The Science of Energy Medicine: How to Work With Subtle Energy for Better Health

BY PHILIPPA LUBBOCK

energy medicine is both an ancient and modern science aimed at facilitating health and healing in the body and mind through the use of conscious intent and its effects on subtle energy fields. photo: tyler lastovich

Extraordinary advances in the fields of medicine and neuroscience have developed life-saving techniques, improved the quality of life and lengthened the average lifespan. Yet our hospitals are packed to the rafters. We’ve lost our way.

In the Western world the prevailing biomedical model focuses on pathology, biochemistry and the physiology of disease. Unlike with energy medicine and healing, psychological, environmental and social influences are for the most part ignored.

Back to Front: Why Modern Medicine Has it Backward

Modern medicine works back to front. Working outside in, its focus is on effect, rather than cause, and on symptom (form) rather than root cause (energy). Subtle energy medicine works inside out, and is aligned with the universal law of cause and effect: energy precedes form. If you want to change form (your body), then first change the vibrational frequencies of the energy (your mind, your emotions, your environment).

Medicine will only become a truly healing art when biology, mind, spirit and the environment that sustains us are viewed as one interlocking system. Addressing only what a physician can see, describe or detect from a laboratory test or scan is like looking at a tree—but only the parts that are visible above ground. Highly trained consultants become specialists in just one branch of the patient’s “tree”. Outside of energetic medicine, doctors seldom ask: “What’s happening beyond the physical plane and conscious mind of my patient? What is the root cause of the cellular chaos showing up as disease?”

Don’t Shoot the Messenger: Why Symptoms Are a Gift in Disguise

Symptoms are a knock at the door. When we listen, we discover that pain is nothing more than a trusted courier delivering an urgent message that reads: “Wake up! There is an easier road available to you than the worn-out old track you are walking.” From an energy medicine perspective, illness is the most efficient way for our bodymind to draw our attention to a systemic imbalance. And healing accelerates once we identify the root cause—those hidden, unconscious, mental and emotional patterns—and then treat the bodymind using energy, which is the only code it can read.

A brief exploration of the ancient field of subtle energy medicine is essential for a deeper understanding of Life Alignment’s transformational power to not only heal our bodies, but also to open up the spiritual path that will guide us toward our awakening.

There is no single definition of energy medicine (which has existed in various forms for thousands of years; but in simple terms, this branch of vibrational medicine is based on the body’s relationship to and production of electromagnetic fields and other forms of vibrating energy such as light (photons), mechanical (sound), and thermal (temperature).

Living as we do in a multi-dimensional universe, human beings are similarly multi-dimensional energy systems. Disturbance on any level causes ripples. Homeostasis or stability at the physical level requires balance at the subtle levels. Without this any prolonged imbalance will, eventually, materialize as disease in one form or another. Thus the primary purpose of subtle energy medicine is to change the vibrational frequencies of the body’s energetic fields, channels and centres, and thereby bring the whole system back into balance.

The Mechanics of Energy Medicine: Consciousness ➞ Field ➞ Form

As consciousness (awareness) governs the field (thoughts, feelings, environment), so the field governs form (molecules, cells). Awareness (consciousness) that I have lost my house keys affects the mind (field) that generates anxious thoughts that in turn affect the nervous system with a resulting tension in the body (form). This sequence of cause and effect that underlies energetic medicine and energy healing calls for a brief exploration of consciousness, energy and matter.

Understanding the Role of Consciousness in Healing and Health

“The source of Consciousness is Consciousness. Consciousness is all there is.”

These words from the Indian sage, Ramesh Balsekar, not only inform energy medicine but are a foundation stone of many religions and spiritual paths. It is the one Truth. When we strip away the body (matter) and the mind (energy), what do we have left? Consciousness. Awareness. Spirit. Presence.

Since all forms of vibrational energetic medicine hold Consciousness as the source of all that manifests—either as energy, or matter—here is the first hurdle. Consciousness cannot be seen, handled or tested in a laboratory. The general view from allopathic medicine is that subtle energy medicine is not only woolly and unscientific, but it attributes relationships between action and outcome that cannot be justified either by reason, observation, or clinical proof.

Yet those of us who work in, or receive any kind of healing energy generally experience positive results for which there is no apparent rational explanation. How can we see presence in a test tube? Where is the machine that can measure or calibrate compassion? Which chemical, when swallowed, transforms rejection into acceptance? The field of energy medicine is constantly faced with the fact that the mind cannot be plucked and placed under a microscope. The most potent “drug” that heals is love, but none of these qualities of our humanness meets scientific standards of proof.

Fortunately, the imbalance between the scientific-medical and spiritual-energy models continues to be addressed by an ever-increasing number of distinguished cellular biologists, physicists, neuroscientists and physicians who agree that only when alternative subtle energy healing methods are subjected to rigorous scientific investigation, will energy medicine reach a level of acceptance where it can sit alongside its mainstream cousin.

One such physicist is Stanford University professor Dr. William Tiller whose research is focused on the building of “a reliable bridge of understanding for humans that seamlessly joins the foundations of orthodox science on one end, extends through the domain of the psyche, emotion and mind, and is firmly planted in the bedrock of spirit at the other end.”

Meanwhile, skepticism around energetic medicine persists primarily for two reasons: one is how we talk about the concept of energy (including subtle energy); the other is the appearance of a seemingly “miraculous” cure in the absence of physical manipulation, drugs, or surgical intervention. But first, what is this vital force called energy?

What Is Energy?

Broadly speaking, science describes energy as information that vibrates. Found in the 4th Century BCE writings of Aristotle, the word energy is derived from the Greek energeia, meaning “being at work.” This vital force is the impetus behind all movement and activity, and we often use the word as a measure for how we are feeling, “I’m full of energy today!” or “I don’t have the energy to do this.”

Every thing is made of energy expressed as patterns, which is a cornerstone of energy medicine and healing. Some patterns we can see and experience through our five senses: a building (sight), birdsong (sound), chocolate (taste), perfume (smell), or silk (touch). Other patterns are too subtle for our senses to pick up.

Conversion—Transforming Energy

Energy carries information that tells an atom what to do, whether to join forces with other atoms to form the molecules of an apple, your thumb, or a raincloud. The miraculous power of energy is that it cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or converted into different forms—a facet that vibrational energy medicine incorporates.

The chemical energy in petrol can be converted into both thermal energy to heat the engine, and mechanical energy to move the car. Gravity, stored as potential energy in a precious vase you place on a high shelf, will convert to kinetic energy as the vase falls onto the floor. Electrical energy can be converted to heat for the oven, mechanical for the vacuum cleaner, or sound waves from the radio.

Given that atoms vibrate and everything is made up of atoms, vibration is the fundamental characteristic of energy. So how has it come about that conventional Western medicine and subtle energy medicine view healing so differently? The answer lies in the world “subtle”. There are two kinds of energy fields hat occupy different planes: physical and subtle. Turning once again to one of the leading theorists in the subtle energetic spectrum, Dr. William Tiller defines these two co-existing fields as follows.

Physical Energy Fields

We can see physical or veritable energy. “It is electrical in nature, has positive mass, travels slower than the velocity of electromagnetic light, it gives rise to gravity and its wavelengths and frequencies can be measured.” Opposite from energy medicine, conventional medicine uses many different forms of measurable energy fields in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), laser eye surgery, cardiac pacemakers, radiation therapy, and UV light for skin and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Subtle Energy Fields

Putative or subtle energy cannot be measured. “It is magnetic in nature, has negative mass and travels faster than the speed of electromagnetic light.” Whilst we cannot see subtle energy that we also frequently refer to as prana, qi, spirit, or mana, the human energy field, or aura, is composed of it. There are four primary fields out of thousands more, which flow into and out of the human body, making us truly a part of the indivisible whole, or cosmos.

These energy fields are connected to the physical body through super highways (meridians) and centres (chakras) that convert incoming high-speed energy currents to appropriate levels and then distribute this life-sustaining energy to our cells. Therapists who use energy medicine to work with this vital energy for energy healing can sense it with their hands, or bodies, and a few can see it in the form of colour.

In line with the core principles of energy medicine, Life Alignment employs this subtle energy and works from the fundamental premise that all physical objects (bodies) and psychological processes (thoughts, emotions, beliefs and attitudes) are expressions of energy and infused with this subtle form. As we have seen in the preceding stories and case histories, when the flow of vital energy, or life force, is blocked for too long in any field, the bodymind becomes dis-eased. This is where vibrational medicine and energy healing play an important role.

Uniting the Fields with Energy Medicine—Janice’s Story of a Miraculous Tumor Healing

Sitting across from her consultant, Janice struggled to take in his words: “The tumour on your left lung is the size of my fist,” he told her. At 56, the likelihood of her surviving for more than two years was slim.

Refusing both surgery and chemotherapy, Janice agreed to a course of radiation therapy; she also chose to re-engage with Life Alignment (a form of energetic medicine), which she had first encountered some years earlier. For six punishing weeks her lung was radiated daily, until both her chest and back were scarlet in colour, as if scorched by fire.

During treatment and convalescence, Janice continued receiving Life Alignment balances. As a psychotherapist, she felt attuned to this medical model due to its focus on the emotional processing of patterns in our life story that can cause cellular chaos. Mainstream medicine had dealt with her symptom (form); but the subtle energy medicine that underpins the Life Alignment technique focused on her mental and emotional bodies (energy), and incorporated her spiritual body (consciousness). Each balance took Janice into deeper levels of her core issue: namely feeling valued only when giving, and also into a well of grief that lay beneath her fear of asking or receiving.

In Chinese Medicine, which is a form of energetic medicine, the lung is associated with grief, sadness and detachment. As master of the life force, or qi, lungs are in charge of the airflow coming in and going out. Janice gives out, but resists taking in. When her daughter had wanted to accompany her to the hospital, Janice had refused. She worried that it was too much for this busy young mother. Her daughter, as a result, had felt rejected.

As a result of here energy medicine sessions, when Janice recognized that her refusal to accept kindness and help caused others to feel unwanted and hurt, she became more mindful about accepting care. The bond with her daughter deepened, and as her heart opened, Janice moved into a peaceful acceptance of the fact that it will be her soul that chooses whether to stay or leave.

Three months after the initial diagnosis, a CT scan showed Janice’s tumour had begun to shrink. A six-month scan revealed nothing but a faint, milky white scar on her lung. And as her physical body continues to recover from the onslaught of the disease and orthodox treatment, which vibrational energetic medicine also helps ease, Janice now lives in peace in body and spirit, and with greater ease in her relationships.

When the physical body is in pain we need to attend to it lovingly before we can go more deeply into our spiritual journey. For change in the body to be swift and deep, energy medicine treatment must be focused in the subtle realms of thought, belief, attitude and feeling. Living as we do in a material world of objects that appear solid (such as our body), we assist the energy healing process when we remember how energy manifests as form, or matter.

Energy as Matter: Traditional Medicine vs. Energetic Medicine

How is it possible that something solid like your hand, a dog or a brick is virtually 99.9999% empty space? Imagine that a single atom is the size of a full-scale football field, but the nucleus, or mass, of that atom is smaller than a single grain of sand. Since matter is basically “empty,” shouldn’t our hands be able to pass through each other or through a brick?

Everything in the universe—material and non-material—is composed of atoms, those invisible packets of energy (quanta) that are constantly spinning and vibrating. This is a key tenant of vibrational energy medicine and healing. What we perceive as our physical, material world isn’t really material at all. A book you are holding, the hands that hold it, your eyes that see, your brain that comprehends, and even the space around you consist solely of clusters of molecules that are mostly empty space.

Matter—which is anything that has mass and takes up space—is straightforward. It can be seen, touched, measured, taken apart, and often put back together. Energy, on the other hand, is abstract and invisible. As we have seen in our exploration of energy medicine, energy is the ability to move or cause change in matter, such as the heat from your oven changing a solid knob of butter into oily liquid. Einstein showed us that light (energy) and matter are two sides of the same coin: Matter is frozen light, and light is matter on the move.

From the field of quantum physics we know that an atom is composed of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Although matter is mostly empty space, it is filled with electrical fields such as the “strong force” that holds the nucleus together and the “electromagnetic (EM) force” that keeps electrons apart.

Your apparently solid body may appear to be sitting on a solid chair, but as theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku says: “When electrons come within a very small distance of each other, they begin to repel each other. You may think you are sitting on a chair, but you are hovering just above the chair because the electrons of your body are repelling the electrons of the chair.” If this powerful EM force were to be turned off, then not only could we walk through walls, but also we would fall through the earth!

Both the fields of traditional medicine and energetic medicine are essential for helping the body to repair itself and there are encouraging signs that they are moving into a closer relationship. Pharmaceutical-led medicine provides its sophisticated diagnostic machines, life-saving surgical techniques, prescription drugs and hospital care when necessary—all of which are energy-based. Energy medicine, with its focus on root cause and prevention, treats mind, emotions and body as an intelligent unit by adjusting the vibrations in our subtle energy fields.

For too long practitioners from both fields of medicine have viewed each other through the lens of “us and them.” It is time to join forces. In the words of Cyndi Dale, author, intuitive, and healer, “subtle energy medicine can’t be claimed by holistic practitioners, naturopathic doctors, and alternative healers alone.” Since our bodies are made of energy, any healing method that involves the human body is a energy healing practice.

In 1624, the poet John Donne wrote: “No man is an island, entire of itself…” Rather than separate, self-sustaining islands, we are as much a part of everything on every dimension, as a water molecule is part of an ocean. So how does this connectivity take place and how does this relate to vibrational and energy medicine?

We have established that our body and the world we inhabit consist of innumerable inter-penetrating physical and subtle energy fields, which energy medicine works on. Whether or not we can see or sense them, the effects from these fields will be either beneficial or harmful to living things. We readily accept that there are energies that harm the body, such as a virus or poison that we might inhale or ingest; or environmental geopathic stress and electromagnetic radiation from natural and manmade fields.

However, we are often less aware of how thoughts that generate anger or fear affect the heart and cellular functioning in other key body systems—something that subtle energy medicine does not ignore. In other words, it is attention to the most powerful energetic force of all—our mind—that determines how well the body functions. We could say that illness is conceived, developed and brought to full term by our habitual absence alongside its cousin, stress. We are not here. As hostages we’re trapped in memories with their vibrant emotional colours; as fugitives we flee into the future, hoping that once there, all will be well.

Developing our capacity to stay here, to be present, aware of our self and the world around us is not only the source of deep healing energy, but also our sole purpose in being here on this beautiful planet.

3 Exercises for Working with Subtle Energy

Since we are made of energy, the more sensitive we become to this life force, the more power we have for self care and care of others. Here are some ways you can experience subtle energy that show, conclusively, how interconnected we are with our environment. However well we know exercises like these, we often forget to practice them, and so forget to develop our inborn power to heal and change our lives.

1. Developing Awareness of Different Vibrational Frequencies

Close your eyes and visualize the following: It’s the Saturday before Super Bowl Sunday, and you’re in a Walmart superstore. In this chaotic, swirling ocean of movement, light and sound, sense what you are feeling. Stay for a minute or two. Next, see yourself standing in a church or temple where, for generations, souls have prayed or meditated—or in your favourite place in nature. Sense what you are feeling here, and the different quality of these two experiences. By doing so, you will feel the vibrational frequency differences that vibrational energy medicine addresses.

2. Healing Hands

Hold your hands six inches apart with palms facing each other. Feel the energy. After a while it may begin to feel as if you are holding a ball. Experiment with moving your hands closer together or further apart. You could move one hand toward your head, the other toward your feet. What do you notice when your hands move away from each other? You can also experience subtle energy medicine with another person. Stand opposite one another with your palms facing theirs. Try different distances. And lastly, have your friend stand still, and use your hands to sense their energy field. What does it feel like? How wide is it? Is the width of their field the same or different depending on whether you are standing in front of, behind, or to one side of this person?

3. How to Remove “Foreign Energy” with Life Alignment

At times, we all come into contact with the “negative” emotions (anger, resentment, fear, jealousy) of another person. This is foreign energy—it doesn’t belong to you—but it can stick to you like plastic wrap and affect how you feel. Using this simple Life Alignment energy healing technique, you can remove foreign energy in minutes, and in doing so protect your mind, heart, and body from energies that can weigh you down.

+ Be aware of the negative emotion that you may have picked up. (Sometimes it might be more of a “parasitic” energy from someone who is overly demanding of your time and attention.)

+ Lying down or sitting, with the palm of your hand first gently touch your navel; then touch the crown of your head.

+ With your left hand lightly touch your navel again; with your right hand touch your crown. With your hands positioned above these two body points, move your hands away from your body until they are about four inches above these two points. As you hold them there for a minute or two, feel the healing energetic medicine moving through your hands in those locations.

You have just done some energy medicine work, and cleared toxic energy from your field. Using Life Alignment we can bring into balance all aspects of our human existence—our physical body, mind, emotions, the environment, our home, a business or organization—and align more deeply with our soul’s true purpose.

This piece on subtle energy medicine is excerpted with permission from The Healing Power of Life Alignment: Realigning Body, Heart and Mind With Your Soul’s Purpose by Philippa Lubbock.

About The Authors

Philippa Lubbock is an internationally respected Life Alignment practitioner and author of Life Alignment—Heal Your Life and Discover Your Soul’s True Purpose. She entered the field of energy medicine via a winding path through classical music, theatre, early education, bodywork, and psychology. Her years as a Gestalt psychotherapist provided first-hand evidence of the mind as the source of dis-ease. This fueled her passion to search for—and find—this healing method that dissolves the boundaries between mind, body, spirit, and the environment. Visit her website: breathingspace.eu.com