Category Archives: Healing Modalities

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)

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Emotional Freedom Technique – commonly abbreviated to EFT – is a modern and growing form of personal development and therapy.  EFT is a simple but effective technique somewhere in between hypnosis, meditation, and acupressure. You can learn it in a matter of minutes and use it for instant stress relief, for self-development, attitude and behavior development, resolving personal problems, and restoring life balance.

EFT is about returning the mind, body and feelings to a state of balance and harmony so you are not limited by negative emotions. Even though we are ‘designed’ to recover from unpleasant experiences or thought patterns, nevertheless we can be affected by recurring emotions from past events such as relationships, trauma or loss. We can also be affected by ongoing or future events such as work-related stress, interpersonal problems, depression and various kinds of anxieties. These negative emotions, if not released out of the system in the proper way, can be stuck to your energy field and your body, rather than dispersed. Even if you try to ignore them, they still affect your lives.

How it works:

EFT requires ‘tuning into’ the issue and then gently tapping on specific acupressure points to with your fingers to release negative emotional states, thereby helping with almost all of our life problems, including our physical issues. The significant aspect of tapping is that you often experience shifts within minutes. For example if you carry anger towards someone who has hurt you in the past, you would be asked to think about them… and notice how you feel. You do not have to relive past events, just be aware that the negative feeling is there. Once ‘tuned in’ to that feeling, you tap those acupressure points (shown in the diagram, 5-10 times each point), and say a few things that also help disperse the emotion from the system… and you will immediately feel relief from that anger… neutralize it so it no longer carries emotional charge… and you never have to feel it again. The sentence to repeat while tapping is “Even though i feel …… , i deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Gary Craig (founder of EFT) expresses how EFT works in a slightly different way which is easier to understand. His catch phrase is:

“All negative emotions are caused by disturbances in the body’s energy field”.

He describes it as follows: when you think about a negative memory or feeling, the body’s acupuncture meridians become blocked, a bit like a hose becoming kinked, and this blocks the flow of energy to parts of the body. The result of this is that you feel the negative feeling. By tapping on specific acupuncture points, whilst are deliberately focusing on the negative memory you “un-kink” the hose. Continue reading →

CranioSacral Therapy

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Life and motion

Life expresses itself as motion. Movement is activity and is fundamental to all life forms. It defines how life sustains, grows, and changes. In our body, movement produces the reactions that vitalize our cells, nourish our tissues, and harmonize our organs. Our mind has movement of thoughts, whereas our spirit has movement in feelings. Ideal health strives for the equilibrium reached when all levels optimize and balance each other, seeking a steady-state movement.

At a deep level of our physiological functioning, all healthy, living tissues subtly “breathe” with the motion of life – a phenomenon that produces rhythmic impulses which can be palpated by sensitive hands. The presence of these subtle rhythms in the body was discovered by osteopath Dr William Sutherland in the 1930s, after he had a remarkable insight while examining the specialized articulations of cranial bones. Contrary to popular belief Dr Sutherland realized that cranial sutures were, in fact, designed to express small degrees of motion. He undertook many years of research during which he demonstrated the existence of this motion and eventually concluded it is essentially produced by the body’s inherent life force, which he referred to as the “Breath of Life.” Furthermore, Dr Sutherland discovered that the motion of cranial bones he first discovered is closely connected to subtle movements that involve a network of interrelated tissues and fluids at the core of the body; including cerebrospinal fluid (the ‘sap in the tree’), the central nervous system, the membranes that surround the central nervous system and the sacrum.

What is CranioSacral Therapy? Continue reading →

Reflexology

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It isn’t surprising that many people have dismissed reflexology. After all, there just isn’t any obvious reason why a simple massage of the feet would have any kind of important therapeutic benefit… Sure, we can all agree that it might be pleasurable – even very relaxing – but, that is about it, right?

There is absolutely no precedent for the basic premise of reflexology that areas of the feet correspond to other parts of the body, and, that stimulation of these areas of the feet therapeutically relaxes the corresponding parts of the body! And yet, recipients have had their arthritis completely cured, been cured of their headaches, back aches cleared up, asthma symptoms relieved, sinuses cleared, have been freed of their PMS., ovarian cysts disappeared, stomach ulcer healed – and on and on.

From around the world, scientific research has shown that reflexology is an effective therapy for a diverse range of health conditions: PMS., kidney stones, constipation, childbirth, arthritis, internal pain, tension headaches and the pain suffered by persons with terminal cancer, and, diabetes type II. Maybe it is time to take a second look at reflexology and all the claims that have been made.

Continue reading →

The Power of Touch

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The greatest power of healing is touch.

Healing through the simple process of touch has a long history. Touch is something that we are all born with the ability to both give and receive. It is one of the first sensations we feel upon our arrival into the world, and is therefore one of the most important in terms of its ability to allow us to feel the safety and security of loving relationships in our lives. If this sensation of love and security is allowed to thrive with nurturing parents as providers, we set a foundation and begin to learn more about how to both give and receive love… and as mentioned earlier, unconditional love is the greatest power to connect with the divine!

Touch should not be underestimated because it permeates into all aspects of life. From the way we shake someone’s hand to giving someone a hug, we are defined by how we touch or how we receive it.

There are definitely social and cultural norms for touching, though. Reflect for a moment about how touch is regarded in different parts of the world, within different cultures – where there are implied or clear rules about the human touch. We learn the difference between those times when touching is appropriate or when it is not. We become aware of different types of touching and then determine if we feel that the sensation of being in contact with another is a positive or negative experience.

In terms of its ability to heal or promote health, touch plays an important role in how our instincts develop or evolve. This is not something that we are always conscious of, but nonetheless, become part of our hard wiring. This is seen in our ability to use touch for healing or for survival. When we extend a helping hand (touch) to another person in pain or one who is suffering, we are able to provide a sensation of comfort and soothing for the soul. Being able to use touch for injured or sick persons has become a human characteristic that we tend to take for granted.

In practical terms, alternative healing modalities all use touch as the essence for healing. The objective is a higher level of structure, function, and well-being. Rexflexology, CranioSacral Therpay, Shiatsu, jin shin jytsu, etc… are all used for improving structure, flow, function, in a particular body system – energy, neuromuscular, myofascial, meridians. A Therapeutic Touch practitioner would use  “healing touch” or even “Distance Healing” to work directly on the energy centers and the energy body of a client (with their hands directly on or near the body) to manipulate their energy field which promotes healing, energy body balancing and clearing of the blockages in the Auric system. (Reiki, Pranic Healing, etc…) This, in turn, results in better overall functioning and even psychological transformation and disease prevention. In a holistic way of seeing things, every part of our body and every aspect of our being is connected and affects every other part! Nothing in our bodies acts independently or separately. If we alter just one dimension of a system (as in our bodies), there will be a subsequent influence on all of the others. What changes your structure changes your function, and also changes your mind and heart.

References: http://spencerinstitute.com/holistic-life-coach-certification/