When I originally decided on a topic for my paper this semester, I was going to write it on how energy medicine can help depression. I personally feel that it is because of energy medicine that I am able to live a happy life, free from depression, without medication. The more I have researched it and gotten feed back, I feel like I need to take a little turn with that topic. I will still be addressing energy medicine, but from an educational platform. There are so many people that do not understand what I'm talking about. They are not familiar with terminology let alone processes. In order for people to even consider using it in their lives, they need to understand more of what it is and what it can do. I will still talk about conditions that can be helped but I think my main focus will be informing.

As I have done research, not just now, but throughout the years, it is always interesting to see the many ways energy medicine has helped people. Because of such positive results, I am still amazed at the number of people who think it is a bunch of hooey. I appreciate that science needs empirical evidence and that is how their research is done. What is wrong with looking outside the box? It's not like they have all the answers and it's not like all their answers are good. I know that I look at things differently than a lot of people because I was raised in a home where alternative treatments were the norm. However, to see people who are afraid to do anything if it hasn't been proven in a petrie dish is sad to me.

I have been surprised at the amount of information I have been able to find. I am learning more and more with each article I read. My challenge is going to be organizing it all in a way that will be simple, yet interesting, and understandable to the reader. I love my subject and I want to share that with others, especially those who have not been exposed to it before.

Defining key words for the reader is essential, especially when writing on a topic such as energy work. The majority of the people in our society choose traditional medical therapies to treat disease and disorders of the body. Energy medicine is fairly unknown in general circles, and for many people, if they have heard about it, they usually have no idea what is entailed in the process. Some people even have quite negative connotations associated with the term "energy medicine." In defining the following terms, I hope to shed light on some of those misconceptions. My hope is that by educating people a little more, the fear of energy medicine will be gone and they will be more open to the process.

For my five words I chose: energy, energy work, vibrations, energy systems, and clearing. In school we are taught about the different body systems but I don't recall ever being taught anything about the actual energy that powers those systems. Energy flows through the body in vibrations, similar to sound waves, or light waves. It flows through seven different energy systems that support and balance the body, giving it the information it needs to function. Energy healers are trained to work with these energy systems to make sure that everything is flowing freely, without anything blocking the flow, and making sure that the energy is good. The term used to describe this process is clearing.

I am the first one to admit that energy work does not fit well into the traditional paradigm of healing. I can also state without question that learning about energy work, and then experiencing it, changed my life. My goal is to educate more people on the wonderful world of energy healing. By doing so, I hope to change other lives.

This is a picture of a frozen water crystal. Isn't it beautiful? It reminds me of a snowflake. I love snowflakes. I'm always amazed at their delicacy and intricacy. This particular crystal is very special. The picture is taken from the book Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto. He was fascinated by water crystals. In doing experiments with different water, and the crystals they would form he was surprised to see that some water was not capable of forming crystals. These were the waters that had been treated by chemicals. He also found that by playing music next to the water, before it was frozen, the most amazing crystals would form. This piqued his curiosity so much that he then experimented with all sorts of things besides music. He wanted to see if words made a difference in how crystals would form. He wanted to see what would happen when he exposed the water to technology, like microwaves. Words like" love" and "thank you" created beautiful crystals. Words like hate and anger did just the opposite. The water exposed to microwaves looked awful after it had been frozen. He found that time and time again, the crystals would form according to what kinds of energies that had been exposed to.

So what, you may ask. The reason this is so important is because our bodies are mostly water. Our bodies are greatly influenced by what happens with the water in our bodies. When we are around things that have a positive energy, we will enjoy better health and wellbeing. We feel better emotionally. When we are exposed to the negative energy, we suffer the consequences. Whether it's the toxins in the air, the chemicals in our foods, or the words we think and say, all these things will have a negative effect in some way to how we feel. Emoto's experiments prove what these kinds of things can do. By being aware of the kinds of things we are exposing ourselves to, we then have more control over how we feel.

I read an article by Dr. Mehmet Oz from the Saturday Evening Post. It was entitled “The Healing Power of Energy.” In this article I feel Dr. Oz is using deductive reasoning. He points out that “In the West, we have adapted a biomedical understanding of illness.” He then infers that because of that, we tends to think that there is no other method with merit. If you can't prove it through research, don't bother with it.

It's interesting that he starts off the article with a personal experience of coming into the room of one of his patients, that he had just operated on, to find an energy healer working on him. He describes her appearance, leading the reader to think this lady must be, at best, eccentric, at worst, a lunatic. A surprising way to start for someone wanting to convince people they need to be more open to energy work.

He then continues throughout the article showing why the medical community needs to be more open towards alternative modalities, usually coming from the Far East, that deal with the body’s energies. To back this up, he refers to the Framingham study, one of the largest, and longest, studies on heart health. Despite everything that they have learned from the study, “half of the heart attacks in this country occur in individuals without traditional risk factors...”

He reassures his colleagues that he has not fallen off the deep end. He is a physician and proud of it. Then he starts asking a bunch of questions, trying to motivate people to take a look at their beliefs. He never makes any outlandish claims like energy medicine is the answer to all our health problems. He’s saying, “If we have all the answers, why do we still have so much that we don’t know and can’t fix?” Over and over he is saying, "Be open, be open. Be willing to look at something that truly might have some merit." In the end, he likens the argument over energy medicine to the argument over the reality of God. If one continues to search for solid, empirical evidence, they will be disappointed.

I think his thesis statement is that we need to be open to alternative health treatments, even though we can't look at them through the same biomedical eyes. He wants people to ask themselves what they are so afraid of. As far as questions from the opposition the only thing I can see is that they might say that what Dr Oz has suggested is simply a waste of time.