What is Energy Healing, Who Can Benefit & How?

Many people question, 'What is energy healing?'  

In this FAQ style article, I briefly explain what it is, the potential health benefits, what type of people respond best, how to find a quality practitioner, and if belief in it is necessary for it to be effective.  

You may also want to read more about me and my credentials, what is covered in a Chinese Five-Elements Energy Healing Session, or my Reiki FAQ for more information.  

Wildwood Park, Toledo, OH; Photo copyright of Tracy Matesz, 2022

What is Energy Healing? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is energy healing, and is it similar to Reiki?

Energy healing is a catch-all term which can be applied to a variety of therapies, most notably, Reiki, and other types of therapy which utilizes both hands on, and hands off healing techniques.  In this article, I briefly explain what is energy healing, how it can benefit your health, and what type of people especially respond well to more subtle, gentle therapies, such as energy healing.  

I also share a few traits to look for when choosing an energy healing practitioner.

As someone trained in Acupuncture and Oriental medicine, Macrobiotics, Reiki, Animal Reiki, Hypnotherapy and Holistic CORE Counseling, Channeling, and other more esoteric modalities, I have a particular vantage point with which to discuss energy healing.  From my perspective, ALL of these therapies ~ and many others ~ could fall under the umbrella of energy healing.  

In a nut shell, energy healing is a process of restoring the native, harmonious flow of energy throughout the body. A Chinese medicine adage states:

'When there is flow, there is no pain.  When there is pain, there is no flow.'

Energy healing practitioners can be seen as a conduit of Universal Divine Energy that can be guided to any area of the client in need of healing.  Many energy healing practitioners are highly perceptive, and intuit physical and/or emotional issues needing to be addressed, or released, and help the client restore a sense of clarity and peace.

Types of Therapies Which Fall Under the Umbrella of Energy Healing

Many diverse therapies including Reiki, The Re-Connection, and Healing Touch along with Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Cranial Sacral, Polarity, Quantum Touch, and massage all fall into the realm of energy healing, at least to some extent.  Ultimately, each modality is trying to restore optimal balance and energy flow.  

Energy healing is more often applied to those therapies which primarily focus on harmonizing energy flow within the channels or meridian systems within the body, and the energy field surrounding the body, as both impact physical health.  

What is Energy Healing FAQ: How Does Energy Healing Actually Work?

While people ask, what is energy healing, what they really want to understand is how it works.

Energy healing  is gentle, relaxing, and minimally invasive, yet powerfully effective  with lasting benefits.  The innate intelligence of the body heals itself providing nothing interferes with its natural process for self correction. 

Toxins and inappropriate diet disrupt our physiology, but our conscious  mind’s resistance to our life experiences, and the suppression of our emotions can all be powerful obstructions to  our natural flow of energy,  creating a lack of ease.

When skillfully administered, energy healing therapies help relax the conscious mind, allowing the body to safely and spontaneously heal.  Experienced practitioners help the client alter their brain wave frequency from a Beta awake and alert state, to a more calm, relaxed Alpha state, or an even more deeply relaxing Theta state mostly experienced in meditation or during guided visualizations.  

When a client falls asleep during an acupuncture or Reiki / Energy Healing session, we know that deep healing is happening.  The parasympathetic 'rest and diges't nervous system has 'turned on.'  This is where all the healing magic happens.

Depending on the type of energy healing therapy used, experienced practitioners can help the client  to remove old neural programming, while ’re-wiring’  healthier patterns.  This is the primary focus of certain types of energy healing practices, such as hypnotherapy, Holistic CORE Counseling, and others, however, each of these modalities helps the client using different techniques.  

These changes can initiate improvements in the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems,  sending information to every cell, making possible profound transformational shifts in every aspect of a person’s life.  

Mrs. Stokes Park, Hillsdale, MI; Photo ©Tracy Matesz, 2022

What Are the Health Benefits One Can Expect From Energy Healing?

Energy Healing may be subtle, however, the benefits can be transformative.  In truth, it is very difficult to measure the breadth of benefits.  An energy healing session is often the catalyst for shifts that may happen long after the healing session.  The more we are aligned with our true path, or what I sometimes refer to as the Divine Operating System, or DOS, the more flow we will experience in all areas of our lives.  Synchronicities occur with greater frequency, bringing you exactly what you most need ~ of support, resources, or relevant connections.

Just as eating a healthy diet of natural foods supports the body's ability to release excess accumulations, and restore vitality and health, energy healing is a tool that can help us release mental, emotional, and energetic blockages to our being in divine alignment.  From my experience, both are essential for those who desire to feel their best, and live their most illuminated life.

That said, here are some of the more immediate benefits that clients have noted experiencing over the many years of offering a variety of energy healing services:

• A great night of sleep following an energy healing session
• Greater sense of calm and inner peace
• A feeling of being more present, or grounded
• Lighter ~ a lightness of being not ordinarily experienced
• Less reactive to typical emotional triggers
• Easier to manage stressful situations, and negative emotions
• A resurgence of inspiration and creativity
• Less desire to put up with negative people or environments 
• Easier to manage grief or a recent loss
• MORE negative emotions like anger, grief and sadness 

While that last benefit, 'MORE negative emotions like anger and sadness' may sound unappealing, when clients report that this was their experience, I always say, "OH GREAT!  That means it's working!"  Followed by, "I'm so sorry I forgot to warn you that that could be a side effect experienced post treatment!"  

While this is much less common, it's always inevitably the person who most thinks that they don't ever feel angry, and/or that I failed to mention this to who has this experience.  

Just remember, things must come up to be cleared.  Think of it like sweating.  Moisture must surface  to the external part of our skin, in order for evaporation to cool us off.  Similarly, all those repressed emotions must surface in order to clear.  

Simply observe, don't judge, and just let it be.  Allow the emotion to run its course. Then it will flow on through and you will feel all the better in its wake.

Misty Mountains, Prescott, AZ Photo ©Tracy Matesz

Who Can Benefit From Energy Healing Services?

While energy healing can be enjoyable for everyone, a highly sensitive person (HSP) will find these therapies especially helpful as part of  a  regular self-care regime.  

HSP’s have very active nervous systems that leads to feeling frazzled and easily over-whelmed.  To cope, many withdraw. Their keen awareness of subtleties in their environment make them ideal candidates for  energy  healing, especially with the right therapist who understands the unique challenges and gifts of high sensitivity.

A highly sensitive therapist can help empower clients to feel more confident, balanced and safe improving their health and quality of life.  The freedom to express one’s gifts authentically is the ultimate sign of healing, and beneficial for us all.

Do I Have to Believe in Energy Healing for it to Work?

Technically, no.  The heart emits electromagnetic energy and performs several important functions, including blood circulation which keeps us alive.  We don't have to 'believe' in our heart and its functions for the heart to pump every day.

In Science of the Heart, Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance, HeartMath Institute looks at how the magnetic fields produced by the heart are involved in energetic communication. 

"The heart is the most powerful source of electromagnetic energy in the human body, producing the largest rhythmic electromagnetic field of any of the body’s organs. The heart’s electrical field is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the electrical activity generated by the brain. This field, measured in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG), can be detected anywhere on the surface of the body. Furthermore, the magnetic field produced by the heart is more than 100 times greater in strength than the field generated by the brain and can be detected up to 3 feet away from the body, in all directions, using SQUID-based magnetometers."

Wherever there is pain or disharmony, 'distress signals' are emitted which can be detected by sensitive practitioners.  Discordant energy can be harmonized, and the body's innate healing mechanisms can be activated to stimulate flow, soften tightness, clear stagnancy, and bring about positive shifts.  

The mind itself is quite powerful.  Much of healing is accomplished through intent.  Holding the intent of bringing in the highest good for the client is like a form of prayer.  The client can likewise visualize healing light, color or energy flowing to areas of discomfort or disease.

After years of doing Reiki / Energy Healing for clients, I have no doubts as to its effectiveness.  Otherwise I wouldn't waste my time or the clients.  However, someone who 'doesn't believe' in it may have resistance blocking their awareness of any subtle changes or improvements.  

Everyone has different levels of awareness.  Some people are very in-tuned, and can either feel subtle energy flows, or see colors, shapes or movement.   Others are not.  

Receiving energy healing can help awaken one's awareness of the subtle yet powerful ability of the body and mind to heal.  It's not a magic pill.  Healing takes time.  Steps may need to be taken such as a change of diet.  However, it's the most natural, least invasive way to restore harmony and a sense of well being.

How Do I Choose The Right Practitioner?

Trusting one’s inner guidance is often the best way to find the practitioner that will be the best match.  A higher cost, credential, or trademark does not in and of itself  define a quality therapist. 

More important sometimes are the less tangible qualities such as purity of intent, self-development, and a high degree of sensitivity and unwavering faith of the power to heal inherent within each individual. 

Look for those practitioners who have done their own inner work, and understand first hand how to bring about positive transformation.  A good practitioner will display compassion, empathy, and an ability to help you feel comfortable and relaxed during your healing session.  

Contact Me with questions.  I am available for by phone / distance energy healing sessions, including a Five Element Energy Healing.  (Article to come.)

Contact Me / Learn More

What Is Energy Healing? >> Reiki FAQ >> Home

• Chinese Five-Elements Energy Healing Sessions - What is associated with each element, what to expect 
• VGL Holistic Healing   VGL Holistic Health Coaching
• About Me / My Credentials   Contact Me