We are rapidly approaching the end of the semester and therefore, the end of this English project. It has been an interesting experience to do research on energy healing. Even though I've been involved with it for years, there were still things to learn. I have been surprised at how vehement the opposition can be. I understand the whole need for scientific research but I find it sad that testimonials and proof of other kinds are not good enough for them. To me it seems that if something works, even if it might be "all in the mind" that we should be grateful that at least it gives a desired result. The mind is an amazing thing. Why not?

Many years ago I was watching a talk show where a young man, who had been diagnosed with a terrible brain tumor, was able to get rid of it by imagining each night that there were good "attackers", I guess kind of like the Force from Star Wars, that were literally attacking this tumor. Over time the tumor disappeared, and this kid was found free of cancer. How wonderful for him. Yet, there was a doctor there who didn't want to go out on a limb to suggest that it was a good thing. What if another patient couldn't get the same result? (Like everyone who has surgery and chemo has great results.) He was actually down playing the success of this child because it didn't fit into his paradigm. If this kid's family had not taken the chance with this alternative treatment, he would have been dead. That is where the real tragedy is. Just because we cannot see something, or measure it the way science usually does, does not make it unviable. It would be nice if these people could be open minded enough to acknowledge the benefits and results that are visible.

Luckily, there are many who do see, and are willing to admit there might be something there. One of those, Dr. Oz, is well known, and hopefully because of that, will get people to take notice. I don't think for a minute that energy work is the end all be all for everyone. However, I do think there are tremendous benefits to helping people in many areas of their lives if they would simply be open to the possibilities. Unfortunately, many people won't do anything if their doctor doesn't recommend it and most doctors won't do that. It will take time. My father was a chiropractor and I remember as a kid knowing that he was looked at as some kind of quack because of his profession. Things in that area have changed over the last 50 years. People can become more open. I'm counting on that.

My focus in my research has been how energy work can help those with depression. I suffered from it for years. For years I took the meds and did the counseling in an effort to find some kind of peace and happiness. It's all that the medical community has to offer and it simply isn't good enough. I run into too many people who have just resigned themselves to life never really getting any better. It doesn't have to be that way. I want to help these people find the joy that has gone out of their lives and I know one way is to help them through energy work. What else can offer solutions without side effects that doesn't cost much, especially in comparison to years of counseling and medication. Is it all in the mind? I don't think so, certainly not in the way the medical community is suggesting. I've known it to be a good thing for me because of experience. After my research, I'm even more convinced it is the way to better health in the long run.

The main reason the medical community states for being against energy work, and alternative therapies in general, is that they claim hasn't been proven to work in the way they insist on proving things. They don't feel that the research that is shown is valid. If we look at that as the cause in this discussion, what is the effect of this stance?

There are many things that happen as a result. Doctors discourage patients from getting treatment that could be beneficial. People who only do what their doctor says are reluctant to look for alternative answers, even if they are not satisfied with results they are getting through traditional means. People who do use alternative treatments are less likely to tell their doctor about it, for fear of criticism. The attitude of the professional community makes it harder to get funding to do the research that is required. Less research, less chance of proving its validity.

When we are talking about the subtle energies of the body, we are talking about energy that cannot be measured in the same way that science normally tests things. The technology does not exist that can measure these energies the same way other things in science are measured. The only way to learn more about it, is to explore other ways to look at things. For people so firmly convinced that theirs is the only way, that can be very difficult. This attitude causes the rift that exists in the healing field.

My experience has been that those practicing traditional medicine, whether the actual doctor or the patient firm in his belief that it is the only way, are not anxious to look at alternative health care as anything other than something fanatics, or desperate people use. Certainly no intelligent person would fall for that hooey. I do admit that the attitudes are starting to change. More and more people are seeing the benefits of alternative care and therefore the medical community is starting to take note by having classes available in their medical schools so their doctors are more aware of what is out there. However, as long as the pharmaceutical companies have a say-so in what is taught in the medical schools, things will not change much. There is too much money at stake. Much of the research dollars are controlled by the pharmaceutical companies. They want to invest in whatever is going to make them more money. Alternative treatments will not. Is it any wonder that they fight it so. As a result, too many people are suffering needlessly. Main cause - main effect.

Opposition to energy work, and other types of alternative care, usually comes from the traditional medical community. A tool that they use in this opposition is to simply dismiss it as silly. The technical word used by a former director of research at a center for complementary medicine at the University of Maryland was "hooey." I have come across the term "pseudoscience" a couple of times. It was used in conjunction with the opinion that it is simply a bunch of charlatans promoting the equivalent of modern-day snake oil.

The reasoning for this attitude, stated over and over again, is that alternative therapies, energy medicine included here, can't be proven to work, at least, not in the same way that traditional medicine is proven. If scientists can't see it under a microscope or measure it in some way, they don’t believe it. They say that there is no proof that the energies referred to even exist, because they can’t be measured. The claim is made that results of research that has been done is not legitimate. They say that most of the claims come from anecdotal sources, and that is not good enough. The scientific community has certain standards by which all things must be measured, and because of that, energy medicine does not measure up.

Fear is used to promote the idea that alternative therapies don’t work. It appears that there is a huge concern over the public's ability to choose wisely when it comes to health care. It's interesting to me that even though the medical community says energy medicine can't be proven to work, they are very confident that it can be harmful, if for no other reason than the patient doesn't get the proper care - theirs. The fear: they may be delaying treatment that could really help, rather than doing something that will do no good. The medical community, pharmaceutical companies included, wants to let people know that they are truly taking their lives into their own, unqualified hands if they choose treatment other than that recommended by a qualified, medical professional, especially when that treatment cannot be proven to be of any benefit, according to their methods. Fear can be a powerful tool and it is used often to manipulate people to do things.

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.