You have probably heard the words “energy healing” or “sound healing” from time to time. But what exactly is it? And what does that mean?

There are as many myths and misunderstandings about energy healing as there are practices for it – and a great deal of mystery too. You might find your head spinning if you try to Google it, and you’ll probably get a different answer from every person you ask.

So it’s time to clarify what energy healing is – and what it isn’t – by busting some of the biggest myths surrounding it.

Energy healing encompasses a wide range of traditions and techniques that process and move the body’s energies through various energy systems. These energies are typically unseen, but by working with them, we can release blockages to our healing, create balance, and restore our vitality.

Some of the oldest energy healing traditions are:

Yoga
Qi Gong
Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese Medicine – Balancing Five  Elements
Reiki

But these techniques also work with the body’s energies:

Massage
Meditation
Breath work
Feldenkrais
EFT (Tapping)
Acupressure

And these employ the use of specific frequencies:

Sound healing
Color healing
Crystal healing
Chakra healing

But read on to learn more about this mystifying modality…

Myth number 1: “Energy healing is a ‘New Age’ fad.”

On the contrary. Energy healing was actually among the first healing practices we know of, which goes way back thousands of years. Long before our ancestors discovered that plants had medicinal properties. Humans moved and manipulated the body’s energies with their hands to heal themselves and promote better health. Shamans and medicine men and women from indigenous tribes represent just some of the healers who worked with energy in ancient times.

Interestingly, we still see remnants of the old energy-healing strategies in our everyday lives. When, for example, you have a stomach ache, an unconscious reaction is often to rub the hand in a circular motion movement over your midsection.

This is a known energy technique that helps restore the natural flow of your digestion. Or, when you have a headache, you massage your temples: these areas contain specific energetic pressure points that help relieve pain when activated. Energy healing is such an ancient practice that it is built into your very DNA.

Myth number 2: “Energy healing is not based on science.”

Surprisingly, the challenge is not that there is no scientific evidence to support energy healing – but the fact that most people do not know that scientific research exists. There are plenty of clinical studies focused on the effectiveness of different types of energy healing; however, this research has not been popularized in mainstream culture, which tends to support conventional approaches and well-funded interests.

There are thousands of clinical studies showing the effectiveness of acupuncture alone (one of the most widespread forms of energy healing), as well as many other forms of energy healing.

In energy psychology, there are many studies of EFT (Emotional Focused Therapy) – a method where you press specific acupuncture points while activating specific thoughts or feelings.

Sound healing is used to support the healing of broken bones, and it has long been accepted knowledge that colors (and the frequencies they use) have a direct effect on our minds. So while there is still great debate about how such energetic approaches work, today there are hundreds of experiments confirming that they do!

Myth number 3: “There is no such thing as an energy body.”

Just because you can’t see something, does that mean it doesn’t exist? We cannot see love, gravity, or magnetism…but we know them by their effects. The energetic aspect of your body has been recognized across cultures for thousands of years – and aspects of it have been mapped in detail within some of the world’s oldest healing systems, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.

If you have heard of the chakras, the aura, connective tissue pathways (also called anatomy trains), or the meridians, then you are already familiar with some of the basic “anatomy” of the energy body as we know it today. Just as we all have a circulatory system, a digestive system, and an endocrine system, we all have an energy system.

Furthermore, the energy body isn’t necessarily “invisible”; the challenge may instead lie in your inability to perceive it. There are many individuals who report being able to see people’s energy bodies (aura or biofield).

This is perhaps due to the Faraday effect; Magnetic fields change the polarization of light. The eye is very sensitive to the polarization of light, and some people have the ability to sense the body’s energy field by tuning in to the way the field changes the polarization of light.

It is their view that we are all born with the ability to see energy, but the strongly left-brained culture our society has created often results in this ability atrophying at a very young age. However, to feel and see energy can be regained with practice.

Also, check out “Why balancing the chakras is important to you.“

Myth number 4: “Energy healing doesn’t work.”

Skeptics will often say something like, “I tried energy healing once and it didn’t work,” or “I didn’t feel any difference.” The truth is that energy healing works completely differently than conventional medicine. While conventional medicine focuses on changing the body biochemically (eg through medicine) or mechanically (eg through surgery), energy healing works by balancing and modifying the subtle energy fields and currents that make up your body.

According to many traditions, imbalances and illness begin from the outside in: from the outermost layer of your biofield, or “aura,” and then penetrate your physical and psychic body. When physical symptoms appear, the imbalance/blockage/disease is already present in the body. Similarly, energy healing works from the inside out: you cannot “feel” the effects immediately because the changes do not happen immediately on the physical plane.

Often the best way to assess if an energy healing session is working is to pay attention to positive changes in your mood, energy level, and sleep and not just the symptoms you want to relieve. Energy healing works holistically, on all aspects of the body – not just the physical. Many people find that their symptoms disappear over time – naturally – as their energies are balanced and strengthened.

Myth number 5: “You have to believe in energy healing for it to work.”

Energy healing does not require faith, trust, or even hope (although it is certainly beneficial and promotes the process). This has been proven time and time again in what is popularly called “intention experiments”, where it has been shown that your focused thoughts can have powerful, measurable healing effects on other living beings, from humans to plants.

These results are quantifiable, significant, and replicable—and most importantly, it didn’t require the person (or plant) on the receiving end to know they’re part of the experiment, or even believe it. Such studies are a great boon to not only the effectiveness of energy healing but also the power of distance healing, revealing that we are not as separate from each other as we may think… and in fact, your ability to heal yourself and others can be as deeply rooted in you as your ability to love.

How I use energy healing.

As you can see from the lists, every modality I use with clients is grounded in energy healing, and by combining many different approaches and techniques, I’m able to create unique sessions that are tailored to my clients, and therefore so much more efficient. Nobody has to provide me with proof that energy healing works, I’m a witness to that every single day.

So if you want proof, it is as easy as trying it out for yourself, you know what they say – seeing trying is believing!