With such a broad categories as "energy" and "medicine" it's not surprising how the Wikipedia definition has two different meanings: energy medicine that is known to humankind - "veritable" (by this they mean energy that science has verified) as well as medicine that has not been confirmed by science - "putative". Energy such as electromagnetism would fall in the former category while Reiki energy and people of other complementary alternative medicines (CAM as defined from the National Institutes of Health) fall within the latter. There's no doubt that science defines our way of life for all of us helping us to produce sense of the seemingly inexplicable in our lives. We need science and it is smarts to stay discovering the as-yet-undiscoverable as we continue to evolve as a species on this planet. At once, one of my personal favorite quotes by certainly one of the world's most popular scientists leads me to imagine that humankind needs to please take a leap of faith where as-yet-unverifiable energy can be involved:
"It is better to trust than disbelieve; in doing so you bring everything to the arena of possibility." - Albert Einstein
Before science laid bare the intricate workings in the body we treated ourselves with techniques like leeches (still used today) and blood-letting (thankfully anything of the past). We used plants as well as their properties to take care of our illnesses and injuries: honey for burns, birch bark for salicylic acid, compresses of arnica for healing list really is endless. Although some of those continue to be used today their use was subjugated with the emerging pharmaceutical industry and traditional medicine - read more about that later. The level of knowledge we've today about how the physical body works is staggering nevertheless we might be moving our own selves towards extinction like a species on account of items like obesity. The World Health Organization offers these facts:
*Key facts
Worldwide obesity has over doubled since 1980.
In 2008, 1.5 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.
65% of the world's population lives in countries where overweight and obesity kills the best way to than underweight.
Nearly 43 million children under the age of five were overweight really.
Obesity is preventable.
How do we have been a great deal smarter than our ancestors yet so dumb as well?! It seems as if the plethora of choices we have has succeeded in removing and insulating/isolating us from your very essence of ourselves. This essence in conjunction with the wisdom from the physical body has become taken from us when both of these things need most to become kept near and close at hand.
At one time we had arrived exploring and exploding certain myths regarding the body system - what makes reproduction occur, what purpose does the mind serve if it is one's heart that keeps blood circulating and your body physically functioning, how come we've got a couple of something (kidneys, lungs, ovaries, testes) and just certainly one of other things (stomach, heart, liver) I have a hunch we were moving further away through the essence from the physical body. That as-yet-unverified form of energy on which one's body depends to heal itself after an accident or illness remained elusive from our most probing scientists and tests although that could be changing. Depending upon what culture you like this essence or life force energy has different names: ki, chi, or prana for example.
I think it's fascinating how the more something is invisible to humankind the greater we resist its existence. We are so influenced by our own five senses and science to describe to us via those five senses what we cannot see, hear, smell, feel, or taste in our world. Heaven help something isn't perceived through those senses - for example ki - because we doubt its existence. Moreover, when something profound and not hard is discovered you will find there's rush to "technologize" something making it complex. When science was able to unlock the mysteries of why certain plants worked to aid the physical body in recovery from illness or injury there were a rush to isolate an extremely small piece - sometimes one or two cells - from the active part from the plant and artificially replicate that part. The result being that people began treating our the signs of disease via non-organic means along with drugs that may be made in huge amounts having a large profit for drug companies along with unintended unwanted side effects. This is the not-so-nice section of science - if it works on this small way let's allow it to be bigger so it can work in a greater way - better simply section of this equation.
Fortunately, we're coming full circle while not quite to blood-letting when it comes to science and medicine. **A 2007 study from the National Institutes of Health Complementary and Alternative Medicine states that more than 38% of adults inside US had tried some way of CAM. That equals 1.2 million folks who suffer from awakened on the idea that the physical is capable of assisting traditional medicine with the self-healing process and in reality, the self-healing process begins and ends while using physical body. We would be foolish to overlook the quantity of knowledge gathered in the centuries about science and medicine and what works/what doesn't. That being said, it's the perfect time for science to again train it's microscope on the most elusive of physical traits - life force energy - to ensure for humankind what we've already sensed and experienced: this self-healing energy is just as real and valid as any medicine given with a syringe and most times, much less painful. Certainly, energy medicine techniques such as acupuncture have been in existence for thousands of years but still haven't got into Western medicine like a viable treatment modality. Again, because in the allegedly invisible energy pathways - meridians - which are the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) virtually all scientists choose - yes, choose - to dismiss both the substance and effect of acupuncture around the physical body. Those times are going to alternation in a huge way, gentle reader.
There's a great deal research occurring on this area that it is impossible to list out all of it here. Suffice it to say where Reiki specifically is worried the US Army has made it a part of its Warriors Resilience Program at Fort Bliss. Yale studied the end results of Reiki on cardiac arrest patients and found that Reiki improved heart rate variability -time between heart beats. pop over to this web-site is employed in over 800 US hospitals today along with the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine is promoting entire academic programs around study regarding life force energy.
These advances in both use of and research of "energy medicine"will bring us full circle and back to our own essence and wisdom in the body. It's simply a couple of time before "ki"is verified by science the other more as-yet-undiscoverable item continues to be believed and moved into the arena of possibility. I fear that when science gets their hands on this effervescent spring of their time it may try to clone it, develop alternatives and/or drugs that replicate its effects. Is it truly impossible for science to merely discover a lynchpin of humankind and then leave it's?
I can't help but wonder, though, if we'll have a harder time relocating the trust that individuals once had in your own bodies and its inherent wisdom. We are so conditioned to locating the answer away from ourselves and through under authentic means many people stopped searching inward for your answers we as individuals seek in addition to healing paths for the cultures and world. I do have hope that through individual Reiki sessions this trust will surface once again. As many lots more people uncover the life tool which is Reiki I have hope this rising tide of energetic body-centered medicine will swell and gently sweep away everything doesn't serve our highest purpose. In its place will likely be peace, love and compassion for ourselves and for that rest with the world.
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Reiki - Energy As Medicine
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5 min read
