For those that know me well, you will know that I am totally fascinated by the mind-body connection and all forms of energy healing. This stuff may sound like ‘woo woo’ to some people (to use one of David Hamilton’s phrases from his book ‘Why Woo Woo Works’) but energy healing is the original form of medicine. There is a lot that science still doesn’t understand and I think this is why terms like woo woo are often used. However, if you do your research you’ll find the “laying on of hands” to relieve pain has been found in ancient texts dating back to 1,500BC. It’s been practiced for thousands of years which is proof in itself that it works.

There are many different forms of energy healing which, generally speaking, work on the subtle flow of energy throughout the body, to help restore health (both mental and physical) and an overall sense of balance. Over the centuries, healers using energy medicine discovered that they were able to positively influence the body’s health by working with its energy field. They not only offered these therapies but in order to make the changes more permanent they also gave their clients ‘homework’ too and taught them techniques such as movement with breath that comes with a yoga practice, along with meditation and relaxation. Thus, they helped their clients to maintain their health and wellness. One of the major principles of energy healing is that prevention is better than cure.

I have always loved the more ‘traditional’ methods of energy healing such as those practiced thousands of years ago by Chinese healers who identified twelve major meridians, or pathways of energy, in the body. These meridians link various limbs and organs together in an intricate network. It was when I started to read about this that my interest in ‘Touch for Health’ first began. Touch for Health being the most widely used system of kinesiology (muscle testing) in the world.

Whilst I have always had the opinion that, if these ancient techniques work why mess about with them, I’m also fascinated in how modern day advances in technology could work with these techniques to enhance them.

The principles of recording of electrical activity in the human body are not that new and this has been used to support traditional medical practice for almost a century. In 1924, Berger succeeded in recording the first human electroencephalogram (EEG) which records the electrical activity of the human brain from the surface of the head. Whilst this is standard practice now at the time his findings were met with incredulity and derision by medical and scientific establishments.

Something that I came across a while ago, and have been interested in ever since, is bio-energetic screening. These devices have been in rapid development since the 1950s, before the internet was born! They are based on the established principles of traditional Chinese medicine but they take advantage of the newest technology to analyse disturbances in the energy channels of the body (meridians). These devices emit electromagnetic signals. Using a simple and safe low voltage circuit formed by holding two brass cylinders, the response of the body to those signals is recorded in much the same way as kinesiology and muscle testing. The response being measured is small changes in skin response where the body gives an above or below average electrical resistance response. This information is then relayed back to some software which runs through a data base of potentially hundreds or thousands of items to find out, in the here and now, what changes you would benefit from making. The software is identifying items to which the body-mind system can learn better adaptive behaviours.

To summarise, a bio-energetic screening device captures information directly from the body-mind  system and when it indicates some kind of reaction to an item being tested that information can be used as a ‘reminder’ to improve that particular aspect of homeostasis (the body’s way of keeping its internal conditions stable and balanced, despite changes in the external environment).

So now you know what bio-energetic screening is all about I will tell you that I finally gave in to my curiosity and booked a session and I was totally blown away….. when the practitioner asked me a question about what the system was indicating it was as if it had been reading all the stuff I had previously pushed to the back of my mind! The system essentially helps the practitioner to find clues about how the client can make progress, although as with all detective work, some clues are more important than others in the here and now.

I’m hooked! Watch this space!