Energy therapies such as healing touch, qi gong and reiki are low-risk, relatively inexpensive techniques that may help improve health and well-being, according to the July issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

Energy therapies are considered complementary and alternative health practices. Acupuncture is the best known, but others are gradually being integrated into health care practices in the United States.

Energy therapies come from many cultures and are based on ideas about natural energy fields. They aim to create a free flow of energy by clearing, balancing and stimulating the human energy system. Though energy therapies are not well understood or always embraced by traditional medical providers, proponents believe that a balanced energy system encourages wholeness — emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource provides a synopsis of three energy therapies:

Healing touch: Also known as therapeutic touch, healing touch is meant to stimulate the body’s self-healing processes. Gentle touching moves energy from the practitioner to the recipient, strengthening and reorienting the recipient’s energy flow within and around the body. Some people find healing touch relaxing. There’s little evidence to suggest other health benefits.

Qi gong: The Chinese word “qi gong” combines the term “qi” (chee), which means life force or vital energy, and “gong” (kung), meaning accomplishment or skill. Qi gong has many forms and is a common health practice throughout China. Two of the most common forms are tai chi and kung fu. In general, qi gong combines rhythmic movements, breathing techniques and focused intentions. Some approaches increase energy while others are used to cleanse and heal the body.

Reiki: In a reiki session, the practitioner’s hands are positioned either on or a few inches above the recipient’s body. The goal is to raise the amount of “ki”, or life force energy, in and around the person. The reiki practitioner uses between 12 and 15 different hand positions, holding each one for several minutes until the flow of energy slows or stops.

Like healing touch, reiki can promote relaxation. One study suggests it may positively affect blood pressure and heart and respiration rates.

Because of a lack of research, it’s hard to say for certain that energy therapies are completely safe and work or don’t work. Still, for people drawn to these approaches, they may be worth a try.

Source: Mayo Clinic

“Stress is Life, and Life is Stress”

We are all living in stressful, uncertain times, but it may be a surprise to you that the body has only one response to stress and that is to produce stress hormones.

This is true whether:

• You are being chased down the road by a man with an axe
• You owe the bank GBP750,000 pounds with no means to pay
• You are just about to go out in front of an audience of 40,000 people to sing
• You don’t eat correctly to balance your blood sugar levels

There is no time like the present to protect yourself from the effects of stress that can be caused by modern living, especially in the current climate.

Mark Killick of MK Nutrition can help you to better understand your body’s nutritional needs and how a nutritious diet could help to alleviate some of the symptoms caused by unwanted stress.

Stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) are secreted when our blood sugar drops too low, in order to allow the body to release sugar into the bloodstream to fulfil our energy requirements. The effect of this stress hormone induced release is to send our blood sugar levels sky high, and subsequently the body releases insulin to help transport sugar out of the blood vessels and into our cells.

With increased stress and poor eating habits we can initiate a rollercoaster effect of falling and rising blood sugar levels throughout the day, with the subsequent release of hormones to deal with this situation.

This can lead us to become resistant to the effects of insulin, which in turn can lead to chronic degenerative diseases such as type II diabetes and heart disease.

Cortisol also promotes the storage of fat around the middle of the body, and unless we deal with the effects of stress, we can find it very difficult to lose that spare tyre!

MK Nutrition’s easy to follow nutritional programme can help you minimise hormonal release, enabling you to achieve and maintain ideal body composition, and reduce the risk of degenerative disease.

The Stress Cycle

Ongoing stress affects how the body produces hormones.

THE ALARM STAGE: The nervous system responds to stressors within seconds to shift the body into a fight or flight mode. Stress hormones are released from the adrenal glands to release sugar into the bloodstream.

THE RESISTANCE STAGE: Adaptation to sustained stress alters energy metabolism. Blood sugar levels are raised, muscle protein is broken down, and cortisol levels become elevated. The body becomes less sensitive to cortisol, and so more cortisol is produced. This leads to increases in insulin production, and we can become insulin resistant. More muscle protein is broken down and blood lipids increase, leading to fat accumulation around the middle. This can lead to increased cholesterol and blood pressure along with a tendency to obesity.

High cortisol levels suppress the immune system, which sets the stage for allergic responses, yeast overgrowth and chronic infections.

THE EXHAUSTION STAGE: The body’s ability to produce cortisol declines, leading to adrenal exhaustion. Excessive fatigue, reduced ability to concentrate, alcohol intolerance, headache, menstrual irregularities and low blood pressure are all symptoms of this stage. Too little cortisol allows the body to become inflamed. This stage promotes chronic inflammation, tissue damage and degenerative disease.

With nutritional intervention, and help with managing stress, you can achieve the RECOVERY STAGE, when your body is back in balance and you are able to cope well with the everyday things in life.

For more tips and advice visit the MK Nutrition’s website at http://www.mknutrition.co.uk

You have probably come across exotic-sounding terms such as “chakra”, “prana”, “aura”, and “tantra” in your course of reading books on spirituality, sex, and healing in the New Age literature section of the bookstore. But what’s the real scoop behind these exotic vocabularies?

Are All Energy Healings the Same?

Chakra or energy center is a term used in Pranic healing, an ancient Hindu system of energy healing. “Prana” means life energy. “Aura” is another terminology traced to Pranic healing. Aura is a non-physical body that consists of energy, which exists along with our physical body. The aura that covers our body is said to have seven layers pertaining to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of an individual as manifested by energy. Studying the color and thickness of auras give ideas on the state of health of individuals. Six colors are associated with aura and interpreted into six personalities. These colors are all present in an individual but one or two are more pronounced.
Green – ambitious achiever
Blue – spiritual peacemaker
White – unconventional chameleon
Red – activist
Orange – creative communicator
Violet – psychic

Although Tantra is popularly associated with the peculiar practice of sex and spirituality, it is another method of energy healing. It comes from the word “tan” which means to spread or expand. The concept of connectedness is a recurring theme in Tantric writings on sex and spirituality. As a method of healing, spirituality and sex figure prominently. It is presupposed that the union of man and woman can reach spiritual levels during orgasm, which removes the body and mind off collected impurities. These impurities being negative energies can in turn manifest as physical illnesses.

Unlike Pranic and Tantric healings, which have Hindu origins, Reiki originated from Japan. It is relatively younger than Pranic and Tantric healings having been rediscovered in the early 1900’s. Reiki stands for universal energy, an energy brought forth by higher intelligence. Students of Reiki are taught how to tap this energy to heal physical, emotional, and mental illnesses.

Although Pranic, Tantra, and Reiki are all systems of energy healing, they differ in the type of energy tapped for healing: life energy, sexual energy, and universal energy respectively.

The concepts of the connectedness of mind, body, and spirit; the connection of individuals to all living and nonliving things around them and to the universe; and how energy impacts physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are some of the salient similarities of these three healing methods.

Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing?

Pranic, Tantric, and Reiki are considered alternative methods of healing. In spite of the availability and relative accessibility of modern medicine, how come more and more people are being drawned to them? Here are some possible reasons:

• Energy healing worked where modern medicine failed.

For several reasons both explainable and unexplainable, modern medical treatment failed to heal ailments and conditions in several if not many persons. Research or data may not be able to support this statement. But for the families of the dying as well as for the dying patient, they would take the risk of using alternative methods ranging from herbals and organics, faith healers, witch doctors, and New Age healing techniques just to be get well.

• People perceive modern medicine to be isolating.

Medical treatments are oftentimes focused on the disease and its causative agent, which can make a patient feel isolated and treated like a mere host of the disease. Although recent developments in hospital practice are gradually promoting the holistic treatment of a patient, the perception still persists. Unlike in energy healing, since energy and spirituality are intimately linked, the patient feels that all aspects of his health are being attended to.

• Energy healing is non-obtrusive and natural thus it is safer.

Repeated surgical procedures are physically and emotionally traumatic for most patients. It is but a logical and attractive option to both patient and families to look for less stressful health interventions. Moreover, with the rising popularity of New Age religions, going natural is the way to go.

• Energy healing is a good way of relieving stress.

Meditation is part and parcel of energy healing methods and this is an added come-on for highly stressed people. Moreover, sophisticated equipment is not required thus it becomes all the more convenient for students and future students of energy healing.

The battle between alternative healing and mainstream medicine continues as both present the benefits of their approach. But in the final analysis, what matters is the restoration of good health.