Gross, subtle, causal Energy Body Work

Freedom Now! The next step in Energy Psychology

...beyond EFT and EMDR

A method you can learn which removes disturbances instantly

 

Anxiety, fear, phobia and Energy Body Work

 

 

 

To consider fears and phobias, the ‘energy model’ of dis-ease is required, that is, a model which goes beyond the usual western mechanistic model of illness, as is discussed in different contexts on this site. So I’ll speak of an ‘energy body’, by which I mean something of a mixture of Rupert Sheldrake’s ‘morphogenetic fields’, Rudolf Steiner’s ‘etheric body’, the ‘meridian body’ of acupuncture, etc. The underlying idea is that we are animated and penetrated and maintained as living beings by a living force field, or as Rudolf Steiner says, a ‘body of formative forces’, which is continuous with the ‘etheric’ of the world and cosmos. When it departs or is destroyed, we die physically. When it is in a state of chaos or disharmony, we’re ill. Nevertheless, at all times it is striving to make us well, or whole, and often the process of disturbance or disease is part of that striving.

For more on this see here.

Putting aside whether one or other model is right or wrong, it becomes clear that the energy model is useful, and often provides answers where other models grind to a halt. In particular, it provides some answers for fear and anxiety states, and I say - if it works, use it! 

 

The Subtle Anatomy of Fear

 Few will disagree that when a fear situation (or even the thought of one) arises, there is a strong sense of contraction or shrinking. Rather than fight, flight. This contraction shows in the physical body as tense, painful muscles, shallow breathing and so on. It also shows in the energy body as a contraction, rather like a ‘shell’ or ‘cage’ energetically set up round the person. Thus you have the sequence of: thought > contraction > fear state.

 

 Many will also agree that in such a state, it is as if one is trapped in a small part of oneself - there seems to be a regression to more of a child state, in which one’s normal (adult) resources are unavailable (such as clarity, commonsense, etc.). It could be said that one gets locked into that shell or cage, an energy structure that acts like a temporary prison, and which seems to appear out of nowhere by some sort of resonance with the stressful situation when it threatens to occur.  Everything seems to contract, a general fogginess occurs, and one’s choices are severely reduced, so that it is difficult to even conceive of any other options than fear or anxiety. In the words of the founder of TFT (Though Field Therapy), a ’thought field’ has been set up. He didn’t really go any further than this as an explanation for his discoveries in Energy Psychology, but the fact is that his recipe-like interventions involving the tapping of acupuncture points on the body (described below) were very effective.

Furthermore, this repeated contraction habit over time creates an actual ‘structure’ or ‘configuration’ or ’thought field’ in the energy field which can develop a life of its own, as habits do. Neuro-scientists would give the physical, brain-based correspondence of this as the forming of more and more neural connections which reflect and support the behaviour in question. This is true as far as it goes, but has its energetic parallel as well.

 

What's to be done?

This leads to the obvious conclusion—one can interrupt the behaviour on both a behavioural and on an energetic level. It has been shown in neuro-science that avoiding a particular behaviour will over time (and not such a long time) dramatically change the configuration of neuronal connections. In other words, do it differently, stop the behaviour, use the will.

But there has been little progress in this field over the years with existing therapies, though Behaviour Therapies have made some in-roads. In fact, the situation seems to be getting less manageable.  Standard talking therapies such as analysis seem to be unable to bridge the gap between ‘knowing’ and doing.  The mind knows the usual platitudes - stay calm! breathe! it’s an illusion! etc. But that doesn’t seem to help.

Aversion therapies occasionally help but can often worsen things by plunging one into the stressed state repeatedly without relief. It is often a brutal kind of intervention. Something similar can be said for unguided experiential work, sometimes called ‘emotional release’ work, which often leaves the client stuck in a limbo without resolution.

 I believe, based on wide experience with many clients and years of research into the subject, that apart from the suggestion above of employing a behavioural approach, the missing key lies in interrupting the cycle mentioned above:   thought > contraction > fear state.

The methods I primarily use to do so are:

 

Energy Body Work

By this I mean my unique work in leading people back into their own bodies and energy bodies. Many people are ‘beside themselves’ or ‘out of their bodies’ due to the repeated habit of stress-induced responses to the various shocks of this world. Over time, people are just surviving, feeling little of what’s going on in the body except pain, dosing themselves with various tranquilising substances to maintain some equilibrium, and in short, retreating from a full and enjoyable sense of being embodied in the world. This happens by stealth, and usually under the conscious radar, so that initial sessions of Energy Body Work often come as a major surprise, as clients begin to realize how little they are experiencing of their bodies, their life force, their energy.

I lead clients on a training that is constantly practiced between sessions, to deepen their experience of themselves, to change the habits of a lifetime, to begin to expand rather than contract as a response to life and to open the way to the wisdom of their bodies, on an energetic, mental and emotional level. This training is the essence of the work I do and it goes very deep—indeed, it is completely open-ended, and simply following the path of this work will eventually lead to the fluidity required to let go of habits of thought and emotion and posture which are the source of our ‘problems’. Crucial to this process too is the importance of ‘entering’ whatever is happening during the session, whether it is discomfort, or some emotion, or a ‘felt sense’ in the body… This is the process called Focusing by Eugene Gendlin, a way of listening to the body/mind/emotions, which are always trying to communicate with us, so that we develop a deep connection with ourselves which allows us to let go of the various blockages and ‘stucknesses’ which have led to the issues which plague us.

One could say that we are using a process of constant expansion instead of contraction, or developing a fluidity of the energy body, or coming into a deeper relationship with ourselves by listening to all the many and varied intelligent messages we are being sent by our own systems.  The assumption also is that a living system is constantly trying to ‘heal’ itself, to find wholeness and harmony… it is only our ignorance or negligence which stops this process happening.

To further speed the process however, I also use some or all of the following methods…

 

‘Freedom Now’

This I believe is the most complete, the fastest and the deepest version of Energy Psychology available today. In brief, I teach clients how first to ‘inhabit’ the body as described above, then I show them how to locate the disturbances they have (fear, anxiety, etc.) in their ‘energy body’ as an energy structure. Having done this, the structure can be directly dissolved and the issue is usually permanently removed.

For more information see the Home Page, and/or contact me.

 

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Thought Field Therapy (TFT)

This is at the cutting edge of Energy Psychology.

It is an acupressure-based therapy of great power and simplicity, which is short, easy to apply, untraumatic and non-invasive. It interrupts the 'thought > contraction' link. It consists of tapping particular acupuncture points in a specific sequence and frequency along with some processes designed to ‘re-align’ the energy body, balancing also the left/right and front/back parts of the brain. This is done while the client is focusing on the issue that they wish to resolve, so that the issue is ‘open’ to influence and change from the EFT process.

 Its effect is to fragment the ‘cage’ or ‘shell’  or ‘thought field’ mentioned, the structure which is set up in one’s energy field and resonates to the fear state, thus maintaining it. Results for phobias can be instant and permanent, particularly for specific phobic states. Likewise any issue can be improved, whether a generalised anxiety, or a bad habit (smoking, drinking, eating, etc.) or actual physical pains. For more information, see Gary Craig’s site www.emofree.com.

Other applications of Energy Psychology include the use of Kinesiology, radiesthesia (a kind of dowsing for health) and Tapas Acupressure Technique.

 

 Ki Energetics

'Ki' is the Japanese term for universal energy (also known as ‘hado’), just as the Chinese use 'chi', the Indians 'prana', and so on. Ki Energetics is based on the martial art Aikido, and is a sophisticated understanding of human energies and their development. It works to interrupt the 'contraction > fear state' link. Using a number of simple exercises, a client can be shown how to use his/her energy in a way which is instantly empowering, leading to a body-based calmness and groundedness. Ongoing practice leads ever deeper into ways of being in the body that virtually prevent the onset of fear states. Many people are unknowingly 'out of the body', with their energy congested around the head and shoulders and above, and the body in a generally contracted ’unoccupied’ state. Ki Energetics makes the body a reliable and strong ally, instead of a burden.

More info on this here.

 

 Posture and Bodywork

Strongly linked to the Ki training above, even slight adjustments in posture can lead to quite profound experiences of being much more stable, mentally and physically. Some people may have heard of The Alexander Technique, developed by an Australian actor 100 years ago, when he realized that he was often losing his voice, for no clear reason. He exhausted the information of the ‘experts’ of the day, and began to observe himself closely, and realized that he had a couple of very small physical habits which eventually served to contract his throat. Knowing this, it was easy to ‘use his body’ in a more efficient and unstressed way. I use this kind of process along with other postural notions from a variety of sources to help with this kind of self-observation and self-knowledge. Simple things like holding the head in a certain way, or always sitting down in an inefficient way can lead to mysterious physical problems if left unattended.

Combined with energy bodywork, circulation is restored throughout the physical and energy body, making the client much more resilient and self-reliant.

 

Acupressure, reflexology and self-massage

 Most people understand these days that the human system is a mind/emotion/body/spirit complex and that the more levels on which change and fluidity can be achieved, the better we feel. The body itself is rather like a ‘snapshot’ of what is happening in our whole system, and so contractions and problems in the mental/emotional region are always associated with contractions and blockages in the physical body. The use of Acupressure and Reflexology has effects far beyond just the releasing of contractions and blockages in the body—a cascade effect can occur, for example by massaging zones in the feet, as the associated part of the body becomes released, and energetically there is a greater flow of life force (chi) throughout the body. This is also reflected in changes at the other levels, mental, emotional and therefore spiritual.

I give clients sessions of acupressure, deep tissue work and reflexology to help these processes, but more importantly I transfer the skills needed to them, so that (under direction to begin with) they can hasten the process of release and have autonomy over their own health and well-being. Similarly, I make a point of transferring any skills that may be appropriate, including of course Energy Psychology processes.

 

I believe that a combination of these approaches goes much further than conventional approaches in managing and eliminating fears and allied states. And there are added benefits to this work - certain very useful skills are transferred to the client, and there is an alignment of the mind and body which has far-reaching effects in the life of the client. 

 

Clear Thinking

The mind is our crowning glory in some ways, and in other ways our burden. An integral part of healing and wholeness is learning to think strongly and clearly. First of all, this usually means changing the lifetime habit of constant internal dialogue, which drains us energetically, keeps us locked into bad habits, and stops us from accessing the real treasures of the mind.

I use numerous methods including concentration, mindfulness, directed conversation and more to help train the mind in ways that support the wholistic healing of the whole person. As Rudolf Steiner made so clear, we don’t want to get rid of the mind. We want to strengthen it, and make it into a servant rather than a master, directed by the spirit. A strong mind is the entry into a real clairvoyance.

 

 

See also the various other aspects of this topic on this site, including here.

 

See in particular this article on what you can practise at home and in daily life.

 

 

 

Other HEALING MODALITIES USED

Above all, and to begin with, my methods for dropping into the energy body 

Shi-atsu and Ki-atsu - Japanese finger pressure and Energy (Ki) treatment for energizing

 

Reflexology - an under-utilised remedy for many ills

 

Regression Techniques - from work at the Clairvision School of Spiritual Alchemy

 

Acupressure - using the Chinese philosophy of the five elements to balance and energise

 

SCENAR Pain Management and electromedicine—for more on this see here

 

Energy Psychology:

Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT) - a simple and powerful way of releasing stress and anxiety

 

Thought Field Therapy (TFT) - a powerful new acupressure method targeting phobias and anxiety

 

Taoist Organ massage (Chi Nei Tsang) - direct massage and detoxification of the organs, very powerful and energizing

 

Structural Integration - similar to Rolfing, for balancing structural problems

 

Deep Tissue Massage - for bringing deeply held toxins to the surface for release

 

Ki Energetics - Energy management techniques allied to Aikido for centring, grounding, etc. See here for an article relating to this (the principle of Weight Underside)

 

Postural work—similar to Alexander Technique, combining notions and practices from martial arts, Ki Energetics, etc.

 

Use of concentration and attention exercises to deepen alignment

 

 

 

 

To be continued...

Check back here often, as I write further articles on these interesting subjects. If there are any questions you might have about this work, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

 

 

 

 

© Tim Strachan 2005