East Meets West: Energy Medicine in America

[Guest guest]

I thought this was an interesting piece....I don't know anything about the book, so I'm not hawkin' it....don't know if anyone else will find

it interesting. Kit

"Energy is All There Is" begins the first chapter of Donna Eden's recent book with Feinstein, Energy Medicine: Balance Your Body's Energies for Optimum Health, Joy, and Vitality.

"Your body is designed to heal itself. The ability of a body to maintain its health and overcome illness is, in fact, among nature's most remarkable feats. But you've been placed in a world that systematically interferes with this natural capacity, and your conscious involvement in your health is required if you are to truly prosper."

Eden's book shows readers how to work with the electromagnetic and more subtle energies that give the body life. As Eden sees it, these energies are the foundation for your health and well-being and are your body's fuel and its atmosphere. Our connection to the earth itself is evident in her analogy: "You were spawned within Earth's electromagnetic, gravitational, and nuclear fields. You were raised under the sun's life-giving rays. Your own energy systems, such as your meridians (your body's energy pathways) and chakras (your body's energy centers), emit electromagnetic energy and light."

Eden defines Energy Medicine as the art and science of fostering physical, psychological and spiritual health and well-being. It combines a rational knowledge and intuitive understanding of the energies of the body and in the environment. According to Eden, the return of energy medicine is one of the most significant cultural developments of the day; "for the return of energy medicine is a return to personal authority for health care. A return to the legacy of our ancestors in harmonizing with the forces of nature, and a return to practices that are natural, friendly, and familiar to the body, mind and soul."

Like others in the practice of energy medicine, Donna Eden reminds us that this is NOT NEW STUFF. "Numerous cultures describe a matrix of subtle energies that support, shape and animate the physical body." This "energy" is called qi or chi in China, prana in the yogic traditions of India and Tibet, yesod in the Jewish Cabalistic tradition, ki in Japan, baroha by the Sufis, wakan by the Lakotas, meghe by the Itura pygmies and Holy Spirit in Christian tradition.

To Caroline Myss, medical intuitive and author, our growing understanding of energy is a path for our spiritual healing. Myss writes in the Introduction to her book, Why People Don't Heal and How They Can:

"While illness can help you find your essential sacredness, your oneness with God, humanity, and all living creatures, you don't have to become ill in order to begin to understand your spirit and heal your life. …People begin to see and understand themselves as sacred through learning about what I call energy medicine. According to energy medicine, the human spirit is a manifestation of energy. We all have seven energy centers in our bodies, which in the Hindu system are call chakras. Each chakra roughly corresponds to a location in the physical body. I like to think of the chakras as energetic computer disks or data banks that collect information of all sorts. In my work I have discovered that these seven energy centers correspond to the various life issues and challenges with which the seven sacraments of Christianity and the ten sefirot of the Tree of Life in the Jewish Kabalistic tradition are also meant to help us. Our spirit grows into maturity and increasing self-understanding through seven stages of spiritual development. As we progress through these stages, we gain different kinds of personal power. The chakras - and their counterparts in the sacraments and the Tree of Life - mark an inner path of spiritual evolution. They form the steps on an unfolding of our personal path toward awakening a higher consciousness. Learning the language of the chakras and nurturing these spiritual qualities can simultaneously strengthen our physical bodies and help us heal illness or maintain health"

Explains Myss, "The chakras are vertically aligned from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, suggesting that we ascend toward the Divine by gradually mastering the seductive pull of the material world. At each stage we gain a more refined understanding of personal and spiritual power, since each chakra represents a spiritual life-lesson or challenge common to all human beings. Although the chakra system was developed in the East and served as the basis for certain Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist teachings, the kinds of energy they describe are congruent with the en ergy defined by the sefirot of the Kabbalah and are meant to be managed by the Christian sacraments."

rest at:

http://www.suchnessspa.com/Articles/energy_medicine.htm

[Guest guest]

"Energy is All There Is" begins the first chapter of Donna Eden's recent book with Feinstein, Energy Medicine: Balance Your Body's Energies for Optimum Health, Joy, and Vitality.

Interesting. I was just in bed reading a book called Vibrational Healing For The 21st Century by Dr. Gerber M.D. He certainly covers every type of energy healing currently being practiced and goes into detail describing them. He's one of those unusual M.D.'s that believe energy healing works.

Gloria