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Energy medicine
Acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic.... these are all forms of energy medicine. In fact, most forms of complementary and alternative medicine understand the body – and health and illness – in terms of energy.
In contrast, conventional allopathic medicine looks is based primarily on chemistry and on the physical body. When we appreciate this fundamental difference, then the many diverse forms of complementary and alternative medicine start to make more sense. This article was first published in a 1995 issue of The Good Life, which focused on the theme of energy. The alternative health guide, a book by Brian Inglish and Ruth West, list 66 common alternatives to conventional medicine. They are as diverse as can be, ranging from acupuncture to astrology, chiropractic to psychic surgery.Yet they share one thing in common: energy. While conventional modern medicine, or allopathy, understands the body, health and sickness in terms of chemicals, most alternative forms of medicine understand all these in terms of energy flow.
This cannot be done. It is like using a ruler to measure weight, or using a weighing scale to measure length. It just does not make sense. To understand the many forms of alternative therapies, we need to drop the chemical way of thinking and start thinking in terms of energy. Acupuncture Acupuncture is probably the best known system of energy medicine. It is based on the flow of qi energy, along pathways called meridians. Sickness is said to occur when this energy flow is blocked, stagnated or imbalanced. Health can be restored by making the energy flow smoothly again, using needles or, in modern acupuncture, using laser beams and electromagnetic waves. Acupressure, foot reflexology and the many forms of traditional massage from China, Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere are based on similar concepts of energy flow. In fact, the whole system of traditional Chinese medicine – herbalism, diet therapy, massage, taiqi, qigong etc – is based on energy. It is all energy medicine. Herbs may well contain special chemicals that produce therapeutic effects on the body. Scientist are constantly trying to discover these chemicals and to discover ways of mass producing them in the form of pharmaceutical drugs. That is missing point. In Chinese medicine, herbs are chosen for their energy effect to produce warming or cooling energy, upward or downward energy, expanding or contracting energy, smooth flowing or constricting energy, and so on. This is also the basis of macrobiotics, where foods are selected primarily for the energy effects they produce, not for the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients which they many contain. Homeopathy It is not just in the East that people developed forms of treatment based on energy. Probably the best known Western example of emergy medicine is homeopathy, which was developed some 200 years ago by a German biochemist, Samuel Hahnemann. Although homeopathy uses chemical compounds, they are used in an unconventional way. Hahnemann discovered that when these compounds are diluted in a special way, they become more effective. And when the diluted compound is further diluted, again and again until it practically disappears, it becomes even more potent. It seems illogical. But not if you understand homeopathy as a form of energy medicine. Because the special method of diluting homoeopathic medicines – called “potentizing” – involves energy. Water takes on the energy character of the compound. Manipulation Two other popular forms of Western alternative medicine are osteopathy and chiropractic. Both involve manipulation of the bones and joints, particularly the spine, to correct imbalances that may cause aches and pains. And to free the flow of energy. And so on. There is colour therapy, based n the vibration or energy of colours; sound therapy, based on the energy of sound; dance and movement therapies, based on the energy of movements. There is psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, autosuggestion, meditation, dream therapy and etc. all based on the energy of the mind. There is laying on the hands, therapeutic touch, Charismatic healing, exorcism, psychic surgery…based on “spiritual energy”. Where does astrology fit in? It’s the energy influences of the cosmos, just as feng shui involves the energy of the more immediate environment. It is easy to dismiss all these and more as unscientific, superstitious nonsense. But once we understand everything in terms of energy, they become no longer nonsensical. Instead, we realize that they deserve to be taken seriously. Click here to read about electromagnetic acupuncture, a special form of energy medicine. |
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