The time I braved energy-field healing
If high flying business women find solace in it - can I?
It felt risky, signing up to energy-field healing. Not dentist visit fear - I knew it wasn’t going to hurt. I was more spooked about the aftermath. But I’d read about high flying business women who found solace in an energy-field, citing it as the only way they can relax their busy minds and tension-filled bodies and that was enough of an incentive for me to try it.
I’d watched Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP documentary in awe, as her side-kick Elise had an out of body experience at the hands of a well renowned energy-field healer from LA. Of all the things in life I’m able to plan for, prepare for and rationalise, my emotions are not one of them. If the session left my energy-fields and emotions discombobulated, would I be… well just how would I be?
If you’re all about the science, this is going to be an ask. But, I need you to rethink your definition of energy, just for a minute. Think less about body fuel and in comes a force around your body that, without using words, communicates to others what kind of mood you might be in. You know the kind that makes people say “I don’t know what it is about them, they’ve got a good energy” or “I can sense they’ve got lots going on.”
This kind of energy, created by our emotions and mental state, is the focus of energy-field healing. When the energy is flowing freely through your body, it’s thought to promote happiness. If there’s a blockage, it’s thought to affect your day-to-day mood.
Looking on The Calmery website, an alternative medicine practise specialising in healing, Sushma, founder Reiki Master and Shamanic Healer, has a very professional look to her, and if I’m honest I find it very comforting that she is on Harley Street. She is neighbours with actual real medical doctors. That still didn’t change the fact that, despite studying all the sciences at school, I’ve never once read about the science involved with clearing blocks in one’s energy flow.
And so, armed with a few pre-prepared excuses that would allow me to leave the session at a moment’s notice, I donned the mentality of a high- flying businesswoman, ready for to feel ‘a completeness to my spirit’ as the website promises.
When we meet, Sushma explains to me, every emotion we feel carries a weight - negative ones like anger, sadness, grief or anxiety are heavy vibrations our bodies hold on to while happier ones like joy, excitement, humour are lighter. When the body starts to feel weighed down by the negative, it's a good time to rebalance them.
As she explains it to me, I'm thinking this just makes sense. It helped that I’d recently read about Vibration Therapy, and a study by Florida State University that found vibrations (from standing on a vibrating plate) can soothe stiffness and increase dopamine levels in the brain, having a positive effect on your mood. I’ve read too how the vibrations from sound waves have the power shift your mental state when you’re listening to music.
So far, I’m on board. Like so many of us, I’m dragging my feet from a long winter. I’m missing blue skies and warm weather, the prospect of a long walk surrounded by flowers in bloom. With a heavy workload, I’ve developed an anxiety-driven twitchiness where I never feel fully at ease. These things make me feel heavy.
I’ve rolled my eyes many a time at people who tell me a crystal is the answer to my anxieties. If it wasn’t for the fact that I felt something shift in my body during the session, my eyes would still be rolling.
As Sushma’s hands moved around my body’s energy-field (which I quickly learn lies about 5-10 cm away from my skin) my body moved in response to her hands. I could tell when she sensed a blockage because she paused, holding her hands still, clicking her fingers and directing my energy where she deemed necessary through quite a dramatic brushing motion. Which, even with my eyes closed I could sense.
Working her way around my seven chakras (my crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral and root chakra) it was my root chakra, at the base of my spine and my heart chakra where she sensed energy blockages. As she worked to clear them, my forehead strained and a lump in my throat developed, like when you’re watching a sad film and you want to cry. It was intense. And when the session came to a close, I was in mild shock. How, through her hands, had Sushma accessed my innermost feelings?
Much like Gwyneth’s guinea pig, I could map some of the feedback Sushma gave me to what’s going on in my life right now. A blockage around the heart chakra can indicate feelings of imbalance and difficulty in close relationships (tick) while the one around my root chakra indicates that I’m struggling with feelings of stability which can manifest in anxiety (tick tick).
Having been to talking therapy for so many years it was a relief not to have to use my voice to explain what’s going on and how I feel about it but still to feel like a positive shift had occurred. Sushma affirms that she does see a lot of successful business people, who are dealing with big jobs and busy family lives and I think it makes sense. People with busy minds and busy lives don’t always want to rationalise and process their thoughts, they want to feel change.
To those of you still rolling your eyes, can I ask you to consider just one thing? Heavy emotions need to be processed, and in the space that it leaves, you allow yourself to absorb fresh energy. I like to think everything passes. And whatever you do to encourage this – a creative pursuit, a long walk to clear your head, talking therapy or indeed, energy-field healing – one thing’s for sure that being proactive about processing heavy emotions like stress and anxiety can feel incredibly empowering.
This article was originally published in Waitrose Health magazine Spring/Summer 2022. It has been updated and adapted.