Mind/Body/Spirit Positive energy flow.

When you are “in the Zone” life is good. Most of us have experienced being in this Zone from time to time, and have felt ourselves empowered beyond the norm. Maslow called these moments “peak experiences”. There are other names for this: “being in the flow”, “feeling good vibrations”, and being in the moment. These are moments of inspiration, and miracles seem more likely to manifest themselves at such times. We transcend our incongruent stressed out states and are enlightened and empowered.

For the past five thousand years, healers, gurus and monks have been practicing meditative and spiritual healing techniques, attempting to regulate the body’s energy flow, referred to as “qi”. Recently these energy healing ideas have spread to the Western healing world as well. Miraculous medical and emotional healing results have been claimed, and indeed seem to have occurred. Scientific medical studies have documented many of these claims.

While there is scientific documentation supporting the efficacy of these techniques, there is very little in terms of scientific explanation of how they work. “Vibrations”, the “Law of attraction”, “Qi” and other energetic unseen forces are credited with improving or blocking our functioning. Some promising scientific medical studies are investigating neurochemical/DNA/hormonal changes. Whatever the explanatory principles of these various methodologies are, however, they have been shown to work and are worthy of pursuing.

These methodologies, with accompanying websites explaining how to perform these miracles, follow in the next few posts. Meditation and Breathing techniques, Yoga, Brainwave entrainment, Hypnosis, NLP and EFT are all effective positive energy ehancement tools, and in most cases can be accomplished via self-help.

Meditation techniques

Meditation has been practiced since five thousand years ago, in India. Meditation spread further throughout the eastern world at the time of Buddha, who espoused meditation. Still commonly practiced in the east, about fifty years ago it spread to the west, and popularized as Transcendental Meditation. It has become commonly accepted as a mental and physical stress reducer, with proven health benefits. The Mayo Clinic provides information at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/meditation/HQ01070 Now there are new, Hi-Tech meditation techniques that involve inducing meditation-type (alpha and theta) brainwaves that produce similar effects and health benefits. It is not clear if the mechanisms that produce the benefits are identical, but current studies are confirming that these “brain wave entrainment” techniques offer promising results. See more information, and a free sample of this at the website: http://www.omharmonics.com/ Yoga and biofeedback are also known to similarly affect brain wave patterns. All of these methods appear to help reduce stress-produced cortisol, and increase the production of health enhancing hormones. The evidence points to an almost universal benefit of meditation; it appears advisable for everyone to include meditation into their daily regimen. Finally, prayer is similar to meditation in many ways, in that it too has been found to reduce the physiological effects of stress. And of course it has the advantage of seeking God’s guidance and assistance. Prayer, it would appear, is the “technique” of choice to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.

The “new” Energy Psychology: The body, mind and spirit connection.

The “new” Energy Psychology: The body, mind and spirit connection. There is a “new” player in the western world when it comes to Psychological and Physiological healing practices. More than five thousand years ago ancient peoples in the Eastern world (and elsewhere) were practicing healing techniques that had nothing in common (except maybe the placebo effect) with modern day western medical practices. They believed that the mind and body are interconnected by a series of energy pathways and energy centers. There is an energy force, Qi (chi) that flows through the body and mind that regulates and keeps us healthy. The practices of acupuncture and acupressure were healing techniques used to regulate and balance this energy flow; and meditation, yoga, healing oils, herbs, mantras, and other practices were also used. These healing techniques are still common in the Eastern world today, plus are beginning to be recognized in the West. Proponents claim these are very effective in curing many ailments, including some that the western medical establishment is unable to cure. These techniques have now been “proved” effective in clinical trials and properly controlled studies. Doctors are using these in conjunction with regular medical treatments and as stand-alone procedures. Energy healing techniques have some significant advantages: 1-- They heal the mind, body and spirit: as one, connected, integrated whole. 2-- Side effects are more likely to be beneficial, rather that harmful. 3-- The techniques are non-invasive, and they do no harm. 4-- They are comparatively low cost, even free. 5-- Most procedures can be performed by the individual himself, on himself. In the following posts we will examine the bona fides, and the pros and cons of some of these techniques.