MY introduction to energy medicine began in 2002 while I was attending an American College for the Advancement of Medicine conference. At the end of her lecture, the presenter, Dr JoAnne Whitaker, invited members of the audience to join her at the podium for a demonstration of the Bowen Technique. She had stated that if there was anyone in the audience experiencing pain, she could “fix it”.

So I raced up to the front because at that time I had been suffering from terrible pains in my neck and was having difficulty moving it. I had been told by my doctor that I would soon be unable to reverse my car.

Dr Whitaker, in front of about 50 people, touched my neck in a few places and, in mere minutes, I was pain-free. I could literally spin my head around, like that possessed girl from The Exorcist. That was a defining moment for me.

Soon afterwards, I headed out to Dr Whitaker’s facility where I began my training in the Bowen Technique.

This technique was developed in Australia in the 1950s by Thomas Bowen, a gifted healer. The Bowen moves send impulses to the brain, resulting in immediate responses of muscle relaxation and pain reduction. I have used the Bowen Technique to successfully treat people afflicted with a variety of ailments including anxiety, headaches, sinus congestion, menstrual cramps, lower back pain, and frozen shoulders.

I have the pleasure of practising alongside Donna Brown, who is a physical therapist and energy practitioner. She is a reiki master and universal energy healing master who incorporates a variety of energy healing techniques such as reiki, acupressure, emotional freedom techniques, quantum touch and meridian therapy in her practice to balance the energies of her clients, often resulting in greater improvement in their outcome. Donna also uses essences in the form of incense and essential oils to clear, clean and energise the office environment as well as the auras of her co-workers, resulting in an office atmosphere that is peaceful, harmonious and tranquil.

All our major emotions — anger, grief, joy — affect our energies. Trauma or stress interrupt or block our energies. Individuals whose energies are balanced have more stamina and fewer injuries which, if they occur, heal faster. They report that their thought processes are clearer, that they are better able to focus and control their response to stress. Medications are more effectively utilised by the body when the energies are balanced.

Energy medicine is based on the principle that the health of body, mind and spirit is anchored in the body’s energy systems. Energy medicine uses the body’s own resources to facilitate healing. Health problems can be diminished, and often overcome, by intelligently shifting the energies that maintain them. By keeping our energies balanced and vital, we increase our vitality, effectiveness and joy in life.

Everything needs balance. We are at our best when there is balance and total interconnection of the different forms of energy. Factors affecting this balance and interconnection are our emotions, perceptions, thoughts, attitudes, and relationships with others, our ability to give and receive love, and our relationship with God — however we might define God.

Alternative therapists view the body as a unique and dynamic energy system. All cells and organs in our body have a specific frequency and are affected by many forms of energy from external and internal sources. A delicate balance of all forms of energy supports and sustains life and includes chemical, electrical, ultraviolet light, and subtle energy.

The subtle energy field surrounds, flows through and extends from the body. It can be sensed with higher sense perceptions and perceived by mystics and clairvoyants as a visible phenomenon. (That is the reason why as we say in Jamaica “my spirit takes or does not take to that person”). Our subtle energies have numerous functions including nutritive, defence against illness, emotional energy processing, intellectual functioning, and creativity. Imbalances and depletions within our energy fields lead to disease and dysfunction.

There are many alternative therapies that promote total well-being by balancing body, mind and spirit. There is evidence that these therapies balance the autonomic nervous system. These therapies can be categorised as biomechanical, pressure point, biofield, combined physical and biofield, and mind/body. Examples of biomechanical therapies include osteopathy, chiropractic and massage. They are based on the concept that dysfunction of any discrete body part frequently affects the function of other discrete, but not necessarily directly connected, body parts.

Pressure point therapies such as acupressure, Feldenkrais, Trager, reflexology, and Rolfing use finger pressure on specific points, usually related to the meridians and other neurological release points, to release pain and treat various disease states.

Bowen Therapy, Healing Touch Qigong, reiki, and Therapeutic Touch are examples of biofield therapies also known as energy healing or laying on of hands, one of the oldest forms of healing. In these therapies the practitioners draw on universal or spiritual energy to restore the patient’s energy field.

Combined physical and biofield therapies combine physical and energy work and include kinesiology and craniosacral therapy. Mind/body therapies utilise the power of the mind and body to affect one another. Meditation, imagery, hypnosis, biofeedback, yoga, and prayer are examples.

Wellness involves more than nutrition and exercise. It involves our total energy environment — our emotions, attitudes, spirit, and consciousness.

Dr Jacqueline E Campbell is a family physician, university lecturer and pharmacologist. She is the author of the book A patient’s guide to the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Email her at drjcampbell14@yahoo.com