Health As Energy
Treatment of subtle energies is the revolution in medicine
Conventional medicine, like conventional science, does not usually recognize characteristics that cannot be measured. With the advent of quantum science comes a greater recognition of the ephemeral--qualities. It is exemplified in holistic health care where patients can finally expect to be understood by their health practitioners when they say things like, "The medicine you gave me got rid of the symptoms but I feel worse." In conventional medicine, the only place such statements are given recognition is in the psychological category.
Systems of healing that understand energy, however, such as traditional oriental medicine, homeopathy, or energy psychology include awareness of a being's energy when it is out of harmony within itself or with any of its external relationships. Best of all, energy treatments take into account all symptoms, not just a few of them, while conventional health care often looks at living beings as if various functions were separate from each other and made of plumbing, mechanics, or electrical wiring.
In traditional Chinese medicine and homeopathy, energy is diagnosed by the practitioner's observation of behavior, appearance, odors, and listening to the patient's experience of his own symptoms and life experiences. The homeopath might give special consideration to history and events that caused specific changes as well as current symptoms. The Chinese practitioner might use the patient's different pulses to assess imbalances. The energy psychologist using Emotional Freedom Technique might start with concerns that are in the person's awareness and work toward deeper or related issues, as they are uncovered.
These systems allow patients to disclose information without fear of moral judgments made by the practitioner. Best of all, the practitioner has knowledge of remedies or treatments without needing to solve lifestyle problems for the patient. When a patient's energies are improved, the individual is able to make healthier choices. Experiencing health care practiced in this way gives the patient greater faith in his natural inclination toward health. This is what balanced energy does.
Keeping healthy is a combination of all that goes into the body and all that the body puts out in every way-physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. People tend to understand this instinctively but in too limited a way. What goes in includes food, drink, air, sunlight, relationships, and ideas. What come out are bodily eliminations, behaviors, ideas, creativity. What is useful about this expanded definition is the clarity that qualities, which are not material, are just as important if not more important than a food or elimination than those that are material. Ignoring the subtlety of energy causes it to be untended.
A person experiencing stress at work, for example, may be taking in as 'food' the words of a demeaning manager or the pressure of time deadlines, work hours that don't allow for relaxation or tending to relationships. Naturally, there will always be demands of some sort because it is the nature of the material world to be finite. There is also the possibility, however, of improving skills or making choices that better define the kind of life one wishes to lead. Those kinds of choices require having a clear sense of values so that priorities can be based on them.
