not intended as a cure.

Many of the techniques used in energy therapies come from practices in shamanistic and Asian traditions with thousands of years of use. For example, more than 2,000 years ago, Asian healers believed that the flow and balance of life energies were important in maintaining health, and that illnesses were due to energy imbalances. They developed therapies and practices, such as acupuncture, yoga, and Qigong to correct these imbalances. Modern energy therapies such as Healing Touch are based on the same principles.

Healing Touch was developed as a touch therapy program by Janet Mentgen, a nurse who has used energy-based care in her practice in Colorado since 1980.

References

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Energy Medicine: An Overview. Retrieved February 2007, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/energymed.htm.

Umbreit, A. (2006). Healing Touch. In Snyder, Mariah & Lindquist, Ruth (Eds.), Complementary/Alternative Therapies in Nursing (5th edition). New York: Springer Publishing Co.

Categories: Healing Touch
Tags: Aura, Energy Centers, Healing Touch